Patterson on Coleman

Slate's adept T.V. critic, Troy Patterson puts Gary Coleman in perspective. Sphere: Related Content

Peace Lil Benny

Anthony 'Little Benny' Harley dies at 46

"Mr. Harley was a student at Ballou Senior High School in Southeast when go-go was born in Washington. R&B artist Chuck Brown started playing percussion between songs to keep his audience from sitting down between numbers. The result was an incessant beat -- a genre of funk featuring conga drums, cow bells and call-and-response chants brought to life by an engaging bandleader -- that gained widespread attention in the late 1970s with Brown's "Bustin' Loose," the first go-go hit." (WaPo) Sphere: Related Content

Around D.C.

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Florida Ave NW

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Rand Paul Implosion

Wow, this was almost on cue: Rand Paul faces possible challenge, staff shake-up (WaPo) Sphere: Related Content

I.R. Report

Interracial marriage still rising, but not as fast

"The number of interracial marriages in the U.S. has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4.5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000.

About 8 percent of U.S. marriages are mixed-race, up from 7 percent in 2000." (WaPo) Sphere: Related Content

Libertarians

For the last week or so, I've spent time debating the issues of the day on blogs other than One Drop. Part of this is wanting to hear other perspectives; another is trying to figure out how I feel about issues like the BP oil spill, Rand Paul, and Libertarians.

Libertarianism. This appears to me to be a critically flawed philosophy. If, as many of its adherents claim, it advocates the supremacy of the free market and minimal government intervention, I think not only will it run against long standing precedent (as is the case with Rand Paul and his Civil Rights Act private business claims); it will allow all sorts of catastrophes to occur under the assumption that the "market" either won't allow these catastrophes in the first place or will correct said catastrophes over time.

Society in this country is too large and diverse to run without laws, an active government, and regulations. What does libertarian philosophy have to say about child labor, prostitution, lynching, or pedophilia all of which require laws and government intervention to prevent abuses? Should we limit law and regulation in those areas and just let people do what they know is right? I don't think so. There's no way to unspill milk. Once a catastrophe occurs, the damage is done. Shrugging your shoulders and saying "well the market will fix this next time" doesn't help those who've been harmed.

Free market analysis seems to assume that companies given more control would take more care, but there is no reason to believe this is the case. In reality, companies' bottom line is profit. If it were profitable to take less precaution, a company would indeed take less precaution. For example lets say a mega company in the total free-market universe (let's call them Halliburton) owns multiple plots of ocean land (in the free market universe you can own ocean property). If it were profitable for Halliburton to spoil one of those plots (maybe to damage a competitor's abutting ocean property) then it very likely would. And that's assuming that everyone is on their best behavior as libertarians always seem to despite evidence to the contrary. I just don't see the libertarian world view working in reality and in fact I think it has done an enormous amount of harm in practice (See: derivatives as factor in economic downturn).

Libertarians I think go too far. Society needs a balance of freer market and government intervention to promote the public good.

(Hat tip: Gage Skidmore for image) Sphere: Related Content

King on D.C. 2010 Politics

Anti-incumbency mood may stop at the District line (WaPo) Sphere: Related Content

Hess Chivalry and Misogyny

City Paper's Amanda Hess flows on Chivalry and Internalized Misogyny. Her analysis of chivalry, shame, and shifting violence from women to men under the guise of respect for women is sharp, but difficult to prove or quantify. Two men in a fight that began with a slight towards a woman might be fighting for said woman's honor, but they might also be fighting because they're drunk or sexually frustrated or racist or any number of other plausible reasons aside from Hess' reading. Still, her take is interesting. Good read. Sphere: Related Content

21st Century Walking the Plank

"Theoretically, the captain was supposed to hand the detainees and the evidence over to regional police. Not wanting to involve himself in legal wrangling, however, he decided to "release" the pirates instead. And thus they were "set free" in a tiny inflatable raft, with no navigation equipment, 350 miles off the coast of Yemen. The raft has since disappeared. In the 21st century, this is how pirates walk the plank." (Slate) Sphere: Related Content

I AM ART BK Adams

Photos of BK Adams Art on H St.

Dope. Sphere: Related Content

Gray Jukes Fenty on Lotto

Hat tip PNC Ali

"When D.C. Council chairman and mayoral candidate Vincent C. Gray heard that a supporter of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty had won a piece of the 2008 D.C. Lottery contract, he was determined to scuttle the award." (WaTi) Sphere: Related Content

D.C. Inside Information: Numbers Game

Thievery and Chuck

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Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies

Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed a measure Tuesday prohibiting classes that: advocate ethnic solidarity; are designed primarily for students of a particular race; or promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.

Are you trying to tell us something Arizona?

Without having read more about it, I don't want to say much, but it seems like this law will be difficult to apply to reality. Aren't there times when ethnic solidarity is a good thing? Say, if your ethnic group is threatened with extinction? Would a class teaching about a situation like that be banned? Who determines when a class is designed for students of a particular race? Is a class on black literature designed for blacks? Is a class on European literature designed for whites? And how do we determine whether a class promotes resentment toward a certain ethnic group? I can think of a few classes that promoted my resentment toward certain groups and I don't think the classes I have in mind are the same ones Jan Brewer has in mind. Sphere: Related Content

The Robert Wone Murder

From the D.C. cold case files:

"Wone's Aug. 2, 2006, slaying will probably go unsolved. Prosecutors believe that one or more people restrained Wone, sexually assaulted him and stabbed him to death after he went to sleep on a pullout couch in a second-floor guest room at 1509 Swann St. NW.

But no one has been charged with killing him.

As early as next week, though, more details of what happened inside the elegant Dupont Circle townhouse where Wone was killed are likely to emerge in court. A trial is set to begin for the three men who lived in the house, where Wone, 32, was staying after a long day's work." (WaPo)

What the hell happened?
 
Who Murdered Robert Wone dot com Sphere: Related Content

The Restaurant Analogy

I've noticed Conservatives and Republicans making the following flawed syllogism:

African-Americans have voted Democrat for the past fifty years;

African-Americans have suffered economically while voting Democrat;

Therefore, African-Americans should not vote Democrat (and instead vote Republican).

This argument also takes the form of: Democrats are racist too, so you should vote Republican. Aside from the defective logic in both, this line of reasoning seems to bypass common sense. It reminds me of two restaurants next door to each other. Both restaurants want your business. So, one restaurant puts up a sign that says, "We're Not As Bad as the Restaurant Next Door!"

Does anyone else see anything wrong with that?

I don't know about you, but I want to go to the restaurant that says, "We're great! We have the best food in town!"

A restaurant doesn't necessarily have to change its menu to be good. Similarly, Republicans don't have to change their values to attract voters. They instead must improve their menu/policies so that they can claim that their food/ideas are the best. Improving ideas is not necessarily a drastic change. It just means that you are making your product better. Can Republicans in the wake of the economic downturn and obvious need for regulation in some areas, really claim that their free-market, deregulation ideas are the best? Not really, no.

When I walk into a Chinese food restaurant, I know that they won't serve Ethiopian food. Similarly, I know that Republicans will not champion large government and high taxes. But there is still a difference between good Chinese food and bad Chinese food and in general I'd rather eat decent Ethiopian food than bad Chinese food. I'm not convinced that Republican ideology works in reality or is applicable to the world as it exists today: bad Chinese food. On the other hand, the need for government intervention into disasters like Katrina or the economic meltdown have shown that Democrats' ideas are relevant to today's issues: decent Ethiopian.

There's also the issue of whether an organization is inviting. Again, if I go to a restaurant and the owners are smiling and inviting me in, I'm more likely to give them my business as opposed to the restaurant where patrons and owners give me cold stares and subliminal disses. Republicans, your fate is in your own hands. The neighborhood is changing and if you think your restaurant is going to survive serving only older, rural, white people, then you're going to be out of business pretty quickly. And that's too bad because nobody wants to eat at the same restaurant every night. Sphere: Related Content

Peace Ms. Horne

Lena Horne

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2010 D.C. Mayoral Race

Shuffling around D.C. over the last few weeks, I've noticed blue yard signs for Vincent C. Gray popping up in front yards like mushrooms in a damp field. The primary's in early September and the general election, November, but between the humidity, yard signs, and early morning Fenty supporter demonstrations at intersections around the city, you'd think the summer was over, not beginning.

I don't really get it. The election season seems to start earlier each cycle, for what purpose, I'm not entirely sure. Do people even know who's running at this point?

Through the bad press he's stirred this year, I know a little bit more about Fenty than I might have otherwise. Gray, and the rest of the field, though, are unfamiliar to me. I've heard his name mentioned in the occasional news story on the D.C. Council and, like I said, I'm seeing his yard signs all over the place. But all the Kwame Browns, Vincent Grays, Linda Cropps, and Jim Grahams all start to sound the same over time when you're not paying close attention.

What are the real differences between the top two contenders Adrian Fenty and Vincent Gray?

Tale of the Tape:

Age:
Fenty - 39
Gray - 67

Residency:
Fenty 
Fenty is a native Washingtonian. He grew up in Mount Pleasant. His parents, owners of the Adams Morgan Fleet Feet sports store, still live in the District home Fenty grew up in.

Gray
Gray is also a native Washingtonian. He grew up in a one-bedroom apartment at 6th and L Streets, NE to a stay-at-home mother and father who worked two jobs

Education:
Fenty 
Fenty is a product of D.C. public schools. He attended Woodrow Wilson High School and Mackin Catholic High School, now part of Archbishop Carroll High School. Fenty B.A.'d in English and Economics at Oberlin College: class of '92. He J.D.'d Howard University Law: class of '96.

Gray
Gray is also a product of d dot public schools. He graduated at 16 years old from Dunbar High School. Gray did his B.A. and graduate work in Psychology at George Washington University

Experience:
Fenty
In his early public service career, Fenty was an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. He was later lead attorney for the DC Council Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation and President of the 16th Street Neighborhood Civic Association;

In 2000, Fenty defeated incumbent Council member Charlene Drew Jarvis for the Ward 4 seat. In 2004, he was reelected as Ward 4 Council member. In 2006, Fenty defeated Linda Cropp in the Democratic primary for D.C. Mayor. He won 89% of vote in the general election to become the 6th Mayor of d dot since establishment of home rule. Current Mayor of D.C.

Gray 
Gray began his public service career as Executive Director of the D.C. Association for Retarded Citizens. In 1991, he was appointed Director of D.C. Department of Human Services by Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. In 1994, he was selected as the first Executive Director of Covenant House Washington which serves homeless and at-risk youths.

In 2004, Gray defeated Kevin P. Chavous, incumbent Ward 7 Council member, and went on to win the November general election with 91% of the vote. In 2006, he won the Democratic primary election for D.C. Council Chairman.

Key Issues:
Fenty 
Changed the city’s public schools governance structure; Brought in Michelle Rhee as D.C. Schools Chancellor;
On Gun Control: unsuccessfully advocated to maintain D.C. gun control law subsequently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court;
Signed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Act of 2009, to legalize same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia;
Added police officers to the streets and expanded community policing; Says Fenty: "This past year we had the lowest level of homicides since 1966"

Gray
Led efforts to improve the Council’s operations and transparency;
Presided over the Council’s deliberations on public education reform, fighting for Mayoral control, and eliminating the school board;
Spearheaded the Pre-K Expansion and Enhancement Act, which established a pre-school program which will provide 2,000 new classroom slots for three and four year olds over the next six years;


Shiesty Factor:
Fenty
WaPo's Colby King counts the ways: under reporting the D.C. AIDS crisis; secret trips; withholding National's tickets from the Council [Hull note: that's just triflin'];

Most troubling is WaPo's cronyism allegation accusing Fenty of enriching unqualified friends and frat brothers through his office.

Gray
"His supporters appear to be old-guard politicos: former government functionaries and longtime residents unhappy with changes in their neighborhood -- a code phrase for white gentrification. . .

in recent months, the Gray-led legislature has mimicked the former, dysfunctional D.C. State Board of Education, significantly intruding on everything from education policy to personnel decisions." (Barras)

Gray also failed to close loopholes in his Council member earmark ban

It does seem like Fenty is kinda high on the shiesty factor; hitting off his frat brothers with plumb opportunities. Still, growing up under Marion Barry and the crack wars of the eighties, I've come to expect a certain amount of sleeze from my public officials. Is that realistic life in the big city or am I just a cynical, low-expectation havin' muhfucka? Would Vincent Gray really hold a higher standard?

I don't know.

I'm leaning in a direction, but, I'll leave it to you fellow Washingtonians to make your own call on Gray, Fenty, or one of the other mayoral candidates.
 
More D.C. voter info:
Your Ward by Zip Code

Update:  You can only get so much information from news reports and bios. That information doesn't explain the anger towards Fenty many residents have expressed over the last year. So I checked in with a d dot government employee for his take on Fenty. Granted this is one man's opinion, but I think it represents the anger of many residents here.

"[Fenty] is physically abusive to his wife, and has a girlfriend that lives in NE. This is unconfirmed but, the last baby that his wife had is most likely not his. Did anyone even know that his wife had another baby? Ok now back to his rape of the city. I saw a group out at the intersection of Georgia ave and Piney Branch Rd. in support of fenty with big green signs and everything. I was stopped at the light so I figured I would share some of my views with the gentleman at the passenger side of my vehicle. I put my window down and said to him. "the man is a crook and he needs to be in jail". His whole facial expression changed quickly from glad to sad as he asked me "why would you say that brother?" I in turn told him that fenty took a 1.2 billion dollar surplus and turned it into a 956 million dollar deficit in less than a full term with absolutly nothing to show for it. His answer to that was c'mon man that's just the economy lol I called him a fool and laughed as I drove off.

He in one step says how wonderfully he has managed the city's funds????? and then turns around and say's he needs to limit the healthcare benefits of city workers and postpone the in grade step increases of all DC government employees. This is to include the teachers who he and his evil underling have already screwed royally as well as the police department. This after saying that the police department would not receive any new pay increases for 7 years. But isn't it funny how he's now campaining heavily on the fact that crime overall in this city is at it's lowest rate in decades. It's really strange. I guess he's out there every night in costume like the dark knight secretly doing his part in that effort. " Sphere: Related Content