I want more time for, uhhh, umm, for my family, sure, that’s it!
Duffer-in-Chief Obama-rama hasn’t spent enough time with his wife and daughters during the royal family’s Hawaiian vacation and has extended the vacation by a day. Sources close to them have said that the big cheese has sprung for golf lessons so that the Queen-o-rama could spend the day with him alternating from the buffet line (the Duffster apparently has an affinity for boiled cabbage, ham and pineapple, an old family favorite) and the tee boxes. The youngsters weren’t available for comment as they were busy carrying golf bags, shagging golf balls and ferrying plates of the cabbage, ham and pineapple delicacy to the royal table.
So how much will the taxpayers shell out for this little boondoggle? Here it is, directly from the Washington Examiner:
- Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)
- Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)
- Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800
- Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs
- Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)
- Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)
- TOTAL COST: $1,474,200
But that $1.47 million figure leaves out a number of signficant costs that simply could not be calculated by Hawaii Reporter:
- Rental of office building in Kailua on canal
- Security upgrades and additional phone lines.
- Costs for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel (Secret Service imports most of the cars used here to escort the president).
- Surveillance before the president arrives.
- Travel costs for Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.
Obama-rama Hawaiian Vacation Dive
The Examiner story goes on to point out that his excellency and the excellent family could have reduced this cost immensly by simply staying on the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. It has highly secure beachfront property (it’s a freakin Marine Corps Base, how much more secure can you get?) that would have been made available for them that is only a 2 minute drive from where they are lounging right now. Not convenient for the chief you say? Well . . . the truth is that he is on Base every day for bowling, golfing, to use the gym or to hang out on the secure beach they have. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the excellencies so they chose the three luxury beachfront places.
From the “Diversity Committee” of the Society of Professional Journalists
“Frequent use of the phrases “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien” by our mainstream media is being questioned in order to remain faithful to the principles of our U.S. Constitution. SPJ’s Diversity Committee met during the 2010 convention in Las Vegas and decided to engage in a yearlong educational campaign designed to inform and sensitize journalists as to the best language to use when writing and reporting on undocumented immigrants.”
Ummm . . . excuse me? Since where in the Constitution does it say that we shouldn’t hurt the feelings of people in this country illegally by calling them illegal immigrants? Heck, I’m still stuck on “illegal aliens” because they’ve done nothing to legally occupy space in America, they don’t belong here, they’ve done nothing to even so much as begin the immigration process and therefore they are illegal aliens.
Watch this discussion yesterday Megyn Kelly had with Brad Blakeman and Jehmu Green regarding this topic. Megyn put a different perspective on the issue:
RamblinManDan 