Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Use your own expletive

US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: I know other presidents have visited other countries. Is this one more expensive? Less necessary? How does it measure up to the usual diplomatic visits? I truly have no idea what to think. 200 million is a lot of money, but is it unusual for this kind of thing?; November 2, 2010 at 12:04 PM
John said...: It's hard to find comparables. Waxman did an investigation of campaign related travel by Bush in 2006 and claimed that of about $6-7 million for about 45 trips only about $200k was reimbursed by the campaign. Not directly comparable since it wasn't an official trip and not overseas, but gives some idea of the difference in scale.

This article from 2000 calls a Clinton trip at $50 million the most expensive presidential overseas trip ever. So it would seem that while profligacy and fiscal irresponsibility in the office of the POTUS (and Congress) have been growing steadily for years (and by both parties) Obama seems hellbent on making previous excesses look like rounding errors.; November 2, 2010 at 4:52 PM
jerry said...: Why the huge number of people going? It sounds more like a Saudi Prince's vacation then anything else.

Wonder what old Harry Truman would have to say about our fearless leader's travel habits.; November 3, 2010 at 8:53 AM
Unknown said...: http://factcheck.org/2010/11/ask-factcheck-trip-to-mumbai/.

If it looks too good to be true, check some facts and the source; November 3, 2010 at 7:38 PM
John said...: Factcheck doesn't say its false, just that the claim is doubtful. A commenter elsewhere made this back of the envelope estimate:

For security purposes, I could see reporting some outrageous number of travelers - you wouldn't want to give away how the trip is being conducted, how much security detail there is, etc.

But if the dollar amount is real - that's a lot of dough. Especially if the number of people actually traveling is less than 3,000....

40 airplanes burning 1 gallon of fuel a minute at $10/gal for 40 hours (guesstimate of total airtime for round trip) comes out to about $1M total.

3000 people for 10 days at $100/hr plus $100/day for food and other expenses is $75M.

So, by my back of the envelope calculation it seems like they could do it for less than $1.8B.

I would argue that the $100/day is probably low, considering that they are taking over the entire Taj Mahal hotel where a quick check shows low room rates at $350/nt. I doubt many of the 3000 are doubling up. So if we up his estimate to $500/day, the total cost is raised to about $90mm.

The air costs seem too low as well. According the this congressional report, Air Force One costs about $60k/hr to operate so for 40 hours that comes to $2.4m just for Air Force one. The report also indicates that cargo planes cost about $7k/hr to operate, lets assume that passenger carrying flights cost more, perhaps $10k/hr. That comes to $400k/plane x 39 plans = $15.6mm + 2.4mm = $18mm in flight costs. That brings the total to over $100mm. Add another $50mm just for general government inefficiency and waste. Not $200m/day, but still an outrageous amount of other people's money and for what purpose exactly? We need to update Everett Dirksen's admonition to $100 billion here and there pretty soon adds up to real money.; November 4, 2010 at 5:16 AM
jerry said...: Add to this the cost of the massive amount of security required for the whole group.

What do you expect from a President and wife who think they're entitled.

I still ask why in tough times what's the necessity for such a huge party? To stick a finger in the public's eye?; November 4, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Unknown said...: Jerry: No matter what Obama does you will find fault. You based your last comment on the info in the original article. I guess you expect the President to just stay at home.

John: The back of the envelope estimate is based on the original article, by a blogger in India, which has no basis in fact. How in hell would he know home much this is going to cost. I doubt that the Secret Service gave him information. Like Jerry you believe everything negative about Obama.

BTW, when the White House commented that this is not true, I am sure you believe they are lying.; November 4, 2010 at 1:35 PM
John said...: Bob,

You seem incapable of absorbing facts. I did my own back of the envelope calculation with all assumptions stated plainly, based on the number of people going, the number of planes etc... and came up with a trip cost of well over $100 million.

Add to this some new info. There will apparently be a 1km bomb-proof tunnel built to transport Obama and entourage to the Gandhi museum. No cost estimate for that is given. While this is an above ground tunnel I am sure its cost is still in the millions and perhaps tens of millions.

There will also be a fleet of 34 warships off the Mumbai coast to offer additional security. (Not to mention the idiocy of removing all the coconuts from the trees along Obama's proposed path. What exactly is the coconut mortality rate in India?)

Add these into the mix and the 'discredited' Indian media estimate of $200mn/day doesn't look so outrageous anymore. Even if it is 'only' $200mn for the entire trip the amount is still outrageous. And for what purpose? To announce some new trade deals with the Indian government?; November 5, 2010 at 8:37 AM

Saul Alinsky's
Rules for Radicals

(or understanding current Democratic tactics)

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy.

Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.

Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag.

Rule 8: Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period.

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.

Rule 10: Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

Rule 11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.

Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.

Communist Manifesto 10 Planks

10 Conditions For Transition To Communism

Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Abolition of all right of inheritance.
Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.

The Goals of Communism

(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Use your own expletive

US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit

8 comments:

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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Use your own expletive

US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit

8 comments:

Search This Blog

Followers

My Blog List

Reading List

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals

Communist Manifesto 10 Planks

10 Conditions For Transition To Communism

The Goals of Communism

Blog Archive

Miscellaneous

Contributors

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Saul Alinsky's
Rules for Radicals