Chipping away at freedom

Brits call them chips, we 'Merkins call them fries, those potato sticks cooked in oil. Cooked twice, in fact. They used to be called French fries, until three years ago, when the perfidious, cheese-eating French surrender monkeys refused to line up for our scrimmage against Saddam, the much-derided "Coalition of the Willing." The French honorific was purged, Stalin-style, from the cafeteria menu at the House of Representatives and the potatoes rechristened Freedom Fries. Orwell himself could not have imagined a better outcome.

Alas. That was then, this is now. Without fanfare, Freedom Fries have been replaced. The latest menu, according to an item in today's Washington Times, once again allows our hungry congressional delegations to speak the word "French" if they want a side of America's favorite vegetable with their hamburger or frankfurter. (We don't have anything against the Germans, do we?) No comment from Rep. Bob Ney, the Ohio Republican in charge of the cafeteria, who no longer supports the war in Iraq. That, as we said, was then, and times have changed.

Or have they? Associated Press reports that obese people claim to exercise vigorously and to have healthy eating habits. Denial, it seems, is turning into a national pastime.