Thanks for the bump!
Posted on 08/12/2011 11:45:55 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
First Lady Michelle Obama over the last year has spent a total of 42 days on vacation, or a little more than one out of every nine days, according to a White House Dossier analysis of her travel.
Her vacations, the cost of which are mostly borne by taxpayers, include trips to Panama City, Fla., Martha’s Vineyard, Hawaii, South Africa, Latin America, Vail, Colo., and her visit this week to her brother in Corvallis, Ore.
The total does not include a nine day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard that the Obamas will enjoy this month. Nor does it include a trip she made to Ireland and Great Britain in May, which I’m counting as official travel.
The total vacation time would have been slightly higher had the Obamas gone as planned for an April weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The trip was cancelled due to an extended stalemate between President Obama and Congress over the budget.
Mrs. Obama’s extensive vacation travel comes while many America citizens find themselves out of work or having trouble making ends meet as the economic recovery stalls.
Taxpayers pick up most of the cost of transporting the first lady and her extensive entourage – including Secret Service and her staff – to her various destinations. While she may in some cases pay some of the tab for her personal expenses and travel, the amount is dwarfed by the overall cost to the public.
On trips she makes with the president, though, the costs are only somewhat greater that then they would have been had he travelled alone.
Mrs. Obama’s vacations began in August 2010 with a two day weekend trip to Panama City, Fla., where the Obamas stayed overnight at a Gulf of Mexico hotel in a symbolic effort to show that the Gulf area was safe for travel in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.
Next up was what has become an annual pilgrimage to ritzy Martha’s Vineyard, where the Obamas stayed 10 days and dined at several exorbitantly priced restaurants.
In December 2010, with President Obama delayed because Congress was still in town, Mrs. Obama decided to leave without him for their annual Hawaiian vacation, racking up at least $63,000 in additional costs because she travelled alone.
Since the president arrived late, he decided to leave Hawaii in January two days later than scheduled – resulting in a 17 day vacation for the first lady.
Mrs. Obama went right back out on vacation the following month, taking a four day skiing trip in February of this year to Vail, Colo.
In March, Mrs. Obama travelled to Latin America for a five day trip. I’m counting two days of this as vacation, though, because she took her children and her mother along, performed some sightseeing, and went to the beach.
The first lady went to southern Africa in June for six days in what was partially an official visit. Since Mrs. Obama took her mother, her children and their cousins along, since the trip was billed in advance as having personal significance for her, and since the travel included several tourist destinations and a safari, I’m counting half of the journey as vacation, or three days.
Finally, Mrs, Obama took her mother and one of her children to visit her brother in Corvallis, Ore. this week. The trip was not announced by the White House and appears to have lasted four days.
The first pig has no job, is worth nothing, has nothing important or relevant to say, knows little, learns less and her biggest claim to fame...her one AND ONLY "claim" was wedding the stain.
And...as that is her one AND ONLY "claim", she just might want to consider base jumping using dental floss!
Does there need to be an official task list for every First Lady to perform? What if a President is single? Should he or she take less pay because they don't have someone to fulfill the official duties of the First Lady? If Cindy McCain had ended up being First Lady, it wouldn't have bothered me one bit if she had decided to stay in AZ to run her business instead of having a social agenda as First Lady. Michelle Obama is taking advantage of the situation with her trips, parties, but she has her own definition of the word entitlement. I wouldn't be surprised if she has all the copper pipe yanked out of the White House walls for scrap money before she's out of there.
And here I was under the impression that she was on vacation 365 days a year.
And, anything that she did do, was just a break from her permanent vacation.
All paid for by us! Wish someone could subsidize me to go on vacation for 42 days and rent out entire hotels for hundreds of servants.
And didn't they go to India?
Those are “official” visits.
I am 56 and I haven’t had that many Vacation Days in my whole life... days off sure ... 2 weeks for a Honeymoon ... a week for a Cross Country Trip ... I’M Living Large!
TT
Michelle Obama’s cousin, a Chicago Police Commander was just demoted back to Lieutenant.
Monday, August 15, 2011
He’s Baaaaack
As predicted by many:
The security director at Chicago Public Schools has resigned to return to the Chicago Police Department, officials with CPS and police said tonight.
Michael Shields joined the school district as director of security in 2009. His annual salary was $150,000, according to CPS.
His last day with CPS was Friday, said CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll.
Shields was formerly a deputy superintendent with the Police Department. He was reported to be a candidate for the Chicago police superintendent’s job earlier this year, before Mayor Rahm Emanuel hired Garry McCarthy for the job.
He is returning to the Police Department as a lieutenant, a department spokesman said.
Shields is a cousin of First Lady Michelle Obama.
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/
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