August 16, 2007
Morning Roundup: Both Sides of the Story Edition
Isn't it Friday yet, Washington? Alas, we've still got to muddle through two hot, muggy days before what's looking to be another gorgeous weekend finally begins. With weather like this, you might be tempted to don footwear most people would deem inappropriate for work, like say, flip-flops. Other people might then be tempted to make fun of you for your choice of shoes, and they wouldn't be wrong -- flip-flops are, as we all know, meant for the beach or perhaps for slipping on to go to the mailbox, and not, we repeat not, for the workplace. But now, the maligned flip-flop wearing legions can have their revenge: a woman in York County, Va. claims her rubber flip-flops saved her life when lightning struck her home late last month. Don't choose to wear flip-flops everywhere you go? Fine, but you're choosing to risk death!
ANSWER Refuses to Take Down Signs: The Post picks up the story of the city's War on Signs with the anti-war group ANSWER, who are now refusing to cooperate with an order to take down dozens of signs plastered around the city advertising an upcoming march and pay fines for gluing them on to utility boxes. "We don't consider these fines to have any legal basis," said Sarah Sloan, ANSWER's national staff coordinator. "So there is no need to remove the signs or pay the fines."
Residents Demand More Police Protection: Residents in the LeDroit Park and Shaw neighborhoods are speaking out about the rash of recent muggings along parts of Rhode Island Ave. NW, and asking police to increase patrols in that area. WJLA picked up the story of the muggings that has been circulating on local blogs like Fifth and Oh.
Briefly Noted: Three murders overnight in Southeast ... Fourteen year-old Wheaton girl missing ... Three corrections officers involved in gender mix-up to be fired ... More Maryland schools meeting No Child Left Behind standards.
This Day in DCist: Last year we welcomed the first of the city's crime surveillance cameras, and the year before that we wondered if D.C. could be the next city to ban trans fats.
Photo by erin m
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"We don't consider these fines to have any legal basis," said Sarah Sloan, ANSWER's national staff coordinator. "So there is no need to remove the signs or pay the fines."
Interesting case: at what point does the First Amendment become defacing public property?
In the story, the ANSWER guy says his group follows city regs that require a water soluble glue. Yet he fails to continue reading the city regs that prohibit the permanent affixing of posters. The ANSWER folks need to get their story straight - either no postering law applies to them - and only them; or if they say they are in compliance with some of the applicable postering laws, then they need to be in compliance with ALL the applicable postering laws.
"She said the rubber in her flip-flops kept her grounded"
That just doesn't make any sense. The rubber would not keep you grounded from a low voltage, but lightning won't really give a shit. She probably just felt the EMP from the lightning going through the house, since there is no mention of any burns or other injuries.
The belief that flip-flops afford protection from lightning strikes probably derives from the mistaken belief that cars are lightning-safe due to the rubber tires. The truth is that cars provide safety from lightning because electricity tends to flow across the skin of a conductor, i.e. the metal frame, isolating those inside from the current.
But if people need an excuse to promote ugly footwear, more power to them.
monkeyrotica:
When you slap a "W: The President" sticker on their Subaru.
Well, I think it's ironic that ANSWER seems to be adopting some Bush administration thinking: the law doesn't apply to us.
DC has fairly specific policies that go to density, duration, and deployment. Think of them as the three "d"s.
Density- I forget the number, but only a certain amount of posters per entity/event per block are allowed.
Duration- Posters must be taken down within 30 days of the close of an event.
Deployment- Posters can't be nailed or stapled to trees, glued to anything, or be placed on certain infrastructure.
None of these policies go to free speech, because none of them ban expression. I think ANSWER is really undermining their potential local support. And I'm someone who participated in their past events. Heck, I was even hit with gas as I photographed the Iraq invasion one.
But why would I choose to make common cause with an organization that so arrogantly and disrespectfully refuses DC the common courtesy of following reasonable and simple rules, and denies the obvious responsibility of cleaning up after themselves? Really- they're our guests. Do they think so little of us that they don't care if they're welcome?
I say flip flops are fine for the commute, who wants to walk blocks and blocks, or stand on the metro/bus in heels?
...but they have to at least be sort of NICE flip-flops... not "shower shoes" :)
I live here and think the posters should stay, I like them -- I didn't write the laws. Of course, I also think flip-flops are entirely appropriate footwear choice. I'd much rather see a ban on pleated khakis -- we can't all have what we want.
Why don't they just use tape?
Their behavior indicates to me that they want a confrontation on this issue. Look how much press it's gotten. Frankly I was totally unaware of the march. Of course the reason I was unaware of it is because there are tons of posters up around town about past marches, so I don't notice any of the new ones. So it's perfectly logical for them to put up so many as to create a controversy. Better still that they can cast themselves as the victim of some imagined speech supression in the process.
It's easy to foster a persecution complex when you keep giving people a good reason to persecute you.
She wouldn't have felt the EMP (like as a shocking impulse,) EMP per se doesn't have a physical force that comes with it.
She also didn't get struck by lightning - as someone mentioned, she would have been burned and most likely had a cardiac event (these, BTW, are like the most debirillatable possible event. If you have like 4 people hit by lightning, you just sequentially defib all of them, not even starting CPR.)
What happened if the lightning hit her house is probably that she saw lightning and got struck by thunder. Which is not really dangerous though Sweet Jesus is it a ride. Imagine being inside Jesus' subwoofer for 1/50th of a second.
It's a myth that rubber flip flops or rubber sole shoes will protect you from a direct lightning strike.
http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat_03/2003-06-23-jensenius.htm
http://www.sjcemergencymanagement.org/lightning.html
yeah, ANSWER is jut peddling this for press, and they're getting it. good for them in that regard. but otherwise, they have no respect for the city and the people who live here. it's OUR infrastructure, and our laws. if they don't like it, take the city to court, or petition the council to change the laws. in the meantime, obey them.
"We don't consider these fines to have any legal basis," said Sarah Sloan, ANSWER's national staff coordinator. "So there is no need to remove the signs or pay the fines."
How can anyone possibly say such a thing? My mind would explode from all the cognitive dissonance.
Is ANSWER trying to claim that they disagree with, like, decades of First Amendment jurisprudence?
Lightposts (and electrical junction boxes, which seem to be ANSWER's favorite target on Calvert) are not public fora because, generally speaking, they aren't speech fora at all. So the government can impose all kinds of speech restrictions on posters there; and if they choose to open them to speech at all (or rather, to ignore occasional violations) then they just have to allow reasonable times, places and manners for such speech - which a law requiring removal after an event seems to meet the definition of.
Right?
God, that flip flop story is so awful, even by NBC 4 standards. First of all, rubber doesn't ground you, it insulates you. The more insulated you are the worse off you are if you get struck by lightning. So right off that's wrong. Second, I doubt a flimsy piece of rubber on your feet is going to make much of a difference to a lightning bolt anyway. And it's not like she was standing on the ground in the first place. Even if she were standing on a piece of iron placed on the floor, it's only as grounded as the floor is.
This is junk/folk science. NBC 4 might as well have reported how intelligently designed she was.
Has anyone been keeping up with The Whitman Condo Blog? (The Whitman is a new condo development by the convention center.) It's probably the most entertaining train wreck of a blog I've seen in a long time...
The Whitman Condo Blog
DCfist:
When you slap a picture of a screw over their "I [heart] my dog." bumpersticker works, too.
A picture of a club from a deck of cards works just as well.
Thomas says he was confronted by two boys, both about 13 years old.
"I say take everything, you can have it and start to back away and then as I back away the other kid runs up to me and hits me again with the metal pole."
Another victim, Angelo Gomez, says he was menaced with a large knife or machete.
"Is it going to take somebody being murdered to get the attention that we need, that we keep screaming for?"
When a couple of machete-and-pipe-wielding 13-year-olds get themselves killed, yeah, I'd say that would get some attention. Along with the requisite handwringing about how society has failed these children.
Haha, that Whitman Condo Blog is priceless. Thanks for the heads up on that!
Just another great example of why I would never, ever live in a condo building (built in, institutionalized fascism).
Shame on DCist for hiding the DC prisoner abuse story under "Briefly Noted". The details of the prisoner's inhumane treatment deserves a larger spotlight.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502277.html?referrer=emailarticle
i have to agree that the prisoner article is sort of underplayed. quite a remarkable story when you read through it. sort of covers all the bases of DC-area ineptitude from the bloated bureaucracy to just general indifference among DOC workers. Criminals still have a right to be handled responsibly. Im glad this woman didn't end up being raped or killed.
guest[20],
i love your silly reasoning. never knew that by purchasing a condo (which is probably the only thing i could afford) i am supporting "built in, institutionalized fascism". humorous, really.
Wow, I live a block away from the Whitman, not only is the building itself hideous, but apparently the residents are also. What an eyesore.
downtown rez: the density part of postering is no more than three per block.
The most explicit distillation of DC poster rules & regs can be found here, on the DC Board of Elections and Ethics website. And since ANSWER Coalition is a PAC, for all intents and purposes, their posters fall under the jurisdiction of the DCBOEE.
But back to the adhesive issue raised by Reid: the reason that ANSWER doesn't use tape is that tape comes off fairly easily, and thus allows folks who don't support ANSWER to easily remove their posters. And why would ANSWER want to have their message denied?
Oy.
Thanks, songfta. I can walk down to the corner and see 15 or so of these at one intersection alone.
"I say flip flops are fine for the commute, who wants to walk blocks and blocks, or stand on the metro/bus in heels?"
Wearing flip flops to walk around city streets and sidewalks is revolting. You might as well walk around bare foot. If you don't want to wear real shoes, at least wear sandals that are going to properly grip your feet.
The Whitman Condo blog is the work of ONE DERANGED ASSHOLE. just one.
Slapping posters on public property (street lamps etc) is no different than gangs "tagging". If you want to promote a message, do it on your own property, or get a business to voluntarily post your flier. Same goes for political campaigns - they should carve out an exceptions for themselves.
Let street lamps be street lamps! I want to live in a clean city.
And yes, let "ANSWER" be responsible for their violation - pay up, fellas.
So if someone were to plaster ANSWER's leaders' cars and homes with posters supporting the war, or supporting Bush, or supporting Gitmo, the ANSWER folks would be totally ok with this sort of vandalism?
I agree that ANSWER is getting some free publicity out of this. But it simply makes them look incredibly arrogant and obnoxious. Hang all the posters you want. Just take the damn things down when the event is over.
"The Whitman Condo blog is the work of ONE DERANGED ASSHOLE. just one."
Nonetheless, I think it'd be great if DCist could pick some of the gems from that blog. God, this is fodder-material all ripe for the taking. This is low-hanging comedic gold, people.
Has anyone ever actually seen an ANSWER person putting up one of these posters? I assume its done at night, but I am a bit of night owl and have never seen any postering occuring. Its like one day you wake up and every single junction box in the city has a poster on it.