The first three questions I’m always asked about Paris are (1) Why Paris? (2) Where do Debbie and you stay? (2) What are your favorite restaurants?
Given that our reasons for being in Europe are different than those for many people, the question is somewhat complex. We are there to gather intelligence on many subjects, the least of which is certainly not the condition of the European Union and the euro. Beyond a general host of business reasons, the fact that we are in Europe for a couple of weeks twice a year gives us opportunity to deal with the where to stay and where to eat questions quite directly.
At the outset, you should know that Paris is a large city (2.2 million). Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, neighborhoods, if you will, each with its own unique character. If you are familiar with downtown Boston from lets say The Taj on Arlington Street to Mass. Ave., you can get a feeling for the size of one Paris arrondissement. As such the number of hotels and restaurants in Paris is truly staggering. If you are a first timer to Paris, I would make it easy on yourself and concentrate on the restaurants in the arrondissement in which you are staying or those close by. You will be selecting from hundreds. When you begin to research you’ll find that many of the sources you come across concentrate on what are considered reasonable prices. Reasonable prices are words frequently not compatible with certain arrondissements in Paris. This is especially the case in the grandest arrondissement in all of Paris—the 8th. Paris is expensive, end of discussion. And good does not come cheap. So be wary of all the ‘best deals in Paris” sort of guides. Here again my rule applies for those wishing to stay in what most Parisians feel are the arrondissements of choice. Giving my prelude, where should you focus your quest on where to stay in Paris? In this multi-part Spring 2013 series, I will supply you with considerable information. With my complete series printed out, along with the plethora of links I’ll be providing, you will head off to Paris like a pro. Speaking of pros, Debbie and I do not head to Paris without many advance months of preparation with our French ace Ryland Stacy. Ryland knows the best of the best from Paris to Provence. And she has made our years of travel in France go as smoothly as we could have possibly hoped. So take my advice and do not try to go it alone.
Let’s begin the quest at the top with my great list of 72 Luxury Hotels in Paris. This unmatched list will keep you more than busy until I post the second in this series of What I Learned in Paris Spring 2013 posts.
A bientôt,
Dick
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 You don’t need politicians telling you how to live your life. But that’s not stopping Mr. Big Gulp himself, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, from sticking his thumb in every pie. Now he’s targeting Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire for rejecting the recent gun bill in the Senate.
Not every state is as dark blue as NYC. New Hampshire is decided by independents. According to a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center and The Washington Post, 48% of independents were very happy or relieved that Manchin-Toomey failed in the Senate, while 41% were disappointed or angry. Bloomberg should leave the “Live Free or Die” state alone.
I’m a concealed-carry permit holder in the state of New Hampshire. I am exempt from background checks when buying a gun from a federally licensed dealer. If the Senate bill had passed, I would still be able to purchase a gun without a background check from a federally licensed dealer. If you don’t have your concealed-carry permit, then now is the time to get it. Operate with the expectation that a revised form of Manchin-Toomey will be reintroduced. Beat inertia before it’s too late.
Because a victory by the antigun lobby will give it the confidence to trample all over your Second Amendment rights, it’s up to you to take the necessary steps now, while you still can. If it’s up to guys like Mayor Bloomberg, “gun-free zones” will be all over the country.
Gun-free zones are like a welcome mat for criminals. As gun policy authority John Lott says,
I have long warned about the dangers of gun-free zones, and my latest book, At the Brink, provides additional detailed discussion. If a violent criminal were stalking you, would you put up a sign in front of your home stating that your home was a gun-free zone? My guess is that you wouldn’t. Indeed, I have debated a lot of gun-control advocates, and I have never met someone who would put up such a sign in front of their home. Why? Because instead of deterring crime, such a sign would be an invitation to the criminal to attack.
Mayor Bloomberg has done more to boost sales of both Big Gulps and guns than any ad campaign could ever hope to do. It’s time you take care of business before it’s too late. His bony little finger is pointing at New Hampshire. But don’t think the $27-billion man will stop there.
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Eric Felten recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that during the Second World War the federal government imposed a tax on establishments with singing or dancing to live music. Ultimately this was the catalyst of the 50s bebop jazz era that killed big band music entirely. Americans could no longer dance to the music they heard, lest they face a 30% surcharge on meals and drinks. That was a killer for restaurants, and so no dancing was allowed. Furthermore, if vocals accompanied the music, the same surcharge applied, so instrumental music became the norm.
There was nothing inherently bad about instrumental music itself, and for a while it was quite good. But once freed from having to create music with a danceable beat or a singable melody, jazz musicians became wildly experimental. Although some of that experimentation was good, it also led to excesses in which musicians seemed to be trying to jam as many notes into a song as possible with as little rhythm as possible to fulfill some dream of harmonic nirvana.
For a perfect example of what government intervention did to the music industry by 1960, listen to the performance by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet.
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Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at the Cato Institute and director of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies, hits the nail on the head.
President Obama would have been more inspiring had he embraced the return of limited constitutional government. Instead President Obama explained how “big and important things cannot be done except through government.” See any problems there?
From George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, presidents sought mostly to administer the laws that enabled citizens to live their own lives, ambitiously or not. It would have been thought impertinent for a president to tell a graduating class that what the country needs is the political will “to harness the ingenuity of your generation, and encourage and inspire the hard work of dedicated citizens . . . to repair the middle class; to give more families a fair shake; to reject a country in which only a lucky few prosper.”
A more inspiring message might have urged graduates not to reject their own country, where for two centuries far more than a lucky few have prospered under limited constitutional government—and even more would today if that form of government were restored.
Read the entire article from Roger Pilon at the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.
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In Our Astrategic Syria Debate, Cato Institute’s Justin Logan refers to a recent paper from ISW (founded by Dr. Kimberly Kagan) stating, “The goal behind U.S. support to the opposition (Syria) should be to build a force on the ground that is committed to building a nonsectarian, stable Syria, with a government more likely to respect American interests.”
Mr. Logan concludes, “Anyone who doesn’t deal with the underlying political problems at stake is threatening to push the country into another ill-considered, potentially costly war.”
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