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It's Time for the "L" word


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I appreciate your balance on most items, but everyone knows this is a temper tantrum by the WH.

 

It is a legitimate cost-cutting measure...but I didn't say it couldn't be both. In this case, it actually can be both a dessert topping and a floor polish.

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Jumping the Sequester :When the president canceled White House tours, he revealed his claims as ludicrous.

 

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?

 

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.

 

{snip}

 

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.

 

 

<a href="http://online.wsj.co...Opinion_LEADTop

Edited by B-Man
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From Politico:

 

Obama’s Negotiating Skills Not Getting Rave Reviews.

 

“He’s still a law professor. He’d rather lecture you and put a red mark on your paper than talk to you.”

 

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Obama shot his wad when he reneged on the grand deal he had with Boehner. The GOP let him have his hike on the upper upper upper, and now he has no road to more tax increases.

 

Community organizers; every bit the leaders you'd expect them to be.

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Gee, President Obama not only blames someone else for the cancelling of the WH tours, but even gets to play the role of the hero who fixed that mistake.

 

You liberals are a horribly gullible bunch.

 

http://dailycaller.c...te-house-tours/

 

President Barack Obama is blaming the U.S. Secret Service for the politically damaging decision close the popular White House tours, and also suggested he would restart the tours.

 

“You know, I have to say this was not — a decision that went up to the White House,” he claimed in an interview broadcast Wednesday by ABC News.

 

“What the Secret Service explained to us was that they’re gonna have to furlough some folks,” he insisted to ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, who worked as top aide to the nation’s previous Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

 

“Well, what I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups — you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales,” he said. “Can we make sure that — kids, potentially, can — can still come to tour?

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"Well, what I’m asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups — you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales,” he said. “Can we make sure that — kids, potentially, can — can still come to tour?

 

 

 

Oh for God's sake !......does the man have NO leadership ability ?........(rhetorical)

 

Don't ask, if you want it back you TELL them

 

 

 

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What is funny about this issue is that everybody seems to ignore the obvious fact that WH tours not being held for a period of time is...literally...nothing. About the furthest thing from mattering anything could be

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What is funny about this issue is that everybody seems to ignore the obvious fact that WH tours not being held for a period of time is...literally...nothing. About the furthest thing from mattering anything could be

 

But children from some school in BFE made a viral video begging the president to continue the tours because...you know...CHILDREN! We must do it for the CHILDREN!

 

Obama got what he wanted by shutting it down...kiddies crying. Unfortunately for Obama and libs everywhere, he didn't realize the world is catching up to his moronic attempts to look successful by blaming everyone else for his ineptitude. This would explain all the poll numbers plummeting and him pretending to suddenly want to talk to Republicans.

 

Byron York pretty much summed it up on Greta last night. He needs to do all this so when he starts a war in a sprint to gain the house in 2014, he can stand around saying "Look, I tried to reason with these GOP people. But they left me no choice. We now must kill them."

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This just in; following Obama blaming the Secret Service for cancelling WH tours, Jay Carney says the WH actually canceled the tours based on the recommendation of the Secret Service, who they agreed with, but who also recommended what the WH agreed to even though the Secret Service did what the WH agreed they should do.

 

Again, I ask...who's driving this car? Stevie Wonder?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sqFX4AVoWkc

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White House press secretary Jay Carney earlier today refused to disclose the cost to the American taxpayers of the president’s golf outings. The question, from
ABC’s Jonathan Karl
, came on the heels of Carney’s claim that White House tours had been canceled as a result of the sequester because they are “labor intensive.”

 

 

 

 

But taking a helicopter, a wide-body jet and a 40-car motorcade to play golf with Tiger Woods isn’t?

 

 

These guys aren’t even trying anymore.

 

 

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Edited by B-Man
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Harry Reid tries to make a point about sequester "on the backs of these dead Marines."

 

FIrst Harry's words...

 

HARRY REID: As I indicated, it was quite a big explosion. We'll follow this news very closely. I will do whatever I can going forward to support the United States military and the families of the fallen Marines.

 

Mr. President, it's very important we continue training our military, so important. But one of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. That's the way sequester was written. Now, the bill that's on the floor, we hope to pass today helps that a little bit. At least in the next six months, it allows the military some degree of ability to move things around a little bit. Flexibility, we call it, and that's good. But we have to be very vigilant. This sequester should go away. We have cut already huge amounts of money in deficit reduction. It's just not appropriate, Mr. President, that our military can't train and do the maintenance necessary.

 

These men and women, our Marines were training there in Hawthorne. And with this sequester, it's going to cut back this stuff. I just hope everyone understands the sacrifices made by our military. They are significant, being away from home, away from families, away from their country.

 

Dude has lost his skull.

 

From NBC News:

 

NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports: Now I can tell you, Marine Corps officials this afternoon are taking a strong exception to what Harry Reid implied. Saying that this this exercise, for example, was planned well in advance, had nothing to do with the budget cuts. There were no corners cut, and if they couldn't afford to have all the safety precautions into place, they wouldn't do the exercise.

 

And in fact, one Marine Corps official told us a short time ago that he considers this nothing but pure political posturing on the backs of these dead Marines.

 

http://realclearpoli...ad_marines.html

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Harry Reid tries to make a point about sequester "on the backs of these dead Marines."

 

FIrst Harry's words...

 

 

 

Dude has lost his skull.

 

From NBC News:

 

 

 

http://realclearpoli...ad_marines.html

 

In fact, Mr. Reid, reducing training would reduce training accidents...so further budget cuts should prevent incidents like this.

 

Moron.

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Vice President Joe Biden’s one-day trips to Paris and London in February cost American taxpayers more than $1 million, according to multiple reports.

 

Biden and his security detail rung up a $585,000.50 tab for a single night on Feb. 4 at the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, a luxurious five-star hotel near the Louvre Museum, The Weekly Standard reports.

 

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail in London reports that Biden’s group spent $459,388.65 for one night on Feb. 5 at the Hyatt Regency in London, where the vice president met with Prime Minister David Cameron.

 

The contract for the London trip specified that Biden’s crew required 136 hotel rooms for that one-night stay, The Daily Mail reports.

 

Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, accompanied him to Paris on his European trip, which also included a stop in Germany.

 

The Mail reports that Biden’s entourage required more than 100 rooms at Le Grand. One night in the presidential suite there costs more than $3,800.

 

Here’s how the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand is described on its website:

 

“With floodlit views of the Opera House, this superbly renovated luxury hotel is at the heart of Parisian society. Opened in 1862, it defines historical grandeur, from Café de la Paix to La Verriere Restaurant, set in an 800 square metre winter garden. Elegantly appointed, the hotel’s boutique-style suites overlook stunning landmarks. Located … close to the Louvre Museum, shopping, theatre and banking districts, this luxury Paris hotel is an icon in the City of Light.”

 

Reaction was swift to Biden’s lavish spending.

 

“Still no WH tours, but VP Biden’s recent trip to Europe racked up $1mil in hotel room bills,” said U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, among dozens to vent outrage on Twitter.

 

 

© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.<p>

 

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/biden-one-million-hotels/2013/03/22/id/495985?s=al&promo_code=12E7A-1#ixzz2OMuchreQ

Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed?

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Vice President Joe Biden’s one-day trips to Paris and London in February cost American taxpayers more than $1 million, according to multiple reports.

 

Biden and his security detail rung up a $585,000.50 tab for a single night on Feb. 4 at the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, a luxurious five-star hotel near the Louvre Museum

 

Reaction was swift to Biden’s lavish spending.

 

“Still no WH tours, but VP Biden’s recent trip to Europe racked up $1mil in hotel room bills,” said U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, among dozens to vent outrage on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

This can't be true, We are suffering under austerity......everyone says so.

 

 

As little joe would say those are "Big f-in hotel bills".

 

Why can't they stay at American embassies ? Security already in place ....I'm sure that they are fancy too.

 

 

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Edited by B-Man
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