Volume 1 Issue 20

December 11, 2002

Dictators Running Amok

Bad Southerners, Confusing Jurisdictions, and one big ship

OK, so in the continuing saga of the DC government's inept attempts to manage snow removal, I yesterday made another discovery. (for those of you joining us in progress on this rant, it snowed last week in DC for the first time in 3 years, and the first time since I moved from a college dorm to a house in a nice residential DC neighborhood. Let's just say that the services you get aren't exactly fantastic...) Apparently they will no longer collect trash. Because they didn't yesterday, and the sound of the space shuttle/garbage truck was again absent today. Now, this does make sense, considering my street is still a sheet of ice, and the alleyways where the garbage is picked up are even worse. Tomorrow could either bring the end to this line of rant, or make it worse, as it will either rain, or ice. Boy, I can't wait to see how they work in ice, so tomorrow could be ugly. As an experiment I called City Hall today, and the woman after taking down the information, asked if there had been any treatment of the road. After I told her we did see a salt truck in the middle of the night on Sunday, she laughed. That can't be a good sign. Well, anyway the request is in, we'll see if Mr. Salt Truck comes and pays us another visit. By the way, if you live in DC and have problems, the "one call" center has been quite useful to me, I've gotten street lights changed, potholes filled and such, plus they give you a tracking number, which actually is in the computer later! After years of AU's "2FIX" (or not 2fix...) service, this is somewhat refreshing...

Trent "I am not a segregationist" Lott: Well, finally after about 5 days the mainstream media has picked up on this story...

Lott apologized for his comments yesterday, saying he never intended to say what he said -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32586-2002Dec9.html

Paul Krugman discusses the Lott controversy, and how stupid people from Mississippi are -
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/opinion/10KRUG.html

Howard Kurtz comments on why it took the media so long to pick up the story, as well as some excerpts from the pundits, including many conservatives being quite critical of Lott, some even calling for his removal -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34186-2002Dec10.html

But not everyone is so upset, including the newly elected Democratic Governor of Mississippi -
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/politics/10LOTT.html

(Side note here...has anyone seen the new Mississippi quarter yet? It's ugly as hell, just featuring a flower. You'd think they'd perhaps feature the longest river in the nation that is named after their damned state? Maybe Paul Krugman is right...)

End of the Resurgence? Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan (ND) has called on Al Gore not to run for President in 2004. -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32361-2002Dec9.html

So there, George: Jimmy Carter again blasted the Bush Administration in his Nobel Acceptance speech today in Oslo. (Side note: I always thought the prizes were awarded in Stockholm, which is in Sweden, not Oslo, Norway. Am I off my rocker here? Feel free to comment if you know). -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2561767.stm

The Boy Wonder: If you haven't read Ron Suskund's piece on Karl Rove and the Bush White House in January's Esquire, you should...it's a masterful piece of writing detailing how the Bush administration works, whether you think it good or bad is up to you I suppose -

http://www.ronsuskind.com/writing/esquire/esq_rove_0103.html

Temporary Greatness: A former "Acting" governor of NJ has been granted his statehouse portrait. For those of you new to this game, NJ goes through governors like some people go thorough paper towels. In one week earlier this year, the state had 5 governors in one week -

http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1039504549203750.xml

End of the Campaign: The Supreme Court rejected NJ Senate Candidate Doug Forester's suit that the replacement of Bob Toricelli with Frank Lautenberg was illegal, providing the final chapter in the 2002 NJ Senate campaign -

http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1039504542203750.xml

Setting Sail! Well, to compliment the soon-to-be commissioned USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy has announced that it will name its next aircraft carrier after none other than #41...George Herbert Walker Bush. Apparently the tradition of waiting until people have passed on to name ships after then has finally been ended. The ship will be the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2561447.stm

Preparing to hoof it: NYC is facing a big problem in the next week...a potential transit strike. The Mayor outlined plans to deal with it yesterday, but if it happens, it ain't going to be pretty -

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/nyregion/10PLAN.html

City? County? huh? A Virginia county is considering becoming a city, once again confusing the hell out of me as to how the Old Dominion governs itself -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32648-2002Dec9.html

Headline of the day - "Hussein repeats for third Honolulu title." No, Saddam isn't branching out, but a namesake did win the Honolulu marathon -

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Dec/09/sp/sp2 0a.html

Reinstating Rose?: ESPN.com reports that Pete Rose and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig are in negotiations to reinstate Rose back into baseball, after he was banned for gambling in 1989 -

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1209/1474384.html

Remembering Roone: Ralph Wiley posts his appreciation of Roone Arledge -
http://msn.espn.go.com/page2/s/wiley/021209.html

For your Christmas Viewing Pleasure: My favorite Christmas TV program is coming to DC! That's right folks, on Christmas Day on the WB (Channel 50 in DC), it's the Yule Log! 3 hours of just a log burning in a fireplace. Those of you from the New York area, or who get Channel 11 in NY on your cable systems have enjoyed this pleasure for years. This article gives a good history of the most popular television program in America -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32950-2002Dec9.html

And just general viewing pleasure: People has an article this week on nudity in movies -
http://people.aol.com/people/magazine/magazinefeature/0,1136 9,395978-1,00.html

Christmas Gift of the Day: Neckties are once again all the rage...bet you didn't know that there's an anthropologic theory about ties -

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/fashion/10DRES.html?8hpib

Trivia Answer: The last President to oppose the death penalty was Lyndon B. Johnson. No one got the answer right, so there is no winner.

The Final Vote: OK, folks, we're down to 3 possibilities for the title...the winner will be announced on Thursday or Friday:

1. From the Swamp
2. The World According to Greg
3. Start the Insanity!

Have a great afternoon!

Gregory S. Gadren