What a grim photograph. The soldiers are protecting the presidential house in Honduras, following the recent coup. But the background probably says quite a bit about America’s actual interest in preserving democracy in the beleaguered nation.
(Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters, courtesy of BAGNewsNotes, a terrific site that analyzes images related to current events.)
UPDATE BELOW
If I wanted to turn a dinner party into torture, I’d create a guest list like this:
Obama Tuesday night trekked to the Chevy Chase, Md., home of conservative columnist George F. Will to talk politics and get to know some of his fiercest intellectual adversaries: Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Larry Kudlow, David Brooks, Rich Lowry, Peggy Noonan, Michael Barone, and Paul Gigot.
They ate lamb. I assume it was cooked.
Wednesday, Obama met with liberal pundit types. They didn’t even get a cup of coffee!
UPDATE: I stand corrected. Liberals did, after all, get a cup of coffee. Bill Kristol rubs it in.
Here’s another tale of food and madness.
I reported a few days back that the ultra-right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin (right) has given up Starbucks. She objected to the company’s foisting its evil “corporate social responsibility” on her, when all she wanted was a caramel macchiato. Then she learned that Starbucks refused to put the phrase “laissez faire” on someone’s customized card. Starbucks couldn’t explain why the phrase was rejected but Michelle of course suspects the company doesn’t really support laissez faire capitalism…or something.
So, she quit Starbucks cold turkey, switching to Dunkin’ Donuts. She has been a longtime champion of the company because it has been very aggressive in requiring its franchise owners to document that immigrant employees are legal. This has been a special problem along the southern border, apparently, where Mexicans by the truckload sneak across the Rio Grande to pursue the American Dream of becoming a waitress in a donut shop.
Well, the latest installment gets even weirder. Michelle learned that food star Rachel Ray (left) had done a video ad for Dunkin Donuts. But — oh my god! — Rachael is wearing a type of scarf worn all over the Middle East. It’s become trendy in Europe and America, too. But Michelle identifies the scarf as a “jihadi chic keffiyeh,” a favorite garment of terrorists. She is actually concerned that Dunkin’ Donuts and Rachel Ray may be tools of jihad — unwittingly perhaps, but who can deny that if you dress like a terrorist, you might be a terrorist? I’m not making this up.
In the interest of my readers’ welfare, I decided to visit the Dunkin’ Donuts shop on Ponce de Leon Avenue — the one in the shopping center with Whole Foods. A friend told me he recently tried to stop there but was impeded by swarming Mexican day laborers begging him for work. He assured me that he didn’t see any Mexicans decked out in jihadi chic couture, but I was nonetheless surprised that the Indian owner of a franchise so dedicated to immigration law would tolerate this spectacle.
And really, who knows? Dunkin’ Donuts could be dispatching Mexican surrogate jihadists with explosive donuts under their shirts. Imagine the horror of pink shrapnel — it looks like innocent icing — exploding in your face! Imagine your ear drums punctured by candy sprinkles and chocolate jimmies!
We entered the blindingly bright store, which shares the space with Baskin-Robbins, and found it almost deserted. I ordered three donuts and a cup of coffee (right). I am pleased to tell you that none of the three exploded. I am not so pleased to tell you that I have rarely tasted anything as repulsive as these dried-out donuts with super-sweet, almost crispy icing. This was my first visit ever to a Dunkin’ Donuts and it was on Memorial Day. Maybe the donuts were not as fresh as usual?
I will say that the coffee, which the company calls its “number one priority” was good. It wasn’t as strong as I like, but the flavor was rich.
So far, Michelle Malkin, whose insanity is so intense that she lost her gig on Bill O’Reilly’s TV show, has decided not to call for a boycott of Dunkin’ Donuts. After all, terrorists are not nearly as bad as advocates of corporate social responsibility. Meanwhile, the pussy jihadists at Dunkin’ Donuts have pulled the offending ad.
I’m stickin’ to good ole Protestant Krispy Kremes.
Sorry to bring more politics to food blogging, but Politco.com features an amusing culinary report today. It seems that the new Democratic majority has upgraded the food choices in the House of Representatives:
The processed cheese has been replaced with brie. The Jell-O has made way for raspberry kiwi tarts and mini-lemon blueberry trifles. Meatloaf has moved over for mahi mahi and buns have been shunted aside in favor of baguettes.
A revolution is afoot at the deli counters, grills and salad bars of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Newly ascendant Democrats may have hit roadblocks on Iraq and fiscal issues, but they have revamped congressional menus, replacing fatty, pre-made foods with healthier, gourmet alternatives. The once dreary congressional cafeterias now abound with haute cuisine.
The menu transformation is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol†plan to make the House campus more environmentally friendly and socially progressive.
Naturally, it’s turned into a political dispute:
One House Republican aide lobbed attacks at the Democrats over e-mail.
“I really don’t like Nanny Nancy telling me what I can and cannot eat for lunch. If I want to eat unhealthy, I should have that choice!†the aide fumed.
Republican aides have raised questions about why the cafeterias now stock Stonyfield Farm yogurt, speculating that the move would line the pockets of the company’s CEO, Gary Hirshberg, a significant player in Democratic politics.
That assertion is nonsense, said Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the chief administrative officer, the House official who oversees the cafeterias. He said the new food vendor, Restaurant Associates, selected the yogurt producer based on price, quality and consumer satisfaction.
So I guess Nancy Pelosi can now add “special-interest food snob” to her other titles.
Check out the complete, funny story here.
(Photo of Nancy Pelosi in a corn field from the Minnesota Corn Growers’ website.)
