Page 6 of 15 First ... 2345678910 ... Last
  1. #56
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts


    Louisiana Congressman Bill Cassidy speaks out on cancellation of White House tours
    Wednesday, March 6, 2013 - 6:00pm

    Baton Rouge, La — Today, Congressman Bill Cassidy released the following statement on the Obama Administration announcing that scheduled and future public tours of the White House will not occur due to the sequestration cuts:

    “There will be no significant progress in implementing sequestration by cancelling White House tours.

    The White House was able to conduct tours with less money in Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 than what is available this year after the reduction.

    The President has full authority to implement these cuts and appears to want them to be as harsh and public as possible to compel the American people to allow the president to spend more.

    The President should look to Congress on how to reduce White House spending. Tours of the United States Capitol will still occur because House Republicans are responsibly implementing cuts to the Congressional operating budget which was cut over eight percent."

    http://www.fox44.com/news/louisiana-...te-house-tours
    Last edited by Jolie Rouge; 03-07-2013 at 08:25 PM.
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  2. # ADS
    Circuit advertisement Sequester Cuts - brought to you by Obama
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many
     

  3. #57
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  4. #58
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Fox News anchor offers to save White House tours, with his wallet[/i]
    posted at 9:41 pm on March 7, 2013 by Mary Katharine Ham[/i]

    As long as we’re shark-jumping, President Obama, let’s pole vault these suckers, shall we? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...646984052.html

    The White House’s transparently petty decision to inflict sequester’s pain on America’s middle-schoolers (as if those years aren’t tough enough) revealed its sequestration doomsaying as silly and its post-doomsaying behavior as spiteful. In a rare good PR turn for Republicans, what was meant to make them look like heartless meanies has held the White House up for ridicule for its utter unwillingness to prioritize. Upon hearing the estimates that the White House’s cancellation of tours might save the administration $18,000-$72,000 a week, Fox News anchor Eric Bolling— I’m sure they’re fans at the White House— decided to come to their aid ... for The Children. http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/07/fo...#ixzz2MuJcphjb

    In a Facebook post on Thursday, anchor Eric Bolling announced that he will offer to personally pay the costs to keep the tours at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue open for a week.

    During Thursday evening’s episode of “The Five,” Bolling elaborated. “I will absolutely write the check if they open the doors next week.”

    “I’ll make you a deal Mr. President…Let these families take their White House tours next week and I’ll cover the added expenses. Word is it will cost around $74,000.”

    Referencing White House press secretary Jay Carney, the Fox host added: “Mr Carney, you know this an offer you can’t refuse. Give me a call.”
    Grab your popcorn, everyone, and the kids of St. Paul’s Lutheran School, grab your bags: http://politicker.com/2013/03/iowa-s...-to-sequester/

    Sean Hannity ✔ @seanhannity

    . @ericbolling great idea! Count me in, I will pay for a week also! http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/07/fo...se-tours-open/

    10:47 PM - 07 Mar 13
    Meanwhile, the sequester saga is ongoing, as Carney assures us today that while White House tours are out, the White House Easter Egg Roll is safe: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...#ixzz2MuKIx2V6

    “I would refer both to the East Wing and the Secret Service, but it’s my understanding that as of now, the decision has been made that the Easter Egg Roll will go forward,” Carney said.

    On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced it was canceling tours of the White House indefinitely due to “staffing reductions resulting from sequestration.”

    Asked why the Easter Egg Roll would continue when tours had been canceled, Carney characterized the decision as similar to “choices you make all the time” about budget issues. “This is about trade-offs. Because when you have the kind of severe cuts that the sequester represents, you have to reduce your budget accordingly. And then you have to make choices about what you do and what you don’t,” Carney said.

    Earlier in his briefing with reporters, Carney defended the decision to cancel the tours, saying it was emblematic of the tough decisions forced by the sequester.
    Yes, it is about trade-offs. The Easter Egg Roll is a one-time event, so is no doubt cheaper than weekly tours. It’s also a small event, with a lottery system for commoners, and a bunch of appearances by the progeny of government staffers, political appointees, lobbyists, and visiting Hollywood stars. I’m sure the Reese Witherspoon photo-ops http://www.popsugar.com/Photos-Reese...-Obama-8012384 (and she did look fab!) have nothing to do with its being spared while the tours for the hoi polloi are jettisoned.

    http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/0...th-his-wallet/
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  5. #59
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Jumping the Sequester When the president canceled White House tours, he revealed his claims as ludicrous.
    By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL


    The phrase "jumping the shark" describes that gimmicky moment when something once considered significant is exposed as ludicrous. This is the week the White House jumped the sequester. The precise moment came Tuesday, when the administration announced that it was canceling public tours of the White House, blaming budget cuts. The Sequesterer in Chief has insisted that cutting even $44 billion from this fiscal year will cause agonizing pain—airport security snarls, uninspected meat, uneducated children. Since none of those things has come to pass, the White House decided it needed an immediate and high-profile way of making its point. Ergo, it would deny the nation's school kids a chance to view a symbol of America.

    The act was designed to spark outrage against Republicans, yet the sheer pettiness of it instead provided a moment of clarity. Americans might not understand the technicalities of sequester, but this was something else entirely. Was the president actually claiming there was not a single other government item—not one—that could be cut instead of the White House tours? Really?


    Sixth-graders at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Waverly, Iowa.


    The cancellations were an open invitation for the nation to dive into the gory depths of the federal budget—and re-emerge with a debate over waste and priorities. Over the past week, an entire cottage industry has sprung up of journalists, watchdog groups and average citizens reporting on the absurdities of federal spending. Republicans have lit up Twitter with examples of indefensible projects (#SequesterThis).

    We've learned that the White House employs three calligraphers, who cumulatively earn $277,000 a year. The Environmental Protection Agency gave $141,000 to fund a Chinese study on swine manure. Part of a $325,000 National Science Foundation outlay went to building a robotic squirrel.

    The government gave a $3,700 grant to build a miniature street in West Virginia—out of Legos. It shelled out $500,000 to support specialty shampoo products for cats and dogs. A San Diego outfit got $10,000 for trolley dancing. The feds last year held 894 conferences that each cost more than $100,000—$340 million altogether. But Mr. Obama is too broke to let American kids look around the White House.

    Speaking of that, the tour stunt itself is turning into a PR fiasco. ABC reports the cancellations save a total of $18,000 a week. A Forbes opinion piece noted the cost of cutting the tours was equal to about two hours operating Air Force One. Speaker John Boehner twisted the knife, announcing that while Congress was also getting hit by sequester, it had planned wisely, and tours of the Capitol would continue. Come on down folks! Visit the government branch that knows how to prioritize!

    To top it off, a group of cherubic sixth-graders from St. Paul's Lutheran School in Waverly, Iowa, became a national sensation in a YouTube video pleading with the White House to reopen tours. "The White House is our house. Please let us visit," they beg in unison. The White House hasn't yet responded, no doubt being too busy overseeing its $27 million project that helped fund pottery classes in Morocco. (No joke.)

    This is the opportunity Republicans have been pushing for, to pivot the sequester discussion to the problem of spending, and they are taking a lead from Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn. This was the guy, remember, who in 2005 offered an amendment to remove funds from a little thing he called the Alaskan "Bridge to Nowhere" and to divert them to a vital bridge destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The Bridge to Nowhere became such an embarrassing symbol of waste, Congress ultimately gave up earmarks.

    Not all Republicans appreciated that episode, but they took away a couple of valuable political lessons. One, the public responds strongly to examples of waste. And two, the way to claim the high ground in such a debate is to contrast that waste with projects of real importance (like the Katrina bridge). Both lessons are tailor-made for today's sequester fight.

    Sen. Coburn himself has daily been sending letters to federal agencies, demanding that they justify their decisions to furlough existing workers rather than forgo new hires or fancy conferences. His efforts were one reason the Department of Agriculture spent this week stuttering out a justification for its sponsorship of a wine junket in California.

    Utah Sen. Mike Lee has been producing graphics that show, for instance, pictures of free government cellphones next to pictures of border agents—with the Twitter tag #CutThisNotThat. Since late February, the House GOP has been highlighting its own #CutWaste projects, each of which contrasts Mr. Obama's call for taxes with an example of embarrassing government outlays.

    The White House's shark-jumping moment has given these efforts new attention and threatens to take the sequester debate to a place this overconfident administration never imagined. The whole point of the White House's effort to make the cuts hurt was to convince Americans that they couldn't live without big, sweeping government. Now Americans are asking how the White House justifies living with it.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...646984052.html
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  6. #60
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Obama Outings and Vacations Still In Full Swing While The People’s House Remains Closed

    Posted on March 9, 2013

    Visitors to the nation’s capital looking for a White House public tour are out of luck starting this weekend, courtesy of what the Secret Service says is its own decision to deal with the sequester cuts.

    But while the agency said it needed to pull officers off the tours for more pressing assignments, the budget ax didn’t swing early or deep enough to curtail a host of recent Secret Service-chaperoned trips like President Obama’s much-discussed Florida golf outing with Tiger Woods and first lady Michelle Obama’s high-profile multi-city media appearances.

    Obama’s pricey golf outings have been a particular target for Republicans who see them as examples of what they say are the administration’s rather selective concerns with running up the tab of Secret Service resources. On March 5, Texas Rep. Louis Gohmert filed an amendment to a House resolution that would prohibit federal funds from being spent on Obama’s golf trips until public tours of the White House resumed.

    Gohmert referenced press reports pegging the cost of a recent Florida golf outing Obama took with Tiger Woods at $1 million. He also cited press reports saying 341 federal workers could have been spared furloughs if Obama had stayed home.

    "The president's travel expenses alone, for the golfing outing with Tiger Woods, would pay for a year of White House visits," Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer said Thursday. "So I suggest that perhaps he curtail the travel."

    The price tag and draw on Secret Service resources involving promotional campaigns like Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative is less clear.

    The Secret Service does not usually reveal how many agents and other resources are assigned to protective missions so it's not known just how much it cost taxpayers to ferry the first lady to events like her dance routine on Jimmy Fallon's show -- the highlight of a Feb. 22 media blitz in New York -- or her Feb. 27-28 visit to Mississippi, Missouri and her hometown of Chicago.

    Those trips would all have involved Secret Service details traveling with the first lady, as well as advance work by teams of agents on location.

    When asked by FoxNews.com if the first lady's office or schedule would be affected by the sequester, the White House issued a 100-word statement that made no mention of any specific cuts that might affect Michelle Obama's activities -- while making a generic reference to cuts affecting the "Executive Office of the President," which houses the first lady's office.

    Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked how the White House was cutting back, on Friday said there would be furloughs and pay cuts.

    On the decision to close the tours, Press Secretary Jay Carney a day earlier said "the President and the first lady have throughout the time that they've been here made extraordinary efforts to make this the people's house, and it is extremely unfortunate that we have a situation like the sequester that compels the kinds of tradeoffs and decisions that this represents."

    It's also not clear what Secret Service resources were dedicated to a recent New York visit by 14-year-old Malia Obama, who was spotted dining with a group of friends at a New York restaurant shortly after President Obama signed off on the sequester. There were Secret Service agents in the restaurant, according to reports that said they stayed behind the group.

    How much overtime these types of assignments cost the Secret Service may be an area of concern. Donovan told FoxNews.com that overtime costs factored into the decision to shut down the White House tours. By taking the 30 officers involved in the tours and assigning them to high-priority security posts, officers normally on those duties can log fewer hours -- in turn saving the Secret Service money. "It reduces overtime costs overall for us," Donovan said.

    The tours will not be rescheduled and will stay frozen until further notice.

    That's bad news for groups like the sixth graders at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Iowa, who had been planning to take the White House tour on March 16. Fourteen students from that group and their teacher on Thursday took their frustrations to Facebook. In a web video, they held up handmade posters and chanted, "The White House is our house."

    Some Republicans in Congress expressed their displeasure with the cuts more forcefully. "Canceling all self-guided White House tours is the latest shameless political stunt by the president, who is twisting basic government efficiency into an extreme consequence," Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., said in a statement March 5.


    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2N3m1WoBv

    Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/03/...#ixzz2N3lp9pt8
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  7. #61
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Preparations underway for Obama vacation on Martha's Vineyard
    By DONOVAN SLACK |
    3/7/13 11:54 AM EST


    President Obama and his family are likely headed to Martha's Vineyard for a summer sojourn again this year.

    A source tells POLITICO that the Secret Service has started booking accommodations on the toney island off the Massachusetts coast. (See update below)

    So far, the White House isn't saying anything, but the Vineyard is abuzz with the news. The first family is expected toward the end of August, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Obama had to skip his traditional Vineyard vacation last year as he campaigned for reelection. But he and his family went there for three summers before that.

    No word yet on where the commander-in-chief will be staying. As the Boston Herald reports, the home where the Obamas stayed previously has been sold. But he will no doubt hit the links a few times at the Farm Neck Golf Club, as he has previously. Also no word on whether Tiger Woods will join.




    UPDATE: Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan declined to comment: "We can’t discuss trips unless/until they are officially announced by the White House."

    UPDATE 2: Another source familiar with the planning said no hotel rooms have officially been booked yet but left open the possibility that preparations are underway.

    http://www.politico.com/politico44/2...on-158744.html
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  8. #62

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2,400
    Thanks
    849
    Thanked 444 Times in 312 Posts
    air force one should be grounded because that is a luxury. I propose all toilets in the white house have meters and should no longer be free. if you do not bring your own toilet paper, there should be an additional charge ($100 per square). There is so much sheeeeeeeeeeeet in washington, we should be able to raise enough money to take care of any deficits. I almost forgot. the white house should be closed to everyone...and the president and his family should be given a free efficiency apartment...and their dog handler job should be taken over by the president and his family. this will also save millions that the government does not have. The government should no longer pay for their vacations for themselves and their 200 closest friends. If they need a staff to accompany them, it should come out of their own pockets (just like we the regular people would have to do....if we had the money for a vacation). Medical insurance and benefits should now be paid for by the workers...and all elected officials and their staffs. I would cut the number of vacations for all employees (including elected officials) to thanksgiving, christmas, new years day, memorial day and july 4th. no government worker will have personal days or sick days - if they need them they will be docked...and that includes elected officials who do not attend meetings, hearings etc but they will not be docked for one day but double docked. all pork barrel will be eliminated. anyone who gets free transportation will now have to pay for it out of their own pocket. free meals will also be eliminated. they should be treated like the taxpayers are treated since the taxpayers are their employers and there is nothing in writing that says employees should have better benefits that their employers. Gosh! I think we will have a deficit no longer

  9. #63
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to Jolie Rouge For This Useful Post:

    boopster (03-09-2013)

  11. #64
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts


    ARMY, MARINE CORPS CANCEL THEIR TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS...ILLEGALS GET FINANCIAL AID

    Due to the sequester (proposed by the White House) the Obama administration will cancel tuition reimbursement for soldiers and Marines.

    It’s Barack Obama’s special way of saying, “Thanks for serving.”

    The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have pulled the plug on their tuition assistance programs one week after across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration went into effect.

    Soldiers and Marines will be able to finish up courses they’ve already started, but they won’t be able to enroll in new courses, the Defense Department announced.

    “This suspension is necessary given the significant budget execution challenges caused by the combined effects of a possible year-long continuing resolution and sequestration,” Pentagon Army spokesman Paul Prince told Stars and Stripes. “The Army understands the impacts of this action and will re-evaluate should the budgetary situation improve.”

    According to Stars and Stripes, the Army’s program allowed for soldiers to complete a high school diploma, certificate program or college or master’s degree with the service paying all tuition and fees up to $4,500 per fiscal year.

    It’s too bad they’re not illegal aliens. More than 20,000 California illegal aliens are seeking state financial aid for the first time under the state’s new Dream Act. And, the Colorado House just passed legislation to lower tuition for illegal aliens.

    ►The Blaze Reported:
    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...sequestration/

    ►Defense Department Announced:
    http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119478

    ►Stars and Stripes Reported:
    http://www.stripes.com/news/army-sus...roops-1.210999

    ►The Examiner Reported:
    http://www.examiner.com/article/army...-sequestration
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  12. #65

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2,400
    Thanks
    849
    Thanked 444 Times in 312 Posts
    sure looks like we are living under a government who is anti american....and we have hollywood wannabes trying to take the stage by storm

  13. #66
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Lan astaslem !
    Posts
    60,656
    Thanks
    2,750
    Thanked 5,510 Times in 3,654 Posts
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Log in

Log in