What's That You Say?
Welcome back to the weekly word for those of us who are just too involved with having a social life to read through comments on every single DCist post. There were a lot of really good conversations going on out there in the DCist universe the past few days, and we'll get to them after the jump.
There are a lot of times where it's obvious to us that the commentary that we get is either 100 percent vitriolic or 100 percent whimsical. But there are certain moments when the comments hit that really sweet spot, right in the warm underbelly of conversation.
This week's Comment of the Week is a fine example of such: Monkeyrotica outlining an eight point plan for District voting rights:
1. Let District residents select a State in which their vote will count. Overseas military vote via absentee ballot all the time. Most will pick MD or VA but you pick whatever state you want and for tax/voting purposes you will officially be "a MD/VA/whatever citizen residing in DC." This effectively disperses the DC voting bloc among the States, so Congressional balance is maintained, and you won't get any argument from MD/VA.
2. Your Federal income taxes now go to the State you select for voting purposes.
3. Barring 1 and 2, retrocede to Virginia. (HA! Didn't see that coming, did you?) Barring that,
4. Work with Northern Virginia towards mutual secession and formation of the State of NoVADC. (There goes the region's economic engine.) If that doesn't work,
5. Annex the Sudetenland (worked before). Still not good enough?
6. Join forces with the droid separatist army under the command of General Grievous.
7. ?
8. PROFIT!
See, you can reference Star Wars, World War II, District retrocession, and regional economics - and still make a valid observation. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise, OK?
After the jump: Guns. Protests. Oh, and murderous (but, as of yet, unshaved) pandas. I guess we're lucky to be alive.
Photo by jim_darling.
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In case you didn't notice, there was a little protest this week in the city. And of course, with a protest comes lots of reaction - a lot of which ended up in our comment sections. But surprisingly, the most back-and-forth seemed to take place in the forum for a performance art protest.
OldPosterKnownAsCranky doesn't really understand this particular "act of defiance":
I protested this morning on the Metro by sitting in a seat and not moving while I read the Express. My protest had just as much effect on US foreign policy as these Union Station protestors.
demonfafa also isn't sold on the effectiveness:
Protesters who think they're making a difference by minimally inconveniencing a few minor figures in government and business are deluding themselves.
People who aren't already convinced of this war's stupidity aren't going to be swayed by smelly hippies or ultra-liberal women wearing pink.
Finally, hillrat makes a solid meta-comment:
Why so much hate? Making the observation that protesting the war is an exercise in futility is itself an exercise in futility on par with actually protesting the war. The circle jerk is now complete.
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DCist: if you're into trebuchets and law interpretations, there's no need to ever leave this space.
Of course, the gun ban was almost a daily topic of conversation around the these parts last week, so enjoy!
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Boondoggle seems to understand most think tank research:
Having found that there are Salvadorans in the DC metro area, Brookings will now publish a conclusive study documenting the relationship between water and wetness. Pending funding, a study on the color of the sky, long thought to be blue, also nears completion.
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Bush gets to throw out the first pitch at Nationals Stadium. Fine. But who is on deck in case he chokes on a pretzel again or something? You had some ideas, of course.
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Our playful/thirsty for human blood panda cub sure can inspire a lot of lighthearted humor - for instance, ilikerice:
People eat Buttersticks all the time, why can't Butterstick eat people? Unfair!
It's true, you know. The commenters provided lots of other funnies here.
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So, is it Italian ice, water ice, or "wooder-ice?" These are pressing questions, folks.
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Metro tows a fine line between keeping the tracks safe, and encouraging suburban riders to come into town to spend money on the weekends. Woodstock gives us an example:
Weekend track work has the effect of keeping people who live more than a stop or two out of downtown off the subway and, generally because parking is so stuffed without suburbanites, out of downtown.
All of my entertainment dollars have been spent in drivable suburbs (Bethesda, Silver Spring, Alexandria) for the past two months because I wasn't willing to commit to an hour's worth of travel for what is normally a 15min trip to Gallery Place to see a movie.
So, yeah, the convenience of people who are coming in from out of town for events is more important to Metro than is the convenience of those of us who live here all the time and might like to say, go across town to dinner.
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The highlight of our week. Judging by the comments, many of you probably felt the same way.
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Hey it's time for some awards!
The Avatar Award for Achievement in the Field of Avatars is one of the highest honors that any DCist commenter can achieve - and we'd like to think that we're an award for the people and of the people. So, let it be known that we listen to our constituents: we burrowed through our thorough records and are ashamed that we have never honored the creativity of frequent commenter Reid. Reid, your image of a butter stick (which may or may not be thirsty for blood, we're not sure) is a fine lampooning. Bravo.
Also, a special commendation must go to sordid for the heads up. We're giving you an honorary Username of the Week award for your work.