Free Republic

When President Barack Obama travels abroad, his staff packs briefing books, gifts for foreign leaders and something more closely associated with camping than diplomacy: a tent. Even when Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices. American security officials demand that their bosses not just the president, but members of Congress, diplomats,...

Let’s look into abuse, namely the wholesale abuse of taxpayer money. I don’t mean raising taxes. I mean the indiscriminate spending of tax money by government officials. It’s bad enough that the General Services Administration blew $823,000 in tax dollars on a posh, five-day spending spree in Las Vegas at a "training conference." No, I’m talking about the recklessness of the president of the United States, as he spends your money on travel for himself and his wife. Here’s a man who is supposed to set a reasonable example, when, in fact, the best word for his behavior is extravagant....

JULIA Gillard could be "third time lucky", with US President Barack Obama planning to visit Australia in November having cancelled two previous tours when Kevin Rudd was prime minister. It would be the first time Mr Obama was in Australia as leader, although he passed through the country as a child on his way to Indonesia, where he lived for four years. Mr Obama is also expected to visit Indonesia in November, a year after his first visit to that nation as president. The federal government is expecting Mr Obama to come to Australia after the APEC leaders' meeting, to...