While Tom is condoning Capitol Police censorship, it seems the Wikipedia is locking out Congressional staffers for their unfettered revisionist history and poor manners. To quote Wikipedia:

This RFC is being opened in order to further a centralized discussion concerning actions to be taken against US Congressional staffers and possibly other federal employees who have engaged in unethical and possibly libelous behavior in violation of Wikipedia policies (WP:NPOV, WP:CIV). The editors from these IP ranges have been rude, abrasive, immature, and show disregard for Wikipedia policy. The editors have frequently tried to censor the history of elected officials, often replacing community articles with censored biographies despite other users’ attempts to dispute these violations. They also violate Wikipedia:Verifiability, by deleting verified reports, while adding flattering things about members of Congress that are unverified.

The offending editors have been blocked. This RFC is needed to gather community comments. It is proposed that a one week block is not enough.

So just to be clear Hill Staffers: the Iraq war is really causing kids to die and is a disgrace. Global warming is really happening. This administration is bought off by Big Oil, and yes, DeLay is guilty of being a jerk and worse.

Now here’s a news flash for you too – Geek are smart. They can track you down to the computer level. Oh and you’re on government time, using taxpayer funded equipment. Can we say getting sacked? Just look at what happened to Washingtonette. Oh and you will not get a book deal out of this either. Only laughter. At you.

As Tom mentioned in his earlier post, traffic was horrendous today. In the morning, we had a deadly mix of precipitation (oh, the rain, the deadly rain) and rush hour traffic, resulting in a multitude of accidents and delays (to the tune of two hours to get into work!!!!).

To make matters worse, in the evening, we had an incident involving an inmate who was run over and killed (thanks for the explanation, Tom). All this misery got me thinking about the why i hate dc blog, formerly written by James F, now written by Rusty who recently took over the reins of the blog. The damn traffic today really did have me thinking more of what I hate about our area, but then again, it’s something that makes our area unique, right??

Generally, it’s a bad idea to unfold a protest banner in the middle of the State of the Union, especially if you’re a guest in the Capitol. Generally, you shouldn’t be surprised when you get arrested for trying to interrupt the speech. The Capitol Police do not take kindly to people disturbing the business of government. What were you thinking?

having been home sick since monday, i’ve been spending some quality time with my tivo. i just caught up on yesterday’s edition of the daily show, which featured a piece on the montgomery county mooning case.

montgomery county state’s attorney doug gansler was hilarious, especially when asked about whether “helicopters” are legal in the county. after it was explained to him what this meant (rotating your hips in such a manner that a certain part of the male anatomy spins like a helicopter), gansler reasoned that the legality of the helicopter depended on where it was conducted. i’m sure many montgomery county residents are relieved to hear that if you are by yourself in the shower, you are “probably fine” doing the helicopter.

what is wrong with the metro

Originally uploaded by DCMetbloger.

Could someone please explain to me why i should be waiting 7 minutes for a train at 7pm on a tuesday? Instead of watching lights flicker, shouldn’t i be well on my way to my destination? Wouldn’t more trains per hour _and_ more cars per train speed things up?

Could metro then come something close to the amazing efficiency of the ancient moscow metropolitain or the reliability of the creaky nyc subway? We can only hope.

A DC inmate was killed while trying to escape today. He managed to escape the bus he was being transported on…but got run over when he fell from the undercarriage into traffic in the third street and was killed. So, if you were stuck in traffic, that’s why.

The Washington Post today reports that Georgetown University has agreed to serve only cage-free eggs in its dining halls. American and GW have also eliminated the use of eggs from caged birds.

Georgetown students began petitioning the school eight months ago to switch to eggs raised in a more humane fashion. Most eggs eaten in the US come from hens confined in barren, wire “battery cages” so restrictive the birds don’t even have enough space to spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering. No federal law protects the treatment of poultry.

In an article in the Hoya, Michael Basile, director of food and beverage, stated: “Georgetown University is deeply concerned about animal welfare and consequently is proud of our switch to cage-free eggs.”

I think it’s great that college students are taking a lead on this issue, as they have in anti-sweatshop campaigns and other progressive causes. Apparently, American University students have even had a national impact by persuading their campus’ dining services contractor to switch to cage-free eggs. Bon Appetit ultimately decided to phase out the use of regular eggs at all of its 200 university and corporate cafeterias across the country and switch to cage-free eggs by the end of the year.

Those of us who aren’t in college anymore can do our part by buying cage-free eggs, and just reducing our consumption of eggs outright. Trader Joes is in the process of switching its own brand of eggs to cage-free.

I agree with Paul Shapiro of the Humane Society of the US that supporting cage-free eggs shouldn’t be a controversial subject. As he said, “There are many people not opposed to killing and eating animals, but they are opposed to treating them cruelly and abusively while they are alive.”

For more information on the egg industry, the local organization Compassion Over Killing has a well-documented and informative report.

photo by cok.

The YMCA has a signup special where they waive their joiner fee, expiring at the end of the day. The location map and links to individual websites is right here.

I’ve been exercising at a member at the Reston facility for about a year and a half now and am quite happy with it. It’s a few bucks more than I was paying at Golds but the facility is newer and nicer and there’s a pool. After all, we non-DC folk don’t have free pool usage.

When your birthday week is a stressful mess and your mood is swinging violently from abject misery to manic panic, it isn’t time for Fantasy Shopping. It’s time for actual Spend Money Like There’s No Tomorrow Shopping. So off I went for a long lunch and in the course of helping the economy out, discovered the new American Apparel store downtown, on F Street between 11th and 10th.

The store opened last month, and is so unlike the usual downtown shopping experience that I was caught like a newbie supermodel in paparazzi flashlights upon entering – cement floors, bright lighting, loud music – and perfectly ordered racks upon racks of lightweight cotton clothing in a rainbow of delicious colors. This is “LA style” (so they say, I’ll have to take their word for it) – causal yet sexy. I went mad for the scoop back tees. They even have tees for baby and poochy. Bikinis, capris, skirts, hoodies – all cotton and all in the $15-35 range.

I’m not sure about the quality or the longevity, but with that kind of selection I don’t think I care. There’s nothing like soft gentle sexy cotton to improve my mood tremendously.

Once upon a time amtrak was different. Unlike airlines, who discouraged last minute tickets and one way trips, amtrak charged the same if you bought one month or one day ahead. Well that is about to change: Amtrak is introducing “Revenue Management”

What does that mean you ask? Starting next week, if you plan ahead, or travel in off-peak times, you can get a discount up to 15%. But if you buy a walk-up ticket and/or travel during peak times, say Friday or Sunday afternoon, you may pay 15% more.

Thanks Amtrak! Now I have another reason to love me some of the ever popular and dirt cheap chinatown buses. Hey, they’re leaving from more than just Chinatown these days – Vamoose leaves from my office door!