Over the weekend, Postie Marc Fisher lamented the fact that the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon doesn’t get as much attention as the 10th anniversary approaches as the attack on New York does. Yet Fisher writes the piece with a pretty keen awareness of why this is so. His 1,700-word essay is full of hedging statements:

Comparing one person’s pain with another’s, or one city’s with another’s, can feel disturbing, even petty.

There are good, natural reasons for the imbalance between the New York and Pentagon stories...

Even the Pentagon’s efficiency militated against public memory of the attack there.

It is possible to recognize the dominance of the New York story without resenting it.

Fisher actually spends more time explaining why New York gets more coverage—the number of casualties (more than 2,700 to the Pentagon's 184), more news media coverage and video, the fact that the World Trade Center was located in the middle of New York City—and quoting sources who agree that such coverage is reasonable, than he does explaining why it's wrong.

At best, he offers up a limp defense of something we already know: The Pentagon attack matters. The lives lost there matter, too. And, for that matter, so do the lives of the 44 people Fisher doesn't mention: those who died when United Airlines flight 93 hit the ground in a Pennsylvania field. And what about the thousands of New York first responders who have sickened in the 10 years since—hundreds of whom have died?

I can't help but pick up on a bit of regional defensiveness, or what some may call D.C.'s inferiority complex regarding New York. But why? It's all bad. There's no sense in playing "me too" when the stakes were so high.

Photo by U.S. Navy Specialist 1st Class Brandan W. Schulze via Wikimedia Commons

Bad Boys: Police officials like to boast of record-setting statistics, but a new set of numbers aren't likely to cause any joy near Judiciary Square. By mid-June, 16 Metropolitan Police Department officers have been arrested this year; all of last year, the total number was only 17. The vast majority of D.C. cops arrested get busted for domestic violence or drunk driving. We're not sure if that's supposed to make people feel better, or worse. -4

Better Safe Than Sorry?: After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a whole new set of fortifications and walls went up around the Pentagon, making it pretty tough to drive anywhere near the building without proper credentials. That didn't stop a suspicious backpack from prompting authorities to close highways and exit ramps around the Defense Department headquarters this morning. By late afternoon, an alleged suspect, Yonathan Melaku, was in custody for allegedly vandalizing cars in Leesburg, Va. He's in the Marine Reserves. Since no bombs went off, commuters in northern Virginia may want Melaku tried on a more serious charge: disrupting rush hour. -2

Cheetahs Are The New Pandas: Ever since Tai Shan shipped back off to China, the cute factor on the eastern side of Connecticut Avenue NW between Woodley Park and Cleveland Park has been a bit lacking. (No offense to any readers who live there—you all look marvelous.) New photos the National Zoo released today of adorable cheetah cubs, though, give some hope for the future. The cubs are in Front Royal, Va., for now, but we expect them to make their way to the District quickly—after all, can cheetahs do anything any other way? +3

Doughnut Wars: The idea of a fried chicken-and-doughnut sandwich would seem to be sufficiently absurd—albeit also delicious—that it could only occur to one person in a city at a time. (Though we suppose the Double Down goes to show anything is possible.) But not here in D.C.: ChurchKey and the U Street Music Hall are feuding over who invented the idea first. The food coma that would result after eating one, though, should ensure that things don't get too heated. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 62 Today's score: -2 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 62

Pentagon Parking Lot, May 29

Page Three photos are now available in a weekly updated gallery.

Rolling Thunder, May 29th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

Pentagon Parking Lot, Rolling Thunder, May 29th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

War on Christmas: Federal officials are preparing to ditch the color-coded alert system that's been stuck on yellow virtually every day since it debuted in 2002. But it's always red alert near the Pentagon, which is why the discovery today of a blinking Christmas ornament in a trash can in the Metro station there caused officials to shut down and evacuate the stop for an investigation. Fortunately for the commuters stuck outside during the panic, it wasn't particularly cold out today. Wait, what? Oh. -2

Room Service: Working for a luxury hotel in the District often means a chance to glimpse powerful people coming and going (and we don't just mean Eliot Spitzer at the Mayflower). Unless, that is, you're a Muslim who works for the Mandarin Oriental, in which case your bosses will tell you to stay away from floors occupied by visiting delegations of Israeli government officials. That's what happened at the hotel in Southwest over the weekend, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was staying there. This might, though, present a good Middle Eastern peace plan; just move all the Israeli settlers into the now-purged-of-Muslims Mandarin, and voila—no more conflict! -1

Maryland ♥ South Korea: Living in Maryland, instead of D.C., could have its perks. There's the blue crabs, the fact that jousting is the state sport, and—of course—the whole "voting representation in Congress" thing. Add to that list now the fact that Maryland drivers will automatically qualify for South Korean drivers licenses, and the Old Line State looks pretty good. Koreans will qualify for a Maryland license without taking a test, too, which is sure to alarm Fox News Channel. Even worse: Maryland has the same arrangement with France! +1

Hoard Bread, Milk, and Toilet Paper: The District and its suburbs always handle snow with the equanimity one might expect from residents of the capital of the world's mightiest nation—by closing schools, driving like lunatics, and generally freaking out. Prepare for the first major installment of such hysteria tomorrow afternoon. No less an authority than Bob Ryan says light snow showers could yield the season's first accumulating snow during the evening commute. We'll see you all in April, when it's safe to go outside again. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 54 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 50

Shootings Linked: When someone fired shots at the Pentagon last week, it seemed like a harmless enough incident; no one was hurt, after all. Now comes word the same weapon was used to shoot up the Marine Corps Museum and, possibly, a Marine recruiting center in Chantilly, and suddenly, what seemed like a prank—albeit a sick one—looks a lot more threatening. (Nota bene for the shooter: Like the Wu-Tang Clan, the U.S. Marine Corps is generally believed to be nothing to fuck with.) -3

Smoggy Days Are Here Again: Breathing in Washington can be complicated by any number of factors: heat and humidity, in the summertime; heat and humidity in the fall, too, thanks to global warming. And also, according to the National Resources Defense Council, horrible air quality. The group will release a list tomorrow that ranks D.C. among the "Filthy 15" worst cities in the nation for bad-air days. Philadelphia, New York, Houston, and Los Angeles also ranked high. Those are some of the biggest cities in the country; apparently we have enough hot air to make up for our relatively small size. -3

This Post Brought to You By Creative Loafing, Inc.: The Bowl Formerly Known As the EagleBank Bowl was in dire need of a new name, mostly because EagleBank has seen better days financially. So now RFK Stadium will play host to the "Military Bowl presented by Northrup Grumman." Which seems reasonable; the military, after all, is a major sponsor of Northrup Grumman, so why shouldn't the defense contracting firm give something back? The renaming fuss was good for one thing—it briefly reminded people that RFK Stadium hosts a college football bowl game. -2

DeAngelo Hall of Fame: The last time a Redskins player made four interceptions in one game before Sunday, it was Sammy Baugh—who was mostly famous for being a quarterback. Which shows you how long it's been. Which, in turn, explains why the Pro Football Hall of Fame wants the jersey DeAngelo Hall wore in the Skins victory over the Chicago Bears. Fortunately for the folks in Canton, Dan Snyder can afford to buy Hall a new one. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 54 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 48

Pentagon, Defend Thyself: When building a massive military office complex in northern Virginia, the Pentagon's designers probably figured there wasn't any reason to deck the place out like an actual fort; it's been almost 200 years since the British sacked Washington, so why put big guns on the Defense Department headquarters to repel invaders? The answer came, a bit belatedly, early this morning: Because without them, some random wacko might shoot out the windows. (No one was hurt.) -3

Bikesharing is Caring: Looking at the Capital Bikeshare station map, there's a distinct paucity of places to pick up the red-and-yellow cruisers east of Capitol Hill. District officials want to change that—but plans for a station near Lincoln Park are, apparently, causing tears and rumored death threats in the neighborhood. Of course, the reason Bikeshare can't put a station in Lincoln Park itself is that the National Park Service owns it. Yet another reason to wish for real Home Rule. -2

Let Them Eat Cake: Turns out feeding poor kids healthy meals is about as popular as raising taxes. Or at least that's the impression given by hundreds of angry comments on a Washington Post story reporting on expanded free meal programs in D.C. Public Schools. Someone should find out who's posting all the vitriol, track them down offline, and steal their milk money. -2

Trick or Treat: For kids, Halloween typically means gorging on candy. For some adults, Halloween typically means gorging on booze. Happily, the SoberRide program—on financial life support earlier in the year—will once again provide free cab rides around the holiday, up to a $30 trip on Saturday, Oct. 30. Which means your costume can be something besides a drunk driver. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 37 Today's score: -5 Today's Needle rating: 32

Apology Tour: Before Tuesday's election, it was Adrian Fenty trying to convince voters that he was sorry and he'd change. After Tuesday, someone's still doing that sort of thing, only now, it's the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, which has taken to Twitter to apologize for how long it took to count votes. The BOEE says it'll all be better in November. Which is good. Because, you know, everyone is really wondering who will win the November election, in which Republicans will not be running a candidate. -4

Shock and Eww: Protecting our nation's security in the post-9/11 era is a tough job. You've got the wars to manage in Afghanistan and Iraq, alliances to keep up, supply chain logistics to contemplate, and oh, yes, also a lot of child pornography to download. Pentagon officials, embarrassed by Yahoo News reports that they declined to investigate reports that DOD workers were buying child porn, now say they'll try to do better. Which is an improvement on their earlier line: "But if we don't look at child porn, the terrorists win!" +2

SmarTrip Discount Not So Smart: To ease the pain when Metro announced its latest round of fare hikes (complemented, naturally, by increasingly lousy service), the transit agency promised to cut the $5 price for a SmarTrip card in half. Turns out they didn't really mean that. Concerned that scammers will buy $2.50 SmarTrip cards, take a ride that costs more than $2.50, then exit the system (incurring a negative balance) and throw the card away, Metro says the whole "discount" thing is on hold. Admittedly, it's hard to imagine people would actually carry out that complicated scenario en masse. Then again, it's also hard to imagine that 34 years after the subway system opened, there's still no guaranteed funding mechanism in place. -3

Beat Dallas, and Twitter: Turns out Courtland Milloy isn't the only local institution that's suspicious of social media. The Redskins are now threatening to revoke media credentials for any reporters who blog or tweet from the team's practices. The theory, apparently, is that any intel leaking out of Coach Mike Shanahan's practice sessions could give aid and comfort to the enemy (this week, the Houston Texans). Which is almost reasonable. But if the team reverts back to last year's form, don't be surprised if Dan Snyder tries to combine this new anti-Twitter policy with last year's lawsuits against fans, and starts suing people who complain on Twitter about how they play. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 60 Today's score: -7 Today's Needle rating: 53

Speaking of pools, I continue to hear from people in the community about the strange axing of Clark Ray, the guy who ran the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, until he was unceremoniously fired by the Fenty regime. A couple of parks-oriented community types over the past several days have bent my ear, saying, hey, here was a guy who was actually working hard, trying to make things happen—and then comes the hook.

However, if you look at City Desk from late last week, our amazing Loose Lips columnist Mike DeBonis reports of mass firings at the rec department. Could this be what forced the reckoning—that Ray refused to clean house the way that Dan Tan and others were insisting? A possibility.

Elsewhere, you gotta credit WaPo reporter Allison Klein for this piece, about how the Pentagon's maze of inroads, off-roads, and access roads constitute a trap of sorts for drunk drivers. Never driven drunk there, but I have felt as helpless as a drunk trying to get out of there on one or two occasions, both following trips to Costco.

On the media front: How many more columns is Andy Alexander going to write on the corrections problem at the Washington Post before taking someone to task for it? I mean, who deserves the blame for letting the backlog of uncorrected stuff get so big?

Also on the media front: Commenters are going wild on the Washington City Paper's piece on Foreign Policy magazine. What a community we're building.

Have no idea how the Redskins made out in the draft. How no idea how the Eagles made out in the draft. How no idea how the Giants or the Cowboys made out in the draft. In the coming days, fans and commentators will be delivering grades to all these draft performances, and all of it is useless. You're better off reading about Foreign Policy magazine, in fact. Because even though we can organize information like no one's biz, we can beam updates everywhere, aggregate all kinds of shit, and ping to our heats' content, but one thing we'll never be able to master is how well a college football player will perform in the NFL. Never.

Colbert I. King: Slamming the D.C. Council, among others, for their pettiness regarding baseball tix. Points well taken.

And some pricey vandalism took place Saturday around Logan Circle.

Her last day at the office of the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logistics & Materiel Readiness – Program Support) was yesterday. In her farewell note to colleagues, she writes: "I now plan to become a full-time volunteer clown and spend time during the week doing what I've had time to do only on weekends for the past few years: bringing smiles to the faces of children and children-at-heart."

Kopff, who has brought her act, along with her husband, to NIH Children's Inn, Children's Hospital, Georgetown Hospital's pediatric ward, and INOVA Fairfax's pediatric ward, among other places, now plans to spend the bulk of her clown time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. At Walter Reed, she feels a connection to the wounded vets and their families: the people her former job, in some way, affected.

She's careful with the balloons around some, though. They pop. "So you can imagine the trauma that could bring up, especially if you're a patient just back from Iraq or Afghanistan. So we're careful. We ask. Or we just do magic tricks," she says.

Sometimes she'll ask patients what other VIPs, besides her, have visited. Some say the Secretary of Defense. "Oh, he's my boss," she'll say. "But, to be honest, they're more impressed with the Redskins cheerleaders."

No matter. Kopff, 61, still plans to go often, driving from her Cleveland Park house to Mologne House on the grounds of Walter Reed, where she arrives in her getup, complete with a 3-foot baloon hat she gives away at each visit and clown shoes dating from the 1950s. She doesn't wear face paint, since "some children and, really some adults, are afraid of a clown with face paint."

The kids at Walter Reed, most of whom are dependents of the soldiers, "love it." The parents welcome the distraction. Soldiers alone in a room will get the full clown treatment if they're up for it. "There was this one guy, very handsome, probably in his mid-20s, about 6-5, in a wheelchair and missing a leg. He was outside smoking with his mom and yelled to me: 'Hello, Clown. If you ever want to get rid of those shoes, I'm a size 16....I can take one of them.' So they make me laugh sometimes."

Kopff does more than clown for the vets. Since last December, she's been collecting music and movies for them. She and her husband are no longer accepting VHS tapes ("my husband said, 'Enough, already'"), but they will take any DVDs, DVD players, or CDs and donate them either to Walter Reed or the the D.C. VA Medical Center. She keeps a big box on her front porch on Newark Street NW as a dropoff. Got media you'd like to pile in? E-mail Judy: jkopff[at]aol[dot]com. Maybe if you're nice, she'll make you a poodle.