Yesterday was China day down in the Student Lounge and today was Switzerland day which presents two tie-ins to yesterday's events. For one, the Swiss delegation (two folks, a local high school exchange student, and a professor) served up raclette-and-potato goodness. For two, Mike Widmer was the captain of the white cross in a sea of red. I got the skinny on suitable raclette bottomings (or whatever the inverse of toppings is called) and when it is traditionally eaten. Turns out that potato, cucumber, and onion are the only real raclette bases and that it is actually quite common, eaten around twice a month in the winter, and there is a major push on by Swiss cheese marketers for raclette to become the summertime social standard snack. Fascinating!

The journal ran an article today about the incredible disappearing Libertarian. This op-ed noticed the huge numbers (over 28 million) of voters whose polling and voting results didn't align, such as a pro-gay-marriage Bush voter or anti-abortion Kerry voter, and suggested that this enormous tide of Americans may be Libertarian and not realize it. In this day and age the bipartisan American body politic has been herded into two distinctly opposed groups while the middle ground is left powerless and voiceless even though millions long to stand there and be heard. So little is even discussed about the varying affiliations that represent the middle ground - Libertarians and Centrists, mostly - that they are banished into anonymity. The media likely bears some of the responsibility for this, but no doubt the apathy in some voters and the fear of remaining unheard in others prevents these parties from ever shouldering into the fray. In the meantime they soldier on with standard bearers proclaiming 'down with the status quo,' hoping for a break and their chance to win the minds of the people.