PriceLess

8 beers - $32
2 plane tickets - $1000
1 Day of a Harvard Professor's time - $500
1 Day of the Vice Presidents time - $850
1 Day of the President's time - $1,000

Watching 3 crooks apologize to an honest cop" - PRICELESS!

Obamanation _ It is all American

Date Night cost $1,000,000.00

Three days before "dinner" a C-17 flew Marines and the helicopter
maintenance equipment to JFK Airport. The day before "dinner" I flew
the USSS and the motorcade to JFK Airport. Our crew of 5 spent two days

and nights at the Hilton in Times Square. My hotel bill: $621.66 plus
$64 a day in per diem. The USSS guys were at a different Hilton in NYC,

so figure that cost another $14,000 (or so) plus per diem. The Marines
had to have cost as much and were there four days, so figure another
$55,000 plus per diem (for 44 Marines).

We were supposed to fly the motorcade back and go home, but the Air
Force was so short C-17s that we were re-tasked to take the motorcade
back, return to JFK and take the helicopter back to Quantico.

When we got back to JFK, while the pilot was turning the plane around to

park, he noticed a roto blade sticking out of the hangar where the
helicopter was parked and informed me that either it wasn't ready to
transport or it was flying home. After shutting down I walked over to
the hangar and to my surprise I find FIVE helicopters, not ONE.

We're obviously not transporting five big helicopters. I went and
talked to the Marines guarding the "fleet" and found that they were
flying all five helicopters home, and we were only transporting the
Marines and the maintenance equipment.. After talking to the Marine in
charge, I was told that the White House requested FIVE helicopters. The

Marines told me that they spent all morning trying to figure out how
much it cost them to come and said they figured it cost them $140,000 to

stay there (I don't know where they came up with that) and the trip's
total had to be about $1,000,000.

We heard that the President didn't use Air Force One (the 747), so I
asked if he came in on one of the 757s. I was told that he came in on
THREE Air Force Lear jets.

So, date night consisted of:
2 C-17s flying three missions;
3 Lear jets;
5 Helicopters;
Presidential Motorcade;
44 Marines;
More than 20 USSS personnel on our plane; and
Who knows what it cost the NYPD and NY Port Authority (at the
airport) in overtime.

If you remember the message I sent about the Trinidad mission for the
Summit of the America's, I found out that they spent their entire budget

for his movement on that one trip.

Stan

I wondered how the general public was feeling about our President.

I am upset with the course our country has taken. Are You? We now have the executive branch making and passing laws. Leaving out the Legislative branch completely.

The USA owns car companies. Passed the bankruptcy phase and gave stock to the employee unions. It owns banks! Is printing 2, 3, 10 trillion Dollars? I cannot keep track and I don't think anyone really knows.



He is working on the Judicial branch as well. With the attitude of ruling with your understanding and life experiences.



Is our Legislative branch going to get the courage to stand on their principles? Stand up for our constitution.



Now, USA Medical care. OH, so we have to spend more on health care to reduce the debt. This guy is nuts. Please let me know what you think!

Obama Cars

UAW members approve General Motors concessions

By KIMBERLY S. JOHNSON and TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writers)

From Associated Press

May 29, 2009 1:35 PM EDT

DETROIT - The United Auto Workers union has ratified a package of concessions designed to reduce General Motors Corp.'s labor costs.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a news conference Friday that 74 percent of GM's 54,000 U.S. production and skilled-trade workers voted in favor of the deal.

The vote comes before an expected Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing by GM on Monday. Bankruptcy experts say having the labor agreement in place will help move the process through court more quickly.

The UAW says the cuts will save GM $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion a year.

"We very much appreciate the support of our employees and retirees," Diana Tremblay, GM vice president for labor relations, said in a statement. "Their shared sacrifices will enable GM to become a stronger, more viable company that will continue to deliver world-class cars and trucks."

UAW leaders agreed to the revised contract last week that freezes wages, ends bonuses, eliminates noncompetitive work rules and ends the possibility of a strike until the next contract expires in 2015.

It also gives a union-run retiree health care trust 17.5 percent ownership of a post-bankruptcy protection GM, with a warrant to buy another 2.5 percent. The trust will take on the company's retiree health care costs starting next year. The stock will come in exchange for part of the company's $20 billion obligation to the trust.

GM has received $19.4 billion in loans from the U.S. government, which would get 72.5 percent ownership of the new company, perhaps sharing with the Canadian government. The remaining 10 percent would go to GM bondholders to wipe out $27 billion in unsecured debt.

Bondholders have until 5 p.m. EDT Saturday to accept or reject the stock-for-debt offer, under which they would get a warrant for an additional 15 percent of the new GM's stock.

Existing GM shareholders would be left with little or nothing, and GM shares fell 32 cents, or 29 percent, to 80 cents in afternoon trading. They fell as low as 75 cents earlier Friday, their lowest level since the Great Depression.

Plans are for GM to emerge from bankruptcy with lower labor costs, far less debt and with fewer factories, brands, models and dealerships.

Even workers at factories in Spring Hill, Tenn.; Pontiac, Mich.; and Orion Township, Mich., that are under discussion for possible closure approved the deal.

"I believe that our membership understands. They get it," said Ray Wood, president of a UAW local at a Toledo, Ohio, transmission factory that voted 78 percent in favor of the deal.

On Monday, GM is to identify 14 assembly, parts stamping and engine and transmission factories that it plans to close as part of its restructuring plan, cutting 21,000 jobs.

GM announced earlier Friday that one of those 14 plants would be retooled to make subcompact cars starting in 2011.

Gettelfinger said four of GM's plants slated to close will remain on "standby" with the hopes that vehicle sales will rise, creating greater demand.

So, What does the world Think

London Daily Mail editorial 11/9


Here's an editorial from the London Daily Mail on 11/9 - nothing more needs to be said:


Obama's Victory


A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her, comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama-worshippers everywhere. A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done little with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found the cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor with his teeth. Victory for style over substance, hyperbole over history, rabble-raising over reality. A victory for Hollywood, the most dysfunctional community in the world. Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros and Sarandon. Victory for those who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For those who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step with meagre political fashion. Victory for a man who is no friend of freedom. He and his people have already stated that media has to be controlled so as to be balanced, without realizing the extraordinary irony within that statement. Like most liberal zealots, the Obama worshippers constantly speak of Fox and Limbaugh, when the vast bulk of television stations and newspapers are drastically liberal and anti-conservative. Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said that just as pornography should be censored, so should talk radio. In other words, one of the few free and open means of popular expression may well be cornered and beaten by bullies who even in triumph cannot tolerate any criticism and opposition. A victory for those who beli eve the state is better qualified to raise children than the family, for those who prefer teachers' unions to teaching and for those who are naively convinced that if the West is sufficiently weak towards its enemies, war and terror will dissolve as quickly as the tears on the face of a leftist celebrity. A victory for social democracy even after most of Europe has come to the painful conclusion that social democracy leads to mediocrity, failure, unemployment, inflation, higher taxes and economic stagnation. A victory for intrusive lawyers, banal sentimentalists, social extremists and urban snobs.

Obama's Cabinet

In Cabinet, Obama goes for experience, pragmatism

By CHARLES BABINGTON (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

December 20, 2008 4:30 PM EST

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has wholeheartedly embraced experience in choosing his Cabinet. That may seem at odds with the president-elect's campaign theme of "change we can believe in." But some Democratic activists and nonpartisan analysts say it makes sense, given the dire economy and public anxiety.

Obama has tapped senators and representatives, governors and veteran bureaucrats to help him confront the challenges of two wars, a crippled financial system and a deepening recession.

"In uncertain times, Americans find it much more comforting that the people who are going to be advising the president are steeped in experience," said Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker. "A Cabinet of outsiders would have been very disquieting."

To be sure, Obama's inner circle includes far more veterans of elected office and federal agencies than government newcomers.

More so than his recent predecessors, he has drawn heavily from the Senate for top advisers. His choices for secretary of state (Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York), interior secretary (Ken Salazar of Colorado) and vice president (Joe Biden of Delaware) were fellow senators. Tom Daschle, named health secretary, was the Senate Democratic leader from South Dakota until he lost his seat in 2004.

From the House, Obama has plucked Reps. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois as his chief of staff, Hilda Solis of California for labor secretary and just-retired Republican Ray LaHood of Illinois for transportation secretary.

He also settled on three prominent current or former governors for the Cabinet: Bill Richardson of New Mexico for commerce secretary, Janet Napolitano of Arizona at homeland security and Tom Vilsack, who stepped down as Iowa governor two years ago, for agriculture secretary.

Several appointees had ambitions far beyond their state borders. Vilsack, Richardson, Biden and Clinton sought the presidential nomination that Obama won. Daschle considered running for president as well.

Obama also came down on the side of experience in filling other Cabinet posts. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a holdover from President George W. Bush's administration and a former CIA director under Bush's father. Attorney General-designee Eric Holder was deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton.

Timothy Geithner, the choice for treasury secretary, is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Lawrence Summers, Obama's National Economic Council director, is a former treasury secretary.

For the most part, Obama's Cabinet has been well received by both Democrats and Republicans, although some Democrats have complained that Obama's team will not do enough to shake up the status quo on matters such as the Iraq war, oversight of the financial industry, and trade.

Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk's nomination to be U.S. Trade Representative, for example, drew fire from groups that say current policies have shipped too many jobs overseas and allowed unsafe imports to enter the country.

"I am deeply concerned" that Kirk's past positions "do not reflect the reform agenda that President Obama has pledged," said Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, co-founder of the House Trade Working Group.

High-profile Cabinet members such as Gates and Hillary Clinton have drawn the most attention. But the few Washington newcomers in the group may end up playing bigger roles in Obama's bid to make break sharply from Bush administration policies.

Energy Secretary-designee Steven Chu, for example, pledges to give prominence to scientific research and efforts to combat global warming, two areas that many contend were slighted by Bush. Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, has been a vocal advocate of aggressive action to deal with climate change.

By most counts, Obama has fulfilled his promise to have the most diverse Cabinet in history. Of his nominees for jobs generally considered "Cabinet level," fewer than half are white men.

Three are Latino (Richardson, Salazar and Solis). Four are black (Kirk, Holder, U.N. Ambassador nominee Susan Rice and Environmental Protection Agency pick Lisa Jackson). Two are Asian-American (Chu and Eric K. Shinseki, Obama's pick for veterans affairs secretary).

But Obama fell short, Baker said, in picking full-throated Republicans for his Cabinet. Gates, staying on as defense secretary, has not confirmed that he is a Republican, and LaHood often annoyed GOP leaders by refusing to walk the party line on key issues.

All in all, however, Obama has put in place a diverse team in which almost no one appears to have been chosen mainly to fill a gender or ethnic slot, said Norm Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute.

"To be able to get that mix of Hispanics and African-Americans and Asians and women is really impressive," he said.

The overall team, Ornstein said, "is a collection of very strong individuals and people known for their pragmatism."

It may not please liberal activists who want sweeping change in Washington, he said, but it reflects a pragmatic new president facing some of the toughest challenges in modern times.

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