The Saturday Washington Post provides us with the best article title of the day: “CIA Worker who stole underwear, valuables has mental problems, psychologist says.” Well, I’m no psychologist but that seems like a pretty safe assumption to me.
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Alright nobody loves Christmas more than I do…ok I don’t exactly celebrate Christmas but I appreciate its cultural significance. I just want to preface this with the fact that I am not a hater.
Ok, first of all it is a very blurry picture because it was freezing out when I took the picture. Oh yes, that’s right this Christmas tree is an outdoor Christmas tree. At any rate it was freezing outside and my hand was shaking a bit, also I have to tell you it is a bit uncomfortable photographing people’s houses in the middle of the night walking home from the metro.
Ok, enough of the backstory. I support the celebration of the holiday and I can even understand being so excited that you want to put a tree on your front lawn but what I’m having a bit of difficulty with is the fact that it is still there in February, for Christ’s sake. Uh, oh that may have been a poor choice of words, and for that I apologize. I think we have to live in the now. Christmas is over, it was great, we got lots of presents, many of us saw our families but I think it may be time to move on.
Post continues its coverage of the Ward 4 council race with some more extensive fundraising reported. Wanna guess who’s in the lead?
So I was checking out Columbia Heights News and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that they were getting not only a Starbucks but also a Dunkin Donuts. They don’t replace great indie places like the new 14 & U or Columbia Heights Coffee so hopefully the neighborhood can support all of them. Dunkin Donuts coffee is awesome, it is cheap and delicious. Now, I hate Boston with all my heart and people from Boston love D&D so I tried to hate it but I couldn’t, it is that good. Well, Petworth, only two more years until Mocha Hut opens up!
On other Columbia Heights development news, it turns out the Whole Foods won’t be coming to 14th St, but I think the Giant on Park is pretty good, so I don’t think the news is too crushing, especially if you have seen the lines at the P Street Whole Foods location. Did I mention that Columbia Heights is getting a Dunkin Donuts? Those lucky bastards…
It sounds like the begining of a great joke but I swear I saw it last night. I was meeting a friend for a drink at the Tabbard Inn in Dupont, which by the by is a fantastic joint. It feels like the living room of, well, of a nice Inn. But anyway the first thing I notice walking in is former Supreme Court Justice O’Connor having drinks in a wingback chair. It was kind of sureal. You know when you see someone quite famous but you’re not sure who it is, I was thinking, oh shit that’s Ann Richards, the former Governor of Texas but no she died, holy cow that is Sandra Day O’Connor. Then my friend arrives and we sit in the corner and five minutes later Scooter Libby walks in. He heads straight to the restaurant with his own little group. I’m thinking damn I don’t think I belong here. Anyway, I wish I could say that the two were drinking together, or got stumbling drunk or that they got into a fight, or were having torrid love affair, or they were cursing Dick Cheney…that would be exciting. But no, none of that happened, the most exciting part of the evening was thinking that I saw Ann Richards, because she very likely may have gotten drunk, got into a fight and most certainly she would have cursed Dick Cheney!
Yesterday’s post had an article on Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky facing new charges. The Post explains the prosecution “…President Vladimir Putin’s highly successful campaign to tame Russia’s oligarchs using its politically pliant justice system.” I’ll repeat ‘politically pliant justice system’. Hmm, if you are going to say it, just say it. Corrupt, despotic, autocratic, I don’t know but politically pliant justice system sounds like watering flowers with urine.
Do you remember in the movie Pulp Fiction when John Travolta’s character is talking about how he found his car was keyed when he got back from Amsterdam? He said it would almost be worth it to have his car keyed if he could catch the person doing it. This is how I thought I felt too. To no one’s surprise I spotted lots more garbage today. I swear people are throwing it on my street just to piss me off. So my blood boils for a while. I had been listening to some Pearl Jam so I was feeling pretty tough. That was my first mistake. So I’m walking and I see a parked car and the window opens and a bag of trash is thrown out the window. I tell myself this is it, I’m going to go over there and let that person have it. You can’t throw garbage on the street right in front of me, I though to myself. This was my second mistake. So I walk over to the car with a real tough scowl on my face ready to be bring justice to my small part of Petworth. When I’m about three quarters of the way there, I notice that the car is full with about five guys who could probably play offensive line for many football teams. I wish this was on video tape. I mean I was flying over there and I literally did a one hundred and eighty degree turn practically in mid air when I saw who was in the car. It must of looked hilarious, I can’t imagine what the guys in the car were thinking. I decided to err on the side of caution. If I was walking fast towards the car I was practically flying away in my retreat. Damn it, Pearl Jam almost made me get my ass kicked. I’m pretty much banking on karma to correct this injustice. Please tell me karma really exists…
Washington Post reports that a bicyclist hit and kills a pedistrian in Petworth. According to the Post the accident happened while the man was crossing New Hampshire. That is horrible and apparently it happens frequently. So be careful out there.
I was very happy to see in this morning’s Post a terrific column by Marc Fisher about the PG county officer who shot the furniture movers. As we know one of the movers recently died from his wounds. I understand the investigation is currently ongoing but Fisher does a terrific job articulating my concerns. Mr. Washington is the officer who shot the movers. Fisher writes:
“Whatever happened last month, the long list of allegations about Washington’s aggressive, in-your-face behavior raises powerful questions about just what he is doing in a position of authority in county government.”
That’s all I was trying to say. This is a good example of why we need professional journalists. I had the outrage but couldn’t express it properly nor did I have time to do the investigative work done by Mr. Fisher. Please check out the link if you are at all interested. Kudos to Mr. Fisher for capturing the concerns that I and many others have towards this case.
Despite what some readers may think I am hugely supportive of all the law enforcement agencies in DC. So I was delighted to read in the Post and also in DCist that metro police have set up a special unit to combat robbery on the metro.
Now we also learn via dcist That the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is targeting our cities most violent criminals. As DCist noted they come up with the absoutely absurd acronym MVP. The Examiner explains
“Under Operation MVP, which stands for Most Violent Persons, detectives will identify the most dangerous predators in certain areas of the city. Each week, special operations officers and U.S. Marshals will capture the criminals and hand them to investigators before sending them to jail. The investigators will interrogate the offenders to see if they have any information about related crimes.”
This is good news but MVP? Doesn’t MVP have a positive conotation? C’mon guys. I appreciate the gesture and wish you luck in the endeavor but you almost make it too easy for us to make fun.
In all seriousness I DO believe that these are positive programs and I hope for their success.