Posts for category ‘Politics’

Alright, let’s do this.

I’ve been holding off on covering the most recent embarassment to Washington D.C. government by the Honorable-my-ass former mayor, current Ward 8 council member Marion “Bitch set me up” Barry until everything was on the table.

Barry’s mouthpiece attorney just finished his presser moments ago so it looks like the time is here.

Before we start delving into this pile of monkey turds, let me give a major hat tip to Mike Debonis at The City Paper who worked his ass off all weekend to pull information out about this story.  It’s rare I compliment anybody, but he did some kick ass work.

To be quite honest, I don’t have the stamina to chronicle this trash-TV epic relationship gone wrong.  So let me just hit the highlights:

• Barry and the woman, Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, have dated for roughly 6 months
• Trouble started last Tuesday when several councilmembers hosted a Wilson Building screening of CNN’s Black in America documentary. She attended with her ex-husband, Delonta Brighthaupt, and their children. But Barry, when he learned less than an hour beforehand that Brighthaupt would be in attendance, drafted a memo asking that he be banned from the building. He was kicked out of the event. According to Watts-Brighthaupt, “It was embarrassing.”
• Saturday Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt were headed to Rehoboth Beach, Del. to attend a party when Watts-Brighthaupt decided she didn’t want to go with Barry because a reconciliation wasn’t going to happen
• U.S. Park Service Police said they arrested Barry  about 8:45 p.m. in Anacostia Park after a woman flagged down an officer to report that a man in a nearby vehicle was “bothering her,” police said. After interviewing Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt, Barry was charged with one count of “misdemeanor stalking,” said Sgt. David Schlosser, a Park Police spokesman.
• Watts-Brighthaupt denies flagging down the officer and accusing Barry of stalking her

Whew!  As I said, this nothing more than a steaming pile of monkey turds.

The one thing that still stands out in all of this to me is yet another opportunity for Marion Barry to play the victim.

He got set up smoking crack by the FBI. He got set up by the United States Park Police in 2002 after they “planted” weed and coke in his car.  He got set up again by them because he was driving suspiciously slow in 2006.  He has been “targeted and set up” by the IRS for not filing taxes and the list goes on and on.

The only constant with Barry is that nothing is EVER his fault.  He never has to say, “I’m sorry.  I made a mistake.  I will do better.”  He is ALWAYS the victim.

And yet, the citizens of Ward 8 still elect him.  He still gets his 2 cents in on every issue pertaining to the future of D.C.

Sometimes there just aren’t the words to describe how effed up a situation can be.  This is one of those.

In a 15-page decision released Tuesday, Associate D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin layethed the smack down on Bishop Harry Jackson and his cronies looking to bring the same sex marriage referendum.

Some of the more interesting highlights of the decision:

Petitioners waited until sixteen days before submitting their proposed referendum to the Board. In their reply, Petitioners proffer their delay was excusable because they did not know the District was considering the legislation because the Council’s bad faith prevented the public from
learning that the legislation was under consideration.

Petitioners invite the Court to conclude the Council acted in bad faith because, among other things, the Council briefly debated the bill, held no hearings, changed the name of the bill after its passage, and immediately sent the Act to the Mayor for his signature after its passage.

The Court concludes that Petitioners’ delay was inexcusable.

Additionally, there is no reason to believe that an interested citizen diligently following the issue could not have learned about its consideration by the Council. Indeed, Petitioners’ summary of the JMA’s legislative history suggests they knew of its existence before it was signed by the Mayor and certainly days before it was transmitted to Congress.

At bottom, the harm about which Petitioners complain is not based on a denial of the right to referendum. Rather, they simply disagree with legislation enacted by our duly-elected Council. A citizen’s disagreement with constitutionally sound legislation, whether based on political, religious or moral views, does not rise to the level of an actionable harm.

In short what the judge is saying is that Harry and his crew need to work within the laws that are established and not run to court just because they don’t like something the council did.

Back to the drawing board, Harry.

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. was profiled in a Sunday Washington Times piece and got me a little red under the collar with a ballsy misdirection play.

But same-sex marriage, according to Mr. Jackson, is no civil right.

“How dare someone piggyback on the civil rights movement?” he said. “What you really have is an elite group of people masquerading as a minority and systematically imposing their will on the majority.”

Let’s step back a minute, Bishop.  Let’s just check the common meaning of the civil rights movement.

According to Dictionary.Com, civil rights is defined:

1. rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and certain Congressional acts, esp. as applied to an individual or a minority group.
2. the rights to full legal, social, and economic equality extended to blacks.

So the whole civil rights movement was all about a segment of the American people (blacks) having the right to full legal, social, and economic equality, right?

So please, Bishop Jackson, explain to me how that is any different than homosexuals wanting the right to marry or to receive the same insurance coverage that their heterosexual counterparts do?  Do gays want legal equality?  Check.  Do gays want social equality?  Check.  Do gays want economic equality? Check.  Where’s the difference?

The bottom line is that you can’t explain the difference because you have no effing clue what you are talking about.

And while you are waxing poetic about the “elite group of people masquerading as a minority and systematically imposing their will on the majority”, let’s take a look at you.

I’m getting pretty damn sick and tired of an elite group of people masquerading as religious leaders and systematically imposing their will on the majority through lobbying the passage of laws that uphold their personal religious beliefs.

Call yourself “bishop”, preach in your church, feed the hungry, help the poor, but  stay the hell out of politics! If the day comes that you want to drop your tax exempt religious status and form a PAC then I will gladly welcome you to the debate.  Otherwise, shut your pie hole!

The reality, Bishop, is that you are a fraud and a liar.  You have become what your father and grandfather fought to resist.

Now that society has evolved and the laws are in place to protect you and all the other colors of the rainbow from persecution and prejudice, you want to dish out some of your own to others.

You are no different than a lobbyist that slithers the halls of Congress or the slimy politicians they control–except of course you and your church enjoy that nice fat tax exemption.

How dare they, Bishop?  No, how dare you!

I need a nice hot shower after reading this story from the Washington Post.

D.C. Summer Jobs Contractor Fired for Posts on Twitter

The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who was working with youths in the city’s summer jobs program after officials became aware of messages on his Twitter site that Anacostia is “ghetto” and that he was loafing at work.

Apparently, the tweeter is an Asian named David Le.  Some of his better tweets read:

“In america’s ghetto anacostia… If I get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me,”

“thank goodness my boss is making things easy, he told me to pretend to do work so he can mark me down for hours.”

First of all, I’m betting David is in his early 20s because only a moron from the Millenial generation would think he could say whatever he wants on a public forum like Twitter and nothing will come of it.  That being the case, who didn’t say stupid things in public in their 20s?

Furthermore, is he really going that far away from the truth?  Have you been to Anacostia lately?  Me either, because I want to keep all of my belongings in my possession and I really like not having a fresh gunshot wound.

But the youthful expressions of David Le are just one aspect of this sordid tale.

How did the D.C. government find out about these Tweets?  TheWaPo told them!

David Le, who was working as a participant service specialist, was terminated yesterday, said Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

The firing came a day after The Washington Post showed Hobson a month-long string of tweets from Le’s page.

Two things here: First, obviously the D.C. government is doing the bang up job we all expect when an effing newspaper has to bring to their attention that an employee is goofing off on the job.  Second, this isn’t exactly Woodward and Bernstein material, is it?  You would think the local reporters have more to do than to tattle on a college kid.

Oh, I wish that was as deep as this steaming pile of monkey turds went, but it isn’t.

How do you suppose the WaPo found out about this college kid goofing off on Twitter?  Well, a completely well-meaning citizen without an axe to grind in the world told them of course.

His Twitter page was brought to the attention of the Post by David Hoffman, owner of an employment placement firm whose agreement to find jobs for 400 to 500 participants was terminated this week by the city.

Fishy you say?  No.  I’m sure David Hoffman wasn’t trying to embarass the mayor or any one else by pointing this out to the Post.  No, really.  I’m sure he is just a concerned citizen with absolutely no hopes this would turn into a big deal and negative publicity.

See what I mean about that hot shower?  This story is covered in cow dung.

But it wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the take of Ward 8 council member Marion Barry who called the tweets, “unprofessional, wrong and racist.”

Hey Marion, I’m betting a bitch set him up.

My Fox DC reports this morning:

The Prince George’s County school board has voted to name an Upper Marlboro elementary school after President Barack Obama.

The board voted unanimously on Thursday on the name for the school just miles from the White House.

Honestly, I expected this to go through.  I was merely reading this story for curiosity sake.

I personally think it is way too soon to name even a turning lane after Barack Obama because the man has been in office barely 5 months.  If the mainstream media and over half of America could pull Obama off the rockstar worship pedestal they have him on and evaluate him on a rational level they would clearly see he hasn’t accomplished dick yet. That’s not to say he won’t.  Surely he will do something, but at this stage the jury is still out and hopelessly deadlocked.

But there was a final line of the news story that caught my eye.

Some objected to naming the school after a president who has been in office only a few months. But board vice chairman Ron Watson says what Obama has done already is significant enough.

Really, Ron?  What has Obama done already that is “significant enough”?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ron Watson, vice chairman of the Prince George’s County Public Schools, take a look at his picture.

Hmmmmm….I wonder what this man was refering to when he says what Barack Obama has done already in office is “significant enough”?

Apparently our smart car driving, swimming pool loving, baseball ticket hogging mayor can add another complaint to the growing list against him.

He doesn’t know when to shut his beak.

In this morning’s Washington Post, Nikita Stewart writes an interesting piece detailing the mayor’s insistence on being the face of leadership during a crisis.

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has long been criticized for seeking the spotlight, but his performance during the past two days rubbed already raw nerves, causing friction between Metro and city officials.

His penchant for control was also blamed for inaccurate information he gave at a news conference yesterday, when he said seven people had died in the crash, even though Metro and public safety officials had confirmed nine deaths.

“The spirit of cooperation is not what we would like it to be,” Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said.

So what’s the deal?

Maybe Fenty has no faith in the people working in various sectors of D.C. government.  Let’s be honest, the government is filled with incompetent boobs.

Or, this is just another fine example of playing the political game at the expense of providing accurate information and true leadership to resolve a crisis.

I’m going with the latter.

I am just now rolling into town as the new kid on the block, but I have a lot to say.

First up will be the Bravo Sierra being thrown about by these D.C. council members and assorted other bureaucrats on the Metro crash.  I’m looking at you, Jim Graham.

I’m ready and they better be.  Stay tuned…