Go Home Already: Shouts and Murmurs
Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Good morning, Washington. Hope you all had relaxing weekends, despite the late night Howard Homecoming revelers on every corner, the global climate protesters, the early rising Marine Corps Marathoners, and the shooters firing their guns all over Petworth, Columbia Heights, and LeDroit Park. Now that we think about it, it's a wonder any of us got any sleep at all.
Gay Marriage Protesters Return: Speaking of loud weekend distractions, a group of anti-same-sex marriage protesters gathered at Freedom Plaza on Sunday. The Post, WUSA and WJLA all covered their attempt to push for a ballot initiative on the issue. Tim Craig notes that a lot of the 150 or so people gathered appeared to have been bused in: 'Sunday's protesters chanted, "Let the people vote!" but many participants live in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. "What happens in D.C. will ultimately affect the states around it," said Dana Sanders, a Columbia resident.' As you know the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics is set to meet today to determine the outcome of the referendum petition (which it is largely expected to reject), and the D.C. Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety will convene its first public hearing on the same-sex marriage bill at 3:30 p.m.
Mayor's Call Center Criticized for Slow Response: One of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's big changes to the way the city responds to residents was to route all city service requests through 311. But the Examiner reports that mayor's citywide call center isn't handling all those calls as quickly as it should be: 'the percentage of calls answered within 30 seconds fell from 86.5 percent in fiscal 2008 to 60.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009, 71.8 percent in the second quarter and 62.2 percent in the third.' 911 calls, on the other hand, were answered within five seconds 96 percent of the time.
Briefly Noted: Tax increases, service cuts expected in Arlington ... Temple Hills man accused of pimping his foster child ... Deadly crash leaves four Fairfax kids without parents ... Navy's Mentzer wins Marine Corps Marathon in debut .
This Day in DCist: In 2007, a local gay couple said they were kicked out of the U Street Rite Aid for hugging, which eventually led to a hug-in protest at the store.
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If I think back on all the shots I dodged in high school
It's a wonder I live in DC at all
And although a lack of arms control hasn't hurt me none
I can the writing on the Metrocar wall
Taking their cue from the U Street Rite Aid protestors, the gay marriage protesters should sponsor a Hug-a-Thug® Campaign to deal with the spike in shootings. The Mayor's offices should also provide tax incentives to private sector faith-based groups like Hug-a-holics®. Only later will it be discovered that the group is actually a front operation run by convicted frotteurs funnelling ambulances and vaseline to the Dominican Republic. Auditors will reveal an international frottage cabal that will result in the toppling of no less than three European governments. Dan Brown will then write a series of international bestesellers about the conspiracy called, "The Dry Humpie Code" which will be adapted into a series of movies starring the stinking corpse of Abe Vigoda.
The problem is, Abe Vigoda will never, never die.
He was as strange a thing as ever I saw, or ever I hope to see, God willing. He was a strange unearthly creature - a quivering, glistening mass. He was nay so much a man as... a blancmange!
"a group of anti-same-sex marriage protesters gathered at Freedom Plaza"
Oh, the irony.
I am glad someone else picked up on that!
Congrats to Mentzer...with a kid that young you know he's not been getting any sleep.
you know what, dana, you're right. my god, i've seen the light!
but, in honor of your brilliant observation about the happenings in DC affecting the surrounding states, i'd like to ask you and your other maryland friends who commute to DC on a daily basis, use our roads, rely on our police and other emergency responders, and end up dealing with spillover crime (something that recognizes no borders) a question.
would you be willing, then, to pay a commuter tax, which any other jurisdiction in the united states of america can do, since what happens in maryland and virginia (namely, your commuting here) affects us?
you wouldn't?
oh.
well then, kindly take your concern, roll it up, and shove it as far up your ass as you possibly can, m'kay?
with love.
Sodomizing Dana with Her Own Concern = a good name for a band.
What?
Before you tie this person's comments to a commuter tax remember:
We commuters spend money in the District (meals, shopping, parking, etc.) and our employers pay into the DC unemployment fund. Also, the piss poor "services" we get from your corrupt government, inapt police force, and emergency responders don't count for a hell of a lot.
Don't think for a minute commuters are ruining your fair city. It has done a fine job ruining itself. And a lot of us don't use your roads, we use public transportation.
I am all for gay rights and I support gay marriage. This person from Columbia doesn't. So be it.
A commuter tax is one of those Plotkinny canards that falls apart when it gets examined closely. If the Council had any balls and/or gonads, they would have proposed it decades ago. Problem is they realize it wouldn't go anywhere; local politics is such that Annapolis and Richmond wouldn't sit by and watch their revenue streams flow back into DC. Well, maybe Richmond would, seeing as the toothless meth-head inbreds don't give a fat rat's fart about the People's Republic of Northern Virginia Money Train except when it comes tax time. You can bet that if it got serious, MD/VA would propose a reciprocal tax on DC residents who work in the suburbs to recover the lost revenues.
Anyway, in the instance of these gay marriage protests, the suburban churches are opening themselves up to prosecution under the Mann Act for "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes," viz, being a bag @$$holes.
otr: it was an example. maybe an inelegant one, but the best i could come up with on short notice. the point stands. if you're not a DC citizen, i'd ask you politely to stay the hell out of our politics.
Sommer,
How come Gothamist is getting all the Fugazi interviews? Where is the hometown love??
http://gothamist.com/2009/10/26/guy_picciotto_fugazi.php