‘Gavel’
courtesy of ‘David Michael Morris’

Today’s DC Register had no mention of a newly scheduled legislative session. As I mentioned Wednesday that means that under normal operating procedure there’s won’t be a session where the council can have the second reading of the gay marriage bill between now and the 28th. They could publish a notice in next Friday’s register for a session with less than 15 days notice “upon good cause found” but it’s hard to imagine what that would be.

As we know, once the mayor signs the bill it has to go to Congress for their 30 day optional meddling period. The rules are that the clock doesn’t tick unless they’re in session. Section 602-10(c) of the Home Rule Act spells it out:

such act shall take effect upon the expiration of the 30-calendar-day period (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and any day on which neither House is in session because of an adjournment sine die, a recess of more than three days, or an adjournment of more than three days) beginning on the day such act is transmitted by the Chairman to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

So being in a big rush to send this off benefits nobody at all, particularly if it opens the door to a legal challenge over whether or not the council followed appropriate procedure and allowed enough time for public comment.

‘Resting’
courtesy of ‘Daniel.Techie {TCP/IP} @ 127.0.0.1’

You’ve probably heard by now that DC’s favorite baby, Tai Shan, is moving back to China soon. Which is a sad thing for those of us who have watched him grow up, but you know, a panda can’t live with Mom & Dad forever. Tai Shan is four-and-a-half now, the age at which a young panda should be looking for a nice girl panda, present her with a bouquet of bamboo or perhaps a beet cake, and then have absolutely no idea what to do with her.

Ah, our little guy is getting ready to strike out on his own. It does bring a tear to the eye, no?

‘Stressed spelled backwards …’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

Yesterday afternoon brought the sad news that Daily Candy will cease publication of all but 5 of its city-specific email newsletters, which means that Daily Candy DC will be cut by the first of the year.

It’s sad, because while I find a lot of Daily Candy’s general content to be a little too trendy for my geeky tastes, I could usually count on the DC newsletter to give me good info about new shops, local artists, and other happenings around town. I’m not ashamed to admit that it gave me ideas for posts here on more than one occasion. So we’ll be pouring one out for our fallen bretheren at the next We Love DC Authors meeting.

‘an optic volcano’
courtesy of ‘katherine_hitt’

If you’re a fellow gen-xer and were at all into odd music during your youth then you’d probably recognize The Residents‘ signature eyeball motif. I honestly hadn’t thought of them in years, despite having really enjoyed Meet the Residents. However the almighty wikipedia indicates they’ve never really stopped creating, and now they’re coming to the 930 Club on Feb 7th of next year. I’m somewhat surprised by the venue, given that when Negativland came through two years ago they only rated the under 100 seat Warehouse.

‘The Cell’
courtesy of ‘andertho’

Alleged bank robber Kelvin James Crosby, 28, of High Point North Carolina was pinched in our fair city during a traffic stop. We’ll be sending him back to NC to stand trial for a bank robbery, during which he is reported by police to have dropped a personal document with his name on it. After finding this document, police compared a picture of Crosby to the surveillance tape and decided that was a good enough match to justify putting a warrant out for his arrest.

I’d like to think that if I was going to go stick up a joint I’d avoid carrying around my bills and love letters, but perhaps it was a spur of the moment kind of thing inspired by this bit of mail that drove him to it. You can insert your own lobbyist/congress crooks-coming-to-DC joke here.

‘National Press Club – Bottoms Up – 1-30-09’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

I’m still waiting for my invitation to join the National Press Club, but they’re opening their doors to any and all tomorrow evening. Three of the writers and editors from America’s Finest News Source, The Onion, will be there to talk and flog their new book, Our Front Pages. I’ve heard some of these folks doing their shtick on the radio recently and they’re as pithy and funny live as they are in print. The event’s no charge but the same can’t be said of the bar afterward – it’s pay as you go. It’s understandable – you’d never get journalists to leave an open bar.