How outrageous are the recent denials that the Holocaust ever happened - by the leader of an Egyptian Muslim group and by the new president of Iran? Even the Saudis disagree. Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to the U.S. - Prince Turki al-Faisal - terms the Holocaust, wherein the Nazis killed 6 million Jews, "horrific genocide" and a "historical fact."
XXX
On the haute cuisine front, let's see: Meatloaf, which began as a home-cooking staple during the Depression, is moving up - from the diner to the bistro to the snitziest high-end restaurant.
But the food on Air Force Two reputedly is so bad it is driving down at least some of the gourmet reporters who accompany Vice President Dick Cheney. Said Reuters' Saul Hudson, "aghast" about the food on a flight to Asia: "I'm British - I'm used to eating inedible food." Said the AP's Anne Gearan: "The flan put to rest my theory that at least you could count on a decent dessert."
XXX
Bruce Willis often dissents from Hollywood's ideological line. He has offered $1 million for the capture of any of al-Qaida's big three - bin Laden, Zawahiri or Zarqawi. And now he will make a movie depicting American troops in Iraq, with whom he recently spent some time, as "guys who do what they are asked to for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom." He adds: "I am baffled to understand why the things I saw happening in Iraq are not being reported." How about an Oscar for Willis - for courageous deviationism, if nothing else?
XXX
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is working on another book, this one inspired by Saddam Hussein. As she told Aspen magazine: "I love jewelry, and (the book) is going to be on my collection of brooches. I thought it would be fun to write about why I wore them. The attention to my pin collection started when Saddam Hussein called me a snake. . . . (Soon after telling that story on CNN as I wore my snake pin brooch), it seemed like the whole world watched what brooches I would wear as some kind of signal - a sort of international reading of the tea leaves."