Archive for February, 2008

February’s Most Popular Blog Posts

The 10 most popular City Desk posts in February:
1. Washington Times “Scare Quotes” Are History

2. Chairman of the Bored
3. Photo of the Day, “Fuck You, Bill Belichick” Edition
4. Barnum & Bailey & Davis*
5. Morale Boost at the Post: A Game Room
6. Washington Post Staff Now Huddled With Publisher
7. LNS Makes a Literary Debut
8. The [...]

Lang: Five Must-Have Amendments to Sick Leave Bill

LL spoke to D.C. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barbara Lang this afternoon and asked her about her organization's proposed amendments to the pending sick-leave bill in front of the D.C. Council this week.
Of the 14 proposed amendments, Lang deems five to be "must-haves."
Those are:

Defining "employee" in the same terms as the city's Family [...]

The Best Reason to Vote Against Obama

My fellow Americans, I ask you: Can this great nation of ours really endure four to eight more years of the Black Eyed Peas?
Seriously, think of the Super Bowl halftime shows.
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Nationals Will Not Play First Game at Nats Park

Announced today by the Nats and The George Washington University: That august institution's baseball team will have the honor of being the first hardball squad to play at Nationals Park.
A March 22 game will pit GW versus St. Joseph's in riveting Atlantic 10 action. Oh, and according to the GW press release, "The match between [...]

Marc Fisher gives driving to the ballpark the Dr. Gridlock treatment. I drove to the ballpark during rush hour this morning, using the following route from the mid-city area: 9th Street NW/SW to Maine Avenue SW to M Street SW to First Street SW. Parked on the unit block of Q Street SW; crossed South [...]

Hillary Decides To Scare Us

Did Hillary Clinton sink to a new low with this ad? And what's with the hipster glasses?

Amendments Galore Floated for Sick Leave Bill

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council will take its second and final vote on the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, a piece of legislation that would greatly expand mandatory sick leave for all employees in the District. The legislation passed 11-2 on first reading on Feb. 5, but it stands to be heavily amended next [...]

LL ran into former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil at the Wilson Building yesterday afternoon. Brazil, as LL reported a couple of weeks back, gave $100 to his 2004 nemesis, Kwame Brown. His comments: "I'll give him some more. I think he's doing a good job." —Mike DeBonis

Quarters Without Representation

"Dissapointing but not entirely unpredictable," is the also not entirely unpredicatable take of DC Vote's communications director Kevin Paul Kiger on the U.S. Mint's rejection of "Taxation Without Representation" for the District's proposed quarter.
"It's kind of ridiculous," Kiger continues, "that the U.S. Mint would take this as a political statement when it's simply a statement [...]

Dukes Already One of the All-Time Greats

Fan IQ, which despite its URL, is not pronounced "faneek," ranks the Nats' own Elijah Dukes as fifth-best athlete in modern history when it comes to producing out-of-wedlock children (I'm not down with the term "illegitimate," sorry). It's even somewhat scientific: Author "100%InjuryRate" determined the average number of o-o-w kids produced by pro athletes by [...]

What’s Wrong in LeDroit Park?

Via the Washington Post this a.m. comes news that the latest round of property-tax assessments has increased slightly citywide. But the variations from block to block provide the really interesting story.
For instance: Brentwood, for the second straight year, posts big increases in assessments. Guess the garbage isn't stinking quite as much as in the [...]

Recreational Incarceration

This week a main topic on regular talk radio has been the Pew Center study that found we put more people in jail than any nation on the planet. Even the Chinese are stunned by our numbers.
Last night, meanwhile, a main topic on JT the Brick's nationally syndicated sportstalk show (heard locally on WTEM-AM) [...]

Petitioning Google for Bike There Feature

Some smarty has started a petition to get Google Maps to add a "Bike There" feature that would allow those of us on two wheels to get there without ending up on a freeway. (Which is what happened to me when I first moved here and took my scooter on "Pennsylvania Avenue" toward Accokeek. Turns [...]

Ukrainian Fashion Update: Photo Edition

Some shots from Tuesday's D.C. Fashion Week kick-off at the Ukrainian Embassy, from designer Aleksey Zalevskiy's mutt-meets-drag-Jesus-inspired collection:

more after the jump.

LNS Party Report

My informants have reported back and it sounds like last night's casting call party for the LNS reality show at The Park on 14th St. was a bit of a bust.
This text came in from one attendeee at 11:19 p.m.: "Soooooo lame. No lnsers here. Barely anyone here. Blahhhhhh!"
One post on LNS described the evening [...]