So Big
Dear E-Mailers:
Good luck in getting this issue. The Sobig-f worm has hit me big
time, and I've been receiving hundreds of worm-laden E-mails every hour
since yesterday afternoon; thousands in a day and a half. Unless I empty
my mailbox every hour or two, it fills up and starts rejecting your
E-mails to me. I assume that you've been having the same trouble, and
that many of your mailboxes are filling up, too.
If your message to themail gets bounced, just keep sending it until I
receive it. I'm here. And if you have trouble receiving themail for the
next couple weeks (Sobig-f has a drop-dead date of September 10, and may
be active until them), remember that it's always available online at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The recent US-Canadian power outage raises the question of how a
blackout would affect the Washington, DC, area. When the power went out
last week, cell phone networks generally performed poorly: The networks
were jammed with users trying to place calls, and the battery backups
that power cell phone towers lasted only a few hours -- they aren't
designed for power outages longer than that. Land lines did work during
this power outage, but you can't take your land line phone on the
street, in a stairwell, or in your car with you.
There's an alternate communications system for our area: the DC
Emergency Radio Network. The DC Emergency Radio Network uses small,
inexpensive, battery operated, license-free FRS (Family Radio Service)
radios, tuned to channel 1. In the event of a neighborhood or citywide
power outage (and for other emergencies) DCERN can keep you in touch
with your neighbors. There's more information about the DC Emergency
Radio Network at www.dcradio.org.
And there's an E-mail list for DCERN at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcern.
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Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is a
strong supporter of DC Statehood and has a strong voting record in the
House on DC issues. “It's a historic injustice,” he says, referring
to DC's 200-plus years without self-determination. Kucinich is also on
record in favor of instant runoff voting (also favored by many Greens
and third-party supporters), single payer universal health care, medical
marijuana, and trimming the Pentagon budget to provide quality education
for all. See http://www.dcfordennis.com.
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The MPD Is Indifferent to Crimes
Ron Eberhardt, RGE1022@aol.com
Mr. Suderow's examples of MPD indifference (themail, August 17) are
just the tip of the iceberg. A number of years ago while living on the
Hill, I found a prowler in the garden of our building in broad daylight.
I ordered him off of the property. Of course he was belligerent, so I
phoned the cops and then got in my car to keep an eye on him as he
walked away on the sidewalk. Suddenly he came running at my car in the
middle of the street wielding a large board! Save the fact that I
quickly put the car in reverse, he would have assaulted me or battered
my car. A block away the cops finally arrived. He claimed I tried to
assault him with my auto even though the only time he was even close to
my car was when I was frantically trying to get away from him! The next
thing I knew neighborhood barbarians, who had not previously been
remotely present, began to gather to back this guy's story. I damned
near went to jail because the cops were responding to the biased lies of
the street thugs and the likely would-be burglar, all of whom had become
more like a lynch mob. Save for the arrival of an obviously streetwise
and unafraid Asian detective, I would have been at least been hauled off
to police headquarters!
This is among the reasons that I know without a doubt that in Ramsey
we have an incompetent moron for chief. He has no control over and
provides no direction for his department. His claim of success are
solely based upon the purchase of autos, equipment, and computers. While
all these are important, they are meaningless unless occupied by and
used by educated, caring police officers who are interested in more then
the self importance of whizzing to the scene of a crime with lights and
sirens, and then doing nothing. DC cops are motivated only in their
never-ending quest to write tickets for everything under the sun and
moon. I can see nothing that Ramsey has done to address these huge
deficiencies.
Every time Ramsey issues his citizen call admonishing us to become
involved, I practically convulse. Well documented is the story of a
police drug informant, working undercover and with supervision, who was
murdered by drug dealers because the cops — a couple blocks away —
did not back him up properly. Lest anyone forget the Washington Post
editor who on 16th Street, NW, heard gunshots, got involved, and nearly
got himself shot while the cops were non-responsive. Ramsey is solidly
backed by the idiot we have as a mayor — proclaiming his goal of
attracting 100,000 new DC residents. Obviously, this is a crack-pipe
dream. People come here to visit the national monuments and museums,
they come here to party on weekends, but they certainly are not eager to
move to a place where the government is nothing less then predatory. In
the immortal words of Jack Nicholas as the “Joker” in Batman,
“what this place needs is an enema!”
###############
Ed Dixon, in his fine analysis of the sorry state of DC schools (themail,
August 17), started his argument by referring to Chief Ramsey's
befuddlement at the rise of gang activity in the city. As much as I'd
like to heap more blame on the bow-tied disaster, it is necessary to
point out that almost all if not all nearby jurisdictions have seen
incredible increases in gang activity -- and that sure includes
Montgomery and Fairfax Counties.
###############
As regards the explosion of gang violence in recent weeks,
particularly “Hispanic” gang violence, astute readers of UseNet's
dc.general will recall that as long ago as 1996 or so I predicted that
bad policy would inevitably result in first the presence, then the
violent activity, of “alien gangs.” I made further predictions, but
finally gave it up as a bad job when I was relentlessly accused of
“xenophobia” and “racism.” I presume that Chief Ramsey has
followed a policy not dissimilar to that of Montgomery County's Chief
Moose. Moose remarked, in the wake of 9/11, that he would resign his
post rather direct his officers to enforce Federal immigration law even
against arrested illegal-alien criminals, because he didn't want to
"drive a wedge between people of color." This concern for race
over national security somehow was obscured by the bizarre adulation
heaped on Chief Moose over his total mishandling of the Serial Sniper
case; witnesses to the first shootings described both the vehicle and
the snipers to officers, and Chief Moose is reported to have declared
“the sniper cannot possibly be anything other than a white male."
"White box truck" is now a punch line for any number of jokes.
Why digress to Montgomery County's ex-Chief Moose? When he made this
declaration of refusal to enforce the law, he emboldened the illegal
alien elements in MC. Where they had been keeping a low profile before,
suddenly they didn't care whom they offended. Back in the District, if
you will take a look at the timeline, you'll see that Chief Ramsey
declared that MPD would not be enforcing immigration laws, and within
days the “Hispanic” gang violence erupted. Whether he understood, or
understands, he sent a clear signal interpreted to mean that if you're
“Hispanic,” the police have been ordered to keep their noses out of
your business and their hands off your case.
Look into the origins of the Mara Salvatruca (MS-13). These aren't a
bunch of uneducated street thugs from the poor part of town. Their
origins are in the US's “School of the Americas” and in the
militaries of the Salvadoran civil war. They are well-trained and very
highly disciplined in the higher ranks. Chief Ramsey needs to understand
that this isn't a “gang of street punks,” this is a well-armed
foreign militia establishing a reign of terror in the nation's capital.
Keep repeating this until you understand it: a foreign militia is
murdering with impunity in the nation's capital. It will continue to do
so until Chief Ramsey starts taking its soldiers off of the street under
whatever pretext is necessary. Enforcing immigration law would be an
excellent start.
###############
Why is no one suggesting the obvious step to take in regard to the
youth gangs that are terrorizing Columbia Heights and neighboring areas?
(Yes, I neglected to mention that they are Hispanic gangs. When I was
coming up, the race, much less the ethnicity, of criminal suspects was
omitted in newspapers so people wouldn't generalize.) The obvious thing
to do is to determine the legal status of arrested gang members. Those
who are not US citizens need to be deported to the countries of which
they are citizens, if they are legal permanent residents and especially
if they are illegal aliens. DC needs to be the home of law-abiding
foreign residents, not criminals. It must be noted, though, that the
huge increase in crime in El Salvador is linked to the arrival there of
many deported gang members from California. In addition, Hispanics are
stress their strong family values. Instead of blaming the schools, the
police, communities, and society in general for gang violence, families
need to better supervise their youths. Lives are at stake.
###############
Back from vacation, catching up on old E-mail, I find myself in
hearty approval of Lyla Winter's submission to themail: “For
Tenleytown Commercial Development.” Full disclosure: I don't know Lyla
Winter, and I don't live in Tenleytown. But I sent all my kids to school
there (Wilson), shop there (CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks), use the
library and metro, sweat at the health club, and listen to WAMU. And I
like the frame-it-yourself store. In general, however, Tenleytown is a
commercial embarrassment. No restaurants to speak of, no major retailer,
and — when Outer Circle closes — no movies. And that giant,
half-finished communications tower just completes a picture of erection
interruptus. But, if you like crabs and billiards and high-priced
camping equipment, you're in luck.
Why this sad state? In short, no people. There just aren't enough
residents to bring commercial development that enhances places like
Chevy Chase, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Glover Park, Palisades, and
increasingly Columbia Heights, U Street, Shaw. Why is Tenley in such sad
shape? It's not just NIMBYism. It's a cabal of cave dwellers who just
want to close the gates on anyone else building or moving into their
turf. Rather than suggest constructive alternatives that would allow
reasonable development, they just say no. If the folks who worked to
save the Avalon had their attitude, there wouldn't be any movies in
Chevy Chase. If the folks who started Politics and Prose had their
attitude, we wouldn't have a world-class bookstore in our neighborhood.
But, at least Tenley will have Best Buy to compete with Radio Shack.
Smart commercial development — including high-rise apartment buildings
— isn't the enemy. The real problem is a few nay-saying
stick-in-the-muds.
###############
I'm with Sue Hemberger (“It Isn't NIMBY,” themail, August 17).
How can you call people NIMBYs just because they ask the city to enforce
existing laws?
###############
Peter Craig wrote in themail on August 17th, “Those persons who
appealed their tax assessments last spring have probably received their
notices of first level decisions from the Office of Tax & Revenue (OTR).
You have the right to appeal the first-level decision to the Board of
Real Property Assessments and Appeals (BRPAA). Such appeals must be
filed by September 30.”
That is not entirely correct. You need to check the date of the
“Notification of Decision” that you received from the Office of Tax
and Revenue, which states that you have thirty days from that
notification date. If you received your notification in July, your
thirty days are about to run out, and you don't have until September
30th. That was confirmed, or more accurately, affirmed by the assessor
for my property.
###############
Reporting to the Test at
the Post
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
The Washington Post Company owns not only the newspaper of the same
name, Newsweek magazine, a number of television stations, a cable
company, and a wire service, but also Kaplan Educational Services.
According to the Washington Post Company's 2002 Annual Report, “we are
now a media and education company and education is our fastest growing
business. . . . When Kay Graham and Dick Simmons bought Kaplan in 1984,
its revenues were $36 million. Last year its revenues reached $621
million” ( http://ccbn18.mobular.net/ccbn/7/187/195/).
The total revenues for the company were about $2.5 billion in 2002,
leaving Kaplan responsible for about 25 percent of the earnings.
Washington Post CEO Donald Graham went on to say, “This year we expect
its revenues to be greater than the Washington Post.”
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) covered the release of
the Post's annual report in its September/October 2002 issue. CJR
questioned the company's ability to separate editorial policy from
business decisions in the for-profit education market. “This
transformation has increased the need for vigilant editorial protections
on the news side.” Both for-profit education and the cable business
are political hot-potatoes, dependent on federal regulations and
funding. Kaplan has also played a role in influencing the debate over
privatizing public school tutoring, and offering standardized tests to
grade-school students (http://www.cjr.org/year/02/5/scherer.asp).
Kaplan markets services in test preparation, tutoring at the K-12 level,
and professional teacher preparation (http://www.kaplan.com/).
Washington Post education beat reporter Justin Blum and
columnist Jay Matthews both write on DC school testing and test results.
This June, the Nation's Report Card, which annually pits the city of DC
against the fifty states (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/)
was released by the US Department of Education. For the first time, in a
separate July report, the Department of Education compared six urban
school districts in testing (http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks2003/7_22_2003.asp).In
an article titled “DC Tests Poorly in Reading, Writing,” Blum
portrayed the school district as failing students for education levels
that the Department of Education clearly associated with socioeconomic
conditions of the school system (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A31298-2003Jul22¬Found=true).
In a similar vein, for the past few years, Jay Matthews has been
developing a public school evaluation system in which schools are judged
by the number of students who take standardized tests. This year, Jay
Matthews' test based school evaluation went national in the Washington
Post's Newsweek, not only marking DC schools for their ability to
provide tests for whom Kaplan could prepare students (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A44211-2003May27¬Found=true).
In the CJR report released in 2002, Matthews was quoted as
saying, “I feel, like all of us who have to deal with the occasional
Washington Post Company story in our reporting, uncomfortable.”
Nevertheless, in the survey released in May of 2003, no mention of
Kaplan was made by Matthews, even though the question of the College
Board's financial interest in sponsoring the tests was discussed.
The CJR report also revealed the amount the Washington Post
Company spent on lobbying Congress and the administration to make sure
Kaplan could receive federal funding to support failing schools.
According to CJR, “In 2001 the company paid $80,000 to a
lobbying firm whose main role was to monitor the progress of President
George Bush’s education initiative, a new law that will likely
increase business both for Kaplan's tutoring program and its rapidly
expanding test-preparation business.” This money was spent on top of
Graham's assessment of the newspaper's ability to influence the city's
leaders, "Today's path-breaking story is tomorrow's common
knowledge." Not surprisingly, Kaplan is receiving money to provide
services to public school children in the District of Columbia and as
one of the No Child Left Behind list of approved service providers (http://www.k12.dc.us/dcps/opportunities2/serviceproviders.pdf).
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Juan Williams on March on Washington, August
21
Mychalene Giampaoli, mgiampaoli@citymuseumdc.org
The City Museum of Washington, DC, is pleased to announce that
National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams will deliver
opening remarks for a lecture and discussion celebrating the 40th
anniversary of the March on Washington. Lucy G. Barber, Ph.D., the
author of Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American
Political Tradition, will speak of the historical development of
marching on Washington as a political strategy. Mr. Williams will speak
about his interviews with people who participated in the march forty
years ago.
The lecture is scheduled for Thursday, August 21, at 6:30 p.m. The
City Museum of Washington, DC, is located at 801 K Street, NW. Admission
to the lecture is $8 and includes admission to the museum's exhibits.
The City Museum will be open until 9 p.m. For more information about
this program, and to make reservations, please call 383-1809.
###############
Free Workshops on Budget Advocacy, September
17
Susie Cambria, scambria@dckids.org
DC Action for Children is offering two free workshops on budget
advocacy this fall. The first is being held on September 17 from 10:00
a.m.-noon. The topic is “The Nuts and Bolts of Budget
Recommendations.” Participants will learn how to format and formulate
budget recommendations for the express purpose of having the District
fund these initiatives in the DC budget. The second training, “The
Nuts and Bolts of Budget Advocacy,” is scheduled for October 23 from
2:30-4:30 p.m. This is the 101 of budget trainings, and participants
will become familiar with the budget process and intervention points.
While the skills are transferable to a range of issues and populations,
we will (obviously) focus on those issues that impact children, youth
and their families in the District of Columbia. Reservations are
required. More information is available by calling 234-9404 or E-mailing
me, scambria@dckids.org.
Order your copy of “What's in it for Kids? FY 2004” today and
soon you will learn more about the ways that the budget impacts
children, youth and families in the District. We expect the analysis to
be available in September 2004. Send name, organization, address, and
phone to scambria@dckids.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
I have two season tickets to the Redskins, section 451, row 16. Will
sell all tickets at cost (parking pass included for free ). Have to sell
because I need the money for dental work. Call 703-451-4611 and leave
message.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Condominium available September 2003, New Carollton, Maryland. One
bedroom with hardwood floors and patio. $825 per moth plus electricity.
Deposit required. Call 331-4418; Tolu2000@aol.com.
###############
Apartment for Rent
Frankeena Wright, fwright@dckids.org
Apartment for rent in Brightwood, NW. One bedroom, one bathroom,
renovated. $659/month. New appliances, hardwood floors, laundry on site.
Call 329-9597.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE
Boxes
Nick Keenan, Palisades, nbk at gsionline dot com
We've just completed a move of a five-person, two-dog household, and
we have over one hundred high-quality boxes to give away. E-mail for
details.
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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS
Literacy Tutor Training Workshop
Sylvia Keene, mdalc@erols.com
The Metropolitan/Delta Adult Literacy Council is seeking tutors to
help adults improve their basic reading skills. Volunteers work with one
student and meet days, evenings, or weekends at a mutually agreeable
location, such as a public library. Volunteers work about three hours a
week; teaching materials are provided. A one-hour orientation will be
held on Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 p.m. at 1218 R Street, NW,
followed by a 15-hour training workshop that will be held on two
Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., October 4th and October 18th. The
workshop will be held at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 1225 R Street, NW.
Please call 234-BOOK (2665) to receive a registration form.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
Downsizing Manager will make your Moving On Project stressless when
leaving one home for another home. Call 331-4418 for details.
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