o'Mrs. Pinocchio - A prisoner in the W.H. "Cry Me A River" [ab absurdo, ad infinitum, ad nauseam]

Michelle Obama in China: "Rare I have the chance to travel"
Hat Tip: RedFlag News

[ "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money," Senator Everett Dirksen. ]

"Because it can sometimes be a little confining, living in the White House is sometimes like living in a “really nice prison,” First Lady Michelle Obama.  “No, there are prison elements to it,” Mrs. Obama responded.  “But it’s a really nice prison, so –”  “But with a chef,” former First Lady Laura Bush reminded the crowd.  

“You can’t complain,” Michelle Obama said. “But there is definitely elements that are confining.” (source: TheBlaze.com)

     'Abroad' :-) Obama's Cost Taxpayers $1.4B, British Royal Family $58M
     (Maggie's Notebook) -- Other than Michelle Obama's trips to Kenya with her husband before he ascended to the Oval Office, I wonder how many opportunities she had to travel outside the U.S.  I doubt there were many until she was graced with taxpayer funding.  By mid 2013, Michelle had visited 14 foreign countries.  In 2013, American taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on "perks" for the Obamas — "biggest staff in history at highest wages ever."  The British taxpayers were hit with only a mere $57.8 million to entertain their royal family.  Don't miss the Daily Caller info below.  Remember who Michelle Obama was just before coming to Washington D.C. to received her taxpayer-paid make-over?
     During her visit to China, first lady Michelle Obama pointed out that the ability to travel outside of the United States was "rare" but that she chose China for a reason.
     "It's very rare that I have the opportunity to travel outside of the United States, and it's even more rare to have the opportunity to travel with three generations — with my daughters, and with my mother," she said.  "And it is no accident that one of our first trips as a family is here to China."
[...]
     By July 3, 2013, Michelle Obama had traveled to Britain, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, Italy, Vatican, Ghana, Denmark, Norway, Haiti, Mexico, Spain, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvadore, Ireland, Botswana, South Africa, The Bahamas, Senegal, and Tanzania — a total of 14 trips abroad by mid-2013.  Seven of these trips are considered personal travel (which may have included Michelle arriving early or staying later).
     Read more at the article's source: http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/47202/

High-Flying Obamas Send Taxpayers $7,396,531.20 Tab

article source: http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/47202/

     Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any worse, President Obama has set a new record for lavish gallivanting at taxpayer expense.  Newly released travel records obtained by Judicial Watch from the U.S. Department of the Air Force reveal that on just three trips taken in 2013, the high-flying Obamas stuck the taxpayers with an astounding tab of $7,396,531.20.  And that was just for flight expenses alone!

     First some background.   From December, 21, 2012, to January, 5, 2013, the Obama family, as is their custom, spent their Christmas vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the president briefly flying back to Washington to work on a budget deal before returning to enjoy his fun in the sun. In early August, 2013, Obama flew to California to dine privately with high-dollar fundraiser DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in the presidential suite at the Hilton Woodland Hills Hotel and to appear for the sixth time on the Jay Leno “Tonight Show.”  Also in August, 2013, the Obama family spent eight days vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, at the $7.6 million home of David Schulte, founder of the private equity firm Chilmark Partners.

     And what was the taxpayer tab for all of this? The records came in response to Freedom of Information lawsuit filed after the stonewalling of requests filed in August 2013:

• The outbound flight to Honolulu for the Obama 2012 – 2013 Christmas vacation cost taxpayers $2, 214, 393.60. The return flight to Washington was $1,871,961.60. The total price for flight expenditures alone came to $4,086,355.20.

• The outbound flight to California in August, 2013 for Obama to dine with high-dollar fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg and appear on the “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” cost taxpayers $1,209,926.40. The return flight to Washington was $935,980.80.   The total price for flight expenditures alone came to $2,145,907.20.

• The outbound flight to Martha’s Vineyard for the Obama family August vacation cost taxpayers $890,323.20.  The return flight to Washington was $273,945.60.  The total price for flight expenditures alone came to $1,164,268.80.

     That’s $7,396,531.20 — in flight expenses alone – for just three of the Obamas’ leisure/political trips.

     In recent years, Judicial Watch has repeatedly gone to court to obtain information about taxpayer funding of lavish vacations for the president and his family.  In October, 2011, Judicial Watch obtained documents pertaining to the full costs of the June 21-27, 2011 trip taken by Michelle Obama, her family, and her staff to South Africa and Botswana.  According to the records obtained from the United States Air Force through a FOIA lawsuit, during the six-day trip, the First Lady and her entourage spent $668.702.01, including hotel and lodging costs of $430,614.18.  This was in addition to the $424,142 taxpayers were billed for the cost of the flight alone, according to earlier documents obtained by Judicial Watch.

     In April, 2012, Judicial Watch obtained documents through a FOIA lawsuit from the United States Air Force and the United States Secret Service detailing costs associated with what the press described as Michelle Obama’s “whirlwind tour on Spain” in August, 2010.  According to a Judicial Watch analysis, the trip, which included visits to coastal towns, shopping and a lunch date with the country’s King and Queen, cost the taxpayers at least $467,585.

     Judicial Watch also obtained records for Michelle Obama’s 2012 Aspen ski outing on Presidents’ Day Weekend.  The total cost for the February, 2012 vacation was at least $83,182.99.  The bill for the Secret Service alone, including accommodations at the deluxe Fasching Haus Condominium and The Inn at Aspen, was $48,950.38. FoxNews.com noted that the trip was the 16th vacation in three years taken by the Obama family.

     The fact is, the Obamas are abusing the public trust and the taxpayers with unnecessary luxurious vacations and travel.  These staggering costs show why these documents were covered-up and we had to sue in federal court to get them.  Another transparency fail for the Obama gang, but thanks to our federal lawsuit it is another accountability win for the American taxpayer.

[ab absurdo, ad infinitum, ad nauseam (latin phrases, source)]

“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said.  “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service,“ Michelle Obama. 

First Lady .. Requires 26 Servants

By Dr. Paul L. Williams (Bio and Archives)  Tuesday, July 7, 2009, Updated August 17, 2009 

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it” 

—Albert Einstein

By the staff of thelastcrusade at http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/13827

We were wrong.

Little did American voters realize the call for “change”  would result in the establishment of an Obama oligarchy.

Recession, Depression, What, Michelle Worry?  Mrs. Obama Demands Small Army of Attendants

     Michelle Obama, as we reported on July 7, is not served by twenty-two attendants who stand by to cater to her every whim.

     She is served by twenty-six attendants, including a hair dresser and make-up artist.

The annual cost to taxpayers for such unprecedented attention is approximately $1,750,000 without taking into account the expense of the lavish benefit packages afforded to every attendant.

     No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties.  But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession.  Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War.  And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.

     How things have changed!  If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:

1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
5. Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
11. Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
14. Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
18. Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
21. Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
22. Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

 Paul L. Williams, Ph.D., is the author of such best-selling books as The Day of Islam, The Al Qaeda Connection, Osama’s Revenge: The Next 9/11, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Crusades and The Vatican Exposed. An award-winning journalist, he is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. - articles by Dr. Paul L. Williams

rfh - note: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/michelle-obamas-staff/

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