Kudos to Helen Thomas; Salve Helen!
Bush attended a White House press corps briefing Tuesday morning. The room was chock-full of reporters, all busy being officious and obsequious. The inanity of the same old, same old questions was enough to numb a zombie, said Alex and Jane. They did not sound in the least as if they thought the session was taken advantage of by all these reporters who so infrequently have access to Bush the Snit, rather, Alex and Jane sounded furious that the news corps would sit there like so many hapless eunuchs, letting Bush drone on and on in his bitchy monotone about how wonderful things were going in Iraq.

Schuyler, with impeccable timing, started pouring our cocktails, which gave Alex and Jane a minute to cool down. Schuyler made us Kamikazes, using Absolut vodka and Rose's Lime Juice. As always, one is our limit, and in the case of Kamikazes, which are pretty strong, the one only limit is a good one, though in all honesty, after working on the farm all day and because we all were joining in Alex and Jane's anger, the drinks were very welcome.

Judy, who missed the news programs covering the news briefing, was intrigued by Alex and Jane's anger, since this couple is usually very easy going. They were kind enough to inform us all exactly what went on. Apparently, even though the White House press corps seldom gets a chance to direct questions at Bush, they did not take advantage of the rare opportunity to really ask probing questions that would elicit new and truly newsworthy information, preferring instead to ask the same questions Bush has been asked for six years.

Then, suddenly, Jane astounded us all by changing her entire demeanor and said that at least, at the very least, there was one brave, very valiant and superbly well-qualified, intrepid reporter who had, to put it politely, the cojones to actually ask Bush a question that as a nation, we all have the duty to ask Bush: "Why, from the minute you entered the White House did you decide to invade Iraq?" Wouldn't you know, Alex said, Bush instantly returned to his less than charming bitchy persona and snapped at this reporter that she had her facts all wrong. Exactly, he said, tartly, curtly and bitchily: "to assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect."

Kudos, Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas is a veteran White House press room correspondent affiliated with the Hearst Corporation, and a redoubtable, formidable interrogator. Bush simply didn't have the requisite testosterone to answer her question with the equanimity an honest man would have had, and so he had to resort to his usual pouty, girly, snippy little hissy fit, but, Alex said, Ms. Thomas asked the question that as a country, we need to begin bombarding Bush with. Why did he, as soon as he "assumed" the presidency begin to plot the invasion of Iraq? Hey, Downing Street Memos anybody? Surely we should follow this line of questioning on a daily basis, or haven't we all the same courage Ms. Thomas has?

Judy wondered if the story had made the six o'clock news, but no, it hadn't. She sounded very disappointed at hearing this, but Jane told her that at least PBS' News Hour reported the news and showed Ms. Thomas questioning the snippy Bush. Thankfully, The New York Times also had a snippet of the exchange in its review of the press conference, putting the story way back on page 10 of its March 22 paper, but it does need to be brought to the forefront. Bob thought it had a lot to do with accountability, a foreign word not in the Bush administration's language, dictionaries, or ability to understand.

Dinner Gong for The Hungry Gang
The kids love banging on our "English country house" dinner gong. Frankly, by the time they ring it we too are famished and ready to sit down to a good dinner. Beatrix counted fifty for tonight's dinner, but thankfully a few of the teenagers volunteered, for pocket money, to pitch in and help.
Just before splitting up, the kids to their table in the great room, and we to our table in the dining room, Liz asked us to think about something Thomas Jefferson had once said:

"The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them."

On that note, we proceeded to take our places.

Charlotte and Marie Christine Cook
Oh, have you ever had such good chefs at hand that you could hardly wait to finish one course before you began the next? That's the atmosphere around here when this pair teams up to cook for us (as always, with Max's help in the background.)

For our Amuse Bouche (tickle the palate) course, Charlotte prepared Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Garlic and Prosciutto. They were baked to perfection, and only needed to be paired with a delectable sparkling wine to begin tonight's "state of rapture."

Charlotte brought several bottles of Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs to pair with the flawless mushroom dish. The teenagers really liked tonight's appetizer, but some of us thought it sad that they were all too young to enjoy the splendor of a good glass of sparkling wine to go with a special appetizer. Oh well, that's life when you have a slightly European slant on what, in life, is truly important.

Marie Christine tonight decided to serve not the usual French soup we'd expect from her, but a Scottish soup, Cullen Skink, or Smoked Haddock and Potato Soup. This is a classic soup that we had not tried before. It was pure pleasure, and we were thrilled at Marie Christine's choice. She poured us some "La Ina" sherry to enjoy with the soup. Some people don't like wine or spirits with their soups or salads, but we do, and the sherry tonight was remarkably good.

Marie Christine and Charlotte prepared Whole Grilled Salmon with Red Shallot Salsa for us tonight, using Max's mastery of the Viking grills on the porch. Max's expertise is crucial because not just anybody can grill, to perfection, enough salmon for a hungry crowd of fifty. On our plates, we had beautiful caramelized carrots and superbly green just-cooked broccoli. Marie Christine and Jean Paul had some bottles of Volnay they had brought back from Burgundy, and were generous enough to share them with us for this magnificent dish.

Our palate cleanser tonight consisted of tangerine/pomegranate sorbet, and adequately prepared us for our next course, Onion and Tomato Salsa Sautéed Chicken. Charlotte and Marie Christine spent a long time preparing this dish, but the results were superb. They served us individual Onion Tartlets and a Fricassée of Shiitake, Chanterelle and Cremini Mushrooms. Again, brought by Marie Christine and Jean Paul from their last visit to France, was an excellent, superb Loire Valley Saumur-Champigny, a fruity red wine we all enjoyed.

Dessert? This group never turns down dessert if it is available. Judy wanted to make Rhubarb Pies tonight, and we thought she had done a splendid job. We don't often have such U.S. classics, so tonight we considered them to be perfect. Instead of having a liqueur with our pie, we took them back to the great room to have our pie with the teenagers and have it with Max's special-brew after dinner coffee.

The fire in the great room was really needed. The other day we told you about the arrival of spring and our great weather, but boy, did that change in a matter of hours. Old Man Winter's still got his grip on us, but maybe soon? In any event, we were soon scrambling through the mountains of coats and jackets to bundle up for the short trip home.

Summary
The important question the country needs Bush to answer is why he had decided to invade Iraq even before moving into the White House. A valiant reporter asked that very question of Bush on Tuesday's White House press briefing.

When Helen Thomas showed the courage her colleagues lacked in spades and asked Bush this question, he turned into a spitting viper in an instant, and needless to say, did not answer. Helen Thomas needs us all to hound this pathetic White House with her question, until it's answered. We shouldn't let the media fail to keep her question in the forefront. We deserve answers, even if they have to be obtained by harassment, censure, or impeachment