Volume 2 Issue 17
February 25, 2003
Pothole!
Saddam issues a challenge sure to frighten W, running for the border, and free shoes if you visit Alaska!
Hey look, more friggin snow is on the way! Yay! Maybe my basement will flood again! Actually, if it just snows we should be all right. Tip to you all out there...if you can avoid it, never have a flood, what a pain to clean up from.
So it's kind of a slow week here in the capitol city, as far as I can see not too much happening. That, or I've been to stressed out over my basement disaster to pay much attention to things. One thing I have seen however, is that the District is once again sporting some Major League potholes. Now, those of you not from the DC area may not really appreciate what I speak of. I'm not talking about your standard pothole on your street, that's like a Class-A ball pothole, maybe AA. Here, some of them are as big as your car, and can literally swallow small animals whole. On my way into work down North Capitol Street this week, everyday there are at least 1 or 2 folks off to the side of the road trying to salvage their cars, or their tires. And, pothole driving makes it necessary to do the fun "slalom drive", where you are swerving constantly to avoid the craters, while not hitting other traffic. Also, there is the other traditional method of going really slow over the potholes. Let me tell you, they're deceptive suckers. You may see one and think, "ah, not that deep, I'll go over it slowly", and then BAM, you realize it's like 2 feet deep. And I'm sure they will be with us for sometime, as the winter weather will continue, and the crews won't be able to even begin working on them. Strangely, I've also found the situation to be much worse in Maryland than in DC itself. The city apparently has some newfangled equipment and such, maybe that's making a difference, I will admit that pothole filling has gotten better since I first arrived in the city, unfortunately can't say the same for snow removal. Boy what a boring topic. No wonder most columnist's don't write every day...oh well, onto today's insanity, which never fails to please!
The Dim Cowboy no more: Now he's the warmonger who will destroy the world. Well, at least the European's opinion of Bush is getting somewhat better -
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/5254911.htm
So Bush has compared Saddam to Hitler...what would Ike think? According to Nick Kristof, we know, because Ike did the same thing during the Suez crisis of 1956 that the French and Germans are doing now: Staying out of it, and downplaying concerns. Guess Ike's a terrorist. We need you Ike!-
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/opinion/25KRIS.html
Oh, Saddam: Saddam Hussein has challenged George Bush to a debate over the crisis. I'm just not going to go there. It's waaay too easy. -
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/21/iraq/main541427.sh tml
How Rather got the interview -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2797199.stm
Hans Blix says he's seeing more cooperation -
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-UN-Iraq-Blix.html
And here's another question about war preperations...what about the people in the Kurdish regions of Iraq, who basically have their own country...what are we doing to protect them? Oh that's right, nothing, in fact we're selling them out to the Turks -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62260-2003Feb24.html
Here we go: You knew this was going to happen eventually. Bush should just be thankful it came from a man who has absolutely no moral authority whatsoever. Robert Mugabe, the "president" of Zimbabwe, who has systematically destroyed his country, called on the US to disarm. -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2796883.stm
Makin' a run for the border: People are piled up trying to get across, and the US officials are trying to keep them from getting...out? You see, the rush is not in Mexico, it's people trying to flee the US and get into Canada -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/national/25DETA.html
A lonely protest: A NCAA Division III player who turns her back on the US flag when the national anthem is being played is getting criticism. Gwen Knapp thinks that's good, because protest shouldn't be easy. An excellent look at the debate -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/25/SP157685.DTL
That Other Country: Agh...but, why aren't we worried, I mean, oh *sigh*. North Korea launched a missile today to "celebrate" the new South Korean President -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62404-2003Feb24.html
And the US doesn't care -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2798297.stm
A new peace plan: How to get peace in the Middle East? Snow! Maybe we can send Tony Williams over there too, and then they won't be back to normal for months!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63828-2003Feb25.html
No money for you! The governors did not get what they came for from President Bush yesterday, though they did get a nice lunch -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/politics/25GOVS.html
A Novel Solution: But the mayor of York, PA has found a new way around his city's fiscal crunch...instead of having a commuter tax, have a commuter "donation". It's already closed over 10% of the budget gap, and it's catching on. But I wouldn't expect to see it in New York or DC anytime soon -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/nyregion/25YORK.html
Losing Confidence: Consumer Confidence in the economy hit a 9-year low today. This is not good, considering that consumer spending is the only thing keeping this puppy going -
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-economy-consumer.html
http://money.cnn.com/2003/02/25/news/economy/consumer/index. htm
The "Eight is Enough" group gets serious: EJ Dionne discusses how Democrats have begun to attack Bush more often -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62681-2003Feb24.html
Look Who's Running for President: Gary Hart is still out there thinking... -
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E12026 58%257E,00.html
Look Who's Voting for President: Virginia is the latest state to think about moving it's primary up to early February, to be "in the game" -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62053-2003Feb24.html
And Arizona's getting in the game too -
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/056/oped/Arizona_grabs_a_p iece_of_the_action+.shtml
Bad John Edwards Photo of the Day:
No, absolutely not. I will not sign you there. Just posters only please folks, posters only!
If only we had someone like this in DC: Richard Daley will likely win a 5th term as Chicago mayor today. Say what you will about him, but at least he cares about the city, and its appearance. In DC, roads are still closed because of snow, almost 2 weeks after the blizzard. -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55154-2003Feb23.html
And in New York, they've found that actually putting more officers in the subway reduces crime! What a revelation! Man, you'd think the DC police chief might notice that -
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/056/region/Violent_subway_cr ime_has_dropp:.shtml
Stuck in Space: The crew of the International Space Station are doing tests to see if the station can survive with a crew of only two astronauts. Reducing the crew until the shuttles fly again would ease pressure on supplies, and make it easier to keep it up with just the Russian equipment alone -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/25/sprj.colu.station.a stronauts.ap/index.html
A Traffic Solution? The Congestion Charge scheme in central London is working very well, so much so that buses have had to slow down since they we're running too fast. Traffic in the area is down by 25%, much more than the 15% goal set. Could it be duplicated elsewhere?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-590892,00.html
The Grey Lady continuing to fade? More criticism of the New York Times. Today, how it's editorial page has lost influence -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2079160/
Women playing Hockey: The debate on women's participation in sports continues. The New York Times (proving the whole paper hasn't gone to hell:) has an in-depth look at where women are breaking through in the sports world. It seems to be an issue of strength vs. skill...where strength is the main factor, men will always be at a different level, but where skill is the main thing...that's different. No easy answer though. -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/sports/othersports/25WOME. html?8hpib
March MTV? If war breaks out in Iraq, CBS may move the NCAA Basketball tournament to MTV. That should be interesting -
http://espn.go.com/ncb/news/2003/0224/1513523.html
But are they sober enough to notice? Louisiana is sinking. Like they care right now...go see them after Mardi Gras in a few weeks -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/02/24/sinking.louisiana .ap/index.html
People with waaay too much time on their hands: The newest group of crazies out there are frequent flier mile hoarders, who do things like flying to London and turning around just to get miles. Not that they don't have some good tips -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62784-2003Feb24.html
Free Shoes! 33,000 Nike shoes that washed off a cargo ship are floating towards Alaska. Unfortunately, they aren't paired, so happy hunting! -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/02/24/state1522EST7451.DTL
Longevity: He drank, ate fatty foods, had 3 cups of coffee a day, and smoked until he was 97. The oldest American man has died at 113 -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/02/24/oldest.man.dies.ap/in dex.html
