Michelle Obama's Spain Vacation Costs Taxpayers Thousands of Dollars

In 2010 the first lady Michelle Obama took a trip to Spain that ended up costing taxpayers about $470,000. Now this was a trip in which the first lady and her companions were supposed to cover their own expenses, however, her being the first lady meant that she had to have the protection of the secret service. Therefore, costing taxpayers a reasonable amount.

Back in 2010, this trip caused widespread criticism as pictures of the first lady and her youngest daughter in an elegant Mediterranean setting ironically clashed with our “still-struggling U.S. economy”. However, the criticism goes without saying, the first lady is clearly enjoying herself with our hard-earned money. The cost for the Secret Service alone is totaled to nearly $255,000, then added to that flight costs and accommodations sums up to least $467,585, according to Judicial Watch. To make matters worse, the first lady’s office has not yet cooperated with a response or explanation.

While the first lady is not an elected official, any trip outside of Washington means inevitable costs like Secret Service protection, taxpayers have to bear with. The same goes for previous first ladies. However, as Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “The American people can ill afford to keep sending the First Family on vacations around the globe”. President Obama has fired GSA officials for wasteful conference spending, this is hypocritical considering his family goes on luxurious vacations around the globe.

Is The United States Doing ENOUGH To Stop Global Warming?

    The answer to this question is simply, NO. We might think that by passing the Clean Air Act- which states that a person can only put a certain amount of pollution in the air, or driving a hybrid, or even puting a recycling bin in every house is going to save us from climate changes, the we are dead wrong. This helps, but the fact is that it's just not cutting it.

    Yes, it might be true that the United States is a global leader, and that other countries look up to the U.S. for solutions. However, this is not true when it comes to Global Warming. This country is doing next to nothing when it comes to implementing ways to stop this disaster from progressing. In fact, in 2001 Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which committed 141 industrialized countries to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emitions. He claimed that it was too costly and "an unrealistic and over-tightening straightjacket". However, by implementing laws centered around Global Warming could potentially boost our economy. This would create jobs in the "green" and clean air sectors. It would also improve American health by reducing air and water pollution which has been directly linked to mortality rates.

    China might have taken the first place in global emitter from us. Yet, we don't seem to care much if we take back the title or not. The fact is that we Americans are unmistakably selfish. We refuse to give up luxuries like expensive car that get no more than 20 MPG but produce loads of CO2. We rather donate $50 to some company that claims to protect the ecosystem instead of giving up some of our time to plant a tree.

    Ignorance is bliss as they say, however, Global Warming denial is a pathetic excuse many people use. This is a real issue that will not only affect us, but our predecessors as well. As Al Gore once said "Even if we stop production of CO2 now, it will stay in the atmosphere 10 more years". It just keeps accumulating, therefore, if we want to have a place to live in the near future we ALL better get our gears in motion.

Obama's Priorities...

Just recently President Obama "shredded attempts by his handlers to cast him as a pragmatic and reasonable man who can appeal to independent voters" by rejecting the Keystone XL oil pipeline according to Michael Goodwin, from Fox News. The pipeline would carry oil from Canada to Gulf Coast ports and it would cost $7 billion. Obama procrastinated on making a decision until after the election despite the three year study by the State Department. According to Goodwin, thousands of jobs were cast aside in order to put special-interest politics first.  Furthermore, Obama promised a commitment to energy indepencence which is now non existent. Canada even offered a new route to avoid an aquafier in Nebraska. Because unions demanded to know wheater he would approve of the new route or not, Republicans put a 60-day deadline in December's payroll-tac legislation.  However he rejected the offer without an explanation, but a "lame" statement that hinted not on a decision made based on merits, but a deadline. Goodwing stated," The man who insisted that "making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning" was just reading empty words from a TelePrompter". President Obama has obviously let some people down. Now Canada is saying how "profoundly disappointed" they are and moving to plan b, which most likely is to build a pipeline on its west coast and sell the oil to china. After reading this article about Goodwin's opinion I cant help but agree with him. Obama did make a promise to enviromentalist about a commitment to energy independace. Also, instead of creating thousands of jobs, he demolished the idea and broke that promise aswell. Goodwin's article seems very credoulus to me, he presents valid facts and information. Based on the facts and his personal opinion he presents an article that gives a new perspective not only to enviromentalist, but the general public aswell.

U.S. Travel Warning to Mexican States

I recently read an article on USA Today about a warning the U.S. has made to the american public. This warning deals with avoiding travel to Mexican states, specially 13 of them including border states. This article states that american citizens have been victims of killings, carjackings, drug violence, and even kidnappings. This issue has been going on since 2006, when Mexico's drug war reached a high point. However, since last year, more and more american tourists and visitors have been increasingly attacked. Therefore, the U.S. Government feels like it need to inform and give a warning to people planning a visit. I, myself am from Mexico and I used to visit it every year. Therefore I've been aware of the situation going on in my home country. Its not to say that ALL of Mexico is dangerous, however, this article is a good waring to unaware americans planning to visit.