Updated Forecast: In Excess of 8" of Snow, Plus Wind
And Now, 10-20 Inches
Federal Govt. Closed Tuesday
Snowmaggedon 1.0 in Time Lapse
Good morning, Washington. Sad news: Ted Kennedy has died, succumbing to the brain cancer that he had been battling for over a year. Today's news will no doubt be be filled with remembrances of Kennedy, and analyses of what his death means for the push for healthcare reform, a cause that Kennedy had long fought for.
Moran Holds Town Hall, Attracts Protesters: Last night's town hall meeting on health reform wasn't the first in the area, but it sounds like it may have been the first time Washingtonians have been able to witness for themselves the vociferous opposition that's been reported from town halls elsewhere in the country. Rep. Jim Moran was the host of the discussion, and brought Howard Dean with him out to Reston. Things got heated: the Examiner reports that a man in a Cato Institute t-shirt got into a fight with a man in an Obama t-shirt and was ejected. Moran also apparently lost his temper and in a moment of frustration asked his hecklers to leave the meeting.
Daycare Stabbing: Well, this is horrible: WJLA is reporting that a sixty-six year-old woman and a female toddler were stabbed at an apartment complex in Fairfax. The woman was babysitting the girl and several other children. Although accounts vary slightly, it appears that both victims are in serious but stable condition. The suspect was quickly caught and is now in custody; his motive remains unclear, but it may have stemmed from a domestic dispute involving a third party.
Plane Wanders into D.C. Airspace for Second Time: Yesterday a student pilot accidentally flew into the city's restricted airspace and was escorted out by military aircraft. That's not so unusual — these things happen from time to time. Like in 2005, when a stray plane prompted the evacuation of officials from the White House. The same stray plane, in fact. Weird, right? CNN's account is worth reading: they spoke to John Henderson, one of the members of the small club that owns the plane, and he sounds about as horrified as you would expect. There's not yet any indication of why the student pilot went where he did; Henderson says the pilot was definitely aware of the 2005 incident.
Briefly Noted: Alexandria names first black police chief (who happens to have been a member of the team from Remember the Titans)... Teens arrested for racist vandalism at Prince William schools... Man admits role in toddler's death... Judge rules that ex-gays are protected under D.C.'s Human Rights Act... Cupcakes -- a FAD?! Noooo...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we published a memorable set of photos from a firehose baptism.
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Sen. Kennedy, thank you for your service.
+1 - Our hearts swell with pride as we remember your service Teddy. Thank you.
8:30 post? Tom Lee, thank you for your service.
I heard excerpts from the townhall on the radio. The hecklers were from Randall Terry's Operation Rescue. They were yelling at Howard Dean and calling him a babykiller. That's why Moran lost it. What's the point in even trying to have a discussion with someone who already knows their right and you're going to hell because the Bible tells them so? Instead of townhalls they should JUST have town free-for-alls where nobody actually discusses issues. They just scream at eachother and hold dead baby placards and signs that say "GET A BRAIN MORANS" and get into fistfights and then we can lock the doors and set the place on fire and sell the footage as the next big reality teevee series: "Immolation Nation."
If these creeps can't play nice with their political process, they shall not be allowed to have one: Fascism Now, Fascism Forever. Evidently a hostile militarist dictatorship is the only way to have an orderly meeting around here.
At least they'll get the trains to run on time.
Hint, hint, WMATA.
Lion of the Senate indeed. And as conservative bloggers across the land check the spelling of Chappaquiddick, we are reminded that like every great lion, he tore through his share of gazelles.
Godspeed friend; always and forever, say chowdah!
"Mr President, the premier is a man of the people, but he is also a man, if you get my drift..."
What's the point in even trying to have a discussion with someone who already knows their right and you're going to hell because the Bible tells them so?
A co-worker made exactly this point to me this morning and I'm very suspicious that he read it here first. Don't you feel you're entitled to being appropriately referenced, Monkey? I'm calling the academic integrity board to report plagiarism!
A co-worker made exactly this point to me this morning and I'm very suspicious that he read it here first.
Hey! I resemble that remark.
Also: given the subject matter, is it any wonder that this was today's feature on the Onion one-a-day calendar you gave me?
morans
I wouldn't exactly call it losing his temper. They told him that they were showing up, and then when Howard Dean came up to speak they started shouting that Dean is a baby killer who likes to murder children. He gave the "instigator" the floor to ask the first question, but the guy just kept shouting and was then escorted out.
The strips, spelling "KKK" and "White Power" with a swastika in the middle, were found about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at a parking lot at Sinclair Elementary School, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a police spokeswoman. The male Stonewall Jackson High School students, ages 14, 15, 16 and 17, three of them white and one black, were released to their parents.
HATECRIME FAIL.
Lol, too funny. Was the black kid blind?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuuBVWo_W3U&feature=related
My thoughts exactly...sounds like a Chappelle sketch
Wow if that's not internalized racism I don't know what is!
I can understand the black kid confusing the swastica for some anti-government, anti-establishment cause... but the KKK? That's pretty blatently and specifically anti-black... so really, was he on crack? Does he hate himself?
Weird!
Oh and regarding hatecrimes, you don't neccessarily have to be outside the minority to be convicted of a hatecrime--so I wouldn't be surprised if the black kid is charged with the whites in a hatecrimes case... that is of course if Virginia has such a thing.
So do they even teach about the Klan and lynchings in gradeschools? Or do they just not discuss uncomfortable incidents in American history, like how German school books skip the years 1939-1945?
Brian : Yeah, about your pamphlet... uh, I'm not seeing anything about German history between 1939 and 1945. There's just a big gap.
Tour guide: Everyone vas on vacation. On your left is Munich's first city hall, erected in 15...
Brian : Wait, what are you talking about? Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and...
Tour Guide: We were invited. Punch vas served. Check vit Poland.
Brian : You can't just ignore those years. Thomas Mann fled to America because of Nazism's stranglehold on Germany.
Tour guide: Nope, nope. He left to manage a Dairy Queen.
Brian : A Dairy Queen? That's preposterous.
Tour guide: I vill hear no more insinuations about the German people. Nothing bad happened. Sie werden sich hinsetzen. Sie werden ruhig sein. Sie werden nicht beleidigen Deutschland. You will sit down. You will shut up. You will not insult Germany. (Throws his hand up in a Hitler salute.)
Brian : Uh, is that a beer hall?
Tour guide: (Snapping out of it) Oh yes, Munich is renowned for its historic beer halls.
I don't think they do discuss the KKK/lynchings/civil rights in gradeschool...I'm white and non-religious, so I heard nothing about the KKK until I was at a summer camp between grade and middle school. I was taking a course on new age crystals and the occult, and the instructor taught us about mystical cults and claimed the KKK was a Wicca cult. So after that class, I was telling everyone in the dorm how cool the KKK was, and as there were tons of Jewish kids there, they were all, "Are you out of your mind?" And I was like, "What, it's not cool to like Wicca?" Anyway, the RA told me how stupid I was, I told her about the instructor, and the next day he was gone...Anyway, I think we learned about civil rights the next year in 6th grade/middle school...But it's weird that it's not taught way earlier.
Naw, he was just a kid looking to piss off people.
Ex-Gay? 3 observations:
1. Wouldn't "non practicing bi-sexual" be a better term?
2. "da ex-geyz" does not have the same lyric impact as "the geyz".
3. Would they be allowed to teach a class at "Girls Rock"?
Actually, the correct term, from what I hear is "Yestergay", or for women, "Hasbian"
As legal counsel for both the Beatles Estate and the Hasbro Toy Corporation, I am ordering you to cease and desist this unauthorized infringment on their respective copyrights.
Hah!
"Yestergay....all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
I don't believe in yestergay..."
Sing along, everybody!
Hugh Jackman...Tom Cruise...The X-Gay Men...Coming Out...Summer 2010.
Music by Kenny Chesney.
Ich Bin Ein seriously sad panda.
Erm, wrong Kennedy.
Is there any way we can get the firehose baptism folks to show up at towhall meetings? Also, is it possible for them to replace the water with raw sewage? I'm certain that this would be a protected form of "free speech."
more like a projected form
"The company suddenly has many competitors, all trying to capitalize on a desire for a simple, inexpensive indulgence at a time when the economic news seems so depressing."
journalism FAIL
Dear Ex-Gays:
You can't have your cake and eat it too!
If you claim you were gay, but are magically gay no longer because you "made a better choice"--then really what are you?
The way I see it, that makes you straight. Ergo, you are no longer a protected class or minority and thus you should not recieve any "ex-minority" benefit or protection.
Furthermore, given that you advocate that gays choose to be gay and that this choice is undesireable, I suggest you should probably be considered a hate group more then anything. Internalized oppression is still oppression and it seldom stays strictly internalized.
I am gay, I did not make any choice to be gay, I was simply born that way. It is all I know and I cannot change it. The APA backs me up now with fact when I say that trying to deny this aspect of my life would only serve to destroy my self-confidence and mental health--and would never really change anything.
I think your desire to be protected as "ex-gay" is a sick and twisted attempt to pervert the protections of minorities; and a febile attempt to push your agenda of passive hate speech toward gays.
Either you are straight or you are not--you say it's a choice--so make up your damn mind already!
I don't understand the whole "protected class" thing. Isn't it already illegal to discriminate against someone based on sexual orientation? Why aren't straights a protected class?
Because it's highly unlikely you'll ever be denied a service because you reveal that you are straight. For that matter, you don't have to reveal a straight identity, it's implied and assumed from almost every aspect of society you will encounter. If you ever get denied access or service for being straight--you let me know because that'd sure be a bizzare turn of events... I don't entirely disagree with your observations, I just recognize (as a member of the minority) that people in the majority tend to not understand what its like or why some amount of discrimination protection is required... because the majority would not otherwise understand when and if they are discriminating if there were not provision to state so.
So my question is, why not just say you can't discriminate against sexual orientation?
Straights are a protected class under District law, as it happens (see 2 D.C. Code 1401.02(28)). The distinction involved in this issue is that someone could argue that, so long as they did not discriminate against current gays or current straights, they could discriminate against self-proclaimed ex-gays all they wanted. ("I'm not discriminating against him because he's straight, I'm discriminating against him because he's an ex-gay. If he'd always been straight, I'd be fine with him. And I'm not discriminating against him for being gay, because he says he's not and I believe him.")
My interpretation would be that ex-gays are already a protected class under 2 D.C. Code 1401.02(28), which provides for protection based upon sexual preference even if that sexual preference is not acted upon. Since most good research suggests that ex-gays are actually still gay, merely celibate (and generally assisted in remaining celibate by "Clockwork Orange"-style aversion therapy), it follows that ex-gays should be protected by the same laws protecting gays who are just really bad at getting dates.
I can't teach bongos at Girls Rock (Okay, I'll let that one go for now)
Gay. Straight. Bi. Too bad there aren't any good choices.
If an ex-gay, decides to return to the gay lifestyle does that make them ex-ex-gay? And is that a protected group?
Tom: We have a friend who was gay, then straight, and is now gay again.
Bill: Who?
Tom: Ben
Bill: Ben-Gay?
And if they quit again, they become triple-ex-gay, which coincidentally was also my freshman year's roommate's favorite movie.
I think they are just re-gay.
Sen. Kennedy:
Thank you for murdering our daughter, leaving the scene of the crime, and refusing to cooperate with police.
Enjoy eternity in hell,
Mr. and Mrs. Kopechne
You are just too narrow minded to understand the sacrifice that he made that night.
Yes, he could have called for help immediately and she may have lived, but then he would have not been able to fulfill his destiny. He was not running off into the night like a coward leaving her to die, he was ensuring the United States would not be deprived of his greatness. It is a burden that would weigh on him like an anchor.
He is a hero to have chosen his life of inherited wealth and power over one of personal responsibility. He did it for the greater good.
I think if you ever saw him on his compound, at any of the numerous cocktail parties, at fundraisers or even those late late nights at Au Bar, you would see a tinge of sadness in his bloodshot eyes.
Ted Kennedy: Great senator, but don't call "shotgun" when he's behind the wheel.
Moran and Dean. I didn't think Virginia was big enough for two assholes. But then it is Reston.
Get back in the vanpool van, Liz.
While comments like these highlight some of the hypocrisy hidden behind the Kennedy mystique, two of his brothers were assassinated. Balance to his karma, if nothing else.