Is it just me, or does protesting high gas prices by driving around for no good reason kind of...stupid? Shouldn't they be walking or riding mules or something?

I am fuming about the truckers! Have they noticed that the whole of the American economic system is being restructured, so their puny issues don't seem like news, ya know? It's like complaining about the poison ivy you got in the car crash that broke every bone in your body.

NPR mentioned the route will run somethings like 495 to 50 to 295 to E Cap and I missed the next part where tehy end up on 14th street. Seriously, this is a mess and someone needs to publish a map and a sense of how long this will take to clear through. Capitol Hill is not designed for 400 angry truckers. Do they have to have a permit or are driing protests exempt from that? (Unlike BikeDc which is having issues with the ANCs - who I bet would NEEr have allowed this!)

And I am ranting and taking it personally because, if NPR and DCist hadn't mentioned this, I would not have known that it will be f'in impossible to get my kid from playschool (on E. Cap!) at noon.

this whole trucker thing would be funny if it weren't so sad. i mean really guys, you're just whining. and that just proves phil gramm right. and no one wants to do that, do they?

I like lead paint flakes with a light dusting of powdered sugar and asbestos. Tastes just like a CakeLove cupcake, only cheaper.

@ Sean Jean:
My uncle is a lifeling trucker and my extended family lives in trucking country of PA. They are all directly affected by the trucking industry. I'm aware of the amount we are reliant on trucking. I still say that this protest is puny, ill-timed, and ultimately a waste of gas. It's complaining when we already know that there are issues.

Commodity prices are rising, shipping costs for everything are higher. I'm aware. But tax holidays (my uncle is HUGELY in favor of this) and gov't intervention won't drop the cost of gas. Maybe looking into better use of the extensive east coast rail systems (which many of the PA trucking routes run immediately parallel to!) would help with prices, sometime in the future. A solution no trucker wants to hear is that we are over-reliant on a single form of increasingly inefficient transportation. 100% rail would be bad too - it's better to have multiple competitive methods of moving goods but since we over-subsidize roads and keep gas taxes low, rail can't compete.

But really, I'm cranky because I hate it when Stupid comes to DC's doorstep and causes us woe and inconvenience. We don't even have representation... and the media are not paying attention. So just go home and leave us alone.

The trucker's problem is everyone's problem: if you bought anything in the past 24 hours, it was brought to you by a truck. No problem when diesel is $1.98 a gallon; BIG problem when it hits $4.98 a gallon.

Long haul trucking needs to die a quick death anyway. There's no reason on earth to be trucking ethelene treated tomatoes from SoCal all the freaking way to DC via truck. Put that crap on a train or, better yet, NOT AT ALL. At what point did a rock-hard green baseball treated with chemicals to artificially ripen to a flavorless mass of pink tissue become acceptable as "a tomato?" Just because some cockhead customer wants to eat tomatoes in January doesn't mean we have to subsidize yet another cockhead to drive it across the country to him. And it's not like it's that difficult to grow the goddamned things in a flower box anyway. Just plant some vines, douse it with pepper to keep the critters away, and your garden will give you a delicious salad all summer long.

Little known fact: Flaming Manholes was the last adult feature for John C. Holmes, wherein he played an bi-curious sewage inspector and parttime CHUD hunter.

Anyone else on QSt NW in Shaw have bricks thrown at their car windows around 4 am last night?

Because I did.

Our local news should think of helping DC residents with more info like getting around major protests which are a part of life here- that would a refreshing service. And I think the difference is in the "driving protest" itself. Yes, it is expected that DC be filled with protests. But there is something different about 100K people shutting down the mall or downtown to traffic (where people can walk where they need to go) as opposed to an armada of functionally retarded big rig drivers burning gas to demand cheaper gas- all the while making an insane amount of noise and literally shaking the historic houses to bits.

I love the fact that this is where people come to complain publicly about what they want- I would take that any day over the slow death of the suburbs. But I do think it is odd that a bunch of cyclists or walkers have a hard time getting a permit for anything, but 400 trucks? I passed some today while biking on S.Capitol St. And aside from the unbelievalbe noise, horns blaring and giant US flags waving, I think the point is missed. But the irony is sweet. Lower gas prices or we will burn it until you do!!!!!

Lower food prices or I will eat everything in my kitchen!!! aaarrrggg.

I would take that any day over the slow death of the suburbs.

Got that right. Downtown you get your ass shot quick for not making a hamburger.

Eh, looks like the protest was a bust.