Obamas 2013 Travel Expenses Top $7.4 Million For Airfare Alone

Barack and Michele Obama's motto should be - do as I say, not as I do. While asking the American people to make sacrifices and tighten our belts, it turns out that we the taxpayers funded three unofficial Obama trips in 2013 for a  whopping $7.4 million. And that was just air fare costs alone.

This information has just been released thanks to a lawsuit by Judicial Watch which was filed in August 2013.

The trips included:

1. The Obama Christmas holiday in Hawaii- 12/21/12 through 1/5/13.
2. A trek to California in August, 2013 to hobnob with DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg (for a private fundraiser), and an oh-so important appearance on the Jay Leno Show.
3. And some fun times for the whole family in Martha's Vineyard, MA during the latter part of August, 2013.

According to Judicial Watch:

* The outbound flight to Honolulu for the Obamas’ 2012-13 Christmas vacation cost taxpayers $2, 214, 393.60. The return flight to Washington cost $1,871,961.60. Flight expenditures alone came to $4,086,355.20.

* The outbound flight to California in August, 2013 for Obama to dine with Katzenberg and appear on the “The Tonight Show” cost taxpayers $1,209,926.40. The return flight to Washington cost $935,980.80. Flight expenditures alone came to $2,145,907.20.

* The outbound flight to Martha’s Vineyard for the Obama family’s August vacation cost taxpayers $890,323.20. The return flight to Washington cost $273,945.60. Flight expenditures alone came to $1,164,268.80.

* The grand total of $7,396,531.20, Judicial Watch pointed out, only accounted for flight expenses for the three trips.

“The fact is, the Obamas are abusing the public trust and the taxpayers with unnecessary luxurious vacations and travel,” Judicial Watch said in its report. “These staggering costs show why these documents were covered-up and we had to sue in federal court to get them. Another transparency fail for the Obama gang, but thanks to our federal lawsuit it is another accountability win for the American taxpayer.”

Source: BizPacReview

Obama Family Costs U.S. Taxpayers $1.4 Billion Per Year

What is wrong with this picture?

If the book by Robert Keith Gray, "Presidential Perks Gone Royal", can be believed, Barack Obama, Michelle and their two kids cost the American taxpayer far more than what the British taxpayer is paying to maintain the British Royal Family.  And there are many more of them to take care of than Obamas in the White House. Brit Royalty cost just under $60 million per year, whereas the Obama family costs approximately $1.4 billion every year to maintain.  Yes, that includes their $4million vacations in Hawaii, their 54 Christmas trees , and their 2012 Hawaii Christmas holiday that will probably cost more than $4 million, since they are staying there longer.

Granted, much of that $1.4 billion is security and necessary staff, but that security wouldn't be so costly if our president took shorter vacations.

Gray's book (the full title: Presidential Perks Gone Royal: Your Taxes Are Being Used For Obama's Re-election) - a tad useless since he won re-election - was obviously geared towards trying to persuade voters why it wouldn't be a good idea to give him another four years.

Although security is necessary for a president, Gray lists some not so necessary expenses that the taxpayer is saddled with:

When the President travels around the country on campaign, he is obliged to take Air Force One.

His party reimburses the taxpayer with the cost of a first-class air ticket per passenger - but this is far from the full cost to taxpayers.

It also provides a President running for re-election with a national transport network which is unavailable to his challenger.

Moreover, much of the money spent on Mr Obama's family goes to perks such as entertainment and household expenses.

For example, the White House contains a movie theatre which is manned by projectionists 24 hours a day in case one of the family feels like a trip to the cinema.

And even the Obamas' dog Bo costs the taxpayer thousands of dollars - his handler is reportedly paid over $100,000 a year.

Another huge presidential outgoing, according to Mr Gray, comes in the form of staff members who can be appointed by the commander-in-chief at his own personal discretion.

226 members of Mr Obama's staff are apparently paid over $100,000 - and the President can increase their salaries at any time.

For a man who is supposedly so concerned about the poor and middle-class, one would think he would be far more conscientious about how he spends the taxpayer's money. A projectionist 24 hours a day? $100,000 for a dog handler?

Shameful.

H/T Glenn Beck

Krauthammer on Obama The Drone Warrior

I love Charles Krauthammer. He's always spot on, and his article on Obama's hypocrisy regarding his Pakistan drone attacks is right on the money.

Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, who vilified Bush for his war tactics shuffles cards to see who goes next. Not that anyone is complaining about drone attacks, it's the hypocrisy that matters. And the fact that, as Krauthammer puts it:

It yields no intelligence about terror networks or terror plans.

One capture could potentially make us safer than 10 killings. But because of the moral incoherence of Obama’s war on terror, there are practically no captures anymore. What would be the point? There’s nowhere for the CIA to interrogate. And what would they learn even if they did, Obama having decreed a new regime of kid-gloves, name-rank-and-serial-number interrogation?

Here's the first part of his commentary:

Barack Obama: Drone Warrior

By Charles Krauthammer, Published: May 31

A very strange story, that 6,000-word front-page New York Times piece on how, every Tuesday, Barack Obama shuffles “baseball cards” with the pictures and bios of suspected terrorists from around the world and chooses who shall die by drone strike. He even reserves for himself the decision of whether to proceed when the probability of killing family members or bystanders is significant.

The article could have been titled “Barack Obama: Drone Warrior.” Great detail on how Obama personally runs the assassination campaign. On-the-record quotes from the highest officials. This was no leak. This was a White House press release.

Why? To portray Obama as tough guy. And why now? Because in crisis after recent crisis, Obama has looked particularly weak: standing helplessly by as thousands are massacred in Syria; being played by Iran in nuclear negotiations, now reeling with the collapse of the latest round in Baghdad; being treated with contempt by Vladimir Putin, who blocks any action on Syria or Iran and adds personal insult by standing up Obama at the latter’s G-8 and NATO summits.

The Obama camp thought that any political problem with foreign policy would be cured by the Osama bin Laden operation. But the administration’s attempt to politically exploit the raid’s one-year anniversary backfired, earning ridicule and condemnation for its crude appropriation of the heroic acts of others.

A campaign ad had Bill Clinton praising Obama for the courage of ordering the raid because, had it failed and Americans been killed, “the downside would have been horrible for him. “ Outraged vets released a response ad, pointing out that it would have been considerably more horrible for the dead SEALs.

That ad also highlighted the many self-references Obama made in announcing the bin Laden raid: “I can report . . . I directed . . . I met repeatedly . . . I determined . . . at my direction . . . I, as commander in chief,” etc. ad nauseam. (Eisenhower’s announcement of the D-Day invasion made not a single mention of his role, whereas the alternate statement he’d prepared had the landing been repulsed was entirely about it being his failure.)

Obama only compounded the self-aggrandizement problem when he spoke a week later about the military “fighting on my behalf.”

The Osama-slayer card having been vastly overplayed, what to do? A new card: Obama, drone warrior, steely and solitary, delivering death with cool dispatch to the rest of the al-Qaeda depth chart.

So the peacemaker, Nobel laureate, nuclear disarmer, apologizer to the world for America having lost its moral way when it harshly interrogated the very people Obama now kills, has become — just in time for the 2012 campaign — Zeus the Avenger, smiting by lightning strike.

Read the rest here.