Most Mendacious President
We were all gathered on the porch, enjoying the cool breeze, the nip in the air, and sipping Esquires, when Jane told us that when she was goofing around on the Internet yesterday, with no bias or particular agenda in mind, she typed in: "most mendacious president." She knew, she told us, that after having heard of Max's experience living abroad in countries run by absolutely slimy, detestable, corrupt, sinistrous, scrofulous, lying despots, she was going to run into a whole slew of Latin American Banana Republic dictators, and all sorts of really revolting African dictators. Mastigophorers all. No. A whole gaggle of items popped up, all referring to Georgie Porgie. Jeez, what has this country come to when the president of the United States is listed at the top of all lying presidents? The Internet could really, with one click pop up all kinds of people answering to that description. How tragic that only the Crusader and Invader of Iraq came up. Many United States journalists have written that they believe this guy is even worse than Richard Millhouse, and we all thought he was a real scum ball.

The number of lies he's told the nation are innumerarable, but a few would include his dishonesty in dealing with AmeriCorps (under-funding); the lies to middle-income Americans regarding the gains they would see under his tax cuts; the famous 16 words that have led to the slaughter of over 1800 young Americans and thousands mutilated; his lying about the fact that long before he invaded Iraq he had already decided he was going to do it even if he had to cook the books; and now, while nastily warning the world that he is going to impose democracy everywhere, he has been caught trying to rig the Iraq elections, prompting our respected Nancy Pelosi to proclaim last year: "Did we have eleven hundred Americans die, so they could have a rigged election?"

And how about lying about the Valerie Plame affair? Well, Liz said, he's the right reverend Uber-christian president, isn't he? She doubted his Sunday school class had ever bothered to read this passage from Isaiah 5:20: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness before light, and light before darkness; that put bitter before sweet, and sweet for bitter!" There is such awful offal in this administration, that even the offal that falls off the gut wagon the buzzards won't touch. It's probably just my imagination, but I could have sworn one of the critters on the farm whispered to me: "Offal office, offal office!"

The dinner gong, at last. We were tired of sitting outside as it had suddenly turned too chilly, and looked forward to going inside to the slightly warmer rooms.

The Gang Cooks Together
The first small dish we were served was a small ramekin with Goat Cheese Soufflés paired with an amontillado sherry. This was followed by a light vegetable soup with a pistachio pesto garnish, which served at room temperature with a Sauvignon Blanc was perfect, considering the chill and humidity outside. Next, Charlotte served dinner-size portions of Dill and Chive Shrimp Salad with a zest of lime which she thought would go well with a citrusy Riesling. Max, our bread-master, made some Herb-Romano Cheese rolls with a chanterelle mushroom filling to go with the salad. After small little dishes of watermelon sorbet, the feast continued: The gang had joined hands to fix innumerable variations on the Argentine empanadas, so that everybody found several choices to their liking, and of course, we paired them with some delightful Malbecs, a wine from Argentina that we have really grown to like. For dessert, we had a Crème Caramel, served with a Sauternes, and then rejoined the kids in the great room to have our after-dinner coffee.

After Dinner Thoughts
Our meal was so good, so excellent, as we said our goodnights we all wondered why our present government couldn't be just as good and just as excellent.