Michelle Malkin: Yes, Michelle Obama is fair game

Who will vet the First Lady? It’s Michelle vs. Michelle, Round 2…

Michelle Obama’s “Civilian” Act Is Hard To Swallow
by Michelle Malkin - author of Culture of Corruption
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

The first lady of the United States is on a whirlwind publicity tour for her hefty new food and gardening book ($30)… (American Grown), which the White House hopes will bolster Team Obama’s favorability ratings. I’d say it’s a classic recipe for rank campaign hypocrisy and media double standards.

While journalists savor chummy chitchats with Mrs. Obama about beets and Beyonce, FLOTUS is once again escaping hard questions about her cronyism, junk science and generous junkets at taxpayer expense.

Mrs. Obama’s 2012 campaign media blitz has already brought her to daytime airwaves (“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”), prime-time reality TV (“The Biggest Loser”) and children’s programming (“iCarly”). This week, she’s hitting up “Good Morning America,” “The View,” Rachael Ray’s cooking show, “LIVE! with Kelly (Ripa)” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”… promoting her book American Grown 

Out: Let’s Move! In: Let’s Move … in front of the TV cameras!

My prediction? As soon as the fawning media frenzy dies down and Mrs. Obama’s book rises to the top of The New York Times best-seller list, POTUS will go back to claiming that FLOTUS is a “private citizen” who should be left alone. The Obamas’ Chicago strategists have long enjoyed invoking selective immunity for the first lady without challenge. Lapdog reporters have assisted in creating an impenetrable bubble of political protection around the profligate, policy-meddling first lady.

We’ve seen it before.

When conservatives challenged Mrs. O’s caustic 2008 campaign trail statements disparaging America and fear-mongering for votes, her hubby invoked the “civilian” shield. He threatened Republicans to “lay off his wife,” arguing that political spouses should not be subject to public scrutiny because they didn’t choose public life.

When Mrs. O’s lavish vacation in Spain — accompanied by an entourage of 70 Secret Service agents and 250 Spanish law enforcement officers — provoked a massive public backlash in 2010, then-White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs argued that the first lady was a “private citizen” who should be off-limits to tough questions about her behavior.

Horse-hockey.

Obama’s outspoken bitter half conscientiously and deliberately inserted herself into the public square long before the family moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — whether it was organizing a Woods Fund panel with her husband and Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, taking a publicly subsidized government job with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, or parlaying her relationship with political mentor Valerie Jarrett into a cushy public job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she oversaw a patient-dumping scheme that benefited her political cronies.

As I reported earlier this month, Mrs. Obama’s signature program (now run by Obama’s best golfing buddy Dr. Eric Whitaker) just received a $6 million grant from an Obamacare agency with zero independent oversight. Taste the boodle.

Just a humble private mom raising her two daughters while Dad does all that hardball politics stuff? Pshaw. Let’s not forget that Mrs. Obama leveraged her hubby’s Senate victory to snag a lucrative seat on the corporate board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. despite having zero experience in the industry.

When her garden gloves are off, her political boxing gloves are on. Mrs. O famously has castigated other Americans’ choices in how they earn their money. She used her East Wing power to push Obamacare. She has exploited the bully pulpit to restrict food advertisers’ speech. She has served the SEIU’s legislative agenda of increasing the welfare state and padding membership rolls with more government school workers under the guise of fighting child obesity.

And she has relied on questionable science to declare war on so-called “food deserts” in poor neighborhoods where she claims only fast food is available. But according to two major peer-reviewed and published studies: 1) poor neighborhoods had nearly twice the number of supermarkets and large-scale grocers per square mile as wealthier neighborhoods, and 2) there is no correlation between what students in a large-scale California survey ate, what they weighed and what kinds of food they ate within the immediate radius of their homes.

While she denies a Nanny State agenda, Mrs. Obama successfully has strong-armed several major restaurant chains into redesigning their menus to her exacting healthful standards. One of those targets is Darden Restaurants, which operates Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants across the country. At a time when most food service providers are struggling under the weight of increased taxes, health care mandates and regulations, Darden Restaurants just happens to be one of the few and fortunate businesses to obtain one of those coveted Obamacare waivers.

When Michelle Obama stops using her public office to push new Big Government power grabs and redistribute wealth to her cronies (flashback: Chicago Obama-lympics), stoke racial grievances, and meddle in Obama administration personnel decisions that lead to whistleblower firings (ask her about former AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin), I’ll leave her alone.

Until then, someone’s got to deliver FLOTUS her just desserts.

Related: (Sent to me by a friend):

Referencing CFR Above:

This is Where Michelle Obama is Listed on CFR Board of Directors In Chicago

http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/chicago_council_board_directors.php

You might think that this is not affiliated with the CFR, but in fact, the name has been changed. If you run your mouse over where it says The Chicago Council on the left side then select FAQ, question # 7 reads the following:

7.Why did the Chicago Council change its name?
On September 1, 2006, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations was renamed The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
The world has undergone tremendous change since The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1922. Today, more than ever before, our world is shaped by forces far beyond capital cities. Chicago and the Midwest are affected by events and decisions that reach across national borders.
Our new name, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, respects our heritage while it signals our understanding of these changes and reflects our expanding efforts to contribute to the global discourse on the critical issues of the day. What has not changed is our commitment to nonpartisanship and public education.

Technorati Tags: CFR,Michelle Malkin,Michelle Obama,Chicago politics,watch the other hand,Weather Underground,Bill Ayers,ObamaCare,first lady,Obamaland crumbling,Obamaland,bitter half,Valerie Jarrett,Obama vacations,FLOTUS,First Ladies,cronyism,Chicago Council on Global Affairs,University of Chicago Medical Center,SEIU,culture of corruption,radicals in the White House

All This Just For a Flag? Asks Michelle Obama

The Washington Times (September 13, 2011):

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Obama steps into 2012 presidential campaigning on Thursday with a speech to the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum

The internet was buzzing this week with video of First Lady Michelle Obama apparently showing extreme disrespect to the American flag at a ceremony in honor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. As police and firefighters fold the flag to the sound of marching bagpipers, a skeptical looking Mrs.. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, “all this just for a flag.” She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr.. Obama nods. (This is not the first she has been caught making similar comments about the flag and for a very long Time candidate Obama did not salute the flag or wear a flag pin on his lapel).

Just for a flag? If that is what she said it is regrettable. Even with all her years being around those who hold high public office Mrs..... Obama does not seem to understand the purpose and importance of ceremonies. They reaffirm the bonds of loyalty and fellowship that cement our national unity. Yes, at one level a flag is just a colorful piece of cloth. But it symbolizes much more. It is the emblem of our land and all its ideals. It has been present at every major event of any importance to the country, battles, celebrations, meetings, and the lunar landings. It is a symbol of unity that transcends party, faction and time. It is something uniquely and explicitly American. Men and women have fought and died for it. Our enemies hate us for it and burn it in the streets. All that should mean something.

Perhaps Mrs.... Obama thinks that all the pomp and circumstance she experiences in her daily life has something to do with her, rather than the unofficial office she holds. If so she should disabuse herself of that notion quickly. The official gestures of respect shown to her are the same shown to any First Lady, and if she wasn’t married to the president she would be just another citizen. Ruffles and flourishes are not hers by right, but by coincidence of marriage. Yet this is the same woman who said she had never in her adult life been really proud of America before her husband ran for president, so it is no wonder she might dismiss a flag ceremony as just so much nonsense.

All this just for a flag? Has anyone said, “All this just for Michelle Obama?”

Troops will and have risked their lives all over the world to raise and defend the American flag

That question, All this just for a flag?, is the same attitude that has created a situation where U.S. Military for 20 years, risk their lives protecting freedom and our flag, and only get 50% of their pay on retirement.  While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full-pay retirement after serving one term. Troops will and have risked their lives all over the world to raise and defend the American flag, a symbol of freedom and hope, but our first lady and president don’t understand that. That should worry every American!

This is what having a first family who doesn’t understand or doesn’t value America, the flag and the Constitution leads to

 

We are not far from the end folks.  We can't take much more political correctness.  This picture was taken at the AZ state capitol yesterday (don’t have the specific date).

The news will not show it and the Capitol Police and Homeland Security would not let Americans or any of the Veterans that were there do anything about it.  My husband and his friends were threatened with arrest and were told they would be booked under federal charges if they did anything. 

I am sending this to you so that you in turn can all start Emailing/Sharing it with everyone they know.  It is totally uncalled for and people need to see it.  This is not about politics and rhetoric, it is about a direct threat to our country, disrespect and hate. Those of you that don't live in Arizona will maybe get a chance to see the other side of what the news is telling you.  If this offends you greatly, then I have truly accomplished what I set out to do. I understand that sometimes we don't see eye to eye on certain things, but that is the right our forefathers fought for.  I am an American before anything else. 

For those of you who choose to dismiss this: If you believe that this is okay I believe you are a traitor to this country and everything it stands for.  I am not a racist and I am not a Nazi, this has nothing to do with race, it has to do with respect to the country that is continually taking you in and turning a blind eye to your agenda.  Homeland Security was designed to identify and defend America from Terrorist acts yet yesterday it let illegal and legal citizens of this country desecrate the Flag.  People were spitting on it, stomping on it and burning it with cigarettes.  One soldier who had just returned from Iraq tried to grab the flag and was thrown to the ground by the Capitol Police and Homeland Security.  It amazes me how many people will stand against the American People while prospering from our system and our government.  To those of you that will forward this to your friends or post it on your blogs I applaud you for the courage to stand up for the country in which you live.

A proud Arizonan… a proud American

Sad and Disgusting - Please Share

Election 2012 is not a choice between two men or two parties.  It is the choice between two ideologies and the survival of the America and the Constitution given us by our Founding Fathers. 

There is no room to remain uninvolved or neutral this time around.

Ask Marion~

Fight for Old Glory… Will Media Help Sell the New Obama Flag

Technorati Tags: ideology,American flag,freedom,symbols,American pride,Michelle Obama,first family,Election 2012,choices,Arizona

CURL: The cost of a NYC weekend

In another odd twist left unexamined by the media, the White House on Monday said it simply would not release the cost of President Obama's weekend jaunt to New York City, where the First Couple had dinner and caught a Broadway show.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs, keeping the White House press corps in stiches, as he always does, said the Obamas would have preferred using a commercial airline shuttle to New York and back, but the Secret Service would not allow such unprotected travel (ba da bing).

And that was that. No further probing; asked and answered; time to move on.

There was, of course, an ironic element of the trip. In February, Obama scolded corporate executives (while also costing Las Vegas some $130 million) when he said: "You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."

But the Chief Executive (Oval) Officer had made a promise to his good wife that after the campaign, they'd take in a Broadway show, and darn it, he meant to keep that promise.

One early estimate (from the New York Post) put the cost at $24,000. Absurdly low. The Daily Mail in London threw out another number — $75,000. Sure, three times as much as the first estimate, but still probably spectacularly low. Remember, joyriding Air Force One around for a few hours over Manhattan a couple months ago cost $250,000, so the cost of the weekend trip was likely not likely that low.

With the White House simply refusing to say how much taxpayer money it spent, here's a helpful way to calculate the cost of the trip:

First, the First Couple (and entourage) flew from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base — three choppers (two decoys), if the Marines stuck to standard operating procedure (and they are sticklers for SOP). That means dozens of men and women — radar, communications, mechanics, crews, everyone, perhaps 100, who knows? — were involved. (A batch of tagalongs must've taken a taxpayer pool of vehicles out from the White House to AAFB, since it took three jets to get the gang to NYC).

Second, the president moving on a Saturday takes a full operation at and around the White House, dozens and dozens of people. Maybe they're all on salary, so that didn't likely cost much. But all the cops involved — D.C. police, uniformed Secret Service officers, Capitol police — were probably paid overtime, even double time. Probably, again, 100 personnel or so.

Then there were the jets — at least $24,000 for the three aircraft used to ferry the Obamas, aides and reporters to New York. The Obamas' jet, a Gulfstream 500, served as Air Force One.

Third, a C-17 had to fly to NYC to put in place a full motorcade (at least a dozen vehicles, maybe more). The military cargo plane may have taken up at least two, but maybe three, more choppers to fly the whole party from JFK to a Wall Street landing zone, where the motorcade was waiting. If not, the choppers flew there solo (White House veteran reporter Mark Knoller of CBS Radio wrote recently that "The VH-3D that serves as Marine One consumes about 1,200 pounds of fuel per hour." Ouch.

Fourth, driving through Manhattan is an expensive exercise. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of NYPD have to be stationed all along the way, shutting down roads, holding back pedestrians. There were police cars involved, dozens of motorcycles, and the ever-present NYC ambulance (oh, don't forget that the White House doctor also probably went — with all his gear). The city likely gets reimbursed by the White House for the cost (they usually do). And they were all probably getting time and a half (the NYPD overtime budget is extraordinary).

Fifth, the United States Secret Service (USSS) had to scope out the whole thing, then station agents all over — sharpshooters, undercover agents, etc. — at a huge cost. Who knows if they were on overtime. And if you think they went up Saturday morning, think again. They were likely in NYC upwards of a week before, planning the whole evening, every second of every movement. They had to map out five movements — from JFK to the Wall Street LZ, then a motorcade to the restaurant, then another motorcade to the play, then a final motorcade back to the LZ, then a chopper flight to JFK, before the First Couple and crew jetted back to AAFB for another chopper to the White House.

One thing is known — The Obamas picked up the cost of dinner costs and their orchestra seat tickets, which cost $96.50 a piece. So if the whole thing cost $250,000, the Obamas offset that by at least a few hundred bucks. Phew.

By Joseph Curl POLITICAL THEATER | Monday, June 1, 2009

Source:  Washington Times

Is it nice that the president takes his wife out for a date night...? Absolutely!  But spending $250,000 o ftaxpayer money (your money) when most people can't take their wives out for a hamburger and a movie... Bad choice!!

And the zinger... taking a corporate jet, of sorts, the night before GM files bankruptcy... after Congress reamed the CEO's of the 3 (former) U.S. auto makers (Chrysler is now essentially an Italian auto maker) about flying in to hearings in their own corporate jets.

Smarter idea... take your wife out in Washinton D.C. or Georgetown.  Have a special dinner in the White House... just the two of you.  Or have Michelle go with you the next time you have business in New York and go out for a NYC date night, to dinner and the theatre, while you are there already. 

And what happened to 'everybody' was going to have to make sacrifices??  I guess that is just for us average everybodies!?!

Posted:  Knowledge Creates Power