In the wonderful wisdom that is the D.C. Council taking their lead from the President in trying to *hush* dissent in the Capitol, preliminary approval was given to quiet noisy demonstrations within the city. As WTOP reports, that the measure is aimed at getting demonstrators away from residential neighborhoods and limit “non-commercial public speech” to 80 dB at a distance of 50 feet. The initial ordinance was proposed by Tommy Wells (Ward 6) and supported by Mary Cheh, Kwame Brown and David Catania in 2007, but was now just voted upon for enactment.

So what you’re saying, is that, while folks who decide to at least exercise their right to be heard in a public forum, “non-commercially”, must do so at a whisper, but some “commercial” entity, blaring music and using a loudspeaker, can do so wherever and whenever they want in D.C.? Let’s take a glance at what 80dB’s really gets you. [Note: Contrary to the “quick facts” posted on Councilmemeber Wells’ site, and increase in decibels is not a simple “doubling” but a logarithmic scale increase… which is a much different mathematical consideration… so much for politicians fact checking before trying to enact laws.]

10dBA - Normal Breathing
20dBA - Mosquito or Rustling Leaves
30dBA - A Whisper
40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA - Normal Conversation
60dBA - Laugher
70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower

So, what they are proposing, is that you can protest in D.C., as long as we can’t hear you above the din of the traffic in D.C.. WTF?! Ice Cream trucks are louder than that… granted other cities are cracking down on those too. Granted, I always wanted the ice cream truck in my neighborhood to play “Helter Skelter” or come around like L.A.’s ice cream truck of satan.

D.C. readers, what’s your view on this… pleasant relief or curb to your Constitutional rights to be a pain in the ass?

DSC_5644.jpg — Originally uploaded by rev_bri

You’d think after the big beating that the Republican party took over their moronic attempt at a loyalty oath that the Virginia Democrats would learn, but no. Marc Fisher writes here about the oath presented to caucus-goers at a recent event for selecting school board candidates. From the article:

But Arlington Democratic Committee chairman Peter Rousselot tells me that the loyalty pledge has been part of the caucus process for many years, and is in fact mandated by the state party.

You know, the state party. From the article in November, linked in this piece.

“It’s a slap in the face to voters, saying, ‘We don’t trust you,’ ” said C. Richard Cranwell, chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party. “It’s not surprising the Republican Party doesn’t trust the voters.”

I agree entirely, Mr Cranwell. A slap in the face.

Don’s mention of Loving vs. Virginia reminded me to point out that Mrs. Loving, the remaining partner of the couple who ended anti-miscegenation laws, died on Friday at her home in Virginia.

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving drove 90 miles from their home in rural Virginia to get married in Washington, DC. Mildred was pregnant, and the couple wanted to avoid the stigma and ostracism associated with out of wedlock pregnancy. It didn’t occur to her that interracial marriage was not only stigmatized but criminalized in Virginia.

It must have been terrifying to be awoken at 2AM by sheriff’s deputies, and then to be sentenced to prison- prison!- for marrying the person you loved, to have to move to a strange city in order to avoid prison, only to be arrested again for daring to travel with your husband to visit your mother. It was 9 years after their arrest that the Supreme Court issued the decision that allowed them to return home from DC to the quiet life they wanted together.

If there’s an afterlife, I hope Mr. and Mrs. Loving are enjoying a reunion.

The Washington Post has indicated that the Tarpon Springs authorities have ruled her death a suicide and released her suicide note. The Smoking Gun has included actual images of her suicide notes, and they’re heartbreaking. Particularly sad is a part WaPo didn’t comment on, a paragraph in the letter to her mother that says “There is a little surprise waiting for you in the BOA account. Please use the monies for final arrangement & various account settlement.” Before some cursory Googling I’d have wagered good money that there’s no way the people who prosecuted her for racketeering and money laundering will fail to seize those assets. Over at Justice League, however, blogger SP Biloxi has posted that the defense and has already filed motions to abate and the prosecution had no objection. After all that’s gone on, including the death of Brandy Britton, everything has just been wiped away like it never happened.

Unless you’re Randall L. Tobias, former AIDS czar, Senator David Vitter or think-tank guru Harlan K. Ullman, named as clients. Or Lt. Commander Rebecca C. Dickinson, identified as an employee of Palfrey’s and compelled to testify… and suspended by the Navy, despite the immunity the prosecution granted all the women called to the stand, preventing them from exercising their 5th amendment rights and staying silent. Or Rhona Reiss, 63, also publicly identified as a former escort. Or any of the other 11 women called to testify by the prosecution. The other 119 women identified in Palfrey’s records may be safe, since the judge ordered those portions of the records sealed, and thankfully we all know that information mandated as private never leaks out.

What a waste of money and life, all to prosecute a woman who paid all her taxes on the money she made connecting two consenting adults with each other.

If she’d been running a ItsJustLunch franchise and collecting thousands of dollars from both parties she was connecting up, she’d still be alive and doing business.

If she’d been Craigslist, connecting people who want to have sex. then the shitbags at rightwingpundits.com, who I will not dignify with a link and the search engine credibility that conveys, wouldn’t have a page up about one of the case’s identified escorts, along with a picture of her and details about her academic history and family life. Oh, and a swipe at how attractive she is.

But hey, she had it all coming and nobody to blame but herself, right? After all, if it’s illegal then it must be wrong, right Mrs. Loving?

You can see the full designs via the Washington Post, but they feature Frederick Douglas, Benjamin Banneker and Duke Ellington, each in turn. They also feature the more pedestrian DC motto, “Justice for All” instead of the more appropriate “Taxation Without Representation.”

Why I Hate DC picked up on the new Nationals song that I was trying to explain away this weekend as the result of an auditory hallucination. Here’s the song. I use that term VERY loosely here. And thanks much to the first commenter at WIHDC, who summed it up perfectly:

OMG, it’s like a third-rate glee club and the 1920’s and a marching band’s percussion section had a very slow love child. WTF?

Yes. What the Fuck, Nationals? What the Effing Eff were you on when you decided this was a good idea? I mean, the O’s just got rid of Orioles Magic, and it seems to have gotten them off to a pretty good start? I mean you hired the team that brought us the iconic Monday Night Football Theme. Shouldn’t you have gotten something that resembled that? It’s not too late, Get Your Money Back!

My friend Ben sent this email today, pertaining to the 219th anniversary of the swearing in of George Washington. In our town, amongst all the scandals and gotchas, the lobbyists and their unlimited cash, the frustration of the common man, and all manner of other injustices, we tend to gloss over, or merely canonize, those who stood on the ragged edge of history and dared to make government about the people, and not about the whims of a tyrant.

On this day in 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.

Our first and last unanimously elected leader, he had six years earlier resigned as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army - keeping his promise to the American people that he would be no monarch. When told by painter Benjamin West of Washington’s impending resignation, King George III was said to have exclaimed in shock: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

(more…)

This reeks to me of some sort of graft problem. Like the originators of the project just hadn’t put some form of welfare in their initial proposal to run Metrorail tracks all the way out to Dulles Airport.

But, now that the final bribes and blowjobs have been given to the (in)appropriate people, US Department of Transportation is reversing its non-funding of the Dulles Rail Project. That means, if all the rest of the bribes and other corruption are properly completed on their schedule (included in Appendix B5 of the new plan), we should have a Metro link to IAD by approximately 2025.

Okay, more like 2015. Maybe. If we’re lucky.

Two people were shot this afternoon at the Excel Institute, a vocational school associated with the DC Public School system, this afternoon around 2pm. The gunman, identified by one witness as a student of the school, then carjacked a series of cars before he was caught by police. The victims were identified as a student, and the director of the school.

Neither of the victims received life-threatening injuries, but both were taken to the hospital. Apparently, the suspect was caught when his stolen car was involved in accident that injured a police officer and a pregnant woman.

Here’s hoping he gets a speedy trial and a lengthy sentence.

A group of truckers was supposed to drive very slowly through DC during morning rush today in order to protest gas prices (by wasting it? I don’t get it.) and then go over to the Capitol to raise heck with the Congresscritters and Senators and demand a gas price cap.

Sadly, they got stuck in traffic on I-270, and missed morning rush.

I’m seriously laughing at my keyboard right now that they got screwed by the very force they intended to screw us all with. Surely, they’re going to be present today, messing with our street traffic for a bit, but at least they had the common decency to get stuck like the rest of us…