Frank Gaffney: Farewell to Space

Yesterday when we saw the article about NASA Chief Bolden talking about the next frontier for NASA was reaching out to Muslims, we reread the article to make sure what we read was correct. Then we searched for more sources and they all said the same thing.

If anyone had any doubts about the agenda of Barack Obama, they should have no more doubts. He favors spending our tax dollars on outreach to members of Islam in Muslim nations while cancelling major parts of our space program. That says it all to any thinking person.

Words fail at what we would like to post but suffice it say that this is wrong to spend dollars allocated for Space Exploration to reach out to Muslims who many members of Islam want to see this Country destroyed. Is this President one of those? It is a fair question after what we have been seeing out of this White House. He was not raised as a typical American and his favoring the Muslim countries over our allies or even American citizens is not going over well in most parts of the Country.

Questions on a lot of our minds that need answers

Who is the real Barack Obama?
Was he eligible to run for President since he refuses to submit the paperwork showing he was eligible?
Did he ever formally change his name from Barry Sorento?
Did he attend Columbia University using their overseas program to attend college overseas to graduate and is that why no one remembers him at Columbia?
Why was Obama in the 2004 Senate race referred to as a son of Kenya?

The American people deserve answers to these questions which if answered truthfully would tell all we need to know about Barack Obama. We are not holding our breath that the national news media will find out the answers to those questions. Why is anyone running for President allowed to close their records which should be an open book? If you don't want people to know about you, don't run.

Suing Arizona for following the law today and yesterday wasting our tax dollars to fund the space program to reach out to Islam is not what an 'true' American President would do.

Frank Gaffney: Farewell to SpaceJuly 6, 2010

Just when you thought Barack Obama's toadying to Islam could not get any worse, now comes this: The President directed the new administrator of NASA, retired Marine Major General Charles Bolden, as "perhaps [his] foremost" charge to "find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage more dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science...and math and engineering."

This comment came in an interview the NASA chief conducted with al-Jazeera while touring the Middle East to mark the first anniversary of Mr. Obama's much-ballyhooed Cairo paean to Muslims. Bolden elaborated, "It is a matter of trying to reach out and get the best of all worlds, if you will, and there is much to be gained by drawing in the contributions that are possible from the Muslim (nations)."

In an address to the American University in Cairo, Bolden added that Mr. Obama has "asked NASA to change...by reaching out to ‘nontraditional' partners and strengthening our cooperation in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia and in particular in Muslim-majority nations." He declared that "NASA is not only a space exploration agency, but also an Earth improvement agency."

Now, when one thinks of the "contributions" to our space program that are possible from Muslim nations, the one that comes to mind is the literal kind - recycled petrodollars - since their "contributions to science, math and engineering" for several hundreds of years have been, to put it charitably, underwhelming.

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Metro hires Hill lobbyists for $200,000 (District of Columbia)

The fact that DC spends this amount of money for lobbyists should make all US taxpayers disgusted as it is our tax dollars at work. We are not sure we have all the money that the District of Columbia gets from the Federal Government as we could not find a listing except in the Congressional Bill but here is what we have found so far:

Federal Money Appropriated in the `District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2009'

Federal Payment for Resident Tuition Support: $35,100,000
Federal Payment for Emergency Planning and Security Costs in the District of Columbia: $39,177,000
Federal Payment to District of Columbia Courts: $248,409,000
Defender Services in the District of Columbia: $52,475,000
improvements for District of Columbia courthouse facilities: $76,076,000
Federal Payment to the Court Services and Offender Supervisor Agency: $203,490,000
Federal Payment to the District of Columbia Public Defender: $35,659,000
Federal Payment to the District of Columbia Water and Sewer: $16,000,000
Federal Payment to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council: $1,774,000
Federal Payment to the Chief Financial Office of District of Columbia: $4,887,622
Federal Payment for School Facilities: $54,000,000
Federal Payment to Jump Start School Reform: $20,000,000
Federal Payment for Consolidated Laboratory Facility: $21,000,000
Federal Payment for Central Library and Branch Locations: $7,000,000
Federal Payment to the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia: $3,387,500
General Fund of the District of Columbia: operating expenses for the District of Columbia for fiscal year 2009 under this heading shall not exceed the lesser of the sum of the total revenues of the District of Columbia for such fiscal year or $9,888,095,000 (of which $6,082,474,000 shall be from local funds (including $420,119,000 from dedicated taxes), $2,177,382,000 shall be from Federal grant funds, $1,621,929,000 shall be from other funds, and $6,310,000 shall be from private funds)

The amount of money that is given to DC for the Court system is mind boggling. Is there that much crime in DC? If there is, maybe they should be hiring more police with the money.

Also why are American taxpayers funding DC students to attend school any place in America?

No wonder DC has a million dollars to spend on lobbyist with all the money they get from the Federal Government.

Metro hires Hill lobbyists for $200,000

Metro has hired a top lobbying firm for $200,000 to represent the transit agency on Capitol Hill.

That's on top of the more than $900,000 in salaries the agency pays to its nine-person, in-house, government relations staff, not including their employee benefits and other department expenses.

Still, Metro says the more than $1 million it spends to pay people to finesse its relationships with government is worth the cost, even as the agency is facing a tight budget squeeze with a projected $175 million shortfall next year in its $1.4 billion operating budget.

"If you look at the money they end up bringing in ... it's a bargain," Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. "It more than pays for itself."

President and First Lady Travel 4,000 Miles -- on Separate Planes -- to Lobby for Olympics

In the article, the White House Military Office gives a much lower cost for the air portion of the trip then the United States Air Force who actually flies and maintains the planes. As someone who has been around the Air Force for years, we believe the Air Force has credibility.

Since a President has never lobbied in person for a city in the United States to get the Olympics in the past, may we be so bold as to ask why we are sending Obama and his wife on separate planes at US Taxpayer expense to lobby for Chicago. If Chicago wanted them to lobby for Chicago, then the City of Chicago and Mayor Daley should be picking up the tab not the US Taxpayer.

Another interesting detail is that over 50% of people in Chicago don't want the Olympics but City Government does. Tells us that US Taxpayers are about to see a huge waste of money spent in the City of Chicago that is known for graft and lining pockets of politicians.

Once again the US Taxpayer being fleeced by Obama and the Chicago machine. How many US Taxdollars are going to go to Chicago for the Olympics with Obama as President?

We recommend Rio de Janeiro get the Olympics and save the US Taxpayer money while cutting down on more millionaires in Chicago.

President and First Lady Travel 4,000 Miles -- on Separate Planes -- to Lobby for Olympics
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are both traveling to Copenhagen this week to promote Chicago's bid to host to the 2016 Olympic Games--and they will be making the 3,979-mile trip on separate airplanes.

The first lady left on Tuesday night, while the president will leave for Denmark on Thursday night.

Taxpayers will pick up the tab for both jets ferrying the president and first lady separately to Europe.

“Everything they do, whether it’s signing pieces of legislation or flying around the world, everything is costing the taxpayer,” David Williams, vice president of policy for Citizens Against Government Waste, told CNSNews.com. “The taxpayer is picking up the tab for everything.”

The White House announced on Monday that the president would be joining his wife on this European trip, despite indicating earlier this month that the first lady would head up the U.S. Olympic Committee delegation to Copenhagen while Obama remained in the United States to continue pushing for his health care reform plan.

(snip)

Using the CRS cost estimates and the inflation adjuster from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost for the one-way 7.5-hour trip from Washington, D.C. to Copenhagen on the first lady's plane would range from $29,532 (White House Military Office) to $107,717 (U.S. Air Force).

The cost for the president to fly Air Force One on the one-way 7.5-hour trip from Washington, D.C. to Copenhagen ranges from $343,448 (White House Military Office) to $567,089 (U.S. Air Force).

Excerpt: See CNS for Full Article

Does Obama have time to lobby for Chicago’s Olympic bid?

What's the deal? Obama has only talked to our Afghanistan Commander, General McChyrstal one time in 70 days but he doesn't think twice about flying to Europe to push for Chicago for the Olympics. Chicago, the home of the polical corruption, is getting how much out of Obama for the Olympics that the US Taxpayer is going to be paying?

If Gates thinks healthcare is in better shape, he doesn't have a clue. What does Daley have on Obama that would make him make this trip costing US taxpayers $68,000 an hour to fly AF1 and then find out his wife is traveling separately and costing us even more money? A US President has never gotten involved before so why now? Could it be Obama doesn't want to be in the US when the new figures come out for unemployment?

This should not be an expense of the US Taxpayer but the City of Chicago if they want the Olympics. Would bet the US Taxpayer is going to be bailing out Chicago even more if they get the Olympics while Chicago awards patronage contracts.

Does Obama have time to lobby for Chicago’s Olympic bid?
Chicago is delighted that Obama will go to the 2016 Summer Olympics host-city selection vote in Copenhagen Oct. 2. But can healthcare reform manage without him – even for a day?
By Linda Feldmann

Washington

Two weeks ago, President Obama said he was too busy with healthcare reform to go to Copenhagen on Oct. 2 personally to pitch Chicago for the 2016 Summer Games.

First lady Michelle Obama would do just fine as head of the delegation.

On second thought….

Now Mr. Obama himself is going – flying out Thursday night, back on Friday – and the White House is on the defensive.

“I think the president believes healthcare is in better shape,” press secretary Robert Gibbs said at a Monday briefing. “I believe he felt strongly and personally that he should go and make the case for the United States.”

The press corps seemed a tad incredulous that healthcare was faring that much better than two weeks ago and returned to the topic repeatedly. Twenty-three times, to be exact. Mr. Gibbs insisted that Obama would have made the same move for any US city, and not just because it’s Chicago.

(Excerpt) Click for Full Article