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Showing posts from October, 2014

EBOLA, CLIMATE CHANGE (GLOBAL WARMING), ISRAEL, PROGRESSIVES, PAUL RYAN & STUFF

Every once in a  while I get worked up over politics and just have to write about the silliness that surrounds us. For instance, Paul Ryan was quoted recently as having excoriated the Affordable Care Act's over $700 billion in cuts from Medicare. How terrible! Yet he certainly can't have forgotten that his own budget proposals contained approximately the same amount of cuts to Medicare. I suppose what bugs Ryan is that while he proposed to cut benefits to consumers, the Affordable Care Act cut payments to providers. Thus, in one little tidbit, behold the definition of politics, Count on the average voter to have the memory retention capabilities of a fruit fly (with apologies to fruit flies) and be shameful in exploiting that fact. Of course, this tactic is not confined to Republicans. (I almost typed conservative Republicans  but that would be a double negative.) For instance, Elizabeth Warren was a registered Republican for about as much of her adult life as she has been a

RESTAURANT LA CAVE, LA CAUNETTE - A REVIEW

There are myriads of restaurants with diverse and interesting menus to choose from here in the south of France. Every would-be celebrity chef on the road to fame and a Michelin star has a kitchen pumping out his or her specialty. How to choose wisely? Lunch specials are the way to go. You get great value for your Euro and a definite feel for the skills of the folks behind the swinging doors. One spot we've recently visited for such a taste test is the Restaurant La Cave in La Caunette. On the road to the beautiful tourist destination that is the town of Minerve, La Caunette is itself perched precariously on a hillside. Reached by way of a tall and narrow bridge, near the entrance to the village there's a small church with an oddly new-feeling cemetery behind it overlooking the gorge. The town of about 350 souls boasts several wine producers offering tastings. And across from the mairie (town hall), in a building that one would suppose had been a winery (cave) in a previous

LA TABLE DES TROUBADOURS, MINERVE - RESTAURANT REVIEW

Simply stated, La Table des Troubadours in Minerve is just good enough if you can't arrange for a better meal while you are visiting one of the most beautiful villages in all of France. Just good enough... Minerve clings to the wall of a broad, deep gorge carved by the River Cesse. As we heard one American remark as we walked down into the village from the parking area above, "It's impressive what a little water can do over a long period of time." And Minerve is truly impressive, although it's always been difficult for me to understand why a group of people would choose to live in such an inaccessible place. I appreciate the concept of a defensible position. But in fact, it seems that these 'impregnable' positions always end up falling to their enemies as Minerve did during the Albigensian Crusade. So why bother? Enough history. It's about the food. The lunch menu of the day consisted of a starter, a main dish, and a dessert or cheese plate for 1