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APRIL 5 Versailles on the Potomac Deroy Murdock ‘Shared sacrifice” is one of Obama’s favorite mantras. Translation: The White House shares your money while you sacrifice. Amid the alleged horrors of the sequester, truly shared sacrifice is the last thing on Obama’s mind. The American people are enduring 0.4 percent GDP growth and 7.7 percent unemployment. A record 48 million citizens are on food stamps. Meanwhile, those in America’s royal palace are enduring tropical beaches, country clubs, and ski resorts. As Joseph Curl recalled in Times, the Obamas rang in 2013 in a 6,000-square-foot, $8 million estate in Oahu’s Paradise...

Between the canceled White House tours and the vacations he gives his dautghers, and the multi-million dollar trips to Europe Biden gives himself...it's not "let them eat cake," it's "let them eat this"...

Next week Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Queen Latifah, and many others will perform at the White House in a "Memphis Soul" concert, the White House announced today. "As part of their 'In Performance at the White House' series, the President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House for a celebration of Memphis Soul music. The program will include performances by Alabama Shakes, William Bell, Steve Cropper, Al Green, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and Justin Timberlake, with Booker T. Jones as music director...

It’s spring break, and President Obama’s daughters are off on yet another vacation. While the U.S. economy could use a little help, according to Breitbart News, the Obama girls are spending their time – and taxpayers’ dime – in the Bahamas. The girls’ visit to the Atlantis resort was not publicly announced, but Breitbart says its sources have confirmed the information, verified also through sightings posted on social media:

Matt Boyle reported earlier today that Sasha and Malia are spending the 2013 sequester season in the Bahamas. This is will be the third luxury vacation for the Obama offspring in the last month. Over Presidents weekend, Michelle took the daughters to Aspen.

Sasha and Malia Obama are quietly vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Breitbart News has learned. A source tipped Breitbart News off to the First Daughters’ spring vacation, which was not publicly announced or reported. Breitbart subsequently confirmed President Barack Obama’s daughters’ trip with other sources. Both the White House and the Atlantis resort declined to confirm the report or comment, but another guest provided a photograph of Sasha and Malia at the resort. Social media, including Twitter and Facebook, have also carried reports of the First Daughters' presence at Atlantis. One person who is...

Hostess Brands Inc. lived to die another day. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second biggest union. As a result, Hostess plans to continue with a hearing on Wednesday in which a bankruptcy court judge will decide if the company can shutter its operations. The renewed talks between Hostess and The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union came after the company declared last week that it would move to wind down its business and start selling off its assets in bankruptcy court. The company...

LJUBLJANA: American International Gro-up Inc ( AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe's debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase. "Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old," Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. "That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth." The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe's 17-nation currency union as...

'POLICE ACADEMY' Star Rips Obama Steve Guttenberg, star of the 1984 movie “Police Academy,” criticized President Obama in an interview with the website CreditCards.com published Wednesday... CreditCards.com: Do you think Washington can rein in the misbehavior? Guttenberg: It's hard to believe in the presidency anymore. I voted for Obama, I love Obama, but I don't want to see Obama on "The View," I don't want to see him playing Frisbee, I don't want to know that it's $40,000 a plate at George Clooney's house, and I adore George Clooney. Hey man, I've got a friend of mine who's got a...

Social Security is slated to run out of money in 2033, three years earlier than expected. So maybe it's time for politicians to stop pandering when it comes to shoring up the system and instead rethink the retirement entitlement altogether. Maybe we just need to look back at our history. In the early 1900s, nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 65 had a job. Dora Costa, an economic historian at UCLA, says people stopped working only if they were no longer physically able to. They expected to work as long as they lived. Is that really such...

British lingerie label Agent Provocateur have seen annual sales jump by more than 12 per cent in a year which also saw First Lady Michelle Obama joining their list of elite customers. Mrs Obama, is said to have spent $50,000 (£31,794) in the one shopping trip to the boutique which closed down part of Madison Avenue when she visited with the Queen of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah.

Amid shaking hands and signing campaign posters, Mitt Romney did something he has never done before on the ropeline: He took out his wallet and handed a wad of cash to a woman waiting to shake his hand. [snip] According to Williams, she followed the campaign bus to the Columbia airport on Wednesday, the same day Romney was arriving from New Hampshire. When Romney wasn’t on the bus, aides told her to go to the rally scheduled in Columbia later that day. When she showed up, Romney found her to say hello and pulled over South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley...

President Obama is learning what Nancy Reagan already knows: When it comes to White House glamour - and the spending that comes with it - it’s not so much what you do as when you do it. Decades ago, the former first lady was criticized for wearing expensive designer clothing and buying a pricey new White House china set - paid for by private donations, by the way - during a recession. In the here and now, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, have prompted similar complaints for hosting a lavish, unpublicized “Alice in Wonderland” White House Halloween party in...

First lady Michelle Obama says her husband deserves re-election not only for his first term accomplishments and vision for the future, but because of his genuine empathy for families dealing with tough economic times. “He understands these issues, not just because he’s smart but because he’s lived them,” Obama told a group of 100 campaign donors at a $2,500-a-plate luncheon in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. “He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. And when she needed help, who stepped in? His grandmother, waking up early every morning to take a...

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years. “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members...

First lady Michelle Obama today spoke in very frank and personal terms to a Massachusetts audience as she described her conversion to a political wife, as well as the toll President Obama’s job takes on him each day. “I see the worry creasing his face. I hear the passion and determination in his voice. ‘You won’t believe what these folks are going through;’ he told me that last night. ‘Michelle, it is not right. We’ve got to fix this. We have to do more,’” she said during a visit to Boston for a fund-raiser on behalf of the Democratic National...

At a time when many Americans can barely afford Burger King and a movie, Obama boasts of spending a billion dollars on his re-election campaign. Questioned at a recent appearance about the spiraling fuel costs, Obama said, "Get used to it" – and with an insouciant grin and chortle, he told another person at the event, who complained about the effect high fuel prices were having on his family, to "get a more fuel-efficient car."

A dizzying succession of major world events is bombarding a president who insists on controlling his own time, emotions and political message. With Japan’s nuclear crisis teetering on the verge of catastrophe, with Libya and Bahrain in violent turmoil, and with financial markets crashing in response, President Barack Obama has been adamantly sticking to his own political and policy playbook. That has meant muscling past the red-siren headlines to hammer away at the jobs-and-education message that will be the centerpiece of his 2012 campaign, the kind of discipline that is a hallmark of his new senior adviser, David Plouffe. And...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says President Barack Obama will keep his plans to travel to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador despite mounting crises demanding his attention. Obama is scheduled to visit the three Latin American nations starting Saturday and through March 23.

VAIL — Michelle Obama had at least five options for weekend destinations, but insisted on Vail, sources told the Vail Daily. The first lady and her daughters were among those who packed up and headed for home Monday, closing out a busy Presidents Day weekend in the Vail Valley. Michelle Obama's press secretary issued a statement Saturday that the family is picking up the tab for personal expenses. Sources say that because Obama was largely paying her own way, she insisted on the final say.