You know it's too late for your civil liberties when they've gone and put the Statue of Freedom in a cage. And you thought all those people worried about the PATRIOT Act were alarmists.

If you haven't glanced at the top of the Capitol lately, take a gander. Over the past week, workers have constructed scaffolding around the Statue of Freedom—the 19 ½ foot bronze sculpture atop the Capitol Dome—not in preparation for her trip to Guantánamo, but for her biennial restoration. Every two years, the Architect of the Capitol sends a team of workers to clean the statue, replace the caulk between the statue's sections, waterproof the surface, repaint the base, replace the lightning rods on her crown and shoulders, and apply a protective lacquer to prevent corrosion and otherwise keep the elements at bay.

Freedom was sculpted by Thomas Crawford in Italy, and the plaster pieces arrived in Washington between 1857 and 1859. Bronze casting began in 1860, was halted in 1861 for the Civil War, and finally finished in 1862. Construction on the dome hadn't advanced to a point where the statue could be safely placed on top, where it was assembled piece by piece in 1863. The statue's head and shoulders were installed on December 2, 1863 to a 35 gun salute and cannon blasts from the forts around Washington, an event that would undoubtedly cause chaos if it were repeated today. The statue was removed from the Dome in 1993 for a wholesale restoration, necessitating a dramatic operation with a helicopter.

Work on Freedom will continue until at least July 31, after which maintenance teams will begin the annual inspection and resealing of the Dome itself to make sure it remains watertight. This will take about four weeks, during which passers-by will see workers rappelling on safety lines down the side of the Dome. Consider telling tourists they are Canadian ninjas who attempt an assault on the Capitol every few months, but are caught by Capitol police as soon as they get to the bottom of their ropes. Or, perhaps, that David Blaine is planning to turn the statue into a corndog. Oh, the Overheards that could follow…

Photo from the Architect of the Capitol's website

The Columbia Heights listserv has been a heated battle ground of thinly veiled race and class issues of late. When they're not sniping back and forth, many of the posters have been loudly bemoaning the Ross and Marshalls discount clothing stores coming to the new DCUSA development at 14th and Irving NW. They also complain about the incoming Lane Bryant, Foot Locker, and Mattress Discounters.

The listserv has been abuzz with messages such as "How do we encourage Ross, NOT to come into CH?." The way some posters talk about the stores, it sounds like they expect the only people who will shop there will be crackheads and burglars looking to break into cars and stick people up on their way to and from buying some pants and a belt. The discussion has been noted a few other places too.

For the most part, listserve participants are avoiding stating their reasons for opposing Ross and Marshalls other than a general desire for Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, which has come up time and again. They've also said that Ross and Marshalls are too similar to each other.

Photo by dabdiputs

Via Consumerist, an alleged eye-witness report of staff members of Mayor Adrian Fenty cutting in line to buy iPhones on Friday. And here we thought Council chairman Vincent Gray would win the most entitled public servant of the week award.

...I work in downtown DC and went to the AT&T store on 17th and Pennsylvania around 4:45 to get in line. About 35 people were in front of me, everyone was nice, people from AT&T were giving out water and all was well. They and another store I visited during lunch wouldn't or couldn't tell us how many they had, so the line kept growing until it was about 70 or so. Six o'clock finally comes and they let some people in, and it's really slow going--like one person every ten minutes, even though there are a bunch of employees and registers in there. We later found out that AT&T's system crashed.

So we're all waiting outside and some of the people around me notice a double parked car with a driver and a few dudes outside all on Blackberries talking and looking into the store. A little while later, a guy comes out with three bags and gives them to the driver. AT&T was only allowed to sell one iPhone per customer. Then the same guy disappears back into the store, into the back room. The manager comes out to update people and someone asks him what just happened and we find out that the phones are for D.C.'s mayor, Adrian Fenty. The guy comes out again and quickly gets into an SUV parked in front of the store. By this point, more than a few people are asking questions, and after a guy behind me yells out "fix the schools first," the guy gives him the finger and sneers, "there's only 15 left."

Phone messages left for Mayor Fenty's communications office were not immediately returned, but we'll update if we can get confirmation one way or the other about whether the Mayor currently has an iPhone, and/or employs people who act like jerks out in public.

UPDATE: The Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports that, after being embarrassed by the reports popping up on the internet, Mayor Fenty has ordered the staff members involved in this incident to return their iPhones.

"The city's technology office has been taking a look at ways that wireless technology can make the District government more efficient," the Fenty administration said in a statement Sunday. "The iPhone is one of the technologies [the city government] would like to examine, and the office purchased three devices this week for testing purposes.

Mayor Fenty had no knowledge of this purchase and was not a candidate for any of the test devices. In an effort to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and out of an abundance of caution, the devices have been returned."

Photo by jenchung