Archive for the ‘Michelle Obama’ Category

Speaking at a panel at the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, President Obama said part of his job there was to “scout out” vacation spots for Michelle.

“We’re having a wonderful time,” the president said, “and usually when I take these summit trips part of my job is to scout out where I may want to bring Michelle back later for vacation, so we’ll make sure to come back some time in the near future.”

President Obama’s declaration comes hot on the heels of his testy exchange with Larry Connors of KMOV, who asked the president about those who “get frustrated and even angered when they see the first family jetting around [to] different vacations…sometimes maybe they think under the ‘color’ of state business…”

But he doesn’t worry. After all George Soros is running the country.

Obama’s Daughter in Mexico
VIVA MEXICO
You probably are not aware, because the new media has not covered this? But Obama’s 8th grade, 13 year old daughter, took a few of her girl classmates, on spring break, to Mexico. Oh, almost forgot the best part, and 25 secret servicemen. Estimated cost of this spring break trip- $2.5 million!!!
Oh, and Michelle, My Belle, Obama wants the stories of her daughters trip pulled from the media…….The Media has not reported it…NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC,,

Doesn’t that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling that your tax dollars are being spent so wisely?
These articles are disappearing fast:
 
Media Scrubs Malia Obama’s Trip to Mexico
 
An AFP report that President Barack Obama’s 13-year-old daughter, Malia, is spending spring break in Oaxaca, Mexico appears to have been completely scrubbed from the Internet news sites that first reported it.. Pictures have appeared in Mexican magazine Quién.com allegedly showing Malia visiting Oaxaca. AFP, the French news agency, first reported around mid-day Monday that Malia Obama was vacationing in Mexico with 12 friends under the protection of 25 Secret Service agents and a number of local police officers. (RELATED: More in Politics) The International Business Times reported that the group arrived in Oaxaca on Saturday and reportedly visited the architectural site of Mitla.The Department of Public Safety, a Texas law enforcement agency, issued a warning on Tuesday against students celebrating their spring breaks in violence-torn Mexico. The Huffington Post reported that in February, the United States State Department “recommended that Americans avoid travel to all or parts of 14 or 31 Mexican states. It’s the widest travel advisory issued by the U.S. since Mexico stepped up its drug war in 2006.Since the story was first reported, it appears to have been scrubbed from a number of news outlets. The Huffington Post, International Business Times, The Australian, The Telegraph and Global Grind have all removed the article. What’s up with the disappearing internet news reports Barack Obama’s 13-yr-old daughter Malia Ann Obama is on ‘Spring Break’ in Mexico? So far, Huffington Post, AFP, and U.K.’s Telegraph yanked their internet news reports of Malia Obama’s Mexico ‘Spring Break’ from their websites; a school trip to Oaxaca accompanied by Secret Service agents.

Why were the news reports yanked?

Who ordered them removed?
 
Malia Obama Oaxaca, Mexico Vacation Story Disappearing from the Web | TheBlaze.com

It has been almost a month and a half since the Obama family returned from 10 days in Oahu. With all the breastfeeding advice she’s been giving out lately, an exhausted First Lady is long overdue for some R & R.

Relinquishing her role as tireless workaholic, Michelle decided to revisit last year’s mother/daughter ski trip to the Ski Liberty Resort in Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania. Only this year, the Obama women have taken to the slopes in Vail, Colorado on a “private family trip” accompanied by “several close friends.”

When unveiling his budget, Michelle’s husband reminded Americans, “Everybody’s going to have to give a little bit.” The President even suggested: “If you’re a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner, you might put off a vacation.”

According to Obama, “Just like every family in America, the federal government has to … live within its means.” Which is exactly what Mrs. Obama is doing, spending time with her daughters at a resort that is much more modest than she’s used to.

Actually, the whole excursion to Vail Mountain is one of self-sacrifice. According to administration officials, the First Lady and friends are merely “chaperoning…children on a ski trip,” otherwise Michelle would likely be home hunkered down, tirelessly working in the “Let’s Move” office of the White House.

On a tight budget, the ski trip is but a few steps above a school-sponsored field trip. The chaperones are staying at the Sebastian Hotel, where lodging starts at “$605 per night … and head north of $2,000 for multi-bedroom suites.” Those rates are certainly more modest than the $6,600 a night Mrs. Obama was rumored to have spent at the Hotel Villa Padierna in Costa del Sol.

The Sebastian touts “spas, a Frost Bar, a Market for nibbles, a mountain-view pool, hot tubs and a fire pit.” A bevy of ski valets assist patrons “into warm boots and out onto the mountain,” which is just the kind of pared-down amenity that penny-pinchers across America can easily relate to.

Michelle arrived with “A motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers, traveled from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Vail…Roads were temporarily blocked to make way for the motorcade.”

Despite the extravagant entourage, when it comes to frugality Mrs. Obama is a pro. A flight from DC to Colorado is 1,700 miles and takes approximately 3 hours. Although the First Lady usually employs a large Air Force jet to ferry her from vacation spot to vacation spot, this time she answered the call to live within the Obama family means in the following way: To save money, instead of Air Force One, which costs about $100,000 per hour to fly, Michelle chose a less expensive jet.

Not including the weight of ski equipment, a fair guesstimation would be that the Michelle Vail Vacation one-way flight cost much less than what would otherwise have set the American taxpayer back $300,000.

Moreover, Michelle’s savvy decision to travel as often as possible without Barack also eliminates about 180 pounds of excess baggage weight, and in the long run helps in tamping down overall costs.

As an added budgetary bonus, the President joined Michelle in setting an example of prudence. Barry saved coaching fees for Sasha’s basketball team when another coach failed to show up. Although Sasha was on the bunny slope with Mom in Vail, our thrifty President paused stirring up union trouble in Wisconsin long enough to serve America as a “parent coach” for a team of nine year-old girls, and selflessly did it for free.

The Obamas’ summer break on Martha’s Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.

But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances.

White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers’ money on vacations alone in the past year.

Expensive taste: Michelle Obama, pictured yesterday in Massachusetts, has been accused of spending $10m of public money on vacations

Branding her ‘disgusting’ and ‘a vacation junkie’, they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol.

More…

The ‘top source’ told the National Enquirer: ‘It’s disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage of her privileged position while the most hardworking Americans can barely afford a week or two off work.

‘When it’s all added up, she’s spent more than $10million in taxpayers’ money on her vacations.’

His and her jets: The President and his wife, who are spending nine days on Martha’s Vineyard, have come under fire for travelling on separate planes

The First Lady is believed to have taken 42 days of holiday in the past year, including a $375,000 break in Spain and a four-day ski trip to Vail, Colorado, where she spent $2,000 a night on a suite at the Sebastian hotel.

And the first family’s nine-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard is also proving costly, with rental of the Blue Heron Farm property alone costing an estimated $50,000 a week.

The source continued: ‘Michelle also enjoys drinking expensive booze during her trips. She favours martinis with top-shelf vodka and has a taste for rich sparking wines.

‘The vacations are totally Michelle’s idea. She’s like a junkie. She can’t schedule enough getaways, and she lives from one to the next – all the while sticking it to hardworking Americans.’

Travelling in style: Mrs Obama during her $375,000 trip to Spain last year

While the President and his wife do pay for some of their personal expenses from their own pocket, the website whitehousedossier.com says that the amount paid by the couple is ‘dwarfed by the overall cost to the public’.

The magazine also reported that Mrs Obama, whose fashion choices are widely followed, had been going on ‘wild shopping sprees’, much to the distress of her husband, who, its sources reveal, is ‘absolutely furious’ at his wife’s ‘out-of-control spending’.

The President has already come under fire this week over his decision to take a family vacation while millions of Americans are out of work and countless more are financially strapped.

Luxury break: The President and his family, pictured in December, splashed out more than $1.5million on a Christmas holiday in Hawaii

‘Winter White House’: The property in Kailua cost $38,000 to rent

But the situation sparked further anger after he and his wife elected to fly separately to the Massachusetts retreat – despite travelling on the same day.

Mr Obama left the White House aboard Marine One on his way to Andrews Air Force base to hitch a lift aboard Air Force One – along with First Dog Bo.

After landing at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station, he then took a final helicopter to his holiday destination to complete the remarkable 500-mile journey.

His wife and daughters, who arrived just four hours earlier, were also travelling from Washington, but took a specially designed military aircraft.

They would also have had their own motorcade from the airport to the vacation residence.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029615/Michelle-Obama-accused-spending-10m-public-money-vacations.html#ixzz1iuAA78dR

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, January 3, 2012, 10:51 PM

Michelle Obama makes an appearance on Nickelodeon this month where she jokes that she “kind of likes” being called “Your Excellency.”
Yeah, we know.

Real Clear Politics reported:

First Lady Michelle Obama is to make a guest appearance on an upcoming episode of the popular Nickelodeon show iCarly.

In the episode, which airs on January 16, the First Lady helps the show’s title character Carly get in touch with her father, an Air Force colonel who can’t make it home for his birthday.

Obama surprises the girl and her friends, which leads to her being called “Your Excellency” by Carly’s friend Sam Puckett.

After being corrected by a friend that you don’t call the First Lady that, Michelle Obama jumps in and says “No, no, I kind of like it.”

“Replacing Michelle” – Moochelle

Wow, she must have been really good at her job. At the top right hand corner of page 17 of the New York Post, January 24, 2009, was a column entitled, “Replacing Michelle” in the National Review, The Week.

Here it is as it appeared:

“Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of Chicago Medical Center hired her in 2002 to run ‘programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting’.

In 2005 the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317,000 – nearly twice what her husband made as a Senator.

Her husband, Barak Obama, had just become a U.S. Senator. He requested a $1 million “Earmark” for the UC Medical Center. Way to network, Michelle!

Now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that be, if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?

Let me add that Michelle’s position was a part-time, 20-hours-a-week job.

My thoughts: How did this bit of “quid pro quo” (scratch my back – I’ll scratch yours) corruption escape the sharp reporters that dug through Sarah Palin’s garbage and kindergarten files?

I hope this is forwarded so many times that the media will HAVE to cover it..

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

Depression is when you lose your job.

Recovery is when Obama loses his.

By Michelle Malkin  •  December 21, 2011 11:05 AM

The road to gastric hell is paved with first lady Michelle Obama’s Nanny State intentions. Don’t take my word for it. School kids in Los Angeles have blown the whistle on the east wing chef-in-chief’s healthy lunch diktats. Get your Pepto Bismol ready. The taste of government waste is indigestion-inducing.

According to a weekend report by the Los Angeles Times, the city’s “trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop.” In response to the public hectoring and financial inducement of Mrs. Obama’s federally subsidized anti-obesity campaign, the district dropped chicken nuggets, corn dogs and flavored milk from the menu for “beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, pad Thai, lentil and brown rice cutlets, and quinoa and black-eyed pea salads.”

Sounds delectable in theory. But in practice, the initiative has been what L.A. Unified’s food services director Dennis Barrett plainly concludes is a “disaster.” While the Obama administration has showered the nation’s second-largest school district with nutrition awards, thousands of students voted with their upset tummies and abandoned the program. A forbidden-food black market — stoked not just by students, but also by teachers — is now thriving. Moreover, “(p)rincipals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away.”

This despite a massive increase in spending on nutritional improvements — from $2 million to $20 million alone in the last five years on fresh produce.

This despite a nearly half-billion-dollar budget shortfall and 3,000 layoffs earlier this year.

Earlier this spring, L.A. school officials acknowledged that the sprawling district is left with a whopping 21,000 uneaten meals a day, in part because the federal school lunch program “sometimes requires more food to be served than a child wants to eat.” The leftovers will now be donated to nonprofit agencies. But after the recipients hear about students’ reports of moldy noodles, undercooked meat and hard rice, one wonders how much of the “free” food will go down the hatch — or down the drain. Ahhh, savor the flavor of one-size-fits-all mandates.

There’s nothing wrong with encouraging our children to eat healthier, of course. There’s nothing wrong with well-run, locally based and parent-driven efforts. But as I’ve noted before, the federal foodie cops care much less about students’ waistlines than they do about boosting government and public union payrolls.

In a little-noticed announcement several months ago, Obama health officials declared their intention to use school lunch applications to boost government health care rolls. Never mind the privacy concerns of parents.

Big Government programs “for the children” are never about the children. If they were, you wouldn’t see Chicago public school officials banning students from bringing home-packed meals made by their own parents. In April, The Chicago Tribune reported that “unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.” The bottom line? Banning homemade lunches means a fatter payday for the school and its food provider.

Remember: The unwritten mantra driving Mrs. Obama’s federal school lunch meddling and expansion is: “Cede the children, feed the state.” And the biggest beneficiaries of her efforts over the past three years have been her husband’s deep-pocketed pals at the Service Employees International Union. There are 400,000 workers who prepare and serve lunch to American schoolchildren. SEIU represents tens of thousands of those workers and is trying to unionize many more at all costs.

In L.A., the district’s cafeteria fund is $20 million in the hole thanks to political finagling by SEIU Local 99. The union’s left-wing allies on the school board and in the mayor’s office pressured the district to adopt reckless fiscal policies awarding gold-plated health benefits to part-time cafeteria workers in the name of “social justice.” As one school board member who opposed the budget-busting entitlements said: “Everyone in this country deserves health benefits. But it was a very expensive proposal. And it wasn’t done at the bargaining table, which is where health benefits are usually negotiated. And no one had any idea where the money was going to come from.”

Early next year, Mrs. Obama will use the “success” of her child nutrition campaign to hawk a new tome and lobby for more money and power in concert with her husband’s re-election campaign. It’s a recipe for more half-baked progressivism served with a side order of bitter arugula.

The Globe magazine just released a bombshell and is reporting that Michelle Obama is having a “steamy secret affair” with a Secret Service Agent. According to The Globe, rumors started to circulate that Obama may be having an affair after her recent admission to NBC’s Al Roker that she frequently “sneaks out” of the White House; and the ever increasing time she is spending away from the White House may be a cover to hide “a sizzling affair she’s carrying on with a Secret Service agent.”

According to The Globe’s anonymous source: “The rumors are that she’s getting it on with a Secret Service agent who is not part of her detail. … Her frequent outings away from the White House give her and him an opportunity to get together.” The source adds: “Something has been going on for a couple of months and there’s no question Barack is embarrassed about her increasingly frequent excursions away from him at the White House.”

The allegations are, of course, unsubstantiated and only time will tell if the allegations will fizzle or blow up into a major issue in the upcoming presidential campaign. Typically, the media will not report unsubstantiated claims from anonymous sources, but the recent media feeding frenzy over unsubstantiated allegation against businessman Herman Cain, which literally sank his candidacy, leave the question open: will the media pursue, or even bother to investigate this story?

When it comes to the Mainstream Media, anything goes. That much is clear. But will the media apply the same standard to Obama as to Cain? Only time will tell.

The Globe adds: “Insiders say that after author Larry Sinclair shockingly claimed he had gay romps with [Barack] Obama in a limo and hotel, it wouldn’t surprise some people if Michelle would look for comfort elsewhere.”

At tonight’s Hanukkah party at the White House, President Obama seemed to slip a little off script when he told party goers that “we never need an excuse for a good party.” All his guests laughed.

From the official White House transcript:

So while it is not yet Hanukkah, let’s give thanks for our blessings, for being together to celebrate this wonderful holiday season. And we never need an excuse for a good party. (Laughter.)

I guess the president could have said the same thing about his golf habit. As Mitt Romney’s campaign has noted, the president has played “1,584 holes since 2009.″

But with unemployment at 8.6 percent, and with many having already quit looking for a job, I doubt many Americans would be heartened to hear the president saying he “never need[s] an excuse for a good party.”

Comments:
If you are Jewish and you voted for this moron, you seriously need to evaluate your values system and judgment.Obama grew up as a Muslim child. Lived with his secular grandparents as a teenager. Pretended to be a Christian to become connected in southside Chicago politics, and now that it’s election season, he’s pretending to be a Jew.
So he can’t blame this flub on ignorance…he knew when Hannukah is yet he doesn’t have a problem with insulting Jews. He does so even further by lighting ALL the candles on the menorah in a matter of minutes Hey, why wait? So why didn’t he observe Ramadan two weeks early?

So, Hanukkah has been reduced to an “excuse to have a good party” for Barry and Michelle? I’ll never understand why there are so many Jewish liberals, and I don’t think they quite understand, either… Why doesn’t he just go to Hawaii? So useless and without a clue…

Nearly three years into President Obama’s first term in office, Michelle Obama finally said something with which I can agree.
At a recent fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, the first lady told her audience:
“We stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country. You’re here because you know that in just 13 months, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come … let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices … let’s not forget the impact that their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come.”
This was music to the ears of the small, affluent crowd of admirers who cheered and applauded. But to gun owners, Michelle Obama’s remarks should sound like a warning bell, alerting us to the danger ahead should Barack Obama win re-election and get the opportunity to alter the current make-up of the Supreme Court.
When Americans flock to the polls in 13 months, we will not simply decide which direction our country should take over the next four years. Rather, we will decide whether or not our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms will survive over the next several decades.
Currently, the Second Amendment clings to a 5-4 pro-freedom majority on the Supreme Court. Just one vote is all that stands between the America our Founding Fathers established and a radically different America that Barack Obama and his supporters envision.
If you want to read something scary, take another look at the minority opinions in the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and McDonald decisions that struck down Washington, D.C.’s and Chicago’s unconstitutional gun bans. In the Heller dissent, four justices concluded that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to own a firearm, nor does it protect our right to defend ourselves, our families, or our property. In McDonald, the same four justices argued that the 5-4 Heller decision should be reversed.
f these four justices had just one more vote on their side, their opinion — that the Second Amendment should not exist in today’s modern society — would be the law of the land today. And assuredly, the anti-gun activist wing of the court knows how close they are to gaining the upper hand. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a Harvard Club audience in 2009, she looks forward to the day when a “future, wiser court” overturns 5-4 decisions like Heller.
Praying for the health of five justices is not a sound legal strategy for ensuring that our Second Amendment freedoms survive the relentless legal assault that gun-ban groups are waging in courtrooms across America. We need a president who will nominate sound, originalist nominees to the high court — nominees who will preserve the freedoms our Founding Fathers enshrined in our Constitution.
If President Obama gets the opportunity to tilt the balance of the Supreme Court in his favor, we’re unlikely to see another pro-gun victory at the Court in our lifetime. Even worse, the 5-4 majorities in Heller and McDonald will be in serious jeopardy of being reversed, effectively eliminating the Second Amendment.
NRA members, gun owners and all freedom-loving Americans should heed Michelle Obama’s warning. We must spend the next 13 months working to make sure her husband doesn’t get four more years to destroy American freedom for generations to come.
Chris W. Cox is the Executive Director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and serves as the organization’s chief lobbyist.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/11/michelle-obamas-warning-to-gun-owners/#ixzz1fCIWcoK9

How much would you pay to have your picture taken with First Lady Michelle Obama?

When she travels to Chicago next week to tour Chicago food deserts with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and later host a fundraiser at Plumber’s Hall, she will be asking for a pretty penny.

The going rate for a photograph at the near West Side fundraiser with the First Lady is $10,000 for a family of up to six members.

Tickets alone range from $100and up for the Oct. 25 event.  It’s just like a side show at the Barnum and Bailey circus.

October 4, 2011 RSS Feed
First lady Michelle Obama’s family trip to South Africa and Botswana in June cost taxpayers well over $424,000, according to new accounting based on Air Force manifests obtained by Judicial Watch, a taxpayer watchdog group.
The use of Air Force aircraft alone for the June 21-27 trip cost $424,142, said the group, and that doesn’t include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members.
Judicial Watch said it based the jet costs on the Pentagon’s hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip. The documents don’t give exact cost calculations, which is typical for presidential and first family trips.

Obama is like many first ladies, spending summers traveling on good-will missions, sometimes with family and friends. On the June trip, during which she was accompanied by her daughters and mother, the first lady urged young people to engage with their governments and she pushed her education and wellness agenda. They also took a safari in South Africa, well known for its beautiful Lion King-like settings.

The costs of the trips have often won media scorn, as did her trip to Spain the previous summer.
But presidential experts say that the value of first lady visits is priceless, especially in cases like Obama’s to Africa where the first family has special ties and where the president has been pursuing a personal agenda, especially in Kenya, the home of his father.
Here is a link to the Judicial Watch files and their release:
Charges for the Aircraft and Crew Alone Amount to $424,142
Contact Information:
Washington, DC — October 4, 2011
Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained mission expense records and passenger manifests from the United States Air Force related to the June 21-27, 2011, trip taken by First Lady Michelle Obama, her family and her staff to South Africa and Botswana. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to an August 19, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Air Force (No. 11-1496)). Judicial Watch is investigating the purpose and itinerary of the trip as well as a breakdown of the costs to taxpayers.
On June 28, 2011, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request seeking the mission taskings, transportation records, and passenger manifests for Michelle Obama’s Africa trip. Documents were only provided after Judicial Watch filed suit:
• According to U.S. Department of Defense’s published hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip, Judicial Watch calculated the total cost to American taxpayers was $424,142 for use of the aircraft (34.8 flight hours x $12,188 per hour). (The C-32 is a specially configured military version of the Boeing 757.) Other expenses – meals (off the plane), transportation, security, various services, etc. – have yet to be disclosed.
• The passenger manifests confirm the presence of Obama’s daughter’s, Malia and Sasha on the trip. The two girls are listed as “Senior Staff.” The manifests also list Mrs. Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, and niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson, as well Mrs. Obama’s makeup and hairstylist (Carl Ray and Johnny Wright).
• The expense records also show $928.44 was spent for “bulk food” purchases on flight. Overall, during the trip, 192 meals were served for the 21 passengers on board.
The professed purpose of Michelle Obama’s trip to South Africa and Botswana was to encourage young people living in the two growing democracies to become involved in national affairs; and during her scheduled stops in Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa and in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, the First Lady used the opportunity to speak on education, health and wellness issues.
The trip also included such tourist events as visits to historical landmarks and museums, plus a nonworking chance to send time with Nelson Mandela, a meeting that Mrs. Obama described as “surreal.” The trip ended with a private family safari at a South African game reserve before the group returned to Washington on June 27.
“This trip was as much an opportunity for the Obama family to go on a safari as it was a trip to conduct government business,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “This junket wasted tax dollars and the resources of our overextended military. No wonder we had to sue to pry loose this information.”
Previously, Judicial Watch uncovered that the First Couple’s 2009 “date night” trip to New York for dinner and a Broadway show cost taxpayers over $11,000 in Secret Service costs alone.

It‘s getting harder and harder to ignore the government’s new food guidelines. Case in point: appliance giant General Electric (GE) has introduced new microwaves that have a “MyPlate.gov“ button ”to help create healthy meals,” according to Business Wire. The change took place in September for 1.9 and 2.1 capacity over-the-range microwaves, and GE is advertising the new appliances on its website. The button allows consumers to easily cook foods found in the government’s new dietary guidelines, which is now visualized using a plate instead of the classic food pyramid. The GE website simply says, “5 food groups, 19 foods and 44 pre-programmed food combinations assist in healthy meal preparation.”
Business Wire explains how it works:
For example, consumers can use GE’s MyPlate feature to select a preset for cooking specific vegetables, such as fresh asparagus, frozen green beans, or numerous other options in each USDA MyPlate category – fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins.
GE even has a video to help visualize the new feature:

“Our goal with the MyPlate feature is to give consumers an easy way to choose and tastefully cook foods that are healthier for them, using graphics and instructions that are easy to understand,” Susan Gregory, product manager for GE microwaves, told Business Wire. “Providing quality cooked food for a wide range of items is a huge part of the MyPlate feature.”
According to Business Wire, GE “worked closely with the USDA to ensure the MyPlate feature in their cooking products is in step with dietary recommendations.” But that may not be surprising. GE has long had a cozy relationship with the Obama administration. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, for example, is the president of Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
In the past, GE has received a greenhouse gas exemption and Citizens for Tax Justice points out the company pays some of the lowest taxes.

For some, that might just push their buttons.
NANNY, NANNY, NANNY

Michelle Obama: “All This Just For a Flag”
James S. Robbins
Published on September 13, 2011
The internet was buzzing Tuesday night 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.
Just for a flag? 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 Moochelle Obama?”

Four obese children are on the brink of being permanently removed from their family by social workers after their parents failed to bring their weight under control.
In the first case of its kind, their mother and father now face what they call the ‘unbearable’ likelihood of never seeing them again.
Their three daughters, aged 11, seven and one, and five-year-old son, will either be ‘fostered without contact’ or adopted.

The couple, who have been married for nearly 20 years and are not being named to protect their children’s identities, were given a ‘draconian’ ultimatum three years ago – as reported at the time by The Mail on Sunday.
Warned that the children must slim or be placed in care, the family spent two years living in a council-funded ‘Big Brother’ house in which they were constantly supervised and the food they ate monitored.

But despite subjecting them to intense scrutiny, social workers did not impose rules on what food the children should eat, and there was apparently little or no improvement.
News of the decision to remove them was broken to the couple, from Dundee, on Tuesday. Critics called it a disgraceful breach of human rights and a chilling example of the power of the State to meddle in family life.
In an emotional interview, the 42-year-old mother said: ‘We might not be the perfect parents, but we love our children with all our hearts. To face a future where we will never see them again is unbearable.
‘They picked on us because of our size to start with and they just haven’t let go, despite the fact we’ve done everything to lose weight and meet their demands. We’re going to fight this to the bitter end. It feels like even prisoners have more human rights than we do.’
The couple have not committed any crime and are not accused of deliberate cruelty or abuse. Their solicitor, Joe Myles, said there was ‘nothing sinister lurking in the background’ and accused social workers of failing to act in the family’s best interests.
‘Dundee social services department appear to have locked horns with this couple and won’t let go,’ he said, adding that the monitoring project caused more problems than it solved. ‘The parents were constantly being accused of bad parenting and made to live under a microscope.

‘We have tried very hard to do everything that was asked of us. My wife has cooked healthy foods like home-made spaghetti bolognese and mince and potatoes; but nothing we’ve done has ever been enough’

The couple have three older children who are all distraught and angry at the ruling.
Speaking through tears, their 15-year-old daughter said: ‘The social workers should hang their heads in shame. A person’s weight is their own business and only we can do anything about it, not them. My parents are good people and they love us all. The four little ones don’t know what is about to happen to them.’
Social workers became aware of the family in early 2008 after one of the sons accused his father of hitting him on the forehead. In truth, he had fallen and hit his head on a radiator – a fact he later admitted. However, the allegation opened the door to the obesity investigation.
While the couple admit experiencing what their lawyer calls ‘low grade’ parenting problems, which would have merited support, they were aghast when the issue of weight was seized on as a major concern.
A council report at the time said: ‘With the exception of [one of the names], the children are all overweight. Advice has been given regarding diet but there has been no improvement. Appointments with the dietician have been missed.’

Investigation: The family have been subject to an obesity probe – at meal times social workers took notes and children met with dieticians (picture posed by model)
At that point their then 12-year-old son weighed 16 stone; his 11-year-old sister weighed 12 stone; and his three-year-old sister weighed four stone. It is not known how much the four younger children weigh now.
The couple were ordered to send their children to dance and football lessons and were given a three-month deadline to bring down their weight. When that failed, the children were placed in foster homes but were allowed to visit their parents.
After the couple objected to this arrangement, the council agreed to move them into a two-bedroom flat in a supported unit run by the Dundee Families Project. They insisted on the couple living with only three of their children at a time.
At meal times, a social worker stood in the room taking notes. Doctors raised concerns that the children put on weight whenever they spent time with their parents, a claim they vehemently denied.
The couple and their children also had to adhere to a strict 11pm curfew. This involved ‘clocking’ in and out by filling in a sheet held by an employee who lived on site.
Although the children’s weight was the major concern, other allegations were included in a report. It showed that social workers were worried when the youngest child was found crawling unsupervised. The parents point out they were never far away and the flat had no stairs.
They also found her ‘attempting to put dangerous objects’ in her mouth. The family say this is natural in toddlers and she was never successful.

To have a social worker stand and watch you eat is intolerable. I want other families to know what can happen once social workers become involved. We will fight them to the end to get our beloved children back.
Social workers were further worried when she crawled through the contents of an upturned ashtray – an ‘unfortunate one-off incident’, claim the parents. All the concerns were dismissed by the family’s legal team as ‘low grade’ problems.
It is understood the father crumbled under the strain of being so closely monitored in January this year and moved into a council flat elsewhere in the city.
In the next few months, the mother breached the lunch and dinner meal observations, by her own admission, on ‘several’ occasions while taking the children to see their father.
She personally never broke the 11pm curfew but once allowed her seven-year-old daughter to remain at her father’s flat after she fell asleep. She did not want to disturb her and argued the child had ‘two parents, not one’ and was in ‘good hands’.
These breaches led staff to declare the trial a failure and the mother was asked to leave the unit in April this year. She moved in to her husband’s flat but the children were then handed over to foster parents.
Her solicitor said he planned to use independent experts to prove that the children want to live with their parents and have been damaged by the social workers’ intervention. He added: ‘We may ultimately look towards human rights laws.’
The father, aged 56, said: ‘We have tried very hard to do everything that was asked of us. My wife has cooked healthy foods like home-made spaghetti bolognese and mince and potatoes; we’ve cut out snacks and only ever allowed the kids sweets on a Saturday. But nothing we’ve done has ever been enough.
‘The pressure of living in the family unit would have broken anyone. We were being treated like children and cut off from the outside world. To have a social worker stand and watch you eat is intolerable. I want other families to know what can happen once social workers become involved. We will fight them to the end to get our beloved children back.’

It is estimated 26 million British adults will be obese by 2030, with obesity levels running at an all-time high among children. Official statistics show those who are overweight spend 50 per cent more time in hospital, placing extra strain on the NHS.

Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said: ‘This is a disgrace. These parents have clearly attempted to comply. They have, if you like, played Dundee City Council’s game and yet they are still losing their children.’

Dundee City Council said: ‘The council always acts in the best interests of children, with their welfare and safety in mind.’

THIS IS THE COMMUNIST NANNY STATE WAY – WHATCH THAT IT DOESNOT COME TO AMERICA – MOOCHELLE WANTS TO DO THIS.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033486/Your-children-fat-again.html#ixzz1X4nfLKQW

by Cyrus 
If we can stop Michelle Obama from spending the tax payers money, there won’t be a need to raise the debt ceiling. While Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Michelle Obama drinks top shelf boozes and plan extravagant family vacations. It was bad enough when the Obama’s took 2 different plane to go on vacation, but spending $10 million on vacations in one year is another thing. It’s pathetic and reprehensible to abuse the power as the first lady. Michelle Obama is living her dream to be the 21st Marie Antoinette.

(Daily Mail) The Obamas’ summer break on Martha’s Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.

But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances.

White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers’ money on vacations alone in the past year.

Branding her ‘disgusting’ and ‘a vacation junkie’, they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol.

The ‘top source’ told the National Enquirer: ‘It’s disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage of her privileged position while the most hardworking Americans can barely afford a week or two off work.

‘When it’s all added up, she’s spent more than $10million in taxpayers’ money on her vacations.’

The First Lady is believed to have taken 42 days of holiday in the past year, including a $375,000 break in Spain and a four-day ski trip to Vail, Colorado, where she spent $2,000 a night on a suite at the Sebastian hotel.

And the first family’s nine-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard is also proving costly, with rental of the Blue Heron Farm property alone costing an estimated $50,000 a week.

The source continued: ‘Michelle also enjoys drinking expensive booze during her trips. She favours martinis with top-shelf vodka and has a taste for rich sparking wines.

‘The vacations are totally Michelle’s idea. She’s like a junkie. She can’t schedule enough getaways, and she lives from one to the next – all the while sticking it to hardworking Americans.’

While the President and his wife do pay for some of their personal expenses from their own pocket, the website whitehousedossier.com says that the amount paid by the couple is ‘dwarfed by the overall cost to the public’.

The magazine also reported that Mrs Obama, whose fashion choices are widely followed, had been going on ‘wild shopping sprees’, much to the distress of her husband, who, its sources reveal, is ‘absolutely furious’ at his wife’s ‘out-of-control spending’.

The President has already come under fire this week over his decision to take a family vacation while millions of Americans are out of work and countless more are financially strapped.