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Gilded Age: First Lady Takes Taxpayer Funded Vacation No. 16 Mac Slavo February 20th, 2012 “No country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.” Mark Twain The Gilded Age (1874) Life is good when you’re not an average tax-paying, slave-laboring prole in America: Via the Washington Examiner "First lady Michelle Obama’s weekend jaunt to Aspen, Colorado for a President’s Day ski holiday with her daughters Sasha and Malia makes the...

President Obama’s decision to send Michelle and his daughters to Hawaii ahead of him if he is delayed by a fight with Congress could cost taxpayers tens of thousands of extra dollars to fund two separate vacation flights and related costs. The move would also violate the intent of an executive order he issued just last month urging federal employees to cut back on expenses like travel. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that Obama told Senate Democratic leaders during a White House meeting that he would delay his scheduled December 17 departure for Hawaii to keep Congress in...

First lady Michelle Obama's family trip to South Africa and Botswana in June cost taxpayers well over $424,000, according to new accounting based on Air Force manifests obtained by Judicial Watch, a taxpayer watchdog group. The use of Air Force aircraft alone for the June 21-27 trip cost $424,142, said the group, and that doesn't include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members. Judicial Watch said it based the jet costs on the Pentagon's hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip. The documents don't give exact cost calculations, which is typical...

While we're fighting with our own, the queen is out there flaunting her wealth again while Americans "eat their peas."

Encouraged by Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce childhood obesity, the company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and four other popular restaurant chains is pledging to cut the calories and sodium in its meals and overhaul its kids' fare. Darden Restaurants Inc. was unveiling the changes Thursday, with the first lady on hand to lend support. The company will pledge to reduce the calories and sodium in all its meals by 10 percent over five years, and by 20 percent over 10 years. For children, French fries and sugar-sweetened beverages will become the exception and not the rule. All...

WASHINGTON-- First Lady Michelle Obama is expected Thursday to announce headway in her drive to have restaurants reduce portion sizes, part of her "Let's Move' campaign against obesity. "The Childhood Obesity Task Force Report"--commissioned as part of Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" project, "specifically calls on restaurants to, "consider their portion sizes, improve children's menus, and make healthy options the default choice whenever possible." below, from White House.... UPCOMING GUIDANCE FOR FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA Thursday, September 15 11:45 AM - First Lady Michelle Obama will make a major Let's Move! announcement related to providing healthier choices and greater variety for...

In the past year alone, First Lady Michelle Obama has spent 42 days on vacation, costing taxpayers upwards of $10 million. $10 million. In taxpayer funds. For vacations. Taking full advantage of Air Force Two (costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars), Michelle has criss-crossed the world to destinations from Spain to Hawaii and Vail, CO to Martha's Vineyard. Indulging in lavish hotels, top-shelf alcohol, and Secret Service-arranged sight-seeing tours, Michelle has not been shy about putting her any and every whim on America's tab. When was the last time you took a six-figure vacation? Probably never, if you're one...

Before it had even started in earnest, the much-maligned vacation became a PR nightmare, after it emerged this morning that he and his wife took separate government jets to Martha's Vineyard just hours apart. Michelle Obama​ was revealed to have arrived at the Massachusetts retreat, only 500 miles from Washington, four hours before her husband yesterday. ... The extra transport to get the the First Lady to the island for only a few more hours of vacation time will have cost taxpayers thousands in additional expenses. The costs related to Mrs Obama’s solo trip mainly include the flight on the...

Michelle, Mom, Kids Africa Trip Costing Taxpayers $171,000 At Least for Air Travel Alone Tuesday, June 21, 2011 By James Zilenziger (CNSNews.com) - The White House isn’t saying how much of a tab the taxpayers will need to pick up for the week-long trip that First Lady Michelle Obama, her two children, her mother, a niece and a nephew are taking to South Africa and Botswana. But according to Congressional Research Service estimates, the flights alone will cost taxpayers more than $171,000--almost as much as the $174,000 annual salaries paid to rank-and-file members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The...

Michelle Obama dazzled in a glittering array of jewels last night as she co-hosted a dinner in honour of the Queen. The First Lady scored a final fashion bulls-eye in a stunning black off-the-shoulder dress by all-American designer Ralph Lauren at the black-tie dinner. The president’s wife showed off a selection of costume jewellery including a cuff and necklace by Irish designer Tom Binns. A similar necklace sells on his website for £1,500. Mr Obama had invited the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to Winfield House in Regent’s Park, the official home of the U.S. Ambassador as a thank-you for...

What’s in your wallet? Not much — especially after a trip to the supermarket. At the checkout counter at the D’Agostino in Hell’s Kitchen, retired ballerina Carol Sumner shook her head over the increasingly steep price of her weekly grocery bill. “It’s outrageous,” said Sumner, a senior citizen who was making a pit stop to buy soda, ice cream and cake for a party she was throwing. “I feel like I am getting fleeced and taken advantage of. I don’t buy meat anymore. I can’t. It’s too expensive.” The price index for groceries is expected to surge 3 to 4...

Well heavens! Mrs. Obama was gaining a lot of traction as the fashion icon for the everywoman when all of a sudden she stepped out of the Michellemobile – reportedly Monday – grasping a $1,000 tote bag. Take a look-see!

Vacation, what's a vacation?

WASHINGTON: American First Lady Michelle Obama wants to visit India again, this time with her daughters Malia and Sasha, President Obama told India's national security advisor Shivshankar Menon when he dropped in on Menon's meeting with his US counterpart Tom Donilon at the White House last week. There was more to the remark than politeness. As if to emphasize he was not saying it for form's sake, Obama reportedly added that the First Lady is a "very determined" woman and she usually has her way. The Obama children did not make it to India during their parents' visit last November...

The Quilceda Creek Cabernet goes for $199 a bottle.

From the State Dinner menu:Main Dry Aged Rib Eye with Buttermilk Crisp Onions Double Stuffed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach Wine: Quilceda Creek Cabernet "Columbia Valley" 2005 (Washington State) $399.99 at Raeder's Wine store.

President Obama and his family are enjoying a delightful Christmas vacation with friends and family in the chief executive's home state of Hawaii. Nobody questions a president's right or need to take take away from the White House, but an investigation by Hawaii Reporter has turned up some eye-opening information about the costs and other aspects of the Obama get-away. * 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):...

As Dennis Miller once said in comparing German reunification to a Martin and Lewis reunion, I’m not a fan of his previous work and thus I’m really not looking forward to seeing the new sh*t. In fact, what is the new sh*t that he has planned for a second Obama term? Cap and trade is dead for good, I think; they were struggling to find the votes for that even when Democrats were flying high, but after this month’s shellacking, it’ll be years before they get another centrist to come aboard. Amnesty is always possible, but The One really wants...

Pundits, political analysts, and politicians on both sides of the aisle have offered their recommendation for items which should be placed at the top of the 112th Congress's legislative agenda. Surprisingly, in light of the negative press the Obamas have received relating to their recent junket to India, so far as I have seen, not one person has suggested including legislation limiting the amount of taxpayer funds that may be expended on presidential trips -- official or otherwise -- and the White House party budget. Like all government agencies, the White House operates on the basis of appropriations that originate...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Today, a regular reader of Oklahoma Watchdog called to tell me that they called the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newsroom to talk to someone about the fact that President Obama is going to India and is virtually taking the entire White House with him, along with wife Michelle and their two daughters. The reader said the person in the Post-Dispatch newsroom was unaware of Obama’s trip. When the reader said it is all over the web and wondered why the media wasn’t scrutinizing it more, particularly in light of the criticism Nancy Reagan received years ago for purchasing...