The Staggering Cost of Air Force One

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Top Flight

New figures from the U.S. military tell us just how expensive it is to operate Air Force One. The estimated travel cost comes to a staggering $181,75 7 per hour.

Today, the 89th Airlift Wing provided updated numbers that factor in fuel and aircraft maintenance. The estimates are much higher than past figures in the $100,000-an-hour range.

The National Taxpayers Union says using the new figure, President Obama's 48 hours in the air during his 10-day Asian trip cost at least $8.7 million dollars and that's just for Air Force One. Traveling to last week's NATO summit in Portugal added another $2.7 million.

These are real numbers from the U.S. military, but keep in mind every administration deals with the high price of presidential travel.

Child's Play

President Obama's most recent book, a work for children called "Of Thee I Sing, A Letter to My Daughters," is selling pretty fast. The publisher says 50,000 copies have been sold in the first five days of release.

Found in a different section of the bookstore, former President George W. Bush's memoir "Decision Points" is also doing very well. His publisher says more than 1.1 million copies have been sold since its release earlier this month.

Dead Man Walking?

And finally, American actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi insist if it were not for Canada's refugee system they would be dead. They have filed for refugee status, claiming they are being hunted by what they call "Hollywood star whackers."

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board has yet to rule on the case. The Quaids are fugitives from a California court after repeatedly failing to appear on felony vandalism charges.