This just in, DC-based XM and New York-based Sirius’s planned merger has been approved by the Department of Justice, meaning that only the FCC can step in to stop the merger between the two satellite radio companies. I’m not sure if it’s been said yet where the new company will be based, but I suspect that XM’s Florida Avenue facility will remain in place as part of the new network’s planned operations center.

…chances are it belongs to this Philadelphia-bound US Air 757 that dropped it somewhere over Anne Arundel or Prince George’s County on Saturday. The piece itself isn’t all that big, just 17.5 square inches, but it still might’ve wrecked things but good. So, give US Air a call if it plowed your garden a bit.

Just don’t take them up on any offer for free airfare, if there are parts falling off their planes, I know I wouldn’t want any part of it.

US Airways 757 — Originally uploaded by So Cal Metro

If you’re really interested in the matter, Oyez.com has put up a transcript and recording of the Supreme Court’s hearing last week in the matter of DC vs. Heller. We’ve heard the chattering class go on and on about what was covered and what they’re certain every justices’ comments mean – why not decide for yourself?

I think it’s some interesting stuff, but then I’m an amateur law nerd. A big part of the government’s case here is that they’re not violating the 2nd amendment because while they’re restricting some arms they’re not restricting all arms.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: It doesn’t means all. It doesn’t mean — “keep,” on your reading, at least if it’s consistent with Miller, keep and bear some arms, but not all arms.

GENERAL CLEMENT: Absolutely, Justice Ginsburg, and just — I mean, to give you a clear example, we would take the position that the kind of plastic guns or guns that are specifically designed to evade metal detectors that are prohibited by Federal law are not “arms” within the meaning of the Second Amendment and are not protected at all.

Other stuff seems a little off the mark and entirely discussed for the sake of trying to clarify some things, but its interesting just how extreme some logical conclusions can be. Like this bit, where the justices question the representative for the people asserting that they have a right to a handgun, when they discuss whether it matters that the whole shebang starts out by stating that the underlying point is a well-regulated militia.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So a conscientious objector who likes to hunt deer for food, you would say has no rights under the Second Amendment. He is not going to be part of the militia, he is not going to be part of the common defense, but he wants to bear arms.

You would say that he doesn’t have any rights under this amendment?

Interesting stuff, and worth a read and/or listen.

With Opening Day just six days away, Nationals Park is advertised as “nearly ready,” but what about the team that will take the field that night? Well, I wouldn’t hope for the playoffs, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic after Spring Training. I’m on record as saying the Nationals will finish over .500, and I stand by that. Here’s some of the questions you need to know the answers to as we get through the final Spring Training games:

Who’s our Opening Day Starter?

In past years, it’s been John Patterson or Livan Hernandez. This year it will be Odalis Perez. With Shawn Hill’s health in question, and neither Bergmann nor Chico anything resembling ready to be the #1 starter, the job falls to Odalis Perez, who was only signed by the team to a minor league contract at the beginning of the Spring. The remainder of the rotation as it stands will be Bergmann, Chico and Redding, for the time being. With Redding leaving the game with back spasms yesterday, the fourth slot will likely fall to Joe Lannan until Redding’s at 100% again.

Who’s On First?!

One of the big questions in the off-season was: With Nick Johnson AND Dmitri Young healthy, who’s playing first base?

If you have an answer, please someone either tell Stan Kasten or put it in the comments. The Nats just don’t seem to have one. Both of them are quality players, each with redeeming features. We know what Dmitri can do, we saw it in his All-Star season in 2007, which probably why Johnson got most of the starts this Spring, as his recovery is probably the most scrutiny. Johnson is also probably the more tradable of the two, as his age will be a certain mark in his favor. I can’t imagine either wanting to ride the pine, and with Zimmerman a lock up at third, it’s unlikely they’d be able to make that move, either.

So, Who are these guys?!

The Nationals have proven one thing over their short stay in DC: Anyone the fans like gets shown the door pretty quickly. Livan was gone after a couple seasons, Jamey Carroll was traded to the Rockies, despite every team needing a Jamey Carroll, and of course there’s the release of Patterson this past week. New faces this year include emotionally-troubled outfielder Lastings Milledge (picked up in a trade for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, both sentimental favorites), emotionally-troubled and criminally-susceptible Elijah Dukes, both of whom have behaved themselves in Spring Training, and put on a decently impressing display of hitting and defense. Each of them is a quality find, provided they don’t start getting arrested or shooting their mouths off in the local media. We’ll see.

Why are you optimistic?

Well, I’ve always looked on the bright side of…oh wait. You meant specifically. Here’s why: Great Defense, Improved Offense, and a new ballpark that will bring out the crowds. But generally, I figure the Nationals will do their damnedest to put up a winning season their first year in the new park. We won’t be the Mets, or the Phillies, but I think we can at least best the Braves. We’ll know in May if I’m being pollyanna, or realist.

Ok, so it’s been a couple of weeks since my last entry on house-hunting. I’d mentioned then we’d be scouring the I-95 corridor…

Well, nix that idea. Every time I think of commuting up that nightmare stretch of road, I get the shakes and want to vomit. Spending nearly a quarter of my day stuck in a metal cocoon (even if it is a SUV) with other hapless souls just sucks a bit more life out of me.

So I put my foot down. We’re gonna pass. Even the allure of half-price housing just doesn’t do it for me. The fuel cost alone would even out the mortgage savings.

That issue settled, we instead spent some time looking along the Fairfax County Parkway corridor (aka “Rt 7100″ for you locals who think it’s a speedway).

Yes, yes, we’ll look at DC at some point, it’s on the list (looks at Wayan).

We’ve found nothing but depressing sites (save one corner lot). My question is to these faceless foreclosed souls is a simple one, really. Were you THAT greedy a few years back that you bought well above your means to the point that you had to play landlord for a bit? And did you ever hear about “tenant screening”? Using Craigslist doesn’t count, period. My God, these homes looked so abused and malformed… If they were children, I would’ve sworn we were in a Third World country.

I know that if you are trying to short sale, you think it excuses you from cleaning up the place. It doesn’t. It only makes me want to smack you and dissuades me from even considering your house as a viable purchase to save you from the bank. My sympathy turns from your hard-luck case to the sad state of your former home.

And I don’t have the extra $$$ to spend on cleaning up and re-fixing the house.

Good thing we have time to be picky. I’d hate to be doing this with only a month or two to find something.

What about you? Are you more inclined to consider a place that’s at least clean (or attempted as such)? Or is there something worse that turns you off a potential home sale?

For Sale, courtesy of PhotoDu.de

Someone who I thought was a reliable source of astronomical facts (and knowledgeable of the black magic behind them) said that on Friday, March 21st the full moon would pop up over the horizon and line up nicely with the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol. You know the view. Now I know this photo has been taken a billion times by many, many other photographers, but did that stop me from wanting to try? Absolutely not. I wanted my own shot of this view so I drove up to the Iwo Jima Memorial with camera gear in tow.

A little to my surprise I discovered about fifty other photographers up there, all with their cameras, tripods, and telephoto lenses, many identical to mine. I felt a little silly setting up my gear next to these guys (and three girls) so that we could all get basically the same shot, but as Ron Burgandy says, “When in Rome.”

We were all ready, fingers anxiously placed on our camera’s shutter buttons (or remote chord buttons as it were), shots lined up, apertures set, shutter speeds set, ISO’s set, when all of a sudden, “Where’s the damn moon?” Someone shouted, “Hey, it’s over there!” The huge orange globe lumbered into the sky about 3-4 frames to the right of where we’d all hoped it would be. I think the term that best sums up our disappointment is “WTF?”.

All in all, it was still fun to go up there and see the full moon from such an awesome vantage point. I managed to get some interesting shots anyway, and can only hope that later in the year I’ll get to try again.

…As seen by my brother in his local grocery store in Mountain View, Wyoming… the Marionberry pie.

Upon Googling this coincidentally-named fruit, I discovered that not only are marionberries delicious, they are also high in antioxidants.

Finally the name is associated with something wholesome and nutritious.

DC Mayor?

Originally uploaded by Jack Black’s Stunt Double

Murky Coffee (Arlington, not the former one in DC) was rather packed today, full of people who should have been in church for some salvation, rather than at Murky for a double breve half-skimaccino. I swear, folks – do you like the crackle of hell fire? Do you relish being enveloped by the stench of brimstone?

Here’s what you do, folks. Next year, come Easter, go to church instead of the coffee place. Leave the coffee for those of us heathens who are likely condemned anyway. Save yourself! I will gladly take your place in line, saving you from damnation, and as a reward for my selfless act, I will also obtain entrance into heaven. Everyone wins, and for once it will not be so darned crowded at Murky.

Photo: Fire of Hell Originally uploaded by muneeb_sami

No really, I am not exaggerating. DCist wrote about this yesterday and I got this far in their post

“Passengers want meters installed in D.C. taxis and they’re telling us they want the meters to be based on the existing zone system,” said Solomon Tesfaye with the Coalition in a statement.

Before subjecting poor Tom Bridge to my stream-of-consciousness in instant messenger that amounted up to “lies lying liar LIAR LIAR you pinnochio motherfucker do you TYPE with that long nose NOBODY wants zones NOBODY NOBODY NOBODY except you cabbies and the thirteen zone ninjas who love that crap.”

Once I settled down to my normal level of froth I actually checked out the petition which manages to be even more retarded and full of lies.

We do not support the time and distance meters since fares are totally unpredictable

I don’t know how much more predictable than X DOLLARS PER MILE computed by an odometer reading can be.

are more susceptible to over-charging riders

I had to pause for laughter here. Proponents of the zone-make-it-up-when-you-get-there system are concerned about over-charging riders? Not to mention, the certified box that reads off on odometer is going to be prone to over-charge… how? Odometers are accurate within about 1% of their reading, so to potentially get hit with an extra $0.25 for another 1/6th of a mile you’d have to get your cabbie to take you 60 miles.

Or we could compare the likelyhood of a cabbie taking a roundabout way and being undetected to the chances of a cabbie quoting the wrong zone fare to a patron. I know which one I’ll place my bet on being more commonplace.

and will likely unfairly victimize riders in the poorest outskirt neighborhoods, through higher prices and less taxi availability.

Somehow magically, putting a meter in a cab is going to make it less likely to hang out in poor neighborhoods. Because we all know how easy it currently is to find a cab in some of the less desirable neighborhoods now, right?

Why is anyone listening to these clowns anymore?

So, we’re at the end of our second week with the brand new design here at Metroblogging DC, and we’d definitely like your honest feedback on what you think is great and what you think you could live without, or what you miss from the old site.

I know that we certainly miss the Submit A Story option from the old site. I understand our coder is hard at work on a replacement for the old system. In the meantime, please feel free to email story suggestions to tbridge at gmail dot com. The Powers That Be are hard at work at making some of the currently non-functional things, like the various home page views, actually functional.

In the meantime, add your comments on our new look here, or, if you’d prefer, email them to me at tbridge at gmail dot com. I’d be glad to talk with anyone about the new changes here.