The $100 Million Challenge

Remember a while back Dear Leader asked that government agencies cut their spending by a total of at least $100 million? The White House released the 20-page report yesterday showing where the cuts have been made.

With all of the spending that has been going on, this will be about as effective as peeing over Niagara Falls. Nonetheless, I do applaud the fact that government agencies are scaling back just as the rest of us common folk have had to do.

One thing to remember is that had Barry NOT called for these cuts, they would've been spending the money on what some would call wasteful projects (myself included). My comments will be in purple. Some of the cuts that have been made are:

• The Department of Agriculture’s US Forest Service expects to save $1.8 million in FY 2009 by ceasing to re-paint newly purchased vehicles; (Why would you paint NEW vehicles?)
  

• Numerous agencies will save money by improving energy efficiency and promoting more economical use of resources like water and paper. The Department of the Interior, for example, expects to save almost $1.3 million in utility bills and operating costs by FY 2010 by retrofitting buildings owned by the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service; (Don't break one of those new lightbulbs. The Sierra Club will have a cow!)
  

• The Department of Justice will save an estimated $4 million in FY 2010 by requiring personnel to make their travel arrangements online, rather than relying on travel agents; (Welcome to the world of technology. What took you so long?)
  

• The Navy expects to save over $10 million in FY 2009-10 by modifying maintenance procedures for submarines to reduce costs and focus on the highest priority work; and

• The Department of Education plans to increase its reliance on in-house resources for planning events and conferences. ED will require all D.C.-based conference with attendance of 250 people or less to take place in one of the Department’s two buildings – saving upwards of $65,000 a year. They will also eliminate a contract with outside providers to conduct Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act training to education community stakeholders. Instead, ED will be using existing staff to conduct the training, saving $70,000 for FY 2009. (Using existing resources to save money? What a boffo idea!)

One of my favorites:

Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services: meetings APHIS cancelled a meeting in Australia, saving an estimated $36,000 in travel and per diem. (They were going to Australia for a meeting of domestic issues on our dime. Ain't that nice? They're now thinking of teleconferencing.)

The report lists a total of 77 projects estimated to save $243 million. The rest of the report can be viewed at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/blog/admin_savings_appendix_--_final.pdf.

Now if only the First Family would take a lesson and quit with the lavish vacations!

The White House: European Vacation Cost Won't Be Released

Since 1995, Congress has required that salaries paid to staffers in the West Wing of the White House be made public. This doesn't include White House kitchen or maintenance staff, nor does it include the private chef that flies in from St. Louis to bring deep-dish pizza. All these "official business" family vacations are not included either.

You'll be pleased to learn that it is costing you and I $1,448,500 per year for the staff that Michelle Obama FEELS she needs to execute her duties as First Lady. In comparison, Laura Bush's staff had a budget of $561,325 for annual salaries. What the hell ARE the duties of the First Lady??? Hosting luaus and barbeques at the White House on our dime? And does that warrant almost $1.5 million a year to put together? I can put together a gathering on far less than that! And it'd be fun, too.

Let's not forget the family vacations the Obamas seem to take on a regular basis when Daddy O has "official business". Last month, Michelle and her homegirls went sightseeing in Paris while they were in town for the 65th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. We paid for a huge staff, numerous aircraft, and a motorcade of about 20 cars for the Paris and London sightseeing tours. Right now, they're in Russia while Barry is taking nukes off the table to let the world know "Come hit us again!" This month, the First Family is planning a trip to Martha's Vineyard. Ain't that nice?

CNS is reporting that "the White House will not reveal the cost to taxpayers of the European vacation that first lady Michelle Obama and the president's two daughters, Malia and Sasha, took last month." Why not? Let me 'splain it to yinz.

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report from April 2007 provides guidelines for estimating what the first lady’s passenger flights alone cost in public money. That would not include the cost of the cargo flight, the Secret Service personnel or the cost for meals and lodging of the agents.

The report cited White House Military Office estimates from fiscal year 1998 that said the first lady’s passenger plane costs between $2,958 per hour to operate, while the Air Force estimates it to cost about to $10,789 per hour.

A flight from Washington to Paris would be seven hours and 30 minutes, according to Air Routing International, a company that guides corporate flight planners. A flight from Paris to London would be 40 minutes, and a flight from London to Washington would be seven hours and nine minutes.

If these flight hours are multiplied with the cost per hour estimates in the CRS report, the air travel cost would range from $22,185 to $80,917 for the trip from Washington to Paris. From Paris to London, it would range from $1,952.88 to $7,120.

The return trip from London to Washington would range from $20,706 to $75,523. The varying estimates are based on whether the White House Military Office estimates are used or the higher U.S. Air Force estimates are used.

Combined, the first lady’s air travel cost would have been $44,843.28, under the White House estimate or $163,560.50, under the Air Force estimate, but these estimates are for fiscal year 1998 dollars.

Adjusted for inflation to 2009 dollars, the cost to taxpayers of the Washington-to-Paris-to-London-to-Washington air travel would have ranged from $58,834.02 to $214,591.38, according to the inflation estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Costs associated with these trips, however, generally involve much more than the operational costs of the specific passenger aircraft,” the CRS report says. “When the president travels abroad, several passenger and cargo aircraft accompany Air Force One. When the vice president or first lady make such a trip, a single cargo aircraft accompanies either of them.”

Rules distinguish official and unofficial travel by the first family and administration officials. Official business would include the president meeting with foreign leaders, while unofficial business would include the president traveling to campaign for a candidate of his party or a first family vacation.

“The travel polices of specific administrations concerning the reimbursement of expenses for unofficial travel generally are not publicly available,” the CRS report said.

This takes real cojones. To take vacation after vacation after vacation while the rest of us are watching every dime we spend is elitism at its finest. They don't want the public to know because the seeds of discontent are already sprouting, and once it takes firm hold, it'll be like trying to stop a runaway freight train with a piece of cardboard.

Just think! We've only got 3 years 6 months and 12 days of this crap to go!

Styx Plays the White House Briefing Room

Ok. The title may be a little misleading, but Styx did make an appearance today after Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's briefing. My first thought was: It's not Wednesday! Isn't that Party Day?



The band happened to be in town for a gig. And as the long-haired musicians took questions and posed for pictures, a few members of the media could be heard chanting the lyrics to "Mr. Roboto" and "Come Sail Away." One member of the Obama communications team, laughing at the spectacle, whispered: "This is why I love working in the White House." How about for love of your country, you twit!!!

Asked how they thought the president was doing, drummer Todd Sucherman responded with a thumbs up. Of course they did. What did the press corps THINK they would say?

I've always loved the music of Styx, and, even to this day, I always thought Tommy Shaw was hot. Maybe it's because their music reminds me of my childhood. My mother had every Styx 8-track, and my brother and I listened to them for hours. Even now, I still have "Paradise Theater" on vinyl with the group name and two figureheads on the back (you had to hold the album at an angle to see them). Can a true fan of Styx really have a favorite album? I'm not sure. I'm torn between "Pieces of Eight" and "Paradise Theater", though I lean more towards the former. Much more rock and less pop.

I wish this administration had enough R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the White House to not turn it into a celebrity showcase on an almost daily basis. Barry doesn't realize that he's not occupying a frat house. What's next: toga parties???

Obama to Walpin: You're Fired

Well, who among us couldn't have seen this coming? World Net Daily is reporting that Inspector General Gerald Walpin has been fired by the White House. His crime against Obamamanity? Doing his job.

As Inspector General, Walpin was given the task of investigating waste and fraud within the government. Isn't that a huge undertaking! Walpin uncovered gross misappropriation of AmeriCorps funds by the St. HOPE Academy program – run by Obama supporter and former NBA star Kevin Johnson. Walpin filed two reports of his findings with Congress. Then...BLAMO! Barry says, "You're fired."

"I think you have to look at the facts and the circumstances and reach your conclusions," Walpin said in a WND interview. "I will tell you that [my firing] came only after we had issued those two reports to Congress, and I don't think that's a coincidence."

Further, Walpin said, "I am convinced that I and my office are not guilty of any impropriety. In essence, I was fired for doing my job."

Independent, federal inspectors general are supposed to be granted special protection from political interference – thanks in part to a law co-sponsored by the then-Senator Barack Obama – to ensure that they are free to investigate waste and fraud uninfluenced by political cronyism.

According to the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008, co-sponsored by Obama, inspectors general do not serve at the president's pleasure and therefore cannot be fired without 30 days notice and written cause for the decision sent to Congress.

Walpin says that he was given an ultimatum by White House counsel Norman L. Eisen: Resign within the hour or be fired. Walpin refused to resign. You go, Gerald!!!

We knew Obama was a thug from the Chicago political machine, but countless numbers of people voted for him anyway. It seems that the Gestapo is alive and well.