One of the classic signs of imminent collapse of a culture is the brazen decadence that its leaders and elites start to exhibit. Nero and Commodus magnified lavishness to scales unprecedented even as the Roman Empire was rotting from the inside and slowly collapsing. The nigh-invincible Babylonians were in a drunken stupor of self-edification until Cyrus invaded and Alexander after him. Louis XVI wasn't a "bad" man per se but he was too busy partying and having fun while being horribly negligent about the affairs of the French people... and then he lost his head as bad as anyone could.
There are too many other examples that could be cited from the tale of years. And you would think that we might have learned something from six millenia's worth of them...
But here was the scene last night at the White House. In spite of the "sequester" that is halting performances by the Blue Angels and nearly derailed the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn and is now threatening to shut down air traffic control towers, Barack and Michelle Obama held a glitzy, vainglorious command performance in their own honor.
It was called the "Memphis Soul" concert. Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, Cyndi Lauper and others performed for the President and First Lady and their closest friends and supporters.
But none of the peons got to attend. We did get to foot the bill for this however. The money for this and the nine other concerts the Obamas have "hosted" all came from the publick treasuries. But if you feel bad about that, at least PBS let everyone watch it live last night...
If a group of musicians want to celebrate soul music, fine. I don't see a problem with that. But they should do it on their own dime, not mine or anybody else's. I don't even have a problem with them using the White House for their celebration of an art form... but they should pay rent for the privilege. Pay it to us. Because that's our house, not Barack Obama's. The President - whoever he or she might be - is only a temporary tenant. We The People own it... or we're supposed to own it anyway. It's funny: celebrities like Timberlake, Queen Latifah and others can get the red carpet treatment at the White House, but school children are completely shut out.
There's not enough money for you and I to visit the people's House but there's plenty of money for the Obamas to get down and boogie. It's like grand theft squattery.
Let's drop the pretenses. This was all about Barack and Michelle Obama feting themselves. Unfortunately it is not a new occurrence. I've watched shameful waste of our money at the White House for years now, irrespective of whether it's a Democrat or Republican in the Oval Office. And this should be something to outrage everyone regardless of their political affiliations. But it has to be said: Obama has taken it to a whole new level. Between he and Vice President Biden, they've had eight vacations so far this year. Also paid for by us (Biden's one-night stay at a hotel in Paris cost $585,000: that better have been the best mint on a pillow in the history of anything).
Eight vacations in just over three months? In that same time I've been doing everything from writing to computer support to farm work to make ends meet. I'm looking hard for employment... and I'd dare say that I've done more real work than Obama and Biden put together. Where the hell is my vacation, huh?!
A lot of people are looking for good, honest work. They want to support themselves, their families, make a better future for their children. What little money they can scrape together, they want and deserve to use it for their own benefit.
It wasn't meant for Barack Obama or anyone else to squander on parties for themselves.
There are too many other examples that could be cited from the tale of years. And you would think that we might have learned something from six millenia's worth of them...
But here was the scene last night at the White House. In spite of the "sequester" that is halting performances by the Blue Angels and nearly derailed the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn and is now threatening to shut down air traffic control towers, Barack and Michelle Obama held a glitzy, vainglorious command performance in their own honor.
It was called the "Memphis Soul" concert. Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, Cyndi Lauper and others performed for the President and First Lady and their closest friends and supporters.
But none of the peons got to attend. We did get to foot the bill for this however. The money for this and the nine other concerts the Obamas have "hosted" all came from the publick treasuries. But if you feel bad about that, at least PBS let everyone watch it live last night...
If a group of musicians want to celebrate soul music, fine. I don't see a problem with that. But they should do it on their own dime, not mine or anybody else's. I don't even have a problem with them using the White House for their celebration of an art form... but they should pay rent for the privilege. Pay it to us. Because that's our house, not Barack Obama's. The President - whoever he or she might be - is only a temporary tenant. We The People own it... or we're supposed to own it anyway. It's funny: celebrities like Timberlake, Queen Latifah and others can get the red carpet treatment at the White House, but school children are completely shut out.
There's not enough money for you and I to visit the people's House but there's plenty of money for the Obamas to get down and boogie. It's like grand theft squattery.
Let's drop the pretenses. This was all about Barack and Michelle Obama feting themselves. Unfortunately it is not a new occurrence. I've watched shameful waste of our money at the White House for years now, irrespective of whether it's a Democrat or Republican in the Oval Office. And this should be something to outrage everyone regardless of their political affiliations. But it has to be said: Obama has taken it to a whole new level. Between he and Vice President Biden, they've had eight vacations so far this year. Also paid for by us (Biden's one-night stay at a hotel in Paris cost $585,000: that better have been the best mint on a pillow in the history of anything).
Eight vacations in just over three months? In that same time I've been doing everything from writing to computer support to farm work to make ends meet. I'm looking hard for employment... and I'd dare say that I've done more real work than Obama and Biden put together. Where the hell is my vacation, huh?!
A lot of people are looking for good, honest work. They want to support themselves, their families, make a better future for their children. What little money they can scrape together, they want and deserve to use it for their own benefit.
It wasn't meant for Barack Obama or anyone else to squander on parties for themselves.
