Now We're Picking A Fight With Our Neighbor To The North
Schuyler mixed Icebreakers for us as the gang gathered in the great room. He made them with Corazón Silver Tequila and Cointreau. A delicious drink, new to us and a relative of the daiquiri. For those who don't drink alcoholic beverages, Schuyler always has good alternative.

Jeremy and Beatrix were pretty upset over a report that Fox News' Your World host Neil Cavuto was stirring up trouble between the United States and Canada. What most upset them was the knowledge that right now we have precious few friends in the world, so alienating your next door neighbor and important trading partner, to Jeremy and Beatrix just seemed stupid. Looking around the room, not one of us could disagree, and found it revoltingly stupid of this administration, even via a third-rate newscaster such as Neil Cavuto, to allow criticism of our neighbor to the north. The criticism idiot Neil Cavuto was directing at Canada he addressed to Canadian lawyer and political analyst Patrice Burnett.

Cavuto's problem, other than the prickly pear he appears to have sat on and then couldn't extricate, was criticism against Bush's refusal to join the world in supporting the Kyoto Treaty. This criticism comes not only from Canada, but from most of the world. Initially, the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin diplomatically avoiding citing the United States by name; nevertheless the idiot Neil Cavuto insisted on insulting Patrice Burnett by barking: "Could our neighbors to the north soon be our enemies?" and worse, "Have the Canadians gotten a little bit too big for their britches?" So, only the United States can be too big for its britches, like the nasty bully country we've become?

Max and Charlotte, life-long fans of Canada and its intensely principled people, were incensed. They pointed out that the insane far-right media commentators, like Ann Coulter, always spoke not from the orifice where the food goes in but rather, from the one where it leaves the body, much the way Bush does. And, they said, the matter could have died on the airwaves, the way so much idiocy does, but the United States ambassador couldn't help adding his poop-wisdom to the matter by intemperately stating in a speech on December 13, responding to Mr. Martin's really very low key and diplomatic approach, with these acerbic words: "But (criticizing the United States) is a slippery slope [ye gads, shiver me timbers!] and all of us should hope that it doesn't have a long-term impact on our relationship." Thus, Max said, ensuring that the idiot Cavuto's inane insults will now escalate and lose us yet another friend.

Friends. Bush Has To Ask, What's That?
This administration has certainly won high marks in the kick the poop out of everybody around the world, we can go it alone department, so bring them on! But, Alex said, somebody ought to shake some sense into that intellectually impaired paranoid fascist with the hopes of being an über-fuehrer because not only has he alienated the entire world, he has alienated the principled among us, Democrats, and in the last couple of weeks he's alienated most of the members of his own party. Smarts. The guy ain't got 'em, and now we're losing one more friend. And guess what, Canada is a sovereign country and doesn't have to allow us to use its territory to transport our oil from Alaska.

Somebody needs to muzzle and fire ambassador David Wilkins, who, around here, would be just about at the bottom of the pecking order in no matter what herd we were talking about.

The whole argument is about global warming, and only an idiot would deny that we are wiping out not only the glaciers, ice caps, Eskimos, polar bears, fish around the world's oceans, clean air and an eco-system those rabid religious people said their very God created. We're also wiping ourselves out, and the pushy, obnoxious bully United States, via the darkest human being to ever be president of the United States, is refusing to do anything even remotely like being cooperative, helpful or concerned. Big money trumps life, every time.

The Teenagers Are Ready for Dinner and The Sleet Made Us Hungry For Hot Soup
Secretly, we're happy that the teenagers don't have the same "social modesties" we adults have. When they're ready to eat, they don't pretend they're not. They really go at that dinner gong and tell us it's time for dinner, no matter how "important" what we're talking about is.

Art and Terry, who have the organic produce and goat cheese farm down the road from us, brought three different kinds of goat cheese and made us some exquisite Filo Triangles filled with the different kinds of goat cheese. They paired their inspired appetizer with a Domecq Manzanilla Fino sherry, which was also going to be paired with our soup tonight, a collaborative effort by Max, Charlotte, Jeremy and Beatrix: classic Bouillabaisse. A few of us thought a dry, Alasation Riesling might also be good with the Bouillabaisse. One that we tried was a Zind-Humbrecht very dry Riesling.

Beatrix and Sagidah, in a first, paired up to prepare our fish course. Tonight was the first night our British Beatrix and our Jewish Iraqi Sagidah decided to stop being shy and join forces to add plenty to our banquet. The results: amazingly exquisite. They served us Prosciutto-Wrapped Broiled Salmon with Porcini, Oyster and Cremini Mushroom Sauce. Served over simple steamed white rice and with flawless steamed asparagus, the dish was perfect, as was their wine choice: a white Bourgogne Blanc Cuvée St. Vincent. In the affordability range it just squeaked by and was well worth it.

Jeremy and Max took on the task of preparing our meat course, one they found easy to work on, Roast Leg of Lamb, roasted with lots of garlic and parsley. Their contribution satisfied us all so much, but of course the Roast Lamb wasn't all they prepared. There was an exquisite Fricasée of Wild Mushrooms and Provençal Roasted Tomatoes. The guys paired their masterpiece with a well-balanced Saint-Julien Bordeaux.

For dessert, Charlotte made some simple peach tartlets and served us some beautifully just-chilled Carta Nevada Freixenet sparkling wine. Right after that, we joined the teenagers in the great room where Max was serving just-brewed espresso.

If the obscene U.S. ambassador to Canada, and the very-much pretend-rancher Bush gave a damn about the land their grandchildren will inherit, they would change their minds on Kyoto: but, the facts are there in black and white, quite plain: Bush just doesn't have what it takes to take compassion on the world. Make a buck today; tomorrow doesn't count.

Funny, Elizabeth said as she finished her espresso: the ludicrous "born-again christians" are embroiled in this battle-to-the-death over who, what or when the earth was created, but they're willing to kiss the ugliest part of Bush's anatomy just so long as he doesn't lift a finger to save the earth. Funny? Disgusting.

Summary:
The United States loses more friends every day. Now, it's itching to lose Canada as a friend. This administration doesn't give a damn about the world it occupies, nor does it care what it's few remaining allies think about the world and its dwindling health. The United States, thanks to Bush's considering it irrelevant, has already lost all of Latin America; tomorrow, it's losing Canada. It's a cold world out there baby, when you don't have any friends left.