Working Hard, To Get You Working

He po'e ho'opiha wa'a

What? You didn't spend your Christmas Eve playing golf for 5 hrs. on a Marine base in Hawaii then going out for Japanese food and returning to a rented villa in Kailua?

I guess you aren't the Change we've all been hoping for.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-goes-golfing-on-day-one-of-hawaii-vacation/2011/12/24/gIQAwtHKGP_blog.html

The Corzine Curse Continued...

NJ Statesmen

Bozos On the Bus

It's Mofficial

We here at The Sandwich Shop have tried to avoid ad hominem attacks on members of the President's family but things with his wife are getting out of hand.

Reports are now surfacing that the former attorney and hospital eviction specialist has cost the American taxpayer over $10 million on vacations. It seems she's averaged 42 vacation days a year since the election and, while the Obamas supply some of the money for their trips, the rest of us are on the hook for the transport and, of course, the security.

Take the most recent vacation, for example: this year's jaunt to the Vineyard. Seems it wasn't convenient for her to travel with the President, so she followed 4 hrs. later, on another jumbo jet, with another security detail. Once ensconced, everything is first class, and if a shopping trip means shutting down part of the island to everyone else, well, lese majeste.

(Now to some extent, this wallowing in privilege is not strictly a Democrat thing. When W was in the White House he and Laura were modest in their spending, but both Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld bought property on the Eastern Shore near St. Michaels, MD, where they blocked off airspace and closed down restaurants on a whim.)

We here in NJ are more than a little familiar with the phenomenon of Dem politicians living a lot higher on the hog than their constituents. Former Mayor Sharpe James of Newark - a city so impoverished and corrupt that the Feds took over the Housing Authority and the state took over the schools - was paid $250,000 a year, had several city vehicles, a city credit card and regularly traveled on the city expense account as far afield as Rio de Janeiro. The former mayor of working class Linden, NJ, John Gregorio, demanded and received a customized Cadillac with $10,000 in upgrades for no other reason than he wanted to drive it. When he was finally forced from office the car was sold at wholesale.

And just as the First Lady had a six-figure job created especially for her in at a Chicago hospital, NJ is rife with politicos who hold down no-show jobs, wangle exclusive pension deals, build up huge "campaign" funds that they raid for personal reasons and, in the most recent scandal, hold lucrative jobs in education while enrolling their kids in taxpayer-funded free lunch programs.

It only remains to be seen if Mrs. Obama's habits will be at all curbed by recent publicity regarding her spending. For the most part she has so far been given a free pass, but as the re-election becomes more and more problematic, that may change.

The One Comes To Joisey

Saved By The Bull

In a near tragedy today, singer, actress and political liberal Barbara Streisand was mistakenly put out with the trash by staff at her Hollywood home. It was only later, when she failed to appear at a benefit for people crippled by eating caged chicken egg products, that a search was conducted and she was located in the alley behind her palatial mansion.

Streisand's major domo, Claude Lelouche, apologized. "Ms. Streisand was never in any real danger and besides, if she is eventually discarded, she would not go in the trash, but would be fully and completely recycled.

We Came, We Saw, We Campaigned

President Training Pants will be heading to Paterson NJ to examine flood damage and then on to Detroit to deal with political damage. Not sure that's the best place for a speech previewing his Big Jobs extravaganza, since unemployment in Detroit has been rising ever since Toyota started making cars in the US.

Of course, both Paterson and Detroit have mayors who became unemployed recently, after indictments, convictions and imprisonment.

The Prez is at Camp David for the early part of the weekend, after his helicopter was diverted by bad weather and he went the rest of the way by... yep, motorcade. This guy has the biggest carbon footprint since Al Gore.

A Visit From the One

Before the President jets off to someplace tropical he will be visiting our fair state to survey the hurricane damage. Well, actually he will be in Paterson trolling for black and Hispanic votes, since we seem to be trending Red State.

Paterson was also chosen because it still typifies the kind of politics and finance he finds so comforting. Why should the Paterson Board of Education worry about money? After all, when they need more the legislature shovels more in from the rest of the state's taxpayers.

Socialist Media

Thank Gosh for the Intertubes. Here's a Facebook page that will let you keep track of just where the Obamas will be headed next for a vacation. (Hint: scenic Indonesia)

Of course, you have to be a FB member to access it, so the three of you left on the planet who aren't are plum out of luck.

Reality Sets In... Heavily

In 1970 an R&B group called "The Chairmen of the Board" had a big hit with "Give Me Just A Little More Time." It's possible that may become the theme song for the Obama re-election campaign.

“When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow...’ ”

...backtracks the President. In other words, elect me to a second term and all those promises from the 2008 campaign will magically begin to happen.

Strategically Obama has two main problems: those people who see what he has done so far as exactly what they were afraid of - huge spending, deficits and bigger government - and those on the opposite side who castigate him for not spending enough (on them) and not expanding government in ways that benefit them.

Based on his track record (now that he finally has one) he'd be better off trying to please the second group. It's more within his world view. However, what he seems to be doing is drifting towards the middle, where he will please neither. Of course, with the House run by a Republican majority, radical action on his part would have to be via executive order, a risky proposition, since the US Supreme Court also has a conservative majority.

With the economy going nowhere this may all be moot. 10% unemployment almost certainly dooms his chances for reelection.

But You Can't Fool All of the People, All of the Time

Dear Fellow Americans, what took you so long?

For the better part of the last two years, President Obama’s saving grace has been his image as a strong leader who people like and trust, regardless of the issues of the day. 

Even that is starting to erode. 

A new Pew Research Center survey shows the American people are increasingly skeptical about the president’s leadership bona fides. 

A record high number of people say that Obama is not a strong leader (47 percent), can’t get things done (50 percent), isn’t well-informed (33 percent), is not a good communicator (22 percent) and doesn’t stand up for what he believes in (22 percent).

Ouch.

The Approaching Doom

According to the LA Times, Obama really is fiddling while Rome burns, or at least slurping ice cream while we are buried under debt.

...last week's three-day Midwestern tour in the president's new $1.1 million Death Star bus? National debt went up $16,988,000,000 while he rode around speaking and buying ice cream cones.

The point being, that every moment that goes by while the Feds do nothing to cut spending and start paying off the debt service, the worse the problem gets. And at some point - probably while Barry is out on the 15th green somewhere - it will get to the point where the Gross National Debt will exceed the Gross National Product, whereupon default and economic catastrophe become a real possibility.

Irene Goodnight

Too much to ask for a slight deviation?

A Missed Opportunity

We regret to inform you that the East Coast quake did not result in Martha's Vineyard sinking beneath the waves.

What's In A Name?

With the rebel forces temporarily (we hope) stalled in Tripoli, it looks like we will be posting about their genocidal ex-leader for a while still.

So - what is the correct spelling? Various organizations spell it Gaddafi, or Khaddafi, or Kaddafi or something else. It looks like we'll have to step in.

Henceforth the style manual here at the Sandwich Shop will recommend "Puff Daffy". So let it be written, so let it be done...

I Caught The Sheriff

Former Middlesex County Sheriff and current county Democrat leader Joseph Spicuzzo was indicted for influence peddling and selling jobs for cash.

In 2009 Middlesex County went Republican for the first time in the gubernatorial election. With a Republican in the Governor's Office, the state Attorney-General (an appointed position) was no longer a Democrat. Previous (Dem) A-Gs had ignored Spicuzzo.

Teed Off About Libya

Now that Libyan rebels are actually in Tripoli and fighting nears the Khaddafi compound, the Least Concerned With Foreign Policy President Ever has stepped up his anti-Moammar rhetoric.

"The momentum against the Gaddafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant..."

(You say "Gaddafi", we say "Khaddafi", let's kill the monster off...)

Hopefully Hillary has been paying attention and working the phones to set up what happens after the mass murderer's corpse is done being dragged by its heels through the streets. Because Someone Else is playing golf and ordering take-out seafood.

In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'.

Forget the Swine, Keep the Pearls

And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. - Joshua 24:13

The Thumb In Your Eye Vacation has begun and even the Washington Post has a hard time keeping mum on the extravagance of it all.

The president and his family are spending 10 days at a multimillion-dollar compound with a gym, basketball court, guesthouse and stretch of beach.

Criminy! Another friggin' motorcade!

Entrepreneurialism is not dead!

Hope you weren't planning on strolling around town...

Another Hurdle

Before he left on vacation the President signed an executive order mandating more "diversity" in Federal jobs. In other words, when in doubt, add more regulation and quotas.

Can anyone doubt that the private sector will soon be the target of the same sort of directive?

Up, Up & Away

Have taken care of his obligation to make the Rust Belt think he was doing something about jobs, President Obama has forsaken the Grayhound for Air Force 1 and is heading to the Vineyard. There, surrounded by his peers, he will rest and recharge for the next round of meaningless PR, fund-raising and leading the country into second-class status.

The Jolly Green Midget

Whither the "green jobs"?

Read this piece from the Seattle PI. The mayor and VP Joe Biden promised 2,000 jobs retro-fitting and re-insulating 2,000 lower middle class homes. So far there have been 14 jobs - all administrative - and no homes. Cost: $20 million.

Organizers and policy experts blame the economy, bureaucracy and bad timing for the program's mediocre results.

In other words, the very problem it was supposed to help and the inherent flaw in its design.

"Yes, we're not seeing as many completed retrofits as we wanted to," said Joshua Curtis, the city's manager for Community Power Works. "While everyone would like to see more upgrades, I think we're feeling cautiously optimistic."

In other words, "Hope"!

[Michael] Woo, of Got Green, thinks the city needs to throw more money on incentives.

Gee, there's a surprise...

[via Herr Doktor von Rundfunk]

Slip Sliding Away - II

As we continually remind you (and lament), New Jersey is one of the bluest states in the nation.

Thus it is significant that the latest Quinnipiac poll shows

New Jersey registered voters are split on what they think of Christie, with 47 percent approving and 46 percent disapproving. That’s slightly better for Christie than a June Quinnipiac poll, when 44 percent approved and 47 percent disapproved. 

Obama’s approval ratings have suffered, with 52 percent of voters disapproving and 44 percent approving — down from a positive 50 percent to 46 percent in June. 

And U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, up for re-election next year, also saw his rating drop, to 39 percent and 42 percent disapprove – down from a positive 45 percent to 38 percent in June.

That's correct, the President has only a 44% approval rating in New Jersey. But don't bet the farm just yet, there is a huge difference between voicing disapproval and actually voting for someone else. Still, we'll take whatever good news we can get.

Meanwhile, the President continues to tour the Midwest in a customized bus that cost the taxpayers $1.1 million.

If you build it, they will tour.

Funeral Cortege For An Economy

OK. We did the song parody, we did the phony bus pic, we were going to use this...

...but nothing - and we mean nothing - could prepare you for the actual sight of the Presidential motorcade. And don't even mention carbon offsets from this fossil fuel-fest.

For the Benefit Of Mr. O

The Magical Misery Tour

Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up (TO SEE THE DEVASTATION), roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up (TO DUCK THE AWKWARD QUESTION), roll up for the misery tour.
The magical misery tour is waiting to blow you away,
Waiting to blow you away...

Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up (WE'LL PROMISE EVERYTHING YOU NEED), roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up (SATISFACTION GUARANTEED), roll up for the misery tour.
The magical misery tour is hoping to fake you today, 
Dying to fake you away, snow you today.

(With abject apologies to John, Paul, George & Ringo)

Taking Ames At The Presidency

A Modest Portion of Sanity

Today a Federal appeals court struck down the individual mandate portion of Obamacare.

The divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the so-called individual mandate, which is considered the centerpiece of the law, siding with 26 states that had sued to block the law. But the panel didn’t go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.

Expect the White House to appeal this ruling to the full 11th Circuit or, possibly, to the Supreme Court.

The states had appealed the constitutionality of the mandate, which based its draconian re-write of our basic right to privacy on, of all things, the Interstate Commerce clause.

If the ruling holds, the economic underpinnings of Obamacare - already dubious - evaporate.

And The Nominees Are...

We now know who 9 of the 12 "deficit busters" will be, and they are a cross section of Establishment Washington with barely a nod to the Tea Party.

Still to come are the three wild-bearded bomb throwing Anarchists to be named by Nancy Pelosi. We can hardly wait. After all she has a plethora of wackadoodles to choose from: Barney Frank, Charlie Rangel (who is adept at reducing his own financial obligations), John Conyers, Henry Waxman, Maxine Waters, Alcee Hastings, Edolphus Towns, Dennis Kucinich and, of course, Sheila Jackson Lee.

Weiner and Wu, normally on the list, are no longer eligible.

UPDATE: Oh, well, Pelosi decided to follow suit and name three very Establishment nominees: Reps. James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra and Chris Van Hollen. In keeping with the Democrat fixation with quotas, that's one African-American, one Latino and one white.

So Much For Backlash

The actions of Wisconsin Governor Scott Brown and the GOP-led legislature angered Democrats so much that they initiated a series of recall campaigns, funded in large part by out-of-state Democrat money. Six GOP Republican state senators were targeted. The Dems needed to win 3 of the 6 in order to take control of the senate.

They won two. Dan Kapanke and Randy Hopper were recalled. Kapanke was vulnerable in what is normally a very liberal district and Hopper had residency and tax issues. All 6 were considered swing districts - going for Obama in 2008 but Walker in 2010.

Turn about is fair play. Next week two Democrat senators are up for recall for their role in leaving the state to sabotage a quorum call during the controversial union bill vote.

Slip Sliding Away

Here in NJ, possibly 2nd behind Massachusetts as the bluest state in the union and with a significant African-American population, President Obama's approval ratings have slipped to 52%.

Imagine how things are going elsewhere? One indicator seems to be that the number of Republicans who were once hoping that someone (oh, Hillary!) would force a Democratic primary race to the tune of 80%, have now dropped down to 67%. Meaning: more and more Americans see Obama as beatable in the general election.

Now, we here in The Sandwich Shop are often skeptical of poll results and this time is no different. We are guessing that the 52% NJ rating represents a lot of people who are taking Obama to task for his miserable performance in the recent debt-ceiling debacle, but who, at the end of the day, would still vote for him. Especially since that 52% includes the usual number of whiners who are complaining he's not giving them as big a free lunch as they want.

But it's one thing to complain about the size of the portions. It's another to vote for someone who will close up the cafeteria. So there is still a ways to go, fortunately, there is no reason to think things will get better for the Dems any time soon.

Never Enough

The Congressional Black Caucus is disappointed that the nation's first black President is not giving them priority on, well, just about everything.

“We want him to know that from this day forward . . . we’ve had it,” Michigan Rep. John Conyers recently said of the president. “We want him to come out on our side and advocate, not to watch and wait.” 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Is That Cloud City or Clown City?

Credit Where Credit Is Due

The term "Satan Sandwich" can be attributed to US Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (Dem, MO-5), who referred to recent the debt-ceiling deal as "a sugar-coated satan sandwich." First of all, it sounds great as a soundbite and second of all, no one really knows what that means, other than that Cleaver didn't like the bill.

Cleaver is a Methodist minister (hence the preoccupation with Satan) and a former mayor of Kansas City. He was a Hillary supporter in 2008, drawing opprobrium from his fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

He is not, as far as we know, related to Ward, June, Wally or Theodore Cleaver.

Satan Sandwich Is Served

Howdy, fellow right wing radicals!