Here we are, back for the second full work week of 2010. How's your year going so far? I'm still recovering from the Bathing of the Cat 2K10, which resulted in an itchy and red wrist wound. I'm resting assured my cat isn't trying to kill me, since she went across the street and not down the road.What's burning through the RSS feeds from the weekend? Well, there's the nonsense about the whole No Pants Metro Ride. I like a lot of the things Improv Everywhere does, and the New York no pants subway ride was a clever idea. Somehow, to me, it just looses some of its charm when copied down here. The grittier and busier New York City Subway lends itself to these antics more than the DC Metro. Somehow the 20 minute headways and extremely low ridership on Sundays makes it seem a bit... lame.
Another 'cuddler?' Another bad story on WTOP, for sure. A woman in Glover Park awoke to a strange man in her bed early Sunday morning. WTOP writes it up, and manages to use an exclamation point in the first sentence. See:
WASHINGTON - What a frightening way to wake up!Yes! Breaking and entering and possible sexual assault is frightening! Writing about the possibility of another serial rapist should be approached very casually! These stories are totes difficult to handle so we'll err on the side of stupid!
Taxicab driver shot in Dupont Circle. According to the MPD 2D listserv, a cab driver was shot in the jaw in the 1700 block of T Street, NW. The incident happened around 11:30 PM Saturday night. The cab driver was conscious at the scene, and was transported to a local hospital. No word on suspects or motive.
National Zoo artificially inseminates female panda. The clock is running out for the Zoo's giant pandas. Butterstick will be leaving early next month, and zoo experts only have 48 hours to use the turkey baster to get Mei Xiang pregnant. The potential offspring would be Butterstick's brother. We now begin Panda Gestation Watch 2K10... ooooooh. Not as exciting as the Butterstick webcam was back in the day. And yes, Panda Inseminator is a full-time job at the National Zoo.
Fenty's pals still getting money. Banneker Ventures received a check for $2.5 million from the DC Housing Authority over the holidays, despite the firm's contract being terminated. The payment was for "services rendered" and should be the last payment. The Council, of course, is pissed but I suppose there isn't much that can be done, at this point. Banneker Ventures received questionable contracts from the city, and is run by a pal of Mayor Fenty. The Council put a stop to these contracts, but some work had already been started.
Not DC, but yeah. The Simpsons is really 20 years-old? I don't know which blows my mind, the fact that people conceived when Die Hard came out can drink, or that the Simpsons is 20 years-old and has run 450 episodes. I ended up watching the first few minutes of the Simpsons tonight, after the Cardinals-Packers game. I haven't watched the Simpsons with any frequency in probably 8 years, because New Simpsons Suck. And god, this sucks. Please, pull the plug already Fox.
I wish that there was a single reporter in this town who had three brain cells. The Post article about this Fenty business was remarkable only in it's existence. Actually reporting on a Fenty scandal? Wow! But other than that, it offered no insight.
ReplyDeleteThen The City Paper calls this more City Council grandstanding. Nothing to see here. They were being paid for services already rendered.
Wait, really? Nothing to see here? Seriously?
Don't you even care about the fact that the check was issued outside of the normal schedule as the Post reported? Maybe not illegal but doesn't that raise your eyebrows? $2.5 million sounds like a lot of cash for a month and a half of work. Don't you want to see the invoice? So you just believe what Fenty says? This seems an odd time to start doing that.
I just don't get why so much crap can go on around here and nobody's even bothering to ask the hard questions that seem obvious. So when it comes to getting at the stuff that is not obvious, we haven't a snowball's chance in hell of ever finding that out. No wonder there's so much corruption, the complete lack of accountability from the press makes it a no-brainer.
Yeah, I wish I could have a bit more time to connect the dots on some of this. Seriously, this is the District government we are talking about (or, I suppose, a quasi-independent agency). When have you ever heard of a government agency cutting a check so close to the holidays? Really? And for what work, exactly? Sigh, you're right, that its amazing this story was published, but that's because the bar has been set so low, you don't even have to try to crawl over it.
ReplyDelete