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Obamas Won't Celebrate Christmas

A survey of adult Americans finds that an overwhelming majority prefer the seasonal expression "Merry Christmas." More than seven out of ten, in fact. Twenty-two percent, according to Rasmussen Reports, go for "Happy Holidays."

However, the Obamas, who won't spend their first December holidays in the White House, apparently don't like either one.

The Obamas have just mailed thousands of greeting cards that say simply, "Season's Greetings." They're cream-colored, maroon-bordered cards showing a gold wreath wrapped around the presidential coat of arms.

The Obamas' card, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, makes no religious reference whatsoever. "May your family have a joyous holiday season," says the Obamas' greeting, "and a new year blessed with hope and happiness." This comes after reports that, initially anyway, the Obama White House planned its first Christmas to be a "non-religious" one, kind of like a non-sports Super Bowl Sunday.

Obama's Christmas Tree

Why let a holiday season come between the White House and making some political statements? The White House pegged controversial designer Simon Doonan to oversee the Christmas decorations for the White House. Mr. Doonan, who is creative director of Barney’s New York has often caused a stir with his design choices. Like his naughty yuletide window display of Margaret Thatcher as a dowdy dominatrix and Dan Quayle as a ventriloquist’s dummy. For this year’s White House, he didn’t disappoint.

These photos of ornaments on the White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room were taken just days ago. Of course, Mao has his place in the White House. And, it wouldn’t be Christmas without an ornament of legendary transvestite Hedda Lettuce -- he/she even signed it -- and, so soon after collecting the Nobel Peace Prize, why wouldn’t the White House have an ornament super-imposing Obama onto Mt. Rushmore. All around, a very Barry Christmas!

Related: The White House doesn’t know if Obama will attend Church on Christmas.

As of Tuesday, three days before Christmas, the White House did not know if Barack Obama would be attending church to celebrate Jesus' birth.

During his first year in office, Obama has not regularly attended a Washington-area church. He left his Chicago church in 2008 when its outspoken pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a liability to his presidential campaign.

Livin' Large On Your Dime

Kristinn at FreeRepublic.com reports that Barack Obama will be spending ten days over Christmas and New Year's at a $8.9 million estate in Hawaii at a rate of at least $4000 per night, according to ABC News. Obama spent last Christmas there as well when he was president-elect.

As the American people are still caught in the grips of the recession with unemployment running from 10% to 16% and the federal budget blown out with Obama's massive deficit spending, Obama is living like a king with no criticism from the mainstream media.

ABC describes the estate with no mention of the incongruence of Obama's extravagance with the wrecked Christmases of tens of millions of Americans one year in to his failing presidency:

The Obamas' rental property is 7,000 square feet of paradise on the southeastern coast of the island, complete with large open spaces built around a lagoon pool.

...It's also not cheap. Staying in this $8.9 million house, which Zimel has dubbed the "Obama Winter White House," will cost around $4,000 a night. The two houses next door will be occupied by Obama family members and friends.

While ABC News ignores Obama's "Let them eat cake" attitude, the New York Daily News flat out lies for Obama on his self-indulgent Christmas:

With so many Americans hurting, the White House is smart enough to know that they don’t want to flaunt their good fortunes on those who are without...The First Family heads to Hawaii tomorrow for a well-deserved tropical Christmas.

It's good to be the king!

The Obamas' Ritzy Vacation

Brad Wilmouth imagines the outrage if any Republican president went on vacation during a recession and spent $4,000 a night on accommodations --- plus! On ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday, correspondent Yunji de Nies seemed to suggest that Obama’s family will be spending such an amount renting expensive living space at an estate house in Hawaii for a two-week Christmas vacation. De Nies: "Christmas trees here aren't cheap -- neither is staying in this $8.9 million house, which runs $4,000 a night. The Obamas rented this one and the two next door (another $2,000 or $3,000 for family and friends -- plus security). When you spend that kind of money, people pay attention to detail."

De Nies did not specify exactly how much is being spent or where the money is coming from, though the amount may even be significantly more than $4,000 a day as she related that "the two next door" were also being rented for family and friends of the Obamas. The ABC correspondent also recounted that the estate house overlooks a beach popular with royalty: "But it's the master bedroom and its breathtaking view that is the crown jewel. Kailua Beach has been ranked the island's best, a favorite of Hawaiian royalty."

Anchor George Stephanopoulos gushed over Obama's plans for a two-week getaway to Hawaii as he introduced the report:

When I last interviewed Obama in September, he was already pining for his Christmas vacation -- two weeks of sun, shaved ice and surf in Hawaii. Well, it's finally here. Delayed just a little bit by that health care vote, but it's gonna come tomorrow morning. Then Obama is taking off. One other big perk of the trip, a magnificent beach house his family is staying in for the second year in a row.

Here is a complete transcript of the piece from the Wednesday, December 23, Good Morning America on ABC:

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann believes the Obamas’ ten day vacation on Oahu will do wonders for the state’s tourism industry, which has been deeply battered by the U.S. recession.

"I think it's going to create all kinds of demand," the mayor told Khon2. "People are gonna want to come here when they see the president sunning and funning in Hawaii having great time."

Despite spending $100,000 or more on Obama's security, Hannemann believes the expenditure is an investment that will pay tremendous dividends for the cash strapped city, which faces a $140 million deficit during the next fiscal year.

What Did The Obamas Do In Hawaii?

KHON2 is reporting that Obama and his family spent 11 days, 10 nights on Oahu, and now they're packing up for their return flight home to the winter weather of Washington, D.C.

Obama is spending his final hours on Oahu soaking up the sun outdoors, freeing his mind of ugly thoughts of jihadists, and taking motorcades to the beach, and racketeering at the Racquet Club.

Scott Miscovich has seen it all, living on the same street as what has been coined the First Family's Winter White House. Misovich said, "Been interesting, we've had protestors, a lot of people coming just to observe" -- not to mention the number of U.S. Secret Service, police and Coast Guard crews that have staked claim to his neighborhood.

And it's been hard for him not to notice each time Obama passes by. "He left a lot, sometimes three times a day or more," said Miscovich.

On his final day in Hawaii, Obama didn't deviate from his morning routine, hitting the gym at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for a quick workout. After that it was off to the greens for a round of golf at Kaneohe's Klipper Course.

"He's doing things I think my kids or if I went away would come back I'd want to do also," said Miscovich, like exploring Sea Life Park, watching the movie "Avatar," a date night dinner and of course, shaved ice.

"He did yeah they were out and about a lot, I heard Island Snow and so they were out quite a bit," said Kailua resident Kyla Murray.

Obama, out and about -- three times a day -- that's a lot of CO₂

Still, day after day, many folks flocked to Kailua beach, hoping they'd see the Obama's up close. "Yeah we even came down here a few times with the camera trying to see if we could catch a glimpse," said Murray.

$4,000 a day for the rental, and $4,000,000 a day for the ancillaries. It's good to be the Obamamessiah.

The White House Has Become A Shrine To Obama

Newsbusters.com is reporting that Ed Schultz, on his radio show, talked about meeting with Obama advisor David Axelrod at the White House last week, along with fellow liberal radio host Bill Press and several other left-wing media types Schultz did not identify.

Schultz: First of all you walk into the White House, in the West Wing, and there are picture all over, I mean everywhere! Of President Obama! I mean, of his life in the first year as president of the United States. Now I don't know if that's the way it is with every president, but it was almost a shrine. I mean, well, here's a picture of Obama the president with his kids over here. There he is getting on Air Force One. Here he is with some military people. Here he is on the line working the line at one of his campaign stops. I mean, just, it was just one picture after another! (laughs)

Schultz is a far-left opinion-meister on MSNBC. He considers himself a "progressive liberal." His talk show is generally considered to be a very liberal-leaning program. He is pro-union and centers a large portion of his radio show on the "plight of working class Americans."

This display of Obama's narcissism in the White House must really be something when an Obot like Schultz is surprised.

Update: Just received this Hillbuz report from Stacy -- Today, ...took a much-needed break from the Internet and went down to the Museum of Science & Industry here in Chicago to see the White House model they have on display through February: it’s a to-scale miniature, with cutaways into most of the rooms. Apparently, the Zeif Family, who made and maintains this model, travels to the White House in each administration, measures any changes that were made, and recreates the interior of the White House to exacting detail. They’ve been doing this since the Kennedy Administration.

What disturbs us is that, if the model is really exact in all details, the actual White House is chock full of crazy currently.

In the Zeif model, the East and West wings of the White House are plastered with propaganda. Inside all the offices, there are GIANT photos of the current First Family, the likes of which we’d expect to see in Pyongyang or the old presidential palaces in Baghdad, before the Husseins were ousted. They aren’t even particularly good pictures -- like things cut out of People magazine or some other propaganda piece run on the Obamas.

It’s just strange that the Zeifs took the time to recreate everything else in such painstaking detail, but then plaster the interior of the East and West wings (but not the original White House itself), with giant images of Dr. Utopia and his "fashion icon" wife. Unless the REAL East and West wings really are covered in this garbage.

The miniature computer screens in the offices are all functional, and play tiny propaganda reels praising the Obamas.   The White House cinema, located in the Collonade between the White House and the East Wing, also plays a DVD promoting the glory of all things Obama.

It’s really very strange. And, there's more here . . .

Sounds like Schultz's description of the place might be understated.

Obamas Throw A Party Every 3 Days

Gateway Pundit reminds us that Back in January 2009, before he signed his failed $787 billion stimulus bill into law, Barack Obama told America that everyone must sacrifice for the greater good. Everyone must have "some skin in the game."

What he meant, of course, was that everyone would have to sacrifice to lift American out of the worst recession since the Great Depression -- except for Barack and Michelle Obama.

Now we learn that the the Obama White House has held one party every three days in first year of Obama reign.

Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) reported:

"Let the good times roll" -- and roll they have at the Obama White House, while nearly 11% of the workforce remains unemployed, nearly four million Americans are losing their homes, and terrorists ride the open skies.

In fact, according to the Chicago Tribune, the stylish Ms. Rogers and the party-hearty First Couple hosted no less than 170 parties and social events through December 3 of 2009. And that does not even include the 17 parties and 11 open houses -- feting more than 50,000 guests -- ABC News reported the Obamas hosted throughout the Holiday Season.

For those not counting, that means by January, 2010, Ms. Rogers had staged one gala White House event every three days throughout the first year of the Obama Administration, making the once austere Executive Mansion look more like party central.

Obamas Earned $5.5 Million In 2009

Breitbart reports Barack Obama and his wife have doubled their income since he took office, declaring a joint gross income of 5.5 million dollars for the 2009 fiscal year, the White House said Thursday.

Obama earned an annual salary of 374,460 dollars since his inauguration in January 2009, according to his tax filings released Thursday, but most of his income came from his books, which have leaped to the top of the bestseller lists since he first started running for the White House.

In 2008, Obama and his wife, Michelle, declared a joint gross income of 2.65 million dollars, most of which also came from royalties on his mythology, "Dreams of My Father" and, the Rev. Wright-inspired, "The Audacity of Hope."

According to his 2009 documents, the Obamas paid 1.79 million dollars in federal taxes and 163,303 dollars in state taxes to Illinois where the couple owns a home in Chicago.

Obama also received 1.4 million dollars last year when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he has donated his prize money among 10 charities, the White House said, and the sum is not part of the 5.5 million dollars declared income.

The couple also donated 329,100 dollars to 40 different charities in 2009, with the largest reported gifts being 50,000 dollars to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.

In 2007, the Obamas said they had earned 4.2 million dollars. That was still an increase from 2008 when their joint income was 269,256 dollars. They also gave some 4,820 dollars to charity, or some 1.4 percent of their incomes, the White House said.

Obama also sold two inheritances from his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died in the final days of his campaign. He made less than $1,000 from the sale of a tax-free trust. A second inheritance -- shares in the Bank of Hawaii where his grandmother rose from a secretary to a vice president -- sold for between $250,000 and $500,000. Obama's tax returns, made public earlier in the year, show he took a loss on that investment.

Party! Party! Party!

The AP is reporting that another gazllion-dollar White House state dinner is in the works.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (hoo jin-tow) has accepted Barack Obama’s invitation to visit the U.S. on a formal state visit. Obama officials said Saturday after the two leaders met in Toronto that the countries will work out a mutually acceptable date for the visit.

Obama extended the invitation during his meeting with Hu. The two were in Canada to participate in an international economic summit among the world’s largest and emerging economies.

It will be Obama's third state dinner, following the extravagant galas for India and Mexico.

No sweat! It's only your money.