April 17, 2008
Morning Roundup: Masses Head to Mass Edition
Good morning, Washington. Welcome to day two of Pope Fever! Not just one, but three Washington Post reporters got up very early this morning to document the more than 46,000 people heading down to Nationals Park for the papal mass. While the people we saw yesterday lined up along the popemobile routes, with their flags, signs and T-shirts, could certainly be described as looking like "fans," we're curious about what our Catholic readers think about the Post's headline here. Are you comfortable with being called "Pope Fans", or is that a little, I don't know, disrespectful of your religious tradition?
Buses Could Ride on Shoulders: Metro area transportation officials have proposed allowing public buses to drive on the shoulders of busy highways and other major roads. The idea is being touted as a cheap way to improve traffic congestion. Exactly which roads have shoulders that could be used in such a manner remains to be determined. Like all new transit ideas for the D.C. metro area, getting Virginia, Maryland and D.C. all to agree to a plan will be the main hurdle.
D.C. 4th in U.S. in Incarceration: A new report from the Justice Policy Institute ranks the District as having the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the country. Right now, 3,214 inmates are in custody in the D.C. jail and other facilities, which adds up to 553 people per 100,000 residents. Only the city of Philadelphia and two Tennessee counties have more of their residents currently behind bars.
Briefly Noted: Two men wounded in unrelated shootings overnight ... Tension in Hill East neighborhood over the direction of redevelopment ... Rhee plans to hire six nonprofits to help run ten high schools ... Two killings last week in 'Triangle' appear to be related ... More than 70 dead animal carcasses found in Frederick County ... Couple gives $25 million to Children's National Medical Center.
This Day in DCist: In 2007 we shared some of our photos from that year's voting rights march, and in 2006 we noted that D.C. police had started enforcing the smoking ban before they were supposed to.
Photo by Jeremy.Hancock
|
woo hoo! so now, the gray area between bloomingdale and eckington is the 'triangle'. time for my head to explode...
So where was the promised commute apocalypse? Traffic was thinner than lukewarm consommé at a spinsterish teaparty. My 35 minute drive got whittled to a lean 20. It's like that Old Testament story about Moses and the Parting of the Southeast Freeway. I bet the Pope performed some kinda traffic exorcism. I can just see him splashing holy water on his laptop and screaming, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU TO TELECOMMUTE!" It that's the case, he's aces in my book. I will definitely pay his bail.
And I love those signs around Hill East just before you get to the RFK Metro: Methadone Clinic this way, VD Clinic that way, Trauma Ward next right. Real helpful when I'm wandering around after a busy Saturday night.
i didn't think the papal mass article in the post was very well written, but i suppose that's a result of having to meet deadline before the sun rises. i'm not Catholic, but i still think the headline sucks. i'm also a little surprised at the size of the crucifix: 14 feet? is that so people can see it from the nosebleed section?
How about 'Morning Roundup: It's Hard Out Here for a Pope'?
No? Alright then.
DCist should have taken a cue from Fleshbot, and gone with "Morning Wood Edition."
Considering the early church fathers cribbed the crucifix from Egyptian phallus worshippers, we should all be glad they didn't cap that 14-foot cross with a big, swollen German helmet. Although, given the nationality of the current Pontiff, that would have been more than apropos.
Traffic was thin everywhere. I work in Rockville and had no traffic issues at all. The parking garage at my office is also pretty empty. Me thinks the warm weather is leading to a lot of "illness."
Metro was stunningly smooth this morning. Except for my faux pas. I was stunned by the super-duper tight white pants and dark thong of the smokin' hot woman ahead of me, that I totally ran into some old lady. Whoopsies.
Rhee's plan may not technically be privatizing the schools, but paying outside firms to "manage all aspects of the school" for the ten schools missing academic benchmarks sounds pretty close to it to me. I wonder if No Child Left Behind will help foot the tab for this?
Sending public education money to private enterprise? Nah, that's not really this administration's cup of tea...
"Metro was stunningly smooth this morning."
Shhh, don't spread that around. It was my excuse for being late this morning.
I'm all about the pope-a protestor types. I saw a little old lady who could barely stand wearing a shirt that read "No Celibacy." I don't know if she was supporting the right for priests to marry or if she was implying they like to touch but i respected her guile nonetheless.
Doesn't driving on the shoulder at highway speeds seem like maybe the worst idea ever?
Monkey,
Early church fathers couldn't have "cribbed the crucifix." The crucifix is clearly present in the The Life of Brian . Biblical fact there. No doubt.
Follow the holy gourdy.
Boondoggle: "Morning Roundup: I like it when you call me big Pope-a."?
Hey, if Ben has this effect on traffic all the time, maybe he could hang for awhile.
It did seem to get unusually peaceful as I got closer to DC. If it were cloudy I would have looked for sunbeams shining down on the stadium, just like the cover of a 4th grade Catholic reader.
Even Rosslyn, with it's potholes that will swallow anything smaller than an SUV, and which allows developers to hold up the traffic any way they feel like, was a bit smoother.
Can you imagine W and his cabinet going to confession? I'm sure the earth would open and swallow them.
Hey OPKAC - you must not have ridden the green/yellow line southbound through the city. I think there were five or six trains backed up from L'Enfant to Gallery Place...trains sat in the tunnels and at the platforms of each stop, doors open, for several minutes at a time. But indeed, it didn't look like there were a lot of commuters...just a lot of Pope Fans.
Cranky: stunned by the super-duper tight white pants...
Doesn't she know that it is a faux pas to wear white when you are going to see-a the Pope-a (as Laura Bush learned yesterday).
Also: Did anyone see on news when Bush called the Pope's speech 'awesome'? He next asked the Pope if he wanted to stay over and play Guitar Hero while Mom makes Hot Pockets.
"Doesn't driving on the shoulder at highway speeds seem like maybe the worst idea ever?"
West, it basically thins the herd. That's why they do it on 93/Rt. 128 in Massachusetts. Though, it is not limited to buses. Any old idiot can do it.
"Doesn't she know that it is a faux pas to wear white when you are going to see-a the Pope-a."
With four exceptions: Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Paola of Belgium, Queen Dowager Fabiola of Belgium, and Grand Duchess Maria Theresa of Luxembourg. They have the Privilège du blanc as being Catholic monarchs.
Laura should've known better. Cherie Blair made the same mistake.
Also in the news:
Washington Post fires reporter Michael Tunison after he outed himself as a writer on a moderately well known sports comedy blog. Good to see WaPo can't handle a joke...
And I further support Benny hanging around DC -- Massachusetts Ave near the VP house of hades is very nicely re-paved and all the traffic lines & crosswalk designations are all done. DDOT did this so the popemobile would have a smooth trip. I wish the popemobile would drive down other streets (preferably around my estate) so that they could get the same DDOT treatment.
wow cranky, can we get benny to drive down T and N streets in the logan/cardozo/shaw/whatever-the-hell-it's-called neighborhood, since they're about as craptastic as it gets around here...
"Doesn't she know that it is a faux pas to wear white when you are going to see-a the Pope-a."
That was a new one to me. I'm glad Laura wore white. I'm not down with the whole you-shall-follow-my-religion's-rules-even-though-you're-not-even-a-member-of-my-church thing. Particularly when you're talking about him coming on our turf. It'd be a little different matter if she were visiting him.
To Benedickt, graduate of the Nutzi Youth movement of Germany of the 1940s, I say
SEIG HEIL, MEIN POPE !!!
Papal groupies, papal fans, do exist, and as a Catholic I'm not entirely comfortable with their behavior. The Pope is just a man. A man in a very important position, but still just a man. He's not Jesus. He's certainly not necessarily a saint. So if you're pushing and shoving to get a glimpse, you're probably over-reacting.
Reid: I agree in part, but as a host, you're supposed to show respect to a visitor. While I think expecting Mrs. Bush to wear a veil is too much, dressing in non-white is not, imo. This is a silly protocol thing, and I dunno if it was not done on purpose in keeping with 'Texas style', or if someone in the protocol office screwed up (which would surprise me).
oh, it's not our turf, it's god's turf
hehe, but really, someone clearly didn't tell her the roles, and of all the people to disrespect, you don't want it to be the pope, he's kind of a big deal.
She knows the rules. She simply ignored them. She wore black and was veiled when visiting the Holy See a few years ago. She and Jenna wore black when they greeted him at Andrews on Tuesday.
My commute was full of people who looked like they had never been on the metro before, in that every time someone had to shove through to get off, they were baffled and barely moved.
Thank you to the woman who finally yelled at them at L'Enfant Plaza "You all need to move so we can get to work!" Dang Pope
Brooklander,
It’s probably the case they never have. A lot of people seeing the Pope are not from here. And I just get incensed at people yelling at tourist, they are our visitors dammit, treat them accordingly. Metro has the wonderful ability to bring out the absolute ugliness of Washingtonians. Why don’t we hide it a little bit and STFU.
I subscribe to the British belief that you can be almost infinitely rude so long as you're polite about it, as in, "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! I'd like to welcome you to Washington DC. Would you please move to the f***ing right? We'd all really appreciate it. Thank you, and, once again, welcome to the Nation's Capitol!"
Nah, I like the: "Excuse me, please. Excuse me. May I get through please? That's my train." While gently pushing them to the right. I think it's a good technique as I always receive compliments from tourists like, "Thanks for the Education.", "Oh, you're in a rush?" and my favorite, "Hey bitch that's my toe."
GRAMMAR ALERT!
It's the nation's capital. Only that big building with the nipple is the capitol!
GRAMMAR ALERT RESCINDED!
But that took place at Capitol South Metro!
"I'm not down with the whole you-shall-follow-my-religion's-rules-even-though-
you're-not-even-a-member-of-my-church thing. Particularly when you're talking about him coming on our turf. It'd be a little different matter if she were visiting him."
It's about showing a little respect, which you'd think that the wife of the leader of the most powerful nation on earth would be capable of doing. But not if you're a dumb fucking Republican from Texas, I guess.
Isn't it technically a spelling error, Cranky?
On Texas highways a few years back it was legal to pass slower vehicles by driving on the shoulder. I guess the theory was that only stray dogs and poor persons of color would be walking on the shoulder.
Out on the Texas-New Mexico border there was a big sign that read Welcome to New Mexico. NO PASSING ON SHOULDER. It was a big sign, mounted on two stout I-beams, sunk deep into the shoulder of the road.
DCist, I need to take this moment tell you how much I love and appreciate you. Exactly six weeks from today I am moving to Rockville, MD, all the way from southern California. Because of the obvious political, social, economic, and weather-related (=/) differences between the two places, my boyfriend recommended I start reading DCist to become further acquainted with what will soon be my home city. At first I was intimidated, because I don't speak the language of the district yet, but I LOVE all of your posts and guides, and the information I am gleaning is invaluable. Simple statements, like in this article ("Like all new transit ideas for the D.C. metro area, getting Virginia, Maryland and D.C. all to agree to a plan will be the main hurdle.") make it so easy for a newcomer to understand the issues and discussions at hand. THANK YOU!!!!!
I gotta agree with gardenofeedz. I've learned so much from dcist! For instance, I've learned that's it's poor etiquette to climb on the toilet with your feet and squat like they do in Delhi. Who knew spraying poo on the back of the commode was such a social faux pas? Color me embarrassed!
Once again, welcome to the Nation's Capitol, he said beneath the dome of the building that's shaped like an aroused boobie.
It's funny how Laura Bush gets a pass on the wearing white thing.
First, from a gay perspective, I had to immediately if it was Memorial Day already.
I have to agree it's silly to have to abide by an idiotic rule like no one can wear white but the Pope, but Laura is First Lady. As First Lady, she was hosting the Pope on an official visit. She should have toed the line and wore something other than white. It's her job to observe protocol. I mean, fuck, what exactly else does she have to do?
If this had been Hillary or any Dem the Republitards would be screaming about how the First Lady hates Jesus because of this wearing white thing. Why is is that Laura Bush gets a passs?
You can bet when I'm elected pontiff, I will revive the long-dormant custom of kissing the Pope's cock ring. I've got just the model picked out, too. Puffy wears one just like it.
First, from a gay perspective, I had to immediately if it was Memorial Day already.
It's not just gay guys that know that. As an Army brat, those type of etiquette and protocol traditions were drilled into me at a young age. Apparently the Emily Post Institute has ruled that white may be worn 365 days a year, but to me ignoring that tradition always tells me a little something about a person. I, of course, realize that's more than a little elitist and snobby but it's part of my Mother's indelible stamp on me.