Episode 27: April in Paris

The French Really, Really Don't Suck
The flowering trees in the pocket plazas of the Latin Quarter had burst into voluptuous bloom the day before we arrived, and the willows down by the Seine were leafing out in palest shimmering green. By the end of the week, they were joined by the horse chestnuts and the cherry trees started loosing their petals in puffs of warm air.


By then, Michel at the corner cafe
knew what we wanted for breakfast - cafe au lait and croissants - and sunny Cecile at the bar across the street brought us our two decaf expressos and one armagnac without our asking each evening after dinner. Everywhere, we were greeted with smiles and efficiency and solicitations, with not a single sneer nor snarl (excepting a couple of cabdrivers). Although it wasn't difficult to guess we were Americans, no one took the opportunity to upbrade us for the actions of our government, which are universally deplored in France.
True, France's greatest national hero was a warmongering dictator. And true, the French revere expressions of grandeur, which often slides queasily into grandiosity. And they award culture prizes to the likes of Sly Stallone, Quentin Tarantino, and Mickey Rourke. And French politicians from deGaulle to Chirac are among the most annoying people on earth, and that isn't likely to change much after the recent election.
But they were absolutely, positively, right about the wrongheadedness of going to war in Iraq and it's past time we got over our petulant "freedom fries" and "liberty toast" snit. The French are a lot better at living than at fighting, and there is much we can learn from them.
So there.

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And So It Goes
In a post-mortem speech delivered by his son, Kurt Vonnegut declared that the final words of a condemned man ought to be, "This will certainly teach me a lesson."
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Trolling Through The Web
If you haven't seen it already you must go to http://YouTube.com and enter "Bush and Blair Singing: Endless Love" in the "Search" box. And for some startling course corrections from conservative satirist Christopher Buckley, son of William F., go to http://washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0610.buckley.html.

************************************************************************************* Say What?
In a letter from Ontario to the International Herald Tribune, a Mr. Kokoski wrote: "Christianity is in decline largely due to the one-sided-ness of the Enlightenment and to a certain hedonism that has given rise to autonomy and anti-authoritarianism. Today's world excludes interventions of God, such as miracles and revelation."
Someone needs a hug.
************************************************************************************* While We Were Gone
*The worst president in the history of the United States repeatedly promised to veto a Congressional military spending bill that included even a whisper of a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, thereby ignoring the clearly stated intentions of the American electorate.

*Paul Wolfowitz and Alberto Gonzalez were under withering attack but refused to resign.

*Darth Cheney accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of "bad behavior" for visiting Syria and talking to President Bashar al-Assad.

*After the Virginia Tech massacre, the state's pro-NRA governor, Tim Kane, was asked for his thoughts on gun control. "People who want to make it their political hobby horse to ride," he replied, "I've got nothing but loathing for them. At this point, what it's about is comforting family members and helping this community heal. And so to those who want to try to make this into some little crusade, I say take that elsewhere." Kane didn't take up the issue of how much less healing would be necessary if his state didn't sell handguns to certified lunatics.

*And Karl Rove continued to look like an evil teletubbie - the pink one.

************************************************************************************* Now That We're Back
*Dubya continued to ignore, albeit with difficulty, the fourth anniversary of that unfortunate little "Mission Accomplished" speech on the airdcraft carrier. But as promised, he vetoed the spending bill, describing himself as the "commander guy."

*Amazingly, Wolfie and Alberto remain in office.

*Less than a month after the White House railed against Pelosi's Syria visit, Condi Rice decided to chat with that country's foreign minister. When she does it, it's statesmanship.

*No meaningful legislative efforts to toughen gun control have been taken. Indeed, the subject has disappeared from op-ed pages.

*At the first debate among the Republican candidates for the presidency, the ten white men in blue suits were asked which of them did not believe in evolution. Three raised their hands - Sam Brownback of Kansas, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Fortunately, none of them have a prayer (so to speak). But a question for any stray Republicans who may have stumbled on this blog: How can you bring yourselves to be associated with loons?

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Shocked, Shocked
A study ordered by Congress determined that American students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not.

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Around Paris
This gorgeous city has enough museums and monuments to wear down the most diligent culture hound. There's the Louvre, of course, and the Pompidou, the d'Orsay, Notre Dame, the Opera Bastile, the Sacre Coeur, Arc de Triomphe, the Jardin des Tuileries, and one of Geezer's faves, the Musee Rodin (at right).
But next time you're there, check out the concert schedule beside the entrance to the 13th Century church, Sainte-Chapelle. They are held upstairs before the high altar, where the audience is surrounded on all sides by towering stained-glass windows that sparkle like gemstones tossed across black velvet. So expansive is the use of glass, the patrons must have feared for the building's structural integrity. Vivaldi and Bach were meant to be performed in such a setting.

There's a museum so new - opened in June 2006 - that it appears in no current guidebooks. It's the Musee du quai Branley (51 quai Branly), not far from the Tour Eiffel, and promoted by none other than Jacques Chirac as a legacy of his long tenure as president of the Republic. Gathered within are lavish collections of non-Western arts and artifacts from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, fascinating for their ingenuity and displayed in fresh ways. They are refreshing antidote to the familiarity of Monet, Mona Lisa, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

While strolling down the long street market rue Mouffetard, distracted by stall after stall and store after store presenting mouthwatering displays of cheeses, pastries, terrines, breads, sausages, glistening fruits, dewy vegetables, and regional wines that rarely make it out of the country, we barely noticed the music being played by the street musicians who took up positions in front of the sidewalk cafes. They weren't doing accordians or Piaf or Michel LeGrand. What we heard were Light My Fire, All of You, and Silent Night.
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