I was recently watching “Iron Chef.” The contestants travel to France to cook an elaborate meal for 20 guests. Each chef is given $2,500 just to buy the ingredients. After the shopping spree, they travel to the home where the dinner will be served. It is an actual French palace. The copper pots on the walls in the professional kitchen probably cost more than my house. This palace has a full-time chef and professional kitchen staff! Then the show’s host introduced the resident: Craig Roberts Stapleton, United States ambassador to France. Yes, that palace is owned by our government and paid for with U.S. tax dollars. So I thought, “Well I’m sure that guy is very qualified and has worked hard to attain such a lofty and noble position.” So I looked him up on his official Web site. Here’s what I learned: “This is Stapleton’s second ambassadorship, as he had been ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2001 to 2004. From 1989 to 1998, Stapleton co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with President George W. Bush. In 2004, he was the Connecticut State Chairman for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. Under former President George H.W. Bush, Stapleton was on the board of the Peace Corps. He was on the board of directors for several companies including Allegheny Properties, Metro PCS, TB Woods and Winston Partners. He served as President of Marsh and McLennan Real Estate Advisors of New York from 1982 until 2001.” More digging found that Stapleton speaks neither French nor Czech fluently. In a recent interview with TV network France 24, Stapleton stated that he had been learning French since his appointment. This has caused some to allege that his nominations as ambassador to France and the Czech Republic were based more on his personal connections with the Bush family than actual international diplomacy competence and experience. Stapleton is married and maintains a home in Greenwich, Conn., and has two adult children. His wife, Dorothy Walker Stapleton, is a first cousin of George H.W. Bush. The same one who put him on the board of the Peace Corps.  Americans are paying for this palace so that an unqualified crony and relative of the president can live the highest life possible on our dime.  [David Decoteau is a landscape designer and planner, and active in the Ron Paul presidential campaign.]