October 24, 2008
Morning Roundup: I Just Called to Say Edition
Good morning, D.C. You've made it to another Friday, and as your reward, WJLA has dug up the most hilarious story about Sen. John McCain's brother, Joe, who you'll recall was last seen making comments about Northern Virginia being "Communist country." It seems that Joe McCain was in the area for a campaign event on Tuesday, and while he was here, he made a 911 call. The problem is, he wasn't calling to report an emergency, he was calling to complain about traffic on the Wilson Bridge. Now, we can all sympathize with how frustrating a bad backup on the Wilson Bridge can be, but surely tying up a 911 operator with complaints about gridlock is one of the dumbest ways we can think of to vent. Not realizing that a 911 operator can easily call you right back after you swear at them and hang up is also right up there on the stupid scale - though considering his brother doesn't even know how to email, perhaps not all that surprising. Video of the story is here.
Federal Agencies Have Unpaid Parking Tickets: Give them all the boot! The Post got hold of a congressional report scheduled to be released today that lists all the unpaid parking tickets issued to federal government vehicles, allowing the paper to take certain agencies and branches of government to task for being the worst offenders. The military is clearly the worst about paying their parking tickets, with the Army, Navy and Air Force at the top of the list for unpaid tickets in the District. More interesting for us is that the report reveals the relatively open secret that government vehicles, both federal and District, are unofficially exempt from parking regulations in the city. The situation may actually be more pronounced for city workers. For example, the Department of Public Works, the agency responsible for assessing most parking tickets, currently has $10,000 in unpaid parking fines. How's that for a double standard?
Wounded Teenage Girl Wasn't Target of Shooting: More details are available on the 13-year-old girl who was wounded in a shooting in Northeast this week. Police have announced that they have learned she was shot by a 15-year-old boy who was aiming at someone else. The girl is expected to survive.
Briefly Noted: Someone in Montgomery County is painting the word "SCAM" on the road in front of speed cameras ... Search for Fairfax County police officer missing in Pohick Bay not looking good ... Police officially name suspect in 11-year old missing woman case ... Credit crisis may force Metro to pay millions.
This Day in DCist: A year ago, we interviewed Travis Morrison, and two years ago, the ongoing protests and controversy over the selection of Jane Fernandes as president of Gallaudet University were heating up.
Photo by miamabanta
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
SCAM is actually a speed camera supporter organization.
"Speed Cameras Are Money."
It's a guerrilla movement. I hear BORF does their advertising.
[ report this ]
i once dialed 911 when a bar ran out of Guinness, so i can relate to the old cranky scrote.
[ report this ]
And I've already used up my Joe "Black Sheep" McCain allusion. Doh!
[ report this ]
Well, since he's in Commie North Virginia, wouldn't a 911 call immediately take him to the Central Committee Politburo, Glorious Traffic Affairs Division of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party? Those guys know how to take care of freeway backups! Maybe people should spend a little less time driving and talking on cellphones and more time working harder with a gun in your back for a bowl of rice a day; slave for soldiers till you starve, then your head is skewered on a stake.
And I never have a problem putting a call through to the stinking ghost of Pol Pot. Probably the most polite bureaucrat in all of Occupied Virginia-puchea.
[ report this ]
wow, and they thought roger clinton and billy carter were black sheep. it would almost be worth having mccain in office so we could listen to joe say stupid things for 4 years.
better yet, how about obama in office and we still get 4 years of inane BS from joe mccain!
[ report this ]
oh yeah, and the fed cars should be towed. it's less about the money and more about the fact that they're disturbing the normal flow of traffic, which ruins driving and biking and bus movement around downtown for EVERYONE.
[ report this ]
I'm firmly in the Richard Pryor School of Traffic Control; i.e., shooting the car with a .357.
B**tch, you need to be driving them Hush Puppies.
[ report this ]
I'm no advocate of teen on teen violence, but its the young man's aim that I find really troubling. C'mon Northeast DC, we need to close the accuracy gap.
[ report this ]
You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends. I'd rather have a crazy brother like Joe McCain, than a friend like William Ayres, who bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and a police headquarters building. Great choice for a friend Obama! Obama might become president, but he will still be a loser.
[ report this ]
you tell 'em, randy. i'm sure there's a nationally syndicated column in this for you somewhere!
[ report this ]
@Monkey
Are you saying that Right Guard will not help you here?
[ report this ]
"was aiming at someone else"
how about was pointing at someone else? learn to shoot, less innocent casualties.
[ report this ]
That brother McCain story is pretty stupid. There's no evidence he's calling to *complain* about a traffic jam. He could just as easily be inquiring as to *whether* there's an emergency situation up ahead.
There have been times when I called 311 to ask if there was a situation - once when I was stuck in traffic behind police barricades set up around multiple metro stops downtown (not too long after Madrid) and when a police helicopter was circling over my apartment building (shining a spotlight down as if tracking a suspect).
If you're from an area without 311, I can see how someone would call 911 (although calling information and asking for the non-emergency police line would be the more appropriate thing.)
However, that belligerent 911 worker should be fired for calling him back to complain (who's wasting resources?) and then leaking the recording to the press. That's not exactly an inspiring show of professionalism.
[ report this ]
Well, I certainly don't judge Mccain based on his stay-at-work-mom running mate with the pregnant, unwed teenager daughter and her redneck condom-free boyfriend. Them's the kinda "family values" the White House has been sorely lacking.
[ report this ]
TLB, as I read the artilce, Joe started the belligerent.
[ report this ]
nothing like a little Stevie Wonder on a Friday morning, thanks DCist
[ report this ]
I wish I had the entire day to go over the dozens of reasons why TLB is absolutely, 100% wrong.
[ report this ]
After some late-night trips to Ben's Chili Bowl, I've had to call 911 to ask them if the flames coming out of my bottom qualified as a federal disaster area. They said no. They were not very sympathetic.
[ report this ]
better yet, how about obama in office and we still get 4 years of inane BS from joe mccain!
... and Joe Biden :)
[ report this ]
i can work with that, jaynuze.
[ report this ]
Northern Virginia: Communism. Good Lord, these are the Virginia Cong! Hells yeah, you call 9-1-1.
[ report this ]
Nice to see the Republican version of the moronic brother this time around.
There must be a penalty for abuse of the 911, no? To the Corner of Justice! The stocks await!
[ report this ]
Arent Fox attorneys get free parking ---
http://www.vault.com/companies/company_main.jsp?co_page=1&product_id=8084
looks like that site is destined to be a parking lot one way or the other!
and they get pet medical coverage. What the heck!?
[ report this ]
oops. commented on the wrong post. (I'm having browser-tab issues today)
[ report this ]
Kev, I must be lucky to be spared from your formidable powers of argument. I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with being told I'm wrong, even if you've given no actual argument or reasoning.
On a related note, Barack's brother George Hussein Onyango Obama sent me an email from his Kenyan slum to let me now about an interesting business opportunity.
[ report this ]
@TLB
Okay, thanks for wearing your crazy on your sleeve.