http://patriotpost.us/editions/15824/
"[I]n a republic governed by 'we, the people,'
when the President of the United States wishes to watch a film, there are two
full-time movie projectionists who live at the White House and are on call
round the clock, in case he's overcome by a sudden urge to watch Esther
Williams in 'Dangerous When Wet' (1953) at two in the morning. ... In his
recent book 'Presidential Perks Gone Royal,' Robert Keith Gray, a former
Eisenhower staffer, revealed that last year the U.S. presidency cost American
taxpayers $1.4 billion. Over the same period, the entire Royal Family cost
British taxpayers about $57 million. There's nothing 'royal' about the current
level of 'presidential perks': the Obama family costs taxpayers more than every
European royal house put together. In the American republic, even the dogs cost
more. ... In contrast to the stingy remuneration offered by the Royal
Household, the presidential dog-walker is one of 226 White House staff earning
over $100,000 a year. For many centuries, the King had a courtier whose
somewhat intimate duties were reflected in his title: the Groom of the Stool, a
position abolished in 1559. Now, after two and a third centuries, the American
Presidency has evolved to the point that it has a full-time six-figure Groom of
the Canine Stool. Will he be accompanying the President on Air Force One to
liaise with the Keeper of the Privy Flatscreen over screenings of
'Lassie'?" --columnist Mark
Steyn
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