photo courtesy of Yukari*

Wayan may have thought that the hatin’ started when you cross the Potomac but it seems that anti-gay measures flank DC on both sides. The Post reports today that the trifecta of cornhole-phobia this week is comprised of Pittsburg, North Carolina and Baltimore. The writer reports that the Catholic Bishops statement compares same-sex attraction to the temptations of “envy, malice or greed” and politely queries Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli how he can then claim the release is intended to be “positive, pastoral and welcoming.” The article includes without comment the real comic content further on: the statement out of the Baptist Convention that “in our day and time, no other sin marches so defiantly across our national landscape.”

I think you forgot gluttony, Buddy. 66% of the adult population is overweight or obese and 19% of kids ages 6 to 11 are overweight. Maybe the Baptists replaced math class with intelligent design classes so I’ll give them a hint: 66% is more than “one in ten.”

Hmmm, they did say “marches.” Maybe that omits sins that waddle?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Hasbro

So several of the other Metblogs cities have been commenting on the new Here&Now Monopoly edition – what Hasbro calls Monopoly “if it had been invented today.” Rather than spots like Park Place and Illinois Avenue there’s Seattle’s Pioneer Square, Minneapolis’ Mall of the Americas, the Atlanta Airport, and Orlando’s Disney World. We, of course, get the White House. Reasonable – it’s the most famous of our landmarks, though I’d contend not the most visually distinctive.

The issue I take with this, however, is that it’s one of the green properties – not one of the two most expensive blue properties, which went to Times Square and Fenway Park – and sells for 3.2 million bucks.

3.2 Million. Hehehehe. Seriously? You guys think you can buy the White House for 3.2M? HAHAHAHAH. If you’re looking to update the game to the current time you need to put a price tag of 3.9 BILLION on that bit of real estate, and that’s just the rental for four years. Sorry Hasbro, if you wanted to put that kind of a price tag on one of our landmarks then maybe you could have let players purchase the local sports arena, in exchange for which you get to call it by your own name.

Oooh, there’s a new Monopoly version idea. Instead of streets and buildings you have politicians and sporting arena locations. You buy the right combination of politicians and they take money out of the city coffers to buy the sporting arenas for you! Monopoly: Corporate Sports Welfare edition. I have a few politician names I’d be happy to nominate for inclusion…

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We’ve got some good food blogs here in DC – I try to keep up with DCFoodies m’self – but sometimes you’re not as interested in reading about what other people want to tell you and are more looking for a specific solution. A breakfast solution, anyone have something to say about that Raika place, or maybe what’s the best veggie dish in the area? That’s when you need a discussion board, not a blog, and Chowhound is a pretty good place to go. They’re nation-wide but there’s a DC & Baltimore area board to take your questions to or just search the archives. So far the new Bebo Tratoria is the only restaurant I’ve punched in and not found at least one result.

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Twilight tonight was quiet and misty, perfect for a twenty-minute walk from my office downtown up to my house. Most nights I’m too tired to walk, preferring to sink into a seat on the bus, but sometimes it just feels necessary, almost cathartic. Somewhere after Massachusetts Avenue the streets narrow, the enveloping tree canopy always encouraging me to shake off the workday and clear my mind of petty stress.

At the end of the walk tonight as I turned onto my block, I heard the gentle clip-clop of a horse’s hooves. It could almost be 1890. Wait, Halloween was weeks ago – what, am I so exhausted that I’m hearing phantom horses now?

No, just an officer of the House-mounted unit of the US Park Police, guiding a superbly beautiful chestnut down my street. Though I’m close to Logan Circle, it’s a rare sight to have a horse actually in front of my house. The pair seemed so confident and steady, the horse’s coat gleaming in the light of the streetlamp. I stopped on my porch and watched them pass by, horse and rider, as the sound echoed tranquilly through the night.

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What, you thought I was going to blog about the Redskins’ dismal showing against the Eagles? Wrong. If you thought the wind last night was caused by the storm, you’d be wrong, it was the giant sucking coming out of Landover. But yes, it appears that the Nats may have a new manager in Manny Acta, whose previous credentials include being the Mets’ 3rd Base Coach and the Expos’ 3rd Base Coach. Little is known about Acta, except for the fact that he can properly use the world nucleus in context. How close is the deal? Well, that’s a good question. All local media seems to indicate it’s going to go down this week, but Wikipedia’s reporting it’s done already, which is confusing the heck out of me.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Its late, way too late, and you might be a bit drunk.

No matter, you are on a mission. You are hunting for edibles at the Super 24 Hour Safeway on Georgia Avenue, and this is what you see: SPAM!!

You know you want it. Fried. With pineapple on a pizza, Pacific Island style. No, ham, this ain’t Hawaii, this is way too late for a luau.

So do you do it, do you SPAM?

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Iwo Jima 4

Originally uploaded by photosbypjt.

The United States Marine Corps celebrates today its 231st birthday, formed on November 10th, 1775. Possibly the finest fighting force ever assembled, their history is long and colorful. If you get a chance, go check out the Marine Corps Memorial (the Iwo Jima Memorial near the Netherlands Carillon) today and remember our first fighting force.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

I am up way too early for a jaunt to San Francisco and Dulles is already packed.

Security theatre has us backed up to the front doors and in twisting lines that would make Disney World proud.

In addition there is a smooth talking announcement telling us everything will be alright. Just check your freedoms and logic with your luggage.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Let’s say it’s a Thursday night before you head out to San Francisco for a week of work and you have a happy hour invite to Cafe Asia.

What would you do?

1. Stay at work and finish the pile of to-do’s stacked on your desk, or
2. Join two birthday hotties for a few celebratory drinks?

Yeah, you know there is only one correct answer to that question, even in stuffy DC!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

We’re not a political blog, but being in the seat of government makes it hard not to comment on goings-on during a hot election cycle. What is theory and philosophical matters for most of the country translates into day-to-day differences for those of us here. Funding for agencies could change your employment situation if you’re a contractor and anyone in the lobbying business will be calling on different people in 2007. She might be someone else’s Senator but our business contact. Or maybe even the friend of a friend, as is the case for me with on-the-way-out SecDef Rumsfeld.

Living here, most of us are also aware of the political realities and how quick the winds shift. Case in point – if you’ve never heard of Rumsfeld’s Rules before, you’d do well to give them a look. Whether you love him or hate him or are somewhere in between, I think you’ll like them and find they’re good advice not just for the political appointees he wrote them for thirty years ago but for much of life in general. You won’t find them, however, at the DoD website.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I was driving to work a few days ago (which is unfortunately in Virginia) and I noticed that the oversized SUV in front of me had a peculiar looking license plate. I squinted to get a good look and then my brain hurt. Why? Why would you want this on the back of your car? What do the words “Fight Terrorism” on a license plate actually accomplish? To me that’s like having the words “Fight Obesity” tattooed on your buttocks, one word on each cheek. Or “Fight Fatigue” on a pack of cigarettes. If I ever felt the urge to buy a custom license plate, I’d prefer to have the one that says “Fight For Your Right to Party”, or maybe just “Fight!”

Can anyone tell me what this is all about? It’s entirely possible that I’m just missing the point here.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you’re a liberal minded DC resident like I am (whatever that means), things can’t get much better than they are today. After billions of dollars were spent around the country to create annoying ad campaigns, our citizens have spoken, and voilà! It’s out with the Republicans. Bush even threw his new enemies an olive branch by kicking Rumsfeld out. What’s next, DC statehood with representation for our taxation? The tide has changed my friends, and the outlook is good.

While I’m talking about reasons to be happy, let’s talk about how beautiful the Fall colors are right now. Summer has warm weather but I sure don’t miss those 95 degree, 100% humidity days. Spring brings the city back to life and gives the cherry blossoms a reason to pop (and gives us a reason to drink on a roof deck). Winter just plain sucks. But Fall gives us Halloween, reasons to wear our favorite sweaters, and as my friend says, Fall is “boot season”. But don’t forget about how amazing the landscape looks as Eye Captain shows us so well. Who would have guessed that Rock Creek could look so good? The colors are dripping in his photo and the water is as smooth as glass. It makes me want to take a deep breath and yell, “Only two more years of Bush!”

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Front View Blue

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

If you wandered around the city today and happened to lay eyes on two beautiful Ferrari Fioranos, it’s because they’re here as part of the Ferrari Panamerican 20000, a trip from Belo Horizonte, Brazil to New York, NY, by way of the Panama Isthmus, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and then on to DC. This morning they scheduled a fuel stop in Ashburn, so I trekked out there despite my election hangover and my fatigue to see these monster cars.

Wow. What incredibly sexy vehicles. Sadly, I didn’t get to take it on a test drive, but after their fuel stop in Ashburn, they were headed downtown for pictures, and thence to the Italian Embassy for a big Ferrari party. I hear they’re even putting the cars inside. Anyhow, keep an eye out, they’ll be around all of today and will be heading to Detroit tomorrow morning.

I hope the drivers take I-68, that’s the kind of interstate that those cars are absolutely made for. Want more pictures? I’ve got a whole Flickr set for you. My new desktop is this shot

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I worked as an election official in the 12th precinct of Arlington County on election day. My day began at 4:55am when we opened the doors to the Fairlington Community Center, and it ended just before 9pm, when we had all signed off on the reports from the day’s endeavours, packed and sealed them, signed them yet again, and gave them to our Chief Judge to be delivered to the Arlington County Board of Election. Contained below are some of my thoughts on working as a election official, some of the details of the day, and some general commentary on elections as a whole. DC is, if nothing else, a town of elections. We depend on them for our importance, derive much of our residency from the results of them, and much of what happens here is because of them, in a way that most other places can barely begin to touch.

I arrived at a little before 5am, as the precinct was opened. We unpacked the large locked cart that arrived the day before (or earlier that morning, I’m not sure), and the chief unpacked her kit that she had audited the night before, and that gave us what we needed to start the machines. We had 5 AVS “WinVOTE” boxes that are little more than platforms for embedded WinXP and a special software/hardware combination that makes the voting process possible. Several of us were given smart cards keys on lanyards that we were not permitted to remove except to give to another election officer. At that point we took the oath of office, well before the sun rose.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

This election saw some interesting divisions on subjects based on locale, as Tom mentioned in the comments over here. This site has some neat drill-down you can do on all the Virginia contests, both by region and county. You can see the Webb-Allen race by region and what a huge skew the area containing Arlington and the area containing Newport News had for Webb, or how for some reason Greensville and Campbell county were the only two to get a majority of no votes on question 2 about the powers of the general assembly. Maybe I’m just a big numbers nerd, but I think looking at the distributions is neat even on issues I didn’t give a toss about.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Salon’s Video Dog feature, which I normally find one step below useless, has compiled a somewhat interesting top and bottom ten political spots of the season. Of the ten worst, this spot from the Allen-Webb contest is #2. Somewhat surprisingly – at least to those of us who find little to like in MacacAllen or Ms Ogeny Webb – it’s not from either campaign; it’s from VoteVets.org, and according to the nonpartisan group FactCheck.org, it’s complete bunk.

Between this and the queer-hatin’ I’m real proud to be here.

Darned HTML. Did I remember to close the sarcasm tag?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Here’s the tally for yesterday’s Virginia State Marriage Amendment voting that denies civil unions, domestic partnerships and any “other arrangement” between same-sex couples that purports to bestow the benefits of marriage:

There you go, 57% of Virginians have permanently denied families of same-sex couples the legal protections and financial stability offered by civil marriage and the lesser benefits that could be achieved through civil unions, domestic partnerships or other forms of legal recognition.

And via a state constitutional amendment too. Like a state law wasn’t enought discrimination.

If you are gay and live in Virginia, let this be a loud a clear call to move north of the Potomac. While Virginia’s anti-gay war continues unabated, DC is way more welcoming to those of the homosexual persuasion.

First off, we kiss you! Then, you can get caught out at Stead or cruised on Match or at the Bling Bling Giant. Hell, we’ll even elect you (or two) to the city council.

So don’t put up with the outright discrimination and underlying hatred, come north, come to DC. We’re so liberal, we have hermaphrodic bass!

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photo by Dominique Dierick

Tomorrow the planet Mercury will pass between us and the sun, though it’s not something you’ll be able to view with the naked eye. You could go look at a larger version of the photo to the right or you could head to the King Street Parking Garage at Montgomery College in Silver Spring. They’ll have equipment there for both fair weather (ie, not cloudy) and foul. If you’d rather not lever yourself out of your easy chair I suppose you could always watch the Exploratorium’s webcast…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Sam Felder

Before the results of the constitutional amendment vote come in and I lose my temper, I just wanted to say to all of you Virginians who got out and voted today: I’m proud of you. The Times Dispatch quotes numbers indicating that at 2pm today, with a full 5 hours more to go, over 30% of you in Fairfax had come out and votes. In Loudoun it was somewhere between 25 and 40%. It’s not the Newport News numbers of 60%, but it’s still a good mid-day turnout on a non-Presidential election and may indicate a highest-ever turnout for us in an off-year. Thanks for getting out there and making your voice heard.

even if you voted wrong

Whoops, sorry.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…you can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, the hotline for the National Campaign for Fair Elections. Don’t be shy or embarrassed – the statistic being bandied about is that 1/3 of the electorate will be voting on new machines which would contitute a HUGE rollout in the computer business.

Sadly, voting now is in the computer business.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs