June 25, 2008
Morning Roundup: Gun Deliberation, Insurance Litigation
Good morning, Washington, and welcome to what might be a historic day for the District: the Supreme Court may issue a ruling on the D.C. gun ban. We'll doubtless have more to say if the ruling comes down, so for now: on to the news!
D.C. Sues CareFirst: WTOP reports that the District is suing the area's largest health insurance provider, CareFirst. The company is formally a nonprofit, but according to the lawsuit it's amassed three quarters of a billion dollars' worth of capital during a period of rising premiums. Councilwoman Mary Cheh is also alleging that executive compensation at CareFirst has grown unreasonably large. The Post's D.C. Wire blog is also covering the story and speculates that the lawsuit may be payback for CareFirst's withdrawal from David Catania's Healthy D.C. initiative.
City To Inspect All Rental Properties: It's been a tough year for slumlords. The Post ran a series of articles back in March that raised awareness of their shady antics, and since then the city's been taking steps to resolve DCRA's failings. Today the paper brings word of the latest such initiative: inspections for every rental property in the city with three or more units. Buildings with a history of problems will be first to be inspected beginning this fall.
Briefly Noted: Lincoln Memorial was shut down due to some suspicious packages last night... Friendship House files for bankruptcy... Man ticketed for driving too slowly in attempt to save gas... Dominion Power increasing rates July 1; more may be coming this winter... Day laborers picket Verizon, claiming a subcontractor didn't pay them for their work installing FIOS cable... Arlington okays land deal for sports complex...
This Day In DCist: One year ago the Warehouse announce its closing dates, the pants judge suffered a legal setback and we gave away some VFest tickets.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user MJLphoto.com
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Friendship House files for bankruptcy...
That's a classic headline, up there with "Dewey Defeats Truman" and "Best Buy Idea Box Brimming with Urine."
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Woe unto thee that pisseth off thine Councilmember Catania! Heavy shall be thine legal burden and great shall be thine settlement costs!
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It's been a tough year for slumlords.
And I'm thinking it's about to get even tougher if they get rid of the gun ban.
Fortunately, now's your big chance to outfit your loved ones in Monkeyrotica Brand Body Armour®, manufactured under the most stringent conditions out of only the finest quality hotdogs. Armour hotdogs. What kind of kid wears Armour hotdogs? Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who like to throw rocks. Tough kids, sissy kids. Even kids with chicken pox wear hotdogs. Armour hotdogs. The dogs kids love to get shot in!
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now i know where my trashcan went
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Looks like it was Bring You Son to Work Day! How cute.
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No gun ruling today. It will come out tomorrow at 10 am.
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shoot out .. at the DC Corral!
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Oh, SCOTUS! You're such a pricktease whore!
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"Conrad said he won't go 50 mph on the I-95 again -- he'll drive 51 mph."
Which further proves the point that MD drivers are the lowest common denominator.
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I wonder which justice will write the final opinion? I hope it's Scalia. Then maybe he can bury some language in it about shooting double-parkers in the face and bringing back AV's white pizza to DC, because that $23 arugula covered crap at Coppi's has got to go. And so does the ass double-parking out in front of the Mcdonalds. Go park and walk your fat Maryland ass in to get your Happy Meal, a**hole.
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According to the Supreme Court groupies on ScotusBlog, Scalia's the odds-on favorite to be writing the Heller opinion. Which means not only will the DC gun ban be shot down (pathetic pun not intended, but unavoidable), but raises the issue of gun control laws in general, especially if he says the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, and not a collective right. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of concurring opinions holding: the 2nd Amendment is an individual right (5-4), the DC gun ban is unconstitutional (7-2), but some gun control laws are constitutional (7-2).
Bigger question: Has DC started preparing what to do when the decision is revealed? Have the Fenty peeps started drafting new statutes and regulations on gun registrations? Will we have firearms dealers in DC?
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Considering their original lame-ass argument (the District isn't a "State" so the Constitution doesn't apply here....uh...except for when we want a vote in Congress!) I'm sure they've cooked up some equally lame restrictions that amount to a de facto ban. Like maybe a ban on all ammunition or that only left-handed Navajo codetalkers and Spanish American War veterans are eligible to own a gun.
Considering the litigious nature of certain District residents, owning a gun shop downtown would be a losing proposition.
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Is this driving-too-slowly jackass supposed to be breaking news? The guy wrote a whole column whining about this incident that was published in the Post's Outlook section on Sunday. Now a few days later he's complaining to WRC. I guess he's shopping his story to all the major news outlets. And for what? He didn't even get a ticket.
I know everyone gets their fifteen minutes, but this is a stretch. Go home, Glenn Conrad. No one cares.