"Fireworks 2008" by Flicker user afagen

—————————-

“Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past.

Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.” -Brooks Atkinson

——————————————————————

As we turn the page on the year 2008, we reflect on the past as much as we look forward to the future. That got me thinking about the turbulent year we’ve had here at the DC Metblog, all captured in this edition of the Year in Review.

January 1, 2008: Wayan wishes DC a happy New Year, winning sports teams, and voting rights. Oh well, maybe next year.

January 7, 2008: Tom Bridge supports Governor Tim Kahne’s push to ban smoking in Virginia bars and restaraunts. This would later be killed by the House of Delegates.

January 10, 2008: Alex Ovechkin signs with the Capitals for 13 years and $124MM, the wealthiest contract in DC sports history. Outraged commuters ride the Metro without pants to protest an increase in fares. One had a suspicious package. Hah.

January 28, 2008: Barack Obama draws 12,000 for a rally in DC. Little did he know that he was less than a year away from his Inauguration.

February 11, 2008: Anonymous brings its war against Scientology to the streets of DC. In the meantime The George Washington University finalizes its massive development plan for Square 54.

February 12, 2008: The Potomac Primary. Obama and McCain sweep races in VA, MD, and DC.

March 10, 2008: NY Governor Elliot Spitzer is disgraced by his infamous prostitution scandal. Tom Bridge views it as a good ad for the Mayflower Hotel; it could corner the “places to bring your $5,500/hour prostitute” market?

March 16, 2008: Metblogger Carl Weaver is accosted by a Secret Service officer when he attempts to photograph a free Tibet rally at the Chinese Embassy.

March 24, 2008: Tom Bridge predicts that the Nationals will finish over .500. For more information fast-forward to September 25th.

March 31, 2008: The Washington Nationals open their new stadium.

April 7, 2008: The Washington Post wins 6 Pulitzer Prizes, the best performance by any paper since The New York Times in 2002.

April 16, 2008: DC gets Popemania and hosts more than a million tourists. Some get anti-Popemania.

April 22, 2008: The Capitals are eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the Flyers.

May 6, 2008: Explosion in Falls Church, VA, scares the shit out of everyone in the DC area and rocks the internets. Turns out it was an earthquake centered in Annandale.

May 15, 2008: DC Council pisses off smokers everywhere by entering a tie for highest national cigarette tax, increasing it to $2/pack to make up for their horribly mismanaged budget.

May 31, 2008: LaSalle Partners, who run Union Station, attempt to stop photographers and implement several odd security policies. Eleanor Holmes Norton opens a can of whoop-ass.

June 26, 2008: The Supreme Court kills the DC law banning handguns.

July 4, 2008: Aside from lots of fireworks and patriotism, the entire DC Metblogs team announces out of nowhere that they are leaving to start their own blog. Tom Bridge, Don Whiteside, Tiffany Bridge, Ben H. Rome, and Wayan Vota post goodbye messages almost simultaneously, catching everyone at Metblogs HQ off guard.

September 11, 2008: 9/11 memorials held throughout DC, including speeches by Rumsfeld and Bush at The Pentagon.

Bomb Squad Investigating Abandoned Greenpeace Stuffed Bear At Columbia Heights

September 18, 2008: Greenpeace places life size polar bears throughout DC to raise awareness for global warming. Several bomb scares and shutdowns ensue.

September 25, 2008: Nationals lose the race to 100 losses. .500 would have been nice.

October 1, 2008: Live grenade found and removed in Rock Creek Park. DC collectively sighs in relief.

October 15, 2008: Patrick Pho runs a hugely successful live blog of the final Presidential debate.

October 19, 2008: Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee announces a program to pay middle-schoolers for good grades.

October 27, 2008: Metro police begin controversial random bag search program in stations.

November 2, 2008: Shadow Senator Paul Strauss nailed with a DUI two days before the election. Strauss would go on to take over 80% of the vote in DC.

November 15, 2008: Metbloggers go live with Inauguration Central. Emergency G20 Summit shuts down parts of DC.

December 15, 2008: The George Washington University enters the Inaugural Parade for the first time since 1949. They are the only university in the country with a float in the parade.

December 31, 2008: So as we turn the page on 2008, I just want to wish everyone the best. In the words of Oprah Winfrey, “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” Thanks for being loyal readers through thick and thin, and all of us here at Metblogs look forward to giving you a great 2009!

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C. Delegate to U.S. House

With the new Senate and a new President due to take office in January, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton feels confident that she will finally be able to win voting rights in Congress for the District of Columbia.

According to NBC Washington, Norton estimates that 65 Senators will support her Voting Rights Act of 2009 out of only 60 needed to pass the bill. According to Norton, President-Elect Obama personally told her that he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

If DC does manage to get the vote, I would hope that it breaks from tradition and elects competent officials to serve in Congress. Eleanor Holmes Norton is a fine example, shadow Senator Paul Strauss is not. At all.

Well this afternoon I went out to vote, I went out in between the morning rush hour and lunch- so my time in line wasn’t bad at all. However I’ve been watching local news at work and other places in the region have been attracting large lines.

Have you voted yet? I hope you have- if not for me, do it for all the celebrities.

If you have voted make sure to use your “I Voted” sticker to get tons of free stuff!

I was really excited to vote- and I’ll shamelessly share my political views with the choices I made in the voting booth.

Before I go out to start my Election Night celebration- I wanted to share with you the way I predict the Election will play out:

As you can see I predict a landslide for Obama- will it happen? Will it be closer than I think? We’ll have to stay tuned and see how it turns out!

Not in the mood to watch the election results? Then maybe you should head down to Blockbuster and check out a movie from Politico’s 8 greatest Election Day movies ever.

Well today is Election Day, and we all know that the 2008 Election will be a historic one. I am personally excited to vote today (and will be prepared for the long lines!) I wanted to share with you some information about voting today so that everyone in DC and beyond will be prepared and be able to express your voice without any hassle!

The biggest tip I want to share with everyone is that no matter how long the line is- as long as you are in line by the time polls close you still have your right to vote! Lines in Arlington County this past weekend for absentee voting were over an hour long- expect lines when you go out to vote, especially during peak times (when polls open in the morning, during the lunch hour, and during after work rush hour.)

Newsweek has a good article on some last minute tips including provisional ballots and brining ID to the polling place.

You should definately make sure you know where to you are supposed to vote before you leave to do it! Here are some links to check to see where your polling place is:

• Washington DC: Board of Elections & Ethics
• Virginia: State Board of Elections
• Maryland: State Board of Elections

You can also check out Google Maps where you can find your polling place and get cool directions to it as well.

The Washington Post has local information on area elections as well as voting instructions and sample ballots for your electronic voting machines- a must for anyone that’s nervous about electronic voting.

Of course after you vote you’ll want to celebrate like the rest of the city! The Going Out Gurus and The Washingtonian has lists of all the hot parties in the city tonight.

Happy Voting everyone!

Well I had some fun with a live blog during last week’s live blog of the Presidential Debates- so let’s try it again!

I will be blogging live on DC Metblogs during the final Presidential Debate at Hofstra University. I hope anyone interested will stop by during the debates- leave a comment or question while I continue to throw out my random commentary and running tally on buzzwords.

8:41 PM: Hello internet, I’m back for constantly update you with random thoughts about the final debate! It’s a little more than 15 minutes to go and here are my initial thoughts I have on top of my head coming into this debate:

• Towards the end of the workday I heard my state of Virginia is now apprently leaning towards Obama according to CNN. To me this is the latest in current pulling ahead of Obama in the polls. It’s clear that here in the DC area, as well as across the country, that Obama could not only win this election- but may even win big. I am still a little sketpical of how realistic a landslide could be- and others are as well. For me this debate is McCain’s last effort to stop the growing wave of Obama. I am waiting to see how McCain is going to play this last card in his deck.
• Bob Schieffer will be moderating the action tonight- will we see the candidates play by the rules? Or will this be another sit down message point delivery session?
• Will I pick better buzzwords this time around? I have 10 minutes now to pick some.

8:59 PM: Ok after looking at the C-SPAN Debate Hub (thanks Steve) some of the keywords that have been mentioned so far include President, Taxes, Spending, and Billion. Obvious words that would be said- but I’m looking for the buzzwords that wouldn’t normally be said. On that note I will look for these phrases: “voted with bush 90% of the time”; “just doesn’t understand”; “ready to lead”; “I got the scars to prove it”; and “maverick.”

Read the rest under the more tag…

Read more

That’s assuming that ‘you’ are a Marylander - or sometimes drink in Maryland - and like those fruity near-beers. No, when the WaPo ran this annoying editorial last week they called them ‘alcopops,’ which is evocative of popsicle to me, but presumably they mean it in the sense of ’soda pop.’ “But the truth is that the beverages — Smirnoff Ice, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and the like — are not beer by any reasonable definition,” said the editorial.

Unfortunately they don’t explain exactly what “by any reasonable definition” means. I’ve always known them to be called “near-beer,” a description that hinges on the fact that these products are sold in single-serving containers like beer and have similar alcohol content to regular beer, and are malted beverages, like - wait for it - beer. When Marc Fisher picked up the banner for this anti-adult effort yesterday he claimed that Attorney General Doug Gansler based his decision on a federal study claiming most of the alcohol in these drinks came from distilled spirits, not malted grain. Too bad that’s a 2003 study and in late 2004 the ATTB published a ruling that going forward these drinks would get the majority of their alcohol content from malting. Not to call any of these lobbying groups or editorialists liars - that would imply they’re making these statements out of malice and with full knowledge it’s not true, rather than just ignorance,willful or otherwise.

That aside, most importantly to almost any rational person, the same report makes it clear that the total alcohol content is roughly the same as in beer: 4 to 6%. Unless we’re regulating beer and hard liquor differently for some other reason that nobody’s told me? If it’s all about taste, then I propose we put in place a proper taste tax and bring Guinness and Sam Adams’ Summer Wheat down to 0.01% and mark Coors and Zima up to 150%. Or maybe 1500%, though drinking them is really its own punishment.

Barring that, WaPo and Fisher would both do well to back off from trying to beat up adults who like this swill near-beer and stop penalizing them for having similar tastebuds to the pimple-faced crowd. The morals brigade leading this fight likes to harp on the fact that the alcohol industry’s own data shows that over 40% of the stuff is drunk by the 21 to 27 crowd, the implication being that under 21 folk will like it too. However they seem to be ignoring the fact that those 21 to 27 year olds are of a perfectly legal age to drink and probably lower earners, therefor similarly impacted by this foolish tax proposal.

Fisher and others don’t seem to think that you voting-aged legal drinkers matter in this. “Will the lovers of Smirnoff Ice and its competitors rally to the governor’s side to thank him for keeping their favorite beverages cheap? Hardly likely.” So prove him wrong and make some noise. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be marginally embarrassed to publicly admit you drink this crap, but myself and other people who believe in freedom will stand behind you. With our better drinks.

Hard Times, courtesy of furryscaly

Anybody who has picked up today’s Washington City Paper has probably seen the ballot for “Best of D.C.: Celebrating the Classics 2008″. They are getting in the game with The Washington Post and The Washingtonian, asking readers to vote on what places, things, and cute bartenders make life in DC special and fun.

This has inspired me to finally launch a new series here that I have been mulling for some time.

Here is how this will work: I will take on the challenge of finding the “best in DC” - one thing at a time. Be it cupcakes, shoe stores, or dj nights, I will solicit recommendations of competitors, do some research, and then go try out those which claim to vie for title of “best”.

In other words - one girl’s highly subjective search to sift through mediocrity and mass-name-recognition (is Potbelly really the best sandwich place in town as it is consistently voted - or just the only one that a majority of the voters have been to?) to bring you what I think are the best bets around.

For this to work, I will need a lot of input from you. I want you to send me on missions that you want to read about. In the comments below, I would love to see suggestions of things you want me to review for you! I also need your suggestions of where to go. Do you think you know about the best beer selection in town? Let me know! Hopefully, other people will have different ideas, and I will try to put them all to the test.

One stipulation: I am not finding out the best fetish club. If you want to know, you will have to wait for the City Paper’s results. (Also, I reserve the right not to be sent on any missions I consider immoral or generally icky. You know.)

Also, we are going to need to think of a name. I thought about calling it “The Decider”, but that seems pretty dated at this point…

photo by erin m on flickr

If you’re thinking to yourself right about now that you should’ve looked up where your polling place is by now, but don’t know, you’re in the right place. Here’s how to find out where you should be voting today.

In DC: Use this handy Polling Place Finder, it searches based on your home address, or, if you know your precinct number, on that. There are 142 precincts in DC, and there’s a full list here, complete with entrance locations, and handicapped entrance locations. Polls close at 8pm.

In Virginia: Use the State Board’s Polling Place Finder. It’s based on your Home Address, so put that in, and it’ll be all good. If your address isn’t on there, contact the State Board and they’ll tell you where to go! Polls close at 7pm.

In Maryland: Check out the UMBC Election Day Polling Place Locator, which is weird because it’s actually not at the State Board’s site. However, give it your home address and it’s off to the races. Polls close at 8pm.

Please be aware that if you have proper identification and someone tries to turn you away, please ask to speak to the head judge of the polling station. They can check with the county or city clerk to make sure that you’re in the right place, and you can always cast a provisional ballot. Provisional Ballots are reviewed by the county or city clerk’s office to make sure that you were indeed registered and that you had the right to cast your ballot. Don’t get angry, be polite, be firm, and exercise your right to a franchise.

Image liberated from the
Lincoln County Election Authority

My darling girlfriend and I got to our polling place around 8:15 this morning (what’s the point of white collar work if you can’t use voting as an excuse to come in late?) and got in the not-too-horrid line. At least it started just inside the door, a big improvement on the line that snaked around the building when she voted there for President in 2004. The “about 20 minutes” someone mentioned when we got there was more like 40, in no small part because the roster table had two people… with books they were keeping in sync.

If you want to find a problem with the open primary system, this might be it. Although these two fellows divided the handing out of Democratic and Republican “ballots”¹ between them, they never the less were marking people off as having shown up in both books - presumably to keep someone from coming back later and asking for the other party’s ballot. So no speed advantage there, though it did mean I could easily see the two tally sheets. At the time of my arrival they’d handed out 211 Democratic slips and 53 Republican ones.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but the wait was well worth it for me. Not so I could pick the MUP candidate I did, but because at the age of 37 this makes my first-ever primary vote. I’ve been a registered independent all through my voting life and I came here from a closed primary state, Florida. So this was my first pull of the lever unverifiable button push in a primary.

Which my darling girlfriend promptly canceled out. Teamwork, I tell you!

¹ Actually just printed slips of paper that told the kiosk worker which button to press when activating the tools of Satan electronic voting machines.

Into the gym at last

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

This was the very front of the line at Arlington Precinct 22 at the Abingdon Elementary School this morning. The line was about 100 people when I walked in, and about the same length when I left. I was voter number 281 (split 230:51, D:R) at 8:37am. The line was pleasant and kept moving the whole way through, snaking its way through the foyer in front of the gymnasium. The hold-up point was at Registration this morning, due to the fact that they were double-checking their poll books. They also hadn’t separated the line for Rep/Dem, but I think that’s standard operating procedure.

Overall, took 40 minutes to vote, there were no problems, and everyone was pleased to be there, except for the young couple with two children who should’ve voted a block up at the community center instead of at the school, but even they were good natured about the whole thing.

How was your vote this morning? I’ve heard reports of lines upward of an hour in some precincts, and reports of voting times at less than 15 minutes in others. I’ve also heard that there are some crazy people waving signs on the median of Route 50, which may or may not be the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day.