NEWS FLASH

The government is planning to call back about 400,000 out of the 800,000 of the government employees that were laid off and that is a good thing but there seems to be a little difference of opinion as to what “lay off means”. Not that my opinion or anyone else’s in this country means anything.

Definition of layoff thanks to Mr. Webster:

lay·off 

1. The act of suspending or dismissing an employee, as for lack of work or because of corporate reorganization.

2. A period of temporary inactivity or rest.

The way I always have interrupted the meaning of the term lay-off was, if a person is laid off that should mean they do not get paid.  I guess that does not apply to government employees.

I guess if congress can put together a bill that would protect their pay and “bennies” they can do anything they want with a stroke of a pen.

This entire sham is just a giant, egotistical game the DC Dudes are playing with each-other at the expense and reputation of the country.  Neither one of the side wants to give in or as our British cousins say “capitulate” because it will make them look bad. How much worse can they look?

They have to remember what the words negotiate and compromise means. Those are two words that do not exist in a politicians vocabulary. Both  the Elephants and the Jack Asses” are equally at fault for the condition of our country.

“Pass the steak sauce senator”.

As I am pounding these computer keys the “overpaid and underworked” congress is voting to paid all of the laid off government workers retroactively when they do come back.

So would this be classified as a “paid vacation or a layoff”? As my dear friend Shakespeare said; we went to two different schools together:

It was always my understanding  that when someone gets laid-off that they do not receive any pay or benefits. The “good old boys club” is alive and well in DC.

The last I heard congress had an approval of only 22% but Obama’s numbers are slightly higher with a 45% thumbs up rating. Those are pretty pathetic numbers in any business let alone for people that are supposed to be running a government.

I have to say; I really feel very bad that Obama had to cancel his trip to Asia just because his country is falling apart but it is time he gave Air-Force 1 a break anyway.

I wish someone could explain to me how ANYONE can perform their jobs with efficiency  if they are never in the office or watching the store??

The following are a list of trips Obama has taken since he has in office.
1 1 19-Feb-2009 19-Feb-2009 Canada
Ottawa
Met with Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.[6]

2 2 31-Mar-2009 3-Apr-2009 United Kingdom
London
Attended the G20 Economic Summit. Met with Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

3 3-Apr-2009 4-Apr-2009 France
Germany
Strasbourg, Baden-Baden and Kehl
Attended the 21st NATO Summit.

4 4-Apr-2009 5-Apr-2009 Czech Republic
Prague
Attended a European Union-United States summit. Delivered public speech on nuclear disarmament.[7] Met with Czech President Václav Klaus.

5 5-Apr-2009 7-Apr-2009 Turkey
Ankara and Istanbul
Met with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Delivered a speech to the Turkish Parliament.

6 7-Apr-2009 8-Apr-2009 Iraq
Baghdad
Met with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Visited with U.S. troops.[8]

7 16-Apr-2009 17-Apr-2009 Mexico
Mexico City
Met with President Felipe Calderón.

8 17-Apr-2009 18-Apr-2009 Trinidad and Tobago
Port of Spain
Attended the 5th Summit of the Americas.

9 3-Jun-2009 4-Jun-2009 Saudi Arabia
Riyadh
Met with King Abdullah.

10 4-Jun-2009 4-Jun-2009 Egypt
Cairo and Giza
Met with President Hosni Mubarak. Toured the Giza Pyramids. Delivered a speech directed towards the wider Muslim world at Cairo University.

11 4-Jun-2009 5-Jun-2009 Germany
Dresden, Buchenwald, and Landstuhl
Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Visited Buchenwald concentration camp and an U.S. military hospital.

12 5-Jun-2009 7-Jun-2009 France
Paris and Caen
Met with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Attended 65th anniversary of D-Day celebrations.

13 6-Jul-2009 8-Jul-2009 Russia
Moscow
Met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Delivered a commencement speech to the New Economic School.

14 8-Jul-2009 10-Jul-2009 Italy
L’Aquila and Rome
Attended the 35th G8 summit. Met with President Giorgio Napolitano[9] and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

15 10-Jul-2009 10-Jul-2009 Vatican City
Vatican City
Met with Pope Benedict XVI.

16 10-Jul-2009 11-Jul-2009 Ghana
Accra
Met with President John Atta Mills. Delivered a speech to the Ghanaian Parliament. Toured a former departing point of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the Cape Coast Castle.

17 9-Aug-2009 10-Aug-2009 Mexico
Guadalajara
Attended annual North American Leaders’ Summit with President Felipe Calderón and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

18 02-Oct-2009 02-Oct-2009 Denmark
Copenhagen
Met with Queen Margrethe II and Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Attended the 13th Olympic Congress meeting to lobby for Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

19 13-Nov-2009 14-Nov-2009 Japan
Tokyo
Met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

20 14-Nov-2009 15-Nov-2009 Singapore
Singapore
Attended the APEC 2009 meeting. Met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Met with leaders of ASEAN.

21 15-Nov-2009 18-Nov-2009 China
Shanghai and Beijing
Met with Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng. Held a town hall meeting with Shanghai students. Met with President Hu Jintao, NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.

22 18-Nov-2009 19-Nov-2009 South Korea
Seoul and Pyeongtaek
Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited with U.S. troops at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek.

23 9-Dec-2009 11-Dec-2009 Norway
Oslo
Accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. The guys that presented that award should have put a little more thought into their decision.

24 17-Dec-2009 19-Dec-2009 Denmark
Copenhagen
Attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009.

25 27-Mar-2010 28-Mar-2010 Afghanistan
Bagram and Kabul
Met with President Hamid Karzai and U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base.

26 8-Apr-2010 8-Apr-2010 Czech Republic
Prague
Signed the New START treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

27 25-Jun-2010 27-Jun-2010 Canada
Toronto and Huntsville
Attended the 36th G8 summit and the G-20 Toronto summit

28 6-Nov-2010 9-Nov-2010 India
Mumbai and New Delhi
Participated in the US-India Business Council and Entrepreneurship Summit in Mumbai. Held a town hall meeting with Mumbai students. Met with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Delivered a speech to the Indian Parliament. Visited Humayun’s Tomb and Raj Ghat.

29 9-Nov-2010 10-Nov-2010 Indonesia
Jakarta
Met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Delivered a speech at the University of Indonesia. Visited Istiqlal Mosque.

30 10-Nov-2010 12-Nov-2010 South Korea
Seoul
Attended the G-20 Seoul summit. Met with President Lee Myung-bak. Visited with U.S. troops at Yongsan Garrison.

31 12-Nov-2010 14-Nov-2010 Japan
Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura
Attended the APEC 2010 meeting. Met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Visited the Kamakura Great Buddha statue.

32 19-Nov-2010 20-Nov-2010 Portugal
Lisbon
Attended the 22nd NATO summit and the U.S.-EU summit. Met with President Aníbal Cavaco Silva and Prime Minister José Sócrates.

33 3-Dec-2010 3-Dec-2010 Afghanistan
Bagram
Visited with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base. Originally planned meeting with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul was canceled due to bad weather.[10]

34 19-Mar-2011 21-Mar-2011 Brazil
Brasília and Rio de Janeiro
Met with President Dilma Rousseff. Visited the Cidade de Deus favela and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

35 21 Mar-2011 22 Mar-2011 Chile
Santiago
Met with President Sebastián Piñera.

3622 Mar-2011 23 Mar-2011 El Salvador
San Salvador
Met with President Mauricio Funes. Visited the San Salvador Cathedral.

37 23-May-2011 23-May-2011 Ireland
Dublin, Moneygall
Had meetings with President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Visited ancestral home in Moneygall, and addressed a large crowd in Dublin. Accompanied by the First Lady.[11][12]

38 23-May-2011 26-May-2011 United Kingdom
London
State visit,[11] accompanied by the First Lady. She returned to the US from the UK when the President traveled on to France.[13]

39 26-May-2011 27-May-2011 France
Deauville
37th G8 summit[11]

40 27-May-2011 28-May-2011 Poland
Warsaw
Had meetings with President Bronisław Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Laid wreath at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and visited the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash.[11]

41 3-Nov-2011 4-Nov-2011 France
Cannes
G-20 Cannes summit

42 16-Nov-2011 17-Nov-2011 Australia
Canberra, Darwin
Met with Prime Minister Julia Gillard

17-Nov-2011 19-Nov-2011 Indonesia
Nusa Dua on Bali
ASEAN Summit and the sixth East Asia Summit on Bali.[14]

44 25-Mar-2012[15]
27-Mar-2012 South Korea
Osan Air Base, Korean Demilitarized Zone, Seoul
2012 Nuclear Security Summit follow up to 2010 Nuclear Security Summit held in April 2010, Washington DC. Met with Hu Jintao and Nursultan Nazarbayev and addressed US military personnel.[16]

45 13-Apr-2012 15-Apr-2012[17]
Colombia
Cartagena
6th Summit of the Americas

46 01-May-2012 02-May-2012[18]
Afghanistan
Bagram Air Base, Kabul
Signing of strategic partnership agreement between Afghanistan and United States, spending time with U.S. troops at Bagram airfield and addressing the nation from there regarding the responsible end of the Afghanistan war.[19][20]

47 17-June-2012 19-June-2012 Mexico
San José del Cabo and Los Cabos Corridor
2012 G-20 Mexico summit.[21]

48 18-Nov-2012 19-Nov-2012 Thailand
Bangkok
The President visited the Wat Pho monastery, took part in a formal welcome ceremony at Thai Koo Fah,[22] and met with King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej and Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss Thai–U.S. cooperation and mark 180 years of official relations.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

19-Nov-2012 19-Nov-2012 Myanmar (Burma)
Yangon
President Obama became the first U.S. President to visit the country, where he toured Shwedagon Pagoda, delivered a speech on democracy at the University of Yangon[25] and met with President Thein Sein and MP Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss Myanmar–U.S. relations in light of the country’s democratic reforms.

50 19-Nov-2012 20-Nov-2012 Cambodia
Phnom Penh
The President attended the 21st ASEAN Summit and the 7th East Asia Summit, where he met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda, among others. Obama also hold a bilateral meeting with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and Obama became the first person holding the office to visit Cambodia.

51 20-Mar-2013 22-Mar-2013 Israel
Tel Aviv, Jerusalem
Held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, visited Shrine of the Book and Yad Vashem, and spoke to students at the International Convention Center.

52 21-Mar-2013 22-Mar-2013 West Bank
Ramallah, Bethlehem
Held a bilateral meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas and visited the Church of the Nativity.

53 22-Mar-2013 23-Mar-2013 Jordan
Amman, Petra
Held a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah and visited Petra.

54 2-May-2013 3-May-2013 Mexico
Mexico City
Met Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

55 3 -May-2013 4-May-2013 Costa Rica
San José
Met Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and other Central American leaders.

56 17-Jun-2013 18-Jun-2013 United Kingdom
Lough Erne
39th G8 summit

57 18-Jun-2013 19-Jun-2013 Germany
Berlin

58 26-Jun-2013 28-Jun-2013 Senegal
Dakar

59 28-Jun-2013 1-Jul-2013 South Africa
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, Cape Town

60 1-Jul-2013 2-Jul-2013 Tanzania
Dar es Salaam

61 4-Sep-2013 5-Sep-2013 Sweden
Stockholm

62 5-Sep-2013 6-Sep-2013 Russia
St. Petersburg

63 2013 G-20 Russia summit

INVESTORS POLITICS:
It is estimated that every time Air Force 1 takes off it costs the taxpayers $179,750.00 an hour.

Let us assume that the average flight Obama takes is about 15 hours; that equates to $2,696,250.00 one way, double that for the return trip and we have $5,392,500.00 per trip, give or take a few thousand.

We are wondering where our tax dollars are going. I know for sure that ALL of our VIP’s (Very Important People) don’t stay in Motel 6 when they travel and they do not eat at the “Golden Arches”.

Add on that a team of at least 500 people for each trip including White House aides, a six-doctor medical team and a squad of personal chefs that accompany the prez on each trip.

When the President travels he always takes ‘The Beast’, his gigantic bomb-proof General Motors Cadillac with eight-inch thick armor-plating on its doors with him.
So I would say that it is safe to use a number like 8 -10 million or more for each trip. These number DO NOT include all of the trips the Misses and the First Kids took. No wonder the USA is broke.

To date Obama has made 62  trips out of the country since he said “I do” or was it “I don’t”. Do the math; my calculator just broke.

I wonder how many government employees that are coming back to work with retroactive pay are going on vacation as soon as they get back??

Mai Tai’ anyone???