2015 Paris Vacation - Day 3

May 17, 2015 (cont): Last night, the husband and I and our friend Rob did check out a few of the gay clubs in the Marais neighborhood.  Being a Sunday night, things were not that busy from what we saw.  We stopped at Raidd where things were slow, although later this week we plan on checking it out again, most likely on Thursday.  The place that was really hopping was Freedj, a dance club.  The music was great and the crowd was a nice mix of younger, older and some straight couples.  The scene below is of the lower level dance floor (I want to visit again later in the week).

May 18, 2015:

One wing of the Louvre

Today was another amazing but exhausting day that included going to the Louvre, walking the Galleries Lafayette, hitting shops along the way, and then this evening doing a dinner cruise on the Calife dinner cruise highly recommended by a friend who visited Paris last September.  The Louvre is overwhelming (to see the entire collection would takes days or even a week), but we hit high points that included the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Napoleon's apartments and sculptures by Michelangelo.  Here are some random photos:

Michelangelo - the captive/dying slave

Winged Victory

Mona Lisa

Our best shopping was along the Avenue de Opera.  Galleries Lafayette is amazing, but pricey.  Nonetheless, it was worth the visit just to see the store's domed atrium:

Galleries Lafayette

 The absolute highlight of the day was the dinner cruise.  The food was wonderful (our Auntie Mame like friend treated all of us), the wait staff attentive - and gorgeous - and the views from the riverboat striking:

Looking toward our apartment

Aboard the Calife

The night's most spectacular view

Now?  We are all exhausted and satiated and headed to our respective bedrooms!  So far, this trip has truly impressed me with the French sense of style, the friendliness of the people, the handsomeness of many of the men, and the fact that America could learn a lot from this country.

Monday Male Beauty

Northern VA "Conservative" Parents Upset Over School Curriculum that Admits Gays and Transgender Exist

Having had three children go through the Virginia public schools over the course of the last 25+ years, one thing that never changes is the way in which Christofascists ALWAYS want the school curriculum to reflect their ignorance embracing beliefs that exclude the existence of gays and transgender individuals.  They are self-centered and truly care nothing for the rights of beliefs of others and demand that their darling children be forever sheltered from the realities of real life and the real world.  Now, the Fairfax County School Board has committed the cardinal sin of (i) voting to implement a non-discrimination policy to protect trans students and staff, and (ii) amending the curriculum to include lessons on gender identity and being transgender.  The hate-filled "godly folk" are going ballistic.  Here are highlights from Gay Star News:

Conservative parents are furious about proposed changes to the curriculum for grades 7 to 12 at some schools in Virginia..

Last week, the Fairfax County School Board voted to include gender identity in their non-discrimination policy to expand protection for trans students and staff.

Parents and students opposing the policy change claimed children could choose which bathroom or locker room to use, heightening the danger of sexual harassment.

Now the school board is reportedly planning to extend the curriculum to include lessons on gender identity and being transgender.

‘Students will be provided definitions for sexual orientation terms heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality; and the gender identity term transgender,’ the district’s recommendations state.

‘Emphasis will be placed on recognizing that everyone is experiencing changes and the role of respectful, inclusive language in promoting an environment free of bias and discrimination.‘

Parents have been said to be ‘irate’ over the recommended changes; Fox News columnist Todd Starnes expressed his disagreement, calling the update ‘unadulterated sex indoctrination’.

Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council, called it ‘an attack on nature itself’, saying children would be taught they could choose their gender.

‘It’s only going to create more confusion in the minds of young people who don’t need any further confusion about sexual identity,’ he said.

The changes are set to be formally announced on 21 May; because lessons need to be planned, the schools are planning to implement the changes later next year.

 

Do Politicans Really Believe Religious Myths and Superstition?

One thing that drives me crazy is the continued undue deference American politicians give to religion - a force for hate, division and discord across the centuries.  True, the phenomenon s the worse among Republicans who strive to out do each other in becoming will whores of the Christofascist, but Democrats likewise genuflect all too often to religious quacks and charlatans.  A piece in Salon looks at the distressing spectacle.  Here are excerpts:

CNN might wish to rename its show “This Week in Politics” as “This Week in God”; it’s getting that bad.  Just in the days between May 1 and May 7, for example, the Seventh-Day Adventist evolution-denier Ben Carson announced his intention to seek the 2016 Republican nomination, as did the Southern Baptist and onetime pastor Mike Huckabee.  The Episcopalian-turned-Roman Catholic Jeb Bush has puzzlingly refrained from following in their footsteps, but that he gave this year’s commencement address at that stronghold of unreason and superstitious darkness, the Jerry Falwell-founded Liberty University . . .

I note the religious affiliations of these potential contenders for the presidency because all are flaunting their faith, rather than keeping it a private matter of conscience, which in any other developed country it would be.  The gist is, unless you profess a piety befitting the mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, things are going to get much, much more unpleasant for you before one or another God-coddler enters the White House in January 2017 to replace President Obama.

But I won’t deal with the faith-imbued cretinism of the Republicans in this essay.  What concerns me now is what President Obama has just wrought to insult that most aggrieved (yet steadfastly growing) American minority, the advocates of reason, those who insist on evidence before accepting the truth of a given proposition, especially grand propositions about the origins of the universe and our species.  On Wednesday, President Obama marked the deeply pathetic traditional outrage to rationalism that is the National Day of Prayer  . . .("NDOP")

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and the precepts of the Enlightenment endorse it as fostering comity among nations.  Centuries of faith-fueled warfare and persecution in Europe convinced the Founding Fathers that a batty belief in an invisible “divine” Tyrant (and attendant, equally batty, equally invisible “Sons” and spirits and prophets and so forth) deserved no place in our government; it would be too divisive and subject to exploitation as a tool of repression.  Hence the First Amendment.

But there is a contradiction inherent in Obama’s act of “proclaiming” from the White House on National Day of Prayer; namely, that such a day should not exist, but since it does, the president should not avail himself of it to militate for the cause of faith.

Fresh challenges should be mounted until the NDOP goes the way of Jim Crow.  To do my part in the fight for true secularism, I hereby contest the constitutionality of Obama’s issuance of Lord-positive declarations from his podium as the chief officer of our officially godless republic, if only because such declarations menace the mental health and intellectual development of children.

The Proclamation’s subsequent palaver provides opportunities for parody, head-shaking and outright guffaws that no rationalist in need of levity can pass up.  “For many of us,” Obama declares, prayer is “an essential act of worship and a daily discipline that allows reflection, provides guidance, and offers solace.”  In what sense does murmuring petitions to a fictitious heavenly autocrat in the hope of procuring favorable outcomes constitute a “discipline”?  Science is a discipline, the study of philosophy is a discipline, judo is a discipline, even meditation is a discipline.  Appealing to an inexistent supernatural being is not a discipline, but, rather, an apotropaic ritual worthy of study by anthropologists and mental-health professionals. 

Obama then informs us that prayer “gives us the strength to do God’s work: to feed the hungry, care for the poor, comfort the afflicted, and make peace where there is strife.”  Tell that to secular aid organizations such as Oxfam, USAID and the United Way (for more, see here), where, incidentally, no one spends donor money on proselytizing pamphlets or other venues for indoctrinating vulnerable people in occult dogmas.  No need to drag mysticism into humanitarian work.  Moreover, it is indisputable that religion (and especially Catholicism and Islam) does much to ensure the persistence of poverty and hunger across the globe.  The Catholic Church, in forbidding condom use in AIDS-ravaged Africa, among other places, has helped bring about 11 million orphans.  The Islamist aversion to educating women deprives entire populations of the intellectual potential of half their inhabitants, which hinders their societies’ rise out of poverty through the one proven effective way — the empowerment of women, . . 

There's more, but you get the drift.  Overall, religion is not an uplifting or positive influence.

Sunday Male Beauty

Maureen Dowd: The Need Remember the Iraq War Was Launched based on Lies

As Jeb "Jebbie" Bush tries to extricate himself form the fiasco he created by stating that he would have invaded Iraq as his idiot brother did, other Republican candidates are striving to couch the issue in "what we knew then and what we know now."  In short, they want the public to forget that the war was justified and launched based on deliberate lies and fabrications.  Stated another way, the war was the result of failed GOP policies and the sinister actions of GOP elected officials and their advisers.  Maureen Dowd has a column in the New York Times that reminds us that we must not be duped into believing the GOP revisionist history.  Here are excerpts:

IT isn’t about what we know now.  It’s about what we knew then.

It is simply not true, as Republican presidential aspirant Scott Walker said on Friday, that “any president would have likely taken the same action Bush did with the information he had.”

That’s not giving enough credit to W. and his frothing band of Reservoir Dogs.

It took a Herculean effort of imagination, manipulation and deception to concoct “the information” that propelled the invasion, occupation and destruction of a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

Aside from the Blair poodle and the Coalition of the Willing-to-Overlook-Counterfeit-Claims, our allies tried to warn us. You know you’re in trouble when the Germans tell you that you’re too militaristic.

The Saudis thought Saddam was a monster, but, according to a Saudi official, they sent top emissaries to urge W. against war. Prince Saud, the foreign minister, and Prince Bandar, the ambassador in Washington, told the president that Saddam had assured them that he would allow the inspectors in. The Saudis explained what should have been obvious to the foreign affairs neophyte in the Oval Office: Saddam, who was writing romance novels, listening to Frank Sinatra and reading Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” was simply blustering like any Arab despot would, trying to deter Iran with a big imaginary cache of W.M.D.

Everyone paying attention after 9/11 knew that the Bush crew had crudely and cynically switched villains, diverting America’s fury and fear from Osama, whose address was unknown, to Saddam, a reliable Bush family punching bag. They used patriotism like brass knuckles.

Karl Rove, who once thought the war would help build a Republican empire at home, still defends it.

But, as Senator Rand Paul bluntly argued last weekend while visiting a San Francisco tech company, America was better off with Saddam in power.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell, told the Concord Monitor that it was a “fair assessment” to say Iraq was better off under Saddam.

Jeb had barely finished insisting that he was his own man before he voluntarily shackled himself to W., putting several members of his brother’s war-torture-and-Katrina tarnished brain trust on his advisory list and telling a group of financiers in New York that W. was his top adviser on the Middle East!! :(

The 62-year-old was schooled on W.’s deadly Middle East legacy by a 19-year-old University of Nevada student, Ivy Ziedrich, who explained to the would-be leader of the free world that ISIS — which is gobbling up more and more pieces of Iraq — was not the virulent spawn of President Obama’s policies, but of his brother’s.

And consider this: Jeb hasn’t even been asked any questions yet about W.’s dark contributions on waterboarding, the deficit and the near-total collapse of the American economy.

Candidate Clown Car Has GOP Leaders Worried About 2016

I have noted a number of times the race to see who among the would be GOP 2016 presidential candidates can most self-prostitute them self to the unwashed, insane, religiously extreme members of the Republican party base.  In addition to some of the candidates being basically batshit crazy, the effort to win votes among the far right early primary voters could well doom the GOP in the 2016 general election.  What plays well with the extreme party base can be radioactive to voters in the general election.  As The Hill notes, a number of issues are potential landmines for the GOP.  Here are some highlights:

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Republican contenders for the White House are under pressure to toe the party line on a number of issues as they battle for the nomination.

Primary voters will demand to know where the presidential hopefuls stand on a slew of hot-button issues, including immigration, taxes and climate change.

Several of the candidates have already stumbled with their answers, highlighting the intense scrutiny they will be under in the critical early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Here are some of the biggest political landmines ahead for the Republican field.

IMMIGRATION

Immigration is one of the thorniest issues for the Republican Party.

In the GOP primary, the candidates are fighting for the support of mostly conservative voters, who are generally opposed to anything they view as granting “amnesty” to undocumented people.

But the eventual Republican nominee will need to make gains with Hispanic voters in the general election to win the White House, but that segment of the electorate has shifted decisively toward Democrats in recent years.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who helped write the Senate’s 2013 immigration reform bill, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have cast themselves as candidates who can appeal to Hispanics and win the general election.

Bush has mostly stuck to his guns on granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, while emphasizing to conservatives their common ground on border security and fighting Obama’s executive actions.

Other candidates in the 2016 race, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), are likely to hammer Rubio and Bush as backing “amnesty.”

COMMON CORE

The federal education standards known as Common Core are deeply unpopular in the GOP, with polls show that Republican voters oppose them by a 3 to 1 margin.

The education standards have provided a ripe target for Republican candidates to take swings at a top-down prescription from the federal government.

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) have assailed the education protocol, with Paul’s PAC referring to it as “anti-American propaganda.”  Walker has said he wants to eliminate the requirement, and Gov. Chris Christie has created a commission to review its place in New Jersey.

Standing virtually alone in support of Common Core is Bush, who argues states have plenty of say in how the standards are carried out.

That stance could prove to be a real liability in Iowa. A February Des Moines Register poll found that while 56 percent of Iowans back the standards, just 34 percent of Iowa Republicans do.

THE IRAQ WAR

President George W. Bush’s controversial tenure in the White House looms large over the current field, and candidates have been rushing to distance themselves from his Iraq War.

It’s been hard to find a prominent Republican who now supports the 2002 invasion, which remains deeply unpopular with the public. Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Cruz have all said that in hindsight, going to war was a mistake, as has Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), a longtime critic of that military action.

The political peril of Iraq is especially acute for Jeb Bush, who struggled much of the past week to say whether he would have also authorized the military action. After vacillating on the issue for several days, Bush finally came out against his brother’s decision on Thursday.

THE IRAQ WAR

President George W. Bush’s controversial tenure in the White House looms large over the current field, and candidates have been rushing to distance themselves from his Iraq War.

It’s been hard to find a prominent Republican who now supports the 2002 invasion, which remains deeply unpopular with the public. Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Cruz have all said that in hindsight, going to war was a mistake, as has Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), a longtime critic of that military action.

The political peril of Iraq is especially acute for Jeb Bush, who struggled much of the past week to say whether he would have also authorized the military action. After vacillating on the issue for several days, Bush finally came out against his brother’s decision on Thursday.

But his confusing and dismissive responses to the question over several days gave his rivals an opening, with Paul arguing his responses made clear Jeb would be “George Bush 3.”

GAY MARRIAGE

Opposition to same-sex marriage used to be a reliable position for any Republican presidential candidate, but at a time of growing support for such unions, the GOP primary field has splintered.

Most Republican candidates have answered affirmatively when asked if they would attend a gay wedding. Walker said he actually has done so for a family member.

But social conservatives remain staunchly opposed to gay marriage, and some of the contenders are taking a hard line.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Cruz and Jindal have fiercely opposed same-sex unions, and back legislative efforts to block them.

The challenge of the issue was apparent when Ben Carson, the former neurosurgeon now running for the White House, apologized after saying that same-sex relationships in prison prove sexual orientation is a choice.

TAXES

Any Republican with an eye towards the White House is going to be talking taxes, which has long been one of the biggest dividing lines with the Democratic Party.

While all of the GOPers are eager to promote fiscal responsibility and tax cuts, there is an emerging split among the candidates on how far they are willing to go.

Some of the 2016 hopefuls have issued dramatic plans to slash taxes, as they look to stand out in the crowded field.

CLIMATE CHANGE

While none of the Republican contenders are vowing to tackle climate change if elected president, they are split on whether human activity is driving it.

Most Republican voters say it would be unacceptable for their candidate to believe in man-made climate change, let alone pursue policies to address it.

Some of the candidates, including Paul and Bush, have adopted an agnostic view, saying the jury is still out on how much the climate is changing, and if so, what role humans play in it.

Others, such as Cruz and Santorum, have depicted climate change as a hoax by the left to impose new environmental restrictions on the business community.

Paris Vacation - Day 2

Our day today so far has been a busy one.  But first, I want to mention our wonderful experience at the Le Dome du Marais a 53 Bis Des Francs Bourgois last evening.  The setting under a huge etched glass dome that changed colors ranging from gold to blue to red and green was elegant and the wait staff, especially our waiter Jurgen, were wonderfully attentive.  As for the food, it was over the top.  On the way back to the apartment, we passed by a fully illuminated Notre Dame (above).  By the time were were finished with dinner, we were to exhausted to hit the gay clubs last night.  We plan on making up for that tonight.

West facade of Chateau du Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

A selfie of sorts taken in a mirror in the chateau

As for today, first, we were up early to meet our tour guide for Versailles near the Eiffel Tower and then it was off by train to the chateau and its utterly magnificent gardens.  Nothing prepared me for the immense size of the gardens which literally cover thousands of acres.  Touring just a small portion of the equated to at least a three mile walk. Of the rooms in the chateau itself, the most spectacular was the Hall of Mirrors pictured above.  Views of the gardens are below.

Grand vista

After Versailles, we took the train back into Paris proper and got off at Pont le Alma and crossed the river and walked a block to the opulent Hotel Plaza Athnee for a late lunch in the outside terrace (we we too late lunch in the beautiful courtyard restaurant) before walking up Avenue Montaigne to the Champs Elysee, passing all of the fashion design houses.Eight hours later, we are back at the apartment taking a rest before heading back out into the Marais neighborhood to reconnoiter some of the clubs. 

Courtyard - Plaza Athnee

Terrace restaurant