This horrible bait-and-switch war

Alas, St. Petraeus has uttered what is no doubt the truth. There will be worse times before there are better times. That to create a better (fill in the blanks) Iraq the US will have to sacrifice (i.e., lots of young men and women must die). Of course, he declines to define the scope of the effort that will be needed. Not even ranges. Ten to fifteen years? 10,000 American dead? Paul Wolfowitz demonstrated that saying this war would be difficult was tantamount to treason. The "surge" was supposed to be temporary (until August, 2007, as I recall) and limited. All the promises have proved false. The whole war has been a horrendous bait-and-switch in which the only winners have been private contractors, like, say, Halliburton?

Epicurian 1

We went to the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market on Sunday. Didn't get a whole lot but wanted to consume what we'd purchased as soon as possible. Also, I'd bought rhubarb on Friday, and wanted to use that. Since I'm cooking my way through Lydia's Family Table, I turned to that for a recipe. Didn't have quite enough rhubarb, so supplemented it with strawberries.

Tonight's Menu:

Baby leeks (from the farmers' market) baked in olive oil with lime juice
Diced beets marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Collard greens (from the farmers' market) braised in bacon fat
Left over barley risotto
Chicken Paprika (with left over Greek-style yogurt in place of sour cream)

Upside down Italian rhubarb and strawberry cake.

Dinner washed down with Yellowtail Chardonnay.

Standout: the leeks.

Summertime weather today in DC. Manny the puppy kept balking over continuing his walk (he loves to lie in the cool grass) . Substitute teacher in the lunchtime spinning class--we opened up with Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." Listened to the whole album this p.m. Like this version of the British invasion.

All roads lead to Dick

It all made perfect sense. Paul Wolfowitz got his mistress a sinecure at Liz Cheney's $80 million State Department office to change hearts and minds in Iran and Syria. This epitomizes the way this administration governs: everything is a slush fund to reward friends and punish enemies. Give it a patriotic name and we're good to go.