In the first three months of the year, members of the first family have been on three vacations, averaging a vacation a month. And now it's being reported that the first daughters are on a spring break vacation in the Bahamas.
The Obamas began the new year in Hawaii. "President Obama departed Hawaii this morning for Washington, after spending NINE days vacationing with family and friends in his native state. Here’s a quick look at how he spent his vacation," ABC reported on January 6, 2013.
"Obama played FIVE rounds of golf with SEVEN different partners, spending roughly THIRTY hours on TWO different courses on Oahu. The president made FIVE early morning trips to the gym at the nearby Marine Base at Kaneohe Bay. The First Family spent TWO afternoons enjoying the beach on the base and went for ONE hike to a local waterfall. The president spent ONE father-daughter afternoon with Malia and Sasha, bowling and going out for shave ice, an annual tradition."
Then the first lady and their daughters vacationed in Aspen over President's Day weekend. "First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Aspen on Friday afternoon and is here with her daughters for a ski vacation," Aspendailynews.com reported in February.
...While the rest of the family was in Colorado, Obama went to Florida for a golf weekend. "It was not his motivation, certainly, but President Obama is honoring his modern predecessors on this Presidents’ Day weekend by doing what many of them liked to do on breaks: chill out in Florida with the guys — including, in his case, one of golf’s most famous guys, Tiger Woods," the New York Times reported in February.
And now it's being reported that the first daughters are on Spring Break in the Bahamas. "Sasha and Malia Obama are quietly vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Breitbart News has learned," a report reads.
The Obamas are most definitely not feeling our pain.
Here's the statement by President George W. Bush on the passing of Barney:
Laura and I are sad to announce that our Scottish Terrier, Barney, has passed away. The little fellow had been suffering from lymphoma and after twelve and a half years of life, his body could not fight off the illness.
Barney and I enjoyed the outdoors. He loved to accompany me when I fished for bass at the ranch. He was a fierce armadillo hunter. At Camp David, his favorite activity was chasing golf balls on the chipping green.
Barney guarded the South Lawn entrance of the White House as if he were a Secret Service agent. He wandered the halls of the West Wing looking for treats from his many friends. He starred in Barney Cam and gave the American people Christmas tours of the White House. Barney greeted Queens, Heads of State, and Prime Ministers. He was always polite and never jumped in their laps.
Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House. He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend. Laura and I will miss our pal.
"I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons." -- Will Rogers
Once upon a time, the United States of America had three branches of government.
The self-proclaimed king named Obama, leader of a cult, decided to ignore the separation of powers.
In an attempt to rein in this arrogant man, the judicial branch declared his behavior in violation of the Constitution.
That's big stuff.
If President George W. Bush had done what King Obama did, something no American president has ever done before, declaring the Senate to be in recess, the Leftists would be all over it.
In a case freighted with major constitutional implications, a federal appeals court on Friday overturned President Obama’s controversial recess appointments from last year, ruling he abused his powers and acted when the Senate was not actually in a recess.
The three-judge panel’s ruling is a major blow to Mr. Obama. The judges ruled that the appointments he made to the National Labor Relations Board are illegal, and hence the five-person board did not have a quorum to operate.
But the ruling has even broader constitutional significance, with the judges arguing that the president’s recess appointment powers don’t apply to “intra-session” appointments — those made when Congress has left town for a few days or weeks. They said Mr. Obama erred when he said he could claim the power to determine when he could make appointments.
“Allowing the president to define the scope of his own appointments power would eviscerate the Constitution’s separation of powers,” the judges said in their opinion.
The judges said presidents’ recess powers only apply after Congress has adjourned a session permanently, which in modern times usually means only at the end of a year. If the ruling withstands Supreme Court scrutiny, it would dramatically constrain presidents in the future.
And the court ruled that the only vacancies that the president can use his powers on are ones that arise when the Senate is in one of those end-of-session breaks. That would all but eliminate the list of positions the president could fill with his recess powers.
...Noel Francisco, a lawyer at Jones Day who argued the case for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the company that challenged the NLRB appointments, said the court had returned to the Constitution’s intent, which was to make the recess appointment an emergency power for use only when Congress was not available.
“Issues like this — it’s not about protecting the Congress from the president and the president from Congress,” Mr. Francisco said. “The Constitution draws these lines ultimately to limit the government to protect the people.”
Will the U.S. Supreme Court allow the ruling to stand?
Perhaps, if Chief Justice John Roberts can figure out a way to define it as a tax.
Whatever, King Obama pushed it too far when he declared the Senate to be in recess.
Bottom line: If the Constitution is still the law of the land, if King Obama is bound by any limits of law, he abused his authority. ___________________
Ralph Nader thinks President George W. Bush was a better president than Obama when it comes to military and foreign policy.
Nader believes Obama is "more aggressive" and "more illegal."
He says Obama has stated he has the "authority to kill an American citizen or citizens anywhere in the world if he suspects them of trouble, like he is the prosecutor, judge, jury, executioner, and cover-upper, because it's all secret."
It is disgusting the way most Leftists give Obama a pass on virtually everything. They were so critical of President Bush (on virtually everything), but they appear to have no problem with Obama's "aggressive" and "illegal" behavior.
About 120,000 homes and businesses in New York and New Jersey are still waiting for power come back on after superstorm Sandy swept through the area two weeks ago, followed by a nor'easter.
The Long Island Power Authority in New York still has the most customers out at about 100,000 as of Monday morning. Most of the rest are in New Jersey.
The totals don't include the tens of thousands of homes that are too damaged to have electricity turned back on. And Consolidated Edison, which serves New York City, says damaged equipment affected thousands and needs to be inspected and repaired before power comes back.
The prolonged lack of electricity as well as dearth of information about when it will be restored has angered residents and government officials alike.
Hundreds of residents protested Saturday outside LIPA's office, frustrated by its slow response to the outages.
Power restoration has been slower in Long Island than in other areas hit by the storm. Some of the blacked out homes and businesses the utility serves may not have power restored until the end of Tuesday, LIPA said.
"We are sitting in a cold house. No one comes by," said John Mangin of Levittown, N.Y. "There should be criminal charges against the CEO and the executive board of LIPA for failure to do their jobs."
Mangin was among about 300 people who were staging the rally.
Why not blame Obama?
Why doesn't the buck stop with him?
With Katrina, the buck stopped with President Bush.
If anyone in the press had the audacity to hold Obama accountable for the situation, I'm sure Obama would manage to blame Bush anyway.
I expected an enormous crowd to greet Obama and Springsteen in Madison. I thought it would be smaller than the alleged 80,000 that John Kerry and Bruce Springsteen drew in Madison on October 28, 2004.
Springsteen, who is traveling with the Kerry campaign for the last five days of the election drive, opened his two-song set with "Promised Land." In the song, he urges people to "blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted."
Then he spoke directly to the audience. "I've been writing songs about America for thirty year, about what America stands for, and what America fights for," he said. "The essential ideas of America's identity are what is at stake November 2."
He praised Kerry for honoring America's ideals, for addressing issues of economic justice, health care, civil rights, the environment, for advocating "a sane and responsible foreign policy," and for "safeguarding our precious democracy."
He said Kerry has "an adult view" of our place in the world and "understands that we are not infallible." He said Kerry has helped America face its "hard truths" and find a "deeper patriotism" and will "make our world a better and a safer place."
Springsteen invoked the name of Paul Wellstone, mentioning that the late Senator from Minnesota had a saying, "The future is for the passionate." To that, Springsteen added: "Well, the future is now, and let your passions loose. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting."
He ended with Kerry's anthem, "No Retreat, No Surrender," which contains the line, "I want to sleep underneath peaceful skies."
After the song, Kerry bounded onto the stage and clasped Springsteen's hand and praised him for singing about real people. "The people he sings about," said Kerry, "are the people we need to fight for and have representation for in the White House."
Then Kerry cracked a joke: "When George Bush heard the Boss was going to be with me today, he thought I was talking about Dick Cheney."
So how many showed up today for the Obama-Springsteen version of the rally, the day before the election?
Bruce Springsteen plays four songs, does an impersonation of President Barack Obama and introduces the president before a crowd of 18,000 in Madison.
Springsteen took the stage around 10:30 a.m. Monday and joked about how early it was to be playing music, "particularly if you don't have a voice."
Springsteen played acoustic guitar and harmonica and opened with "No Surrender" followed by "The Promised Land." His third song had the refrain "Four More Years" and included the line ""So I came to Wisconsin looking for a date, we kissed and I said it was a hell of a state."
Springsteen closed with "Land of Hope and Dreams."
Good grief, why would Springsteen open with John Kerry's campaign anthem, "No Surrender"?
Why stir memories of loser Kerry and his losing campaign?
Way to fire up a crowd!
Eighteen thousand is a lot smaller than what I expected. That's not even 25 percent of the crowd size in 2004.
Furthermore, the 18,000 - 20,000 figure may be inflated. The MacIver Institute reports that Madison Capitol police said 10,000 could fit in the two block area hosting the rally. As it turned out, there was little crowd overflow.
Whatever the actual attendance was, enthusiasm for Obama/Springsteen is not high, not even close to the enthusiasm for Kerry/Springsteen.
Video from the MacIver Institute:
Compare this photo from the Obama rally to the photo from the Kerry rally:
Obama will be in Madison on Monday. Bruce Springsteen will be there to help Obama draw a crowd.
Springsteen is doing a repeat performance of sorts. He joined John Kerry on the stump in Madison on October 28, 2004, before a crowd estimated at 80,000.
Springsteen, who is traveling with the Kerry campaign for the last five days of the election drive, opened his two-song set with "Promised Land." In the song, he urges people to "blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted."
Then he spoke directly to the audience. "I've been writing songs about America for thirty year, about what America stands for, and what America fights for," he said. "The essential ideas of America's identity are what is at stake November 2."
He praised Kerry for honoring America's ideals, for addressing issues of economic justice, health care, civil rights, the environment, for advocating "a sane and responsible foreign policy," and for "safeguarding our precious democracy."
He said Kerry has "an adult view" of our place in the world and "understands that we are not infallible." He said Kerry has helped America face its "hard truths" and find a "deeper patriotism" and will "make our world a better and a safer place."
Springsteen invoked the name of Paul Wellstone, mentioning that the late Senator from Minnesota had a saying, "The future is for the passionate." To that, Springsteen added: "Well, the future is now, and let your passions loose. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting."
He ended with Kerry's anthem, "No Retreat, No Surrender," which contains the line, "I want to sleep underneath peaceful skies."
After the song, Kerry bounded onto the stage and clasped Springsteen's hand and praised him for singing about real people. "The people he sings about," said Kerry, "are the people we need to fight for and have representation for in the White House."
Then Kerry cracked a joke: "When George Bush heard the Boss was going to be with me today, he thought I was talking about Dick Cheney."
Good grief.
Of course, Kerry lost to George W. Bush. He won Wisconsin, but lost the election.
The crowd of 80,000 was impressive, but, in the long run, meaningless.
Crowd size in Madison today at the Obama rally may be impressive, too. But a crowd in Madison doesn't translate into victory.
President Barack Obama told Rolling Stone that Mitt Romney is a "bullshitter." Mike Allen reports:
FIRST LOOK – Rolling Stone cover, “Obama and the Road Ahead: The Rolling Stone Interview,” by Douglas Brinkley: “We arrived at the Oval Office for our 45-minute interview … on the morning of October 11th. … As we left the Oval Office, executive editor Eric Bates told Obama that he had asked his six-year-old if there was anything she wanted him to say to the president. … [S]he said, ‘Tell him: You can do it.’ Obama grinned. … ‘You know, kids have good instincts,’ Obama offered. ‘They look at the other guy and say, “Well, that’s a bullshitter, I can tell.”’”
Obama, Mr. Cool Guy, a sitting president, talking to Rolling Stone, refers to Mitt Romney as a "bullshitter."
Why would he use that word?
It could be his desperation is showing, feeling his presidency slipping away.
It could be Obama's comments were calculated, trying to connect to a younger demographic.
Whatever, Obama is an embarrassment.
The Left went berserk when as a candidate in 2000, George W. Bush was overheard talking to Dick Cheney at a campaign appearance, calling New York Times reporter Adam Clymer a "major league asshole."
For example, Anne Kornblut and Glen Johnson wrote in an article published September 5, 2000, "Vulgar Comment by Bush About Reporter Is Caught on Live Mike."
This was supposed to be a terrible embarrassment for Bush as well as revealing about his character. The spin was this remark should disqualify him to be president. It was insight into the real Bush.
Now, we have Obama totally comfortable with going ON THE RECORD that the Republican nominee for president is a "bullshitter."
So Bush had a hot mic incident about an adversarial liberal reporter while Obama openly trashes Gov. Romney, his opponent, with a "vulgar comment."
The double standard once again rears its hypocritical head.
Isn't Obama the guy who gave a big dramatic speech calling for civility in our political discourse?
Doesn't Obama have a filter, reining in the inappropriate language?
Where is the gravitas?
Apparently, Obama is content with talking like a punk rather than behaving like the brilliant, distinguished leader he's supposed to be.
Question: Who is truly the presidential candidate doing the bullshitting?
Tom Logan lost his 22-year-old son, USMC Cpl. Joseph D. Logan, in Afghanistan.
It's the worst news a parent can receive, that one's child is dead.
My heart breaks for the Logan family and all the others experiencing the same pain.
Obama often refers to the heart-wrenching process of writing letters of condolence to the families of the fallen.
Turns out, those letters, at least some of them, are FORM LETTERS.
Gateway Pundit confirms: "Obama Sent Same Form Letter to Parents of All Fallen Soldiers, Marines, SEALs."
Apparently, the compassionate Obama, always campaigning and fundraising and golfing, just doesn't have time to write a personal letter to the grieving families.
A man who lost a son to the war in Afghanistan is disappointed in the condolence letter he received from President Barack Obama.
Tom Logan, a Willis resident, calls the note late, impersonal, disrespectful and essentially a form letter.
"It opened up a wound in our heart you can't fix. You can't send another letter. You can't make it right," Logan said.
Logan's son, USMC Cpl. Joseph D. Logan, was killed Jan. 19, 2012, along with five other men when the helicopter they were in crashed.
Joey Logan was 22.
"He would have been more mad about this than I am," Tom Logan said.
Tom Logan said he believes Obama did little more than sign his name to the document. He believes his son deserved more.
Local 2 Investigates examined two other letters sent by Obama to families of soldiers killed in action. The one-page typed condolence letters were identical other than names, ranks and service branches.
...[University of Houston Professor and Historian Nancy Beck] Young examined the letter written to Tom Logan, which arrived by UPS truck four months after his son's death.
"I would agree, this is a personal sacrifice and an impersonal condolence," Young said.
Young said that it appears Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, wrote more personal, individualized, sometimes hand-written notes to the families of soldiers.
