On Floyd McKissick vying for Jeanne Lucas's Senate seat

Independent Weekly
Mr. McKissick does indeed have significant experience and other qualifications for the job.

He also has the significant disqualification of having entered the process under an ethical cloud, which is not a good thing ever, and especially these days. The last politician I remember pulling this trick is Dick Cheney - and he's certainly not the role model for ethical leadership I would want if I lived in the district still.

He should eliminate himself as abruptly as he inserted himself into the race.

Send In the Clowns. Don't Bother, Sanjaya's Here

Washington Post
I don't watch American Idol, have never seen any of the performances by anyone but the Sanjaya clips on the news, and couldn't care less about who wins it.

However, I did just watch Blake Lewis on Youtube, just because this description sounded so goofy. And I made a remarkable discovery - this description is so inaccurate and negative that I can safely say it's a lie. Stroking himself? He put his hand a few inches inside his jacket, in the neighborhood of the breast pocket, once, for about 4 seconds. Never touched any other part of his body, much less 'stroked' anything, at all. Spinning? He did a sort of little circle dance step maybe 3 or 4 times during the song, not the single slickest maneuver in history but nothing terribly weird or uncoordinated or anything else bad about it.

I have never liked Mack the Knife and think the lyrics are weird, but this is the first time I ever was actually able to understand the whole story of the song. And finally, he didn't confide to Ryan that he didnt 'get' the lyrics - he was asked which was more difficult this week, going first or the lyrics, and he said lyrics. And Ryan said, 'It was a little tough in rehearsal this week - ya got it.'

I think he has a very nice voice, that it was a cool jazz vibe, for that show at least, likewise pretty hip for that show, and not the worst version ever of that song. And I think this exaggerated and snarky summary of the performance borders on the uncalled-for. That's just my opinion, but at least it's based on what really happened.

A Push to Create a Fresh Class of Public Servants

Washington Post
I was thinking this sounded like a great idea until I got to the part about it being run by the Department of Homeland Security. That's the stupidest thing I've heard since Brownie's attaboy. And I'm not convinced Washington is the place for it - as one who escaped its confines for the hinterlands, I do not think concentrating our best minds in one place to become inbred is a good idea at all. But I look forward to hearing more about this plan nonetheless.

Donations Pooled Online Are Getting Candidates' Attention

Washington Post
ActBlue is still immature technology - or it was a few months ago when I used it. I am not interested in being a bundler - just in having a convenient page to donate to candidates who appeal to me whether they are in my neighborhood or not.

The main appeal for me would be having my credit card number saved, just as it is at the dozens of online merchants where I shop regularly. Not only was I unable to do that, except perhaps to create a recurring donation to one recipient, which I did NOT wish to do, when I wrote to them to point out that this was a serious flaw, they were defensive. I don't have the response handy, but my recollection is that they seemed to think that was a really advanced idea, when I have had that info on file at some ecommerce sites for nearly ten years now. It's a great idea, but they may want to get some grownups on staff.

Heck of a Job, FEMA

Washington Post

I'm generally a fan of the Post, and agree completely with the premise of this editorial. That said, it exacerbates my annoyance with the Post's worldview, as well as with the people profiled in an article last week about Prince William County residents upset that their neighborhood was going upscale too slowly.

The unsatisfactory progress was evidenced by shopping that offers only outlets at Potomac Mills, whose shopping offerings make it the single largest tourist attraction in the state of Virginia and the fact that a promised Jaguar dealership ended up not opening. I include that story here because that worldview carries over to this editorial, unfortunately.

Travel trailers, to the vast majority of normal Americans, need not be set off in quotation marks nor explained as though they were some exotic concept. Travel trailers ARE the campers pulled behind private vehicles, though rarely cars as most are far too big and heavy, and require a pickup truck or SUV as a tow vehicle. Americans bought $11.4 billion worth of recreational vehicles, including travel trailers, in 2004, I just learned from a Google search - this is not a sliver of the population but a big chunk.

And the other trailers mentioned in this editorial are not trailers at all, but mobile homes. They have been too large to be "trailered" for about 35 years now, long enough for astute journalists to absorb the new terminology, I would think. The tone of this sentence reveals that its writer and the editorial board that condoned the writing are far too privileged and removed from the experience of average Americans to know what its like out here in the world - basically, it epitomizes the inside-the-Beltway worldview and attitudes that are a big problem for how our country is managed. I really wish you could do better!!!

Setbacks Change Prince William County Back to Pumpkin for Some

Washington Post
This is really a disturbing article. Are people really that upset that there isnt a full selection of dining - if you can call cookie-cutter chain joints like Ruby Tuesdays that - and shopping in their new neighborhood? The idea that an area is a slum without a Jaguar dealer gives me absolute chills.

That pretty well sums up what's wrong with this country, when the front-page story is still about wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. If there is an afterlife, these spoiled yuppy scum will be in the hot section.

Two Generals Provide A Contrast in Accountability

Washington Post
Any admiration I had for Secretary Gates evaporated when Gen. Kiley remained in uniform past lunchtime Monday. He should be court-martialed for absolute dereliction of duty and held out as an example to the promotion-hungry politic-ers for promotion at every level in every branch of the service.

And this unbelievable story-management continuing right under the committee's noses, with the patient turned away from empty seats in the hearing room .... the profession of military public affairs has been replaced by the company line. You work for the taxpayers first, the general second, in that profession - and the old axiom, 'Maximum information, minimum delay,' is the most important thing to know about what to tell the media and the public.

A Favorite Fish Experiences Identity Theft

Washington Post
This story doesn't surprise me at all as my mother was served a fishy, skinny little piece of fish pretending to be grouper two or three years ago at one of those crazy-busy, big fried seafood places.

I just thought it was a mistake and they had brought her someone else's plate with sea trout or spots or whatever, but the waitress and then the manager were very defensive about it - they allowed her to order something else but insisted it was grouper and implied we were just being overly particular and/or didn't know anything about fish. I have never doubted that it was something else, but at least maybe the restaurant got taken, too, not just us as the consumers!

While the Nation Mourned, Their Trip Continued

Washington Post
While the subject of this story is reasonably relevant, the tone of it is unnecessarily snarky.

The fixation we have on mandatory mourning in this country is exceptionally stupid, and the idea that anyone other than a family member or other close associate needs to cancel a trip involving this amount of planning and coordination by government employees, and also involving this amount of interaction with foreign governments, is ludicrous. If a sitting President dies, that's one thing. The man was 93 years old, for goodness sakes.

I have great respect for President Ford and also mourn his passing, but only in the passive sense.
There is nothing in the world to be gained by me or anyone else changing even a whit of daily routine in observance of it - and the fact that it was turned into a federal holiday is equally ludicrous. If you have a problem with junkets in general, then write about every one that happens and make sure to include the costs as well. But to imply that this one is worse because they didn't instead take a funeral junket is hypocritical and annoying.

Illegal Drug Use Among Teenagers Continues to Fall

Washington Post
I don't understand why there is any difference between abuse of illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin and prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin.

If the Office of National Drug Control Policy truly believes the usual source of those drugs is a parent's medicine cabinet, then we may as well have no such office. Most of those drugs get into users' hands by way of robberies, burglaries, and organized forgery -- all of which are just as serious crimes as any of the smuggling and so forth that brings illegal drugs across our borders from overseas.

Perhaps the fact that the prescription drugs aren't produced by subsistence farmers in faraway countries, and have their own rather well-funded lobby in Washington, has something to do with it?