Where does the time go?

Lewis Black is one of my favorite comedians....he channels the "angry man" shtick just right.  He talks about getting old and says he doesn't care about the physical effects, you know you are getting older because "Time moves really fast.". He goes on how summer seem to last three days and one of those was the 4th of July, and he didn't get to have a BBQ.

I feel his pain.  Here it is on the day before I get to fly back to the sandbox and as usual, I am in the same place saying, " Where did the time I had at home go???"

Things went well.  I got to visit my Dad and with friends.  I got to do some of the things I wanted to do.  As usual, I would love to have about three more days but that would still be how I feel even after three weeks.

I am glad to get back to the job as the work we are doing is important and is making a big difference for many in Afghanistan.  The next break will be during the late Spring and that will mean I won't have to deal with SNOW.

More updates from the Sandbox once I arrive.  The news lately shows that the POLS in WASH DC are still taking our country in the wrong direction and that the failed President will never wake up to reality. Some things never change.  Hope things stay well for all here at home.  Those who are in the sandbox with me, including our finest citizens, your military men & women, are doing an incredible job each and every day.  I like that I can be there in support of them.

All for now.....more from the other side of the pond.

Vacationer-in Chief runs up a $ 4 Million + dollar tab for 17 day holiday to Hawaii....It's only the little people's money.

Yes, I know that some will see this info as a "non-story" but in the interest of stressing that " Leadership by example " is seriously missing from the White House, this becomes a prima-facie case of the hypocrisy of the Obama and the First Lady. Obama signed an executive order that directed limiting excessive travel expense or increasing costs needlessly but rules are for the "little people" after all.

Here's what the local press in Hawaii has to say about it. When you are making the locals unhappy in Hawaii, you are obviously doing something wrong as Hawaii is one of the most laid back places anywhere....Kinda tells you where things stand even in a place where he has support.

With More Vacation Days and Separate Travel, Price of Obama’s Annual Hawaiian Holiday Rises BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - KAILUA, OAHU - www.hawaiireporter.com

The U.S. Secret Service has arrived, street barricades are in place, and the U.S. Coast Guard has stationed itself in the waters surrounding Kailua, Oahu. That is a sure sign President Barack Obama’s security team is preparing for the first family to arrive in the small beachside community as early as Friday night for what is expected to be a 17-day vacation.

The President and his family are traveling separately to Hawaii because he wants resolve the payroll tax cut issue before leaving Washington – and his wife does not want to wait.

But the advanced trip and the cost that comes with it – as much as $100,000 (flight and security) – adds to an already expensive vacation for the taxpayers.

Hawaii Reporter research shows the total cost for the President’s visit for taxpayers far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010 – but is even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed in 2000. In addition, Hawaii Reporter was able to obtain more specifics about the executive expenditures.

The total cost (based on what is known) for the 17-day vacation roundtrip vacation to Hawaii for the President, his family and staff has climbed to more than $4 million. Here's why.

TRAVEL: $3,651,626

The biggest expense is President Barack Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii via Air Force One, a cost the GAO office estimated at $1 million in the year 2000. Contacted today, the GAO confirmed there is no report the independent office affiliated with Congress has prepared since 2000 to operate Air Force One and Air Force Two.

However, the U.S. Air Force provides the most current numbers of $181,757 per flight hour. Travel time for Air Force One direct from Washington D.C. to Hawaii is about 9 hours or $1,635,813 each way for a total of $3,271,622 for the round trip to Hawaii and back.

The cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment is not available to the public. However, the flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is at about 20 hours roundtrip, with estimated operating cost of $7,000 per hour (GAO report) for a total of $140,000 per roundtrip. The United States Marine Corps provides a presidential helicopter, along with pilots and support crews for the test flights, which travel on another C-17 flight at $140,000 for a total of $280,000.

Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii costs about $63,000 (White House Dossier), but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000.

HOUSING: $151,200

The President and his family pay for their own beachfront rental (they are not staying in the Winter White House this year but rather a house on the same street further to the ocean point).

The Kailua rentals are fronted by the ocean and backed by a canal. So, the taxpayers must cover the costs for housing U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Seals in beach front and canal front homes in Kailua.

That costs about $1,200 a day ($200 allocated per bedroom per day). Since security arrives one day early, homes are rented for 18 days.

That is about $21,600 per home for approximately 7 houses rented at a total cost of $151,200 for security to stay nearby.

HOTEL: $72,216

The President’s staff and White House Press Corps stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. Hawaii Reporter confirmed they are again staying there this year. Besides its stunningly beautiful view of Waikiki, and its traditional architecture, it is one of the most pricey hotels in the state.

Government rates are $177 per night, but that only is available during certain times a year.

Rooms typically start at $250 but can cost on average as much as $450 a night, and are even higher during the holidays. A hotel spokesperson did not return calls to confirm the rate the White House received.

A conservative estimate with rooms at the government rate of $177 per day (excluding a 9.25 percent Transient Accommodation Tax and a 4.712 percent General Excise Tax on each bill, meals, internet charges and other charges) means the taxpayers are covering more than $72,216 in hotel bills for an estimated 24 staff.

LOCAL TAXPAYER COSTS: $260,000

Local police over time for the president’s visit has historically cost Oahu taxpayers $250,000 but may be more expensive this year with the extended vacation.

The city ambulance the accompanies the president 24 hours a day through his entire visit is $10,000, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.


UNKNOWN COSTS

There are several costs the White House annually refuses to release, citing security.

■For example, the president’s security usually rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the president’s stay.
■There are security upgrades and additional phone lines to several private homes where Obama and friends are staying. That includes bullet proof glass installed, home security systems disabled, new security measures put into place and additional phone lines added.
■There is the cost for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel.
■And there are additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.
The total cost (based on what is known) for a 17-day round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is an estimated $4,135,038.
Hawaii Reporter annually has requested details on the cost of the President’s trip, but the White House will not release any figures, citing security concerns. A spokesperson has maintained the costs are "in line" with other presidential vacations.

Hawaii Reporter has sought to determine the cost of vacations for the current president and last two presidents but the Government Accountability Office was able to provide those costs and referred Hawaii Reporter back to the White House spokesperson.

OMG...I concur

HE. JUST. DOESN'T. GET. IT. - President Obama will be going to MARTHA'S VINEYARD for his vacation....how about you?

CLUELESS. Arrogant. Over matched. Yet, there he is for all the world to see, going about things without a care of how it shows utter arrogance to take his family to a luxury estate on MARTHA's VINEYARD on our dime while people are losing their homes, jobs and lifetime savings. No, he must make sure that his family gets the full ride at the taxpayer's expense as he " needs down time to recharge his batteries for the battles ahead... "

Well LA DEE DA !! How about the average American who has taken it in the neck and can't go on even the most minor vacation because you've screwed things up so royally over the last 2 1/2 years. You and your minions used to rail against President Bush because he was " in the pocket of Big Oil" with gas costing $1.86 a gallon in JAN 2009. NOW, it is up in the range of $3.80 a gallon (double the cost).

Stay home in WASHINGTON DC and do the work we pay you for. IF & WHEN you are able to prove you DESERVE a Vacation, then you can take one. In the mean time, get back to work. Also, tell your wife that goes double for her. She has already wasted enough of our money for her selfish needs.


Economic woes offer awkward backdrop for Obama's vacation
By Richard Wolf and David Jackson, USA TODAY - 11AUG2011

WASHINGTON — Fourteen million people are out of work. Millions more are losing fortunes in the stock market. America's AAA bond rating has slipped.

President Barack Obama will vacation with his family in Martha's Vineyard at the end of this month.

So should President Obama be vacationing next week in Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, where the average home costs $650,000?

Yes, says White House press secretary Jay Carney. Obama, like most Americans, needs down time to recharge his batteries for the battles ahead. And besides, he says, "The presidency travels with you."

Maybe not, say some academics, authors and political pundits. While Obama deserves a break, they say, this might not be the time, and Martha's Vineyard might not be the place.

"You can do a vacation, but I think you ought to do it in a way that serves your political needs," says Steven Schier, a presidential historian at Carleton College in Minnesota. "His political needs are large."

Obama is scheduled to take his family to the secluded island next Thursday for a 10-day trip that will mark his third consecutive summer vacation there. It's the same island frequented by Bill Clinton when he was in the White House, offering a relaxing mix of ocean beaches, golf courses and restaurants.

The trip comes after the unprecedented downgrading of U.S. credit by Standard & Poor's and a nearly 1,500-point dive in the Dow Jones industrial average this month.

Even before those latest developments, the inability of many other Americans to afford a summer vacation had raised doubts about Obama's plans. Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation, last month slammed the trip as "politically tone-deaf."

Former White House officials and experts on the presidency note that the job and responsibilities — plus the staff, Secret Service and press corps — go along for the ride.

"The White House goes with the president," says presidential analyst Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. If needed, he notes, "they can turn around and come back on a dime."

True, says Dana Perino, George W. Bush's last White House press secretary. But "perception is reality, and they've got some bad reality," she says. "A trip to the Vineyard isn't going to help them right now."

Presidents are accustomed to vacation interruptions:

•Already this year, Obama has canceled trips to Montana and Williamsburg, Va., to stick with budget negotiations.

•In 2005, Hurricane Katrina prompted Bush to return early from his Texas ranch, though it didn't quell criticism that his reaction was slow.

•In 1994, Bill Clinton delayed his own Martha's Vineyard trip to monitor Senate deliberations over his signature health-care overhaul. The Senate killed the bill a month later.

•In 1992, George H.W. Bush canceled a trip to his Kennebunkport, Maine, compound to monitor a standoff over weapons of mass destruction inspections in Iraq.

•In 1985, Ronald Reagan canceled a trip to his California ranch during a hostage crisis in which 39 Americans were being held in Beirut, Lebanon.

"They really cannot escape the job," says Kenneth Walsh, author of From Mount Vernon to Crawford: A History of the Presidents and .Their Retreats Of Obama, he says, "It will obviously have to be a working vacation."

Americans usually don't mind presidents taking vacations, Walsh says, but it can be tricky in tough economic times — "exactly the situation Obama finds himself facing."

So what's a president to do?

One option is to couple the retreat with something a bit more all-American, as Obama did last August when he brought his family to Pensacola, Fla., to highlight the Gulf Coast's recovery from the BP oil spill — then flew to Martha's Vineyard.

This time, the golf-and-beach trip is being preceded by a bus tour of the Midwest that will take the president to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois for economic events.

A better solution, Schier says, would be to go somewhere else. "I don't think Martha's Vineyard is the ideal venue," he says. "It's not what you would call the vacation of the average American."