As you already know, the ominous Sequester is still in effect, with United States President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) authorizing cuts in government spending, including doing away with Tours of the White House, hot meals for our Armed Forces, appearances by the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds at Air Shows, and…
According to the Liberals’ favorite website, Huffington Post…
Budget cuts are stealing meals from elderly Americans all across the country, according to a new survey by the Meals On Wheels Association of America.
The association represents about 5,000 local senior nutrition groups in every state, coordinating volunteers who deliver a million meals a day to poor senior citizens. Since 1972, the federal government has helped pay for the meals through the Administration on Aging, which did not escape the 5.1 percent cut to non-defense discretionary spending this year, also called sequestration.
Meals On Wheels surveyed 640 of its local member organizations on how they’ve coped since the cuts took effect in March. Forty percent of programs have eliminated staff positions. Seventy percent are putting more people on waiting lists, increasing the number of those on waiting lists by an average of 58 seniors per list. And programs have cut an average of 364 meals per week.
“Every day, Meals on Wheels programs provide a lifeline by serving meals to our nation’s most vulnerable, frail, and isolated seniors,” association president Ellie Hollander said in a statement. “The real impact of sequester is that our programs don’t have the ability to expand to meet the growing need. We should be investing in these programs to ensure our seniors have the nutritious meals they need to remain healthy and independent.”
The association previously estimated sequestration would result in 19 million fewer meals, while the White House put the loss at 4 million. The estimates will be difficult to verify; the federal government generally covers only a portion of each meal’s cost and other funding streams for local Meals On Wheels operations vary widely. Meals On Wheels officials said local offices already were coping with reduced federal funding before sequestration.
I guess Obama is just getting America’s Elderly ready for Obamacare. Assignment of ice floes comes next.
Meanwhile, the Obamas (Scooter, Mooch, and the girls) are preparing to go on a Family Vacation to Sub-Sahara Africa…a trip which is estimated to cost between 60 to 100 million dollars…OF AMERICAN TAXPAYER MONEY.
The Washington Post Reports…
When President Obama goes to sub-Saharan Africa this month, the federal agencies charged with keeping him safe won’t be taking any chances.
Hundreds of U.S. Secret Service agents will be dispatched to secure facilities in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. A Navy aircraft carrier or amphibious ship, with a fully staffed medical trauma center, will be stationed offshore in case of an emergency.
Military cargo planes will airlift in 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bulletproof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay. Fighter jets will fly in shifts, giving 24-hour coverage over the president’s airspace, so they can intervene quickly if an errant plane gets too close.
The elaborate security provisions — which will cost the government tens of millions of dollars — are outlined in a confidential internal planning document obtained by The Washington Post. While the preparations appear to be in line with similar travels in the past, the document offers an unusual glimpse into the colossal efforts to protect the U.S. commander in chief on trips abroad.
Any journey by the president, such as one scheduled this week for Northern Ireland and Germany, is an immense and costly logistical challenge. But the trip to Africa is complicated by a confluence of factors that could make it one of the most expensive of Obama’s tenure, according to people familiar with the planning.
The first family is making back-to-back stops from June 26 to July 3 in three countries where U.S. officials are providing nearly all the resources, rather than depending heavily on local police forces, military authorities or hospitals for assistance.
The president and first lady had also planned to take a Tanzanian safari as part of the trip, which would have required the president’s special counterassault team to carry sniper rifles with high-caliber rounds that could neutralize cheetahs, lions or other animals if they became a threat, according to the planning document.
But officials said Thursday that the safari had been canceled in favor of a trip to Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner.
In honor of Obama’s “Working Vacation”, I have composed a little ditty to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. Please, feel free to sing along…
Obama Sleeps Tonight
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
(A Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
(Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
Obama sleeps tonight
In the jungle the quiet jungle
Obama sleeps tonight.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
(A Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
(Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
Near Mandela, Nelson Mandela,
Obama sleeps tonight.
Near Mandela, Nelson Mandela,
the lion sleeps tonight.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
(A Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
(Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
Sequester for thee, none for me,
Obama sleeps tonight
Sequester for thee, none for me,
Obama sleeps tonight
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
(A Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
(Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on, Sequester’s on)
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Weee-eeee-eeee-eeee all have more tax to pay.
Great to have a president who cares about American Citizens, huh?
Unbelievable.
Until He Comes,
KJ