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.