Cover painting of Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of the Iraqi Cuisine.
The hugest moment -- the most momentous? -- for us as fellow Americans in recent years -- prior to 9/11, which wasn't after all about us but about "the other" -- was when we had a houseful of beloved relatives here for an election night bash November 7, 2000 and finally went to bed not knowing. You may recall that members of the opposition had decided to proclaim that certain Floridians too dumb to punch chads -- Chads? Whassat? -- were "disenfranchised." The way it ended for us dyed-in-the-wool Republicans that night was that the younger generation had to leave before anyone knew the outcome. Reminds us of what used to be called premature withdrawal (pardon our French). Things finally sort of climaxed five weeks later:
Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 presidential election Wednesday night, effectively concluding an election that was supposed to have ended five weeks ago.
"Tonight, for the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession," Gore said.
"Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College," Gore said.
That's kind of what the Democrats have been jerking us Republicans around with ever since, pretending -- with the back of their hand languidly placed across their brow -- that it's fine, fine, don't worry about me, but you dirty Republicans stole the election.
No matter. We never cared for the sleazy Clintonian [Sleazy Clintonian. Isn't that redundant? --ed] scandal-diversionary meme that it was "time to move on to the work of the American people" -- writ small and petty in the ongoing Soros-funded whine-blog MoveOn.org -- but now, it really is time to move on to the work of the Iraqi people.
We are a day before the eve of the Iraqi election, such as it may be, and that calls for a culinary celebration. We are inspired and encouraged by the introduction to the Garden-of-Eden cookbook referenced above:
Apology: Considering the hardships that Iraq and the Iraqi people have been going through since 1990, some might think this was not the right time to write about food. But as a wife, a mother, a woman and a human being, I find in food and in memories of food my refuge, my comfort and consolations when things are not looking good.
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