I was at the Taste of Columbia Pike this afternoon for a work event. It wasn’t that bad, there was a large crowd of locals and lots of entertainment mostly consisting of different groups of dancers (the Saffron Belly Dancers were very nice to watch.)

So I  was standing around with some co-workers chatting it up while watching these women twirl around with their bare mid-drifts. All of a sudden I hear a guy yell “watch out!” which was then followed by a loud thump. Sounds like someone wasn’t watching out.

I turned to see an Arlington County Police Cruiser back into a parked car.

Typically the Police resolve an accident- not cause it.

It wasn’t a huge deal, just some paint left on the other car but I had to say I was amused to see the officiers exchange information and take photos. It makes me wonder what happens a police officier gets into a fender bender.

Bomb Squad Investigating Abandoned Greenpeace Stuffed Bear At Columbia Heights

Not that the topic needs to be dragged through the news any more on the DC blogs, but homeless polar bears holding signs that say “SOS” are not the works of random activists. Ready for the surprise? It’s Greenpeace at it again. Man, those guys are so clever.

It has been an amusing protest of off-shore drilling and we all get the message, but can’t we continue without wasting the valuable resources of DC? On Tuesday a suspicious package shut down the Columbia Heights Metro station during the morning. It turned out to be a gigantic stuffed polar bear that Greenpeace left by a garbage can outside of the Metro without informing authorities. The taxpayers paid to send the bomb squad out, but Greenpeace got their message on the news, so we can be happy about it without complaining.

Yesterday another bear was placed by the Reflection Pool, leaving park rangers to spend their time, energy, and most importantly their attention dealing with the bear and getting Greenpeace on the news again.

Politics are all over Washington, DC. I point to the nuclear proliferation protesters who sit in front of the White House as an example of a good protest. The authorities know that they are there, and they do not leave their protest materials unattended for police to deal with at the taxpayer’s expense.

By all means Greenpeace, get your message out there by putting people in bear costumes on the side of US-50 (see post below by Frank), but don’t think for a moment that Washington will take your message seriously if you delay their Metros and basically use police resources to get press. Not cool.