Say what you will about the $515.7 billion spending bill the House of Representatives passed yesterday, there is a silver-lining for the District — the ban on the use of public funds for needle-exchange programs was finally lifted. For the past nine years Congressional Republicans successfully prohibited the District from using any of its resources to promote needle-exchange programs, regardless of their efficacy in combating the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. As a consequence,…

The last time the Dalai Lama was in Washington, not even spiritual enlightenment could help him figure out why District residents still lacked voting rights. And now that he’s coming back, maybe he’ll have a little word with President Bush and Congressional Republicans about it. Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader will be in town next week to accept a Congressional Gold Medal. The medal, which accompanies a resolution passed last year that recognizes him as “a…

A quick glance at the picture at right and the unknowing cynic would think that Congressional Republicans took the day to rub the District’s second-class status in the face of its residents. Thankfully, the parade of elephants down East Capitol Street yesterday afternoon was much more innocent than that — the circus is back in town. The “Pachyderm Parade” signals a five-day stint by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus at the D.C….

We awake this morning knowing that Londoners are slowly recovering from the terrorist attacks that yesterday killed at least 50 and left hundreds more injured. We here at DCist are with them in thought, and can’t do enough to thank our peers at Londonist for their continuing reporting. For more reaction from the D.C. blogging community, check out DCBlogs, the source of the above image. As for us, well Washington, brace yourself — what’s…

File this story under the “Petty Politics” category. Via The Stakeholder, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s own blog, we find that Roll Call is reporting that Democratic financier and philanthropist George Soros, at right, has floated the idea of buying the Washington Nationals, recently having joined the ranks of one of the groups that submitted a bid for the team. Congressional Republicans, upon having heard the rumor, slyly implied that action could be taken against…

Again proving that members of Congress know what’s best for full-time residents of the District, Congressional Republicans have again hatched a plan to use their constitutional authority over D.C. to overturn the city’s stringent, yet overwhelmingly popular gun laws. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) announced yesterday that she had introduced the cynically-named “District of Columbia Personal Protection Act of 2005,” which would overturn the Firearms and Control Regulations Act of 1975, the law which banned…

Of course. Bike to Work Day, in which this DCist is participating, had to fall on the one day this week where rain is a foregone conclusion. Hopefully a little precipitation won’t dissuade area cyclists, though. In this rainy DDOT traffic cam shot of Massachusetts Avenue and Whitehaven Street, it doesn’t look that there are many bikers out and about this morning. Did you bike through the rain? Congress Seeks to Overturn D.C. Gun Laws:…