Victory — not the concept, but the statue at State Place and 17th Street NW — is the Ghost of Christmas Past. Freedom — the Eastward-facing statue atop the Capitol Dome; not that thing that The Terrorists hate us for — is the Ghost of Christmas Present. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives draped in the inky robes of Grief. more ›

As we noted yesterday, today is Patriot Day; so conceived to commemorate the 9-11 attacks—even though we Americans aren't the greatest at "commemorating," see: Veterans' Day, Memorial Day, etc. Just six years on, though, feelings are still raw and memories vibrant. Resiliency is a virtue of our citizenry however, and if nothing else, we can get a hearty laugh out of OBL's radical beard transformation, his decidedly porno 'stache, and threats of attack via the... more ›

No Art for You: Or for us, rather. The Post has the word that it's looking like, surprise, surprise, there won't be enough money at the new baseball stadium for all the artwork the city had planned to showcase in and around the building after all — not without violating the spending cap, at least. And of course, getting approval to go beyond the cap would involve going through the D.C. Council. After reading this, we started to cry just a little tiny bit. But don't worry, we cry at sentimental commercials just as easily as at situational absurdity. more ›

Before the rise of the Bush family, the Tafts of Ohio were the most successful political dynasty in the Republican Party. Along with the Democratic Kennedys and flexible Rockefellers, Roosevelts and Adamses, they remain one of the top political families in U.S. history. They are also the oldest still-active family, and longest-running direct descendancy, stretching from Secretary of War Alphonso Taft (1876) to current Ohio Gov. Bob Taft II. The middlemost member of this line,... more ›