What's That You Say?

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Oh, the teabaggers. Yup, there sure was a lot of teabagging going on. Unfortunately the teabag-o-rama had to end early. It was fun while it lasted. The teabagging, I mean.

downtown rez

The 21st century is cool, and all, but somehow also ridiculous. Maybe because mannequin polar bears, boxes of tea, and homeless clothing are all considered national security risks.

Reid, full of wit and fury:

You all are making fun of them for throwing the teabagging phrase around as if they are just too stupid to know what it means. I don't buy it. I think they know exactly what it means. Do you think they'd get even half the press they got if they just called it the "Anti-Tax Protest"?

west kinda sums up the whole thing:

I've always found this whole thing ridiculous but the last straw came this morning on CNN when they showed some lady at a "tea party" pouring out one of those giant cans of Arizona tea in protest.

Unfortunately, though, the media's ability to engage in some fun was (barely) reduced with all the other stuff that happened on Wednesday, as Stanton Park noted:

I guess they didn't pick the best day for the protest, given that Goldman Sachs just announced they were going to repay their TARP money, the Navy had just rescued Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, and even Marion Barry claims he has met all his tax obligations.

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If you don't understand what DCist commenters are talking about, it's probably a good idea to wait and Google it from the comforts of home, instead of work. To wit.

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This comment by DrLRonHoover, tangentially about "sexting," contains hilarious references to words and people I had to look up. Enjoy!

I'm with NBC4 here!

Now I'm gonna go get my slippers and oatmeal spoon...

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Styrofoam bowls v. the greater good. Which wins out?

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This week in The Magical World of Monkeyrotica, Monkey addresses the debate over "Tivoli North":

Y'know, if they're going to carve self-imposed little partitions out of Columbia Heights, at least come up with some inventive names. "Tivoli North?" WTF is that? Just break it down by ethnically cleansed enclave and you get: vibrant North Honkeytown, unsafe-at-any-hour East Thuggington, to the west it's 24-hour-trumpets-and-accordions-galore El Mariachiville, and to the south, to honor it's Black Irish heritage, it's Hail O'Rocks.

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Now this is what I call commitment to a common thread.

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Sweet Tort, on proper White House Easter Egg Roll dress:

"come on, kids! we're going to the white house! be sure to wear your baggy jeans and old t-shirts!"

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Not that we're in any position to judge, but some of you seem to have an preference for male mallards.

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Do we like the unveiled design of the new Museum of African American History and Culture? Most of you felt a comparison to the Museum of the American Indian was in order.

charliegal thinks finds it less than impressive, but likes the MAI:

I think the Museum of the American Indian is awesome. The architecture is beautiful and I think the way they divided up the space amongst the tribes and let the tribes decide how to use their allotment was a great idea. Just seeing what subjects each tribe chose to exhibit is interesting. And the food court is amazing.

This one, ugh. It looks like a horrible unimaginative box. Or rather, two boxes jammed together. It expresses nothing about the subject matter. It doesn't respond to its site or surroundings at all. I'm not even sure why we are building this museum in the first place but if we are going to have it I wish it was something we could all be proud of.

But TheVillan brings the opposite view:

I'm really glad this one won, Adjaye's a great designer. Also a good article, although I'd have to question the comment about Safdie's representing the boldest vision. As an architecture nerd, I felt his was one of the weakest. Sure it was "bold", but so is the native american museum, but that project is pure garbage. Safdie, along with most of the other schemes, seem to have a few "bold" (almost cartoonishly bold) moments, but failed to grab my attention on a wholistic level. I wouldnt call Adjaye's safe by any means. Its subtle, yet it seems to be worked out spactially like most of his buildings, and handles its material palette in a very interesting way. The only disappointment might be in the fact that the Diller + Scafidio one didnt win.

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DreadPirateRoberts, we'll definitely keep you in mind when it comes time to publish the "DCist Encyclopedia."

I cry J'ACCUSE and stick my fiery sword of vengeful death into this entire posting! MARTIN!!!!! Don't accuse DDOT of beating a term to death when every neophyte staff writer at DCist gets "the memo" requiring them to attaches the 'pocalypse anytime (1) anyone offers any free food item or (2) some sort of weather event occurs. To wit:

I am going to instruct Monkey to poo on the head of the next violator.

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DCster straddles the fine semantic lines that bind the world around us:

"Last year, Fenty came into possession of the council's tickets, and when he handed them out, he repeatedly overlooked members he had clashed with."

'Overlooked' is an interesting way of putting it. Maybe Arizona State will say it 'overlooked' Obama when he doesn't get an honorary degree for speaking at their commencement next month. Now that I think of it, I may have overlooked the line asking for my phone number when buying something on ticketmaster the other day.

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Fortunately, when Mayor Fenty flops in front of the press, he also flops in front of our commenters.

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SpeakSoftlyCarryABigStick is all about letting the system do it's job in the case of Third Church of Christ, Scientist:

It's important to realize what preservation laws are in place to do. They are not in place to save every building of some note or worth; they are in place to require a public process to determine if such buildings should be saved. The process has worked here, with both sides stating their cases in public, and public officials weighing the facts and coming to an informed decision. Even if preservatists have not gotten what they want, the process has worked. The public has decided, and it has decided that preservation is not required here.

If preservations do want to save it, they should find a better solution, such as buying the property or finding a buyer. Right now it sounds like the only solution presented has been the church simply suck it up and live with the building as is; that's not a solution. And the public/government should not be telling a church/religion that's how they are supposed to operate.

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No context necessary:

bloodorange: what is a hill-type guy?
dorktopia: are you new in town?

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You don't see much Philly sports love on our threads, but this topic transcended petty rivalries: Harry Kalas, you will be missed.

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Kev29, on why the loss of free bus rides on Code Red days means bupkis:

I've never understood how this is supposed to be helpful. It's a Code Red day, so car commuters are going to be enticed by a free bus ride - thus cutting down on emissions? Fat chance. "Hey folks, you can save $1.25 and a little gas money - all you have to do is wait 20 minutes for a bus and probably triple your commute time! C'mon, it's for the environment! Oh and it will be 98 degrees while you stand at the bus stop. Oh and probably 102 degrees inside the bus."

I guess it's a nice giveaway to those taking the bus already - but that's no help to the environment. Free Metro station parking would probably work better, but a) we KNOW they're too broke for that, b) those lots are always full anyway and c) the fragile system can't handle it on a regular work day.

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Plenty of choices this week as far as awards go, so on we go.

This week's winner of the Avatar Award for Achievement in the Field of Avatars goes to cynecdoche, who obviously was just trying to one-up our panda default avatar, with an equally adorable avatar. Who's a sweepy tiger? You're a sweepy tiger!

Our Username of the Week? How about mustachioed, one of my favorite words in the English language. (It's got all five vowels and has that fun little 'ioe' sequence, after all.)