Obama's extravagant vacations

The Washington Examiner has a story on the Obama vacations. I would like to know if any other president has made such an expensive vacation trip just for a chance to play golf. I understand why a president who is on vacation might spend time playing golf, but going on a trip just to play golf?

Golf vacation

2013, Feb. 16-18, President Obama flew to Palm Springs, Ca., for three days of golf.
2013, June 26–July 2, Michelle toured African nations with Sasha and Malia after meeting up with president.
2014, March 8-9, the president and first lady traveled to Key Largo, Fla., for a golfing vacation.
2015, Feb. 15-17, President Obama traveled again to Palm Springs for a boys weekend of golf.

How about the first lady taking exotic trips with just her and her children?

2010, August 4-8, Michelle Obama, daughter Sasha and an entourage travel to Spain. Judicial Watch pegged the cost at $467,000
2011, Feb. 19-21, Michelle, Sasha and Malia travel to Vail to ski and hit a restaurant that served pickled pumpkin salad and braised ancho-chile short rib.
2011, March 21-25, Obama, Michelle, Sasha and Malia, on spring break, on a working vacation to Latin America were the girls took in Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue.
2012, Feb. 17-19, Michelle and her daughters traveled to Aspen to ski.
2013, Feb. 15-18, Michelle Obama and her two daughters ski in Aspen, Co.
2014, Feb. 14-17, Michelle Obama with daughters Sasha and Malia for a ski vacation in Aspen, Co.
2014, March 19-26, Michelle Obama, her mom and daughter Sasha and Malia spend a spring break in China.

Obama administration scrapped 16 aircraft that cost US taxpayers $500 million for $32,000, apparently didn't consider alternative

From Reuters:

A U.S. government watchdog agency is asking the Air Force to explain why it decided to destroy 16 aircraft initially bought for the Afgan air force and turn them into $32,000 of scrap metal instead of finding other ways to salvage nearly $500 million in U.S. funds spent on the program. 

John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, asked Air Force Secretary Deborah James to document all decisions made about the destruction of the 16 C-27J aircraft that were stored at Kabul International Airport for years . . . 

"I am concerned that the officials responsible for planning and executing the scrapping of the planes may not have considered other possible alternatives in order to salvage taxpayer dollars." Sopko said in a letter to James that was dated Oct. 3 and released Thursday by his office. 

Sopko also asked if any other parts of the planes had been sold before they were destroyed by the Defense Logistics Agency. 

Sopko's office has been investigating the matter since December 2013 after numerous non-profit groups and military officials raised questions about funds wasted on the planes. . . .

Your tax dollars at work: US Forest Service spends money telling us how to roast marshmallows and what we should be eating on those camping trips

Can't people look up on the internet how to roast marshmallows?  Yes, they can.  Indeed, posts exist that even have pictures to show you how to do it.  In case you didn't know it, you can find out how to roast marshmallows over a candle or a toaster oven or a regular oven.  But in case all the many posts aren't enough for you or you can't find enough information on what we should be eating, the Obama administration has decided it should spend our tax dollars on writing up things such as this:

Now, let’s get to the marshmallow basics. Use a roasting stick of at least 30 inches in length. The degree a marshmallow is roasted runs the gamut, from the barely cooked, light caramel-colored outer layer to the flaming marshmallow that contains a gooey interior wrapped by a crispy, blackened shell. From there, most people graduate to s’mores and rarely move on. 

But there are some innovative ways to roast the little white treats that can help cut down on the amount of sugar intake by the kids, thus making bedtime a little more doable.
Think fruit. 

Even if the kids – including us older ones – insist on more traditional s’mores, there are some healthy tricks. Grill thin slices of pineapple and substitute chocolate for the sweet, warm fruit. You will still get a tasty treat but by substituting with fruit, it is healthier – as long as you watch the amount of marshmallows used. If you want to cut down even more on calories, try using slices of angel food cake instead of graham crackers. 

You can also get a little inventive and move away from s’mores. 

Grab a small bag of chocolate or peanut butter chips – or a combination of the two. Take a banana and slice one side open, exposing the fruit but leaving the peel intact. Slice the banana, add a few chocolate chips then top with tiny marshmallows. Or substitute the chips for blueberries from the local farmer’s market. Place the banana in aluminum foil and wrap tightly. Place the foil-wrapped fruit next to but not on the flames. Wait five to 10 minutes or enough time for the chips and marshmallows to melt. Open and enjoy with a spoon. . . .

Last year Government gave $100B to people likely not entitled to receive them, congress thinks that the waste is greater

So much for Obama controlling waste and fraud.  From Politico:

By its own estimate, the government made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them — tax credits to families that didn’t qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary. 

Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher. 

The Obama administration has reduced the amount of improper payments since they peaked in 2010. Still, estimates from federal agencies show that some are wasting big money at a time when Congress is squeezing agency budgets and looking to save more. 

“Nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money is wasted through improper payments, but the federal government’s own astounding estimate is more than half a trillion dollars over the past five years,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. “The fact is, improper payments are staggeringly high in programs designed to help those most in need — children, seniors and low-income families.” . . .

$1.2 billion in tax dollars wasted on Obamacare contractor?

Obama administration plans to destroy $1.2 billion of ammunition

With the military facing severe cutbacks, the Obama administration is giving away vehicles and destroying ammunition.  With Americans already complaining about an ammunition shortage, this move is only going to stoke conspiracy theories. Destroying ammunition is one way to drive up the price.  From USA Today:

The Pentagon plans to destroy more than $1 billion worth of ammunition although some of those bullets and missiles could still be used by troops, according to the Pentagon and congressional sources. 

It's impossible to know what portion of the arsenal slated for destruction — valued at $1.2 billion by the Pentagon — remains viable because the Defense Department's inventory systems can't share data effectively, according to a Government Accountability Office report obtained by USA TODAY. 

The result: potential waste of unknown value. . . .

Is California's $70 billion high-speed train obsolete before it is even built? A colossal waste of money?

With California and US taxpayers on the hook for $70 billion to build a train across the state starting this year, Elon Musk might have already made it a waste of money.  The government would have a slower, more costly way of moving people that few would want to use.  Musk isn't promising to make this system operate, but he is arguing that it could be done.  From Bloomberg Businessweek:

Almost a year after Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX, first floated the idea of a superfast mode of transportation, he has finally revealed the details: a solar-powered, city-to-city elevated transit system that could take passengers and cars from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. In typical Musk fashion, the Hyperloop, as he calls it, immediately poses a challenge to the status quo—in this case, California’s $70 billion high-speed train that has been knocked by Musk and others as too expensive, too slow, and too impractical. 

In Musk’s vision, the Hyperloop would transport people via aluminum pods enclosed inside of steel tubes. He describes the design as looking like a shotgun with the tubes running side by side for most of the journey and closing the loop at either end. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart, and the pods inside would travel up to 800 miles per hour. Some of this Musk has hinted at before; he now adds that pods could ferry cars as well as people. “You just drive on, and the pod departs,” Musk toldBloomberg Businessweek in his first interview about the Hyperloop. . . .

How Obama's stimulus bill opened up the floodgates for food stamps making it extremely easy for people to qualify

Everyone should be outraged by this abuse of the food stamp program.  Obama's changes have made it so that this bum, Jason Greenslate, can "surf every day, it is wonderful man, just get away from everything and clear your head.  Get out with the boys and have a good time" on the taxpayer dime without having to be weighed down with a job (video is available here).  I would be interested in seeing anyone defend Obama's changes to the program after watching the video link.

Patrick Caddell describes how this video left him speechless.

Let me put it this way, my jaw hit the floor. Earlier this week I was able to screen a portion of this Friday’s Fox News documentary “The Great Food Stamp Binge,” hosted by Bret Baier. It airs Friday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. This investigation focuses on a federal program called SNAP, or "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program." . . . 

All this change is a direct result of the Obama administration's surreptitious undermining of the law in the Stimulus Act in 2009 and the disingenuous gutting of President Clinton's overwhelmingly successful Welfare Reform law. This was achieved by administrative fiat in 2010. . . . 

Take this example, from "The Great Food Stamp Binge," of what is nothing short of social engineering or reeducation. In North Carolina social workers actually got an award for breaking down the “Mountain Pride” that makes some from that state reluctant or unwilling to take handouts.  They actively fought the tradition of tightening your belt and taking care of yourself when times get tough. . . .

Will government caused flight delays mean more fines for airlines?

The full airline petition can be read here.  The Obama administration is refusing to comment on their request.  Here is an article from The Hill newspaper.

A pair of airline lobbying groups is asking the Department of Transportation (DOT) to not count flights that were delayed because of the sequester from its usual tally of late airplanes.  . . .
But in a petition submitted to the DOT this week, Airlines for America (A4A) and the Regional Airline Association (RAA) said flights were held back in April because of air traffic controller furloughs that were attributed to the sequester. 
“Airlines for America and the Regional Airline Association ... hereby request that the Department grant a limited exemption ... that would exclude all flights in the month of April 2013 from the ‘chronically delayed flight’ designation/status due to the substantial delays and disruption to air travel that occurred from the Federal Aviation Administration decision to implement daily ground delays and reduce air traffic control personnel as part of its sequestration implementation plan adopted in response to the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012,” the groups wrote in their petition.The FAA purposely delayed flights at major airports from April 21-27 because the agency furloughed about 10 percent of its air traffic controllers in response to the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester. Congress quickly passed abill to give the FAA flexibility to move money around in its budget to end the flight delays as passenger complaints mounted.  . . .

What is it with the Obama administration and these extravagant conferences for government bureaucrats?

From The Hill newspaper:

The head of Human Resources for the Veterans Affairs Department resigned after an inspector general’s (IG) report found that the agency spent $6.1 million on two weeklong conferences. 

The 142-page IG report investigated about $762,000 in “unauthorized, unnecessary, and/or wasteful expenses” during two conferences held in Orlando, Fla., that included $49,516 to produce a parody video of the late-Gen. George S. Patton. . . . 

$1.4 billion spent on the Obama family last year

Presumably this comparison to the British Royal family is somewhat unfair given that the president needs to do a lot of entertaining and traveling.  But a lot of the individual costs shown in the Daily Caller piece are pretty outrageous:

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.

In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.

Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in.

Gray told The Daily Caller that the $1.4 billion spent on the Obama family last year is the “total cost of the presidency,” factoring the cost of the “biggest staff in history at the highest wages ever,” a 50 percent increase in the numbers of appointed czars and an Air Force One “running with the frequency of a scheduled air line.” . . . .