Slow Saturday Special: Look Who I Had Lunch With

On the menu:

"an assortment of food, including cheese, olives, wine, and even two legs of salt-cured Spanish ham.... menu for the delegation included sea bass tartare, strawberry gazpacho and sardines, followed by a main course of lobster with seaweed risotto"

I sure hope the cost wasn't $15,000 a plate.

Related: Boston Globe Hauls Up Lobster Trap

Michelle Obama's Appetite

No, I'm full on hypocrisy, thanks.

Can you buy lobster with food stamps, America?

"Michelle, Sasha Obama bask in attention at Spain’s seaside after sightseeing" by Associated Press | August 7, 2010

ESTEPONA, Spain — Spanish police cleared a section of beach for Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha to relax by the Mediterranean yesterday after a busy day of sightseeing....

Onlookers gawked....

One, I'm tired of the elitist insults from the paper (explains why their industry is dying), and two I wouldn't be a "gawker."

I don't want to meet them, I wouldn't want to be around them, I see them coming and I'm going the other way.

As Obama rested inside a canvas hut by the shore, her 9-year-old daughter splashed around in the sea and a security guard swam with her.

Here is your bill, taxpayers.

And why aren't they down in the Gulf?

Her government told us the water and fish are fine.

Mother and daughter arrived Wednesday for a five-day stay in southern Spain that is being described as private, although Michelle Obama is to meet with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia tomorrow at their summer residence on the island Mallorca....

Related: Obama Thinks General Kagan is Cool

The head of our government and his family are star-struck tourists?

The Obamas have been showered with gifts, including a typical Spanish fan, a traditional veil known as a mantilla, books on cities they have visited, and an assortment of food, including cheese, olives, wine, and even two legs of salt-cured Spanish ham.

A veil and ham?

Related: Spain Slips Out From Behind the Curtain

Spain NOT KOSHER for the Obamas!!!

It is questionable whether the ham will clear US customs because the producers lack permission to export to the United States, media reports said.

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I like to read (or used to) the paper at the table while I'm eating.

Let's see what is lying around over there:

"Material girl Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation

while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns - or forgoing them altogether - the Obamas don't seem to be heeding their own advice. While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her "closest friends." According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.

Reports are calling the lodgings of Obama's Spanish fiesta, the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, "luxurious," "posh" and "a millionaires' playground." Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two.

To be clear, what the Obamas do with their money is one thing; what they do with ours is another. Transporting and housing the estimated 70 Secret Service agents who will flank the material girl will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny....

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"Spanish police close public beach for Michelle Obama's £250,000 Spanish holiday

Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day....

It is unclear whether the police presence was paid for by Spain - or whether a nasty invoice could be landing in the lap of the American taxpayer....

The tapas menu for the delegation included sea bass tartare, strawberry gazpacho and sardines, followed by a main course of lobster with seaweed risotto...

Whether or not the taxpaying American will be paying for meals, they will definitely be footing the bill for the First Lady's 68-strong security detail, her personal staff - and the use of presidential jet Air Force Two....

Back in the U.S., anger was mounting - especially as it has emerged the First Lady will have enjoyed eight holidays by the end of the summer....

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Also see: Obama's Weekend Get-Away

It's Not the Vaca Per Se

Slow Saturday Special: Obama's Day Off

Spain got a taste, huh?