Happy Holidays
Dear Holiday Well-Wishers:
The next issue of themail will come out on Christmas Eve. Why not
take a few minutes to write an E-mail to wish your fellow Washingtonians
and themail readers happy holidays, seasons greetings, or merry
Christmas, however you would want to put it? Let’s be festive, for one
issue at least.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime in America, but
it does not have to be. On September 26, I became a victim of identity
theft when I turned my old driver’s license into the District of
Columbia’s Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) Brentwood location.
Instead of their destroying my old driver’s license, it ended up in
the hands of two young African-American women who have been taking turns
using my old driver’s license to pass counterfeit checks in over
forty-five stores throughout Maryland and Virginia since October 4. When
almost sixteen days later I learned that my identity had been stolen, I
immediately started contacting the bank, the stores, collection
agencies, and federal and local law enforcement agencies. I soon
discovered that just as fast as my identity was stolen, it would take
almost a lifetime to get my identity back.
Nobody I have contacted to date sees the urgency in putting a stop to
these women. I have been told over and over again that it is a financial
crime, the stores are the true victims, it happens every day, and it is
hard to catch the perpetrators. Yes, I agree identity theft happens
everybody. Yes, according to the law it has been classified as a
financial crime. No, the stores are not the only victim. The individual
whose identity has been stolen faces lose of time, money spent on faxes,
affidavits, stamps, paper, telephone calls, fees to clear up a damaged
credit report, civil judgments, and any criminal ramifications that may
have resulted from the theft of their identity. Not to mention the
stress, the frustration, and lose of security, trust, and sleep. I went
from being in denial like any other victim of a crime to being angry at
these women for stealing my identity and at the American legal system
and stores for allowing these women to continue using my identity.
And no, perpetrators of identity theft are not hard to catch. They
are no different from any other criminals that plague the streets of
America. Rather, America does not have a strong interest in stopping
them. In less than three days, I was able to track down a video tape of
the two women using my driver’s license and a name, address, and
telephone number for one of the women. Armed with all of this
information, I assumed both federal and local law enforcement would
immediately try to confirm this information and make arrests. I was
wrong. These women continue to shop using my identity while I continue
to clean up the mess they have made of my life. The only satisfaction I
have gotten thus far is that I confronted one of the women who stole my
identity face to face. Maybe she will stop, since she knows I know who
she is; then again maybe she won’t, because I am powerless to stop
her. The law will not stop her. The moment I take matters into my own
hands to stop her, the law will immediately step in to protect her. In
the meantime, who is protecting me?
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Working Around the Clock
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
That strong odor in the air in the entire neighborhood surrounding
Crate and Barrel on 48th Street, NW, and Massachusetts Avenue, NW, is
definitely not a harbinger of spring. It's the very strong smell of
natural gas. That big leak is being worked on by Washington Gas around
the clock now. The original estimated completion date for installing
hundreds of feet of 18-inch diameter pipes along Mass. Ave. was late
February. Not sure if that estimate included around-the-clock efforts.
Washington Gas has definitely speeded up their repair efforts, probably
in response to the large increase in natural gas in the neighborhood. I
have curtailed my outside activities until that smell is gone and will
use the treadmill instead. I'm glad my house is tight. We had a canary
once that belched and it broke a window.
It is curious that the Washington Post and/or the local media
have not picked up on this hazardous climate. Perhaps they don't want a
mass evacuation (hey Tony, can I borrow your bike?). In the meantime if
you have to come into this gas laden zone, park some distance away and
don't light up.
Postscript: Before noon on Saturday, the strong odor of gas, which
persisted since last Thursday, was gone. And also gone were the big
trucks and the work crews that toiled over the last thirty hours. It's
now safe to light up in front of Crate and Barrel on Massachusetts
Avenue at 48th Street, NW.
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Thank you for the most realistic, well-rounded analysis of what it
may take to get District residents voting representation in the nation's
Congress. But even if we meet the requirements you suggest, we citizens
resident in the District may never be granted the voting representation
citizenship supposedly entails. Tradition is likely to be invoked, and
citizens resident in the states are really not concerned about the flaw
in American government. I am unhappily pessimistic about this. Janice H.
Hopper, once co-chair of the long defunct Statehood Commission.
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The Concept of Voting Rights
Erica Nash, nash3@starpower.net
I agree wholeheartedly that the concept of voting rights is little
understood by most people. Our laws require that we prove our capability
to sustain ourselves if we are to be part of the Union. Most people I
know believe that voting rights are inherent to having a US Passport.
Although, given our other constitutional laws, it is easy to understand
how people believe that voting is a right that should be extended to
everyone, regardless of which territory you live in. What would be
required is either to change the laws, therefore granting DC citizens
the right to vote without DC having to be a State, or to annex DC to
a local state, or to make it its own state. The latter would be
difficult to do, since the government relies on a territory, not a
state. Given that government buildings are located all over the city, it
is also difficult to determine which part of the city becomes part of
Maryland and which part does not. Not to be overlooked also is the fact
that most people do not want the responsibility of being locally
governed since DC has a track record of poor governments. As it stands
now, if DC Council screws up, the Feds save us. If we had our own
independence, we would be more accountable and have to make the hard
decisions of where to put our money and which programs to fund. Taking
responsibility is not the forte of DC citizens.
Would I like the right to vote? Absolutely yes. Am I personally
willing to take the responsibility of having our own governance? Not
unless the way DC governs itself is revamped totally, and all new
people assigned.
Regarding the Foxhall Mansion property: Ed Barron mentioned that
Foxhall residents have yet to see the disaster that they were hoping to
avoid. I live in the neighborhood, and I dread to think what comes next.
I don't think, however, that the neighborhood complaints were geared
towards having the mansion located in the area; they were geared towards
the annexed park property becoming part of the proposed mansion. Time
will tell and we'll see what happens.
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Proposal for Full Voting Rights
Richard C. Bartel, Rcbartel@iname.com
I have been making the case for a while that there is a way to get
full voting rights for DC residents. I made the proposal again in public
at the Cleveland Park Citizens' Association meeting on Tuesday, December
16, at which Mark Plotkin was the speaker. I propose that Congress grant
DC full voting rights, on the road to possible Statehood, with the
provision that the two DC Senators cannot be from the same Party.
This would be feasible for passage in Congress now. The Senators
could be Democrat/Republican, Democrat/Green, Republican/Green,
Democrat/Independent, Republican/Independent, Independent/Independent,
Green/Independent, Democrat/Statehood, etc., and any other combination
of the many parties and independent(s) that exist in DC politics.
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Building a Strong Two-Party System in DC
David J. Bardin, davidbardin@aol.com
[Gary Imhoff] suggests that DC needs a strong Republican Party as
one of several preconditions to winning voting rights at the
Congressional level. A more modest and attainable goal might be a
seriously competitive Republican Party. That could evolve if DC
politicians were willing to divide DC three Presidential Electors in
proportion to the election results instead of on the winner-take-all
basis that DC (like most States) has chosen.
One could expect Republicans to compete more seriously if 34 percent
of the vote gave them a crack at one of those three Electors. One could
expect the National Republican Party to take DC Republicans more
seriously because vigorous efforts by the latter would have something to
offer the National Republicans. If your higher priority is evolution to
a competitive, two-party, political system in DC, that's exactly what
you would ask the DC Council and Mayor to approve as a technically
easy change.
However, if your higher priority is to try to elect a Democrat to the
Presidency, come what may, you would instead stick by our present
one-party environment in which Republicans have no chance whatever to
win an Elector and are relegated to competing (with Greens,
independents, etc.) for the two DC Council seats that DC law forbids
Democrats to hold (because they are the majority party).
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I rarely respond to these things, but I must challenge Mr. Imhoff's
diatribe on voting rights — which I must say comes across as a victim
blaming himself for the crime. Let me address two of the five
recommendations, government efficiency and Republicans. 1) Democracy is
a right and is not contingent on government efficiency. Our forefathers
fought a revolution for that right. Representation is not contingent on
government performance. If that were true, the senators and congressmen
from Louisiana and Illinois would have been long sent home. Let me say
something about government efficiency — I ask you to look at the
savings the city has brought about during the last three budget cycles:
$323 million! The city balanced the budget during the last couple of
years, while most states were awash in red ink — and they didn't raise
taxes. Numerous studies, including those by the GAO and the McKinsey
group, state that we would still have fiscal pressures even if our
government were perfectly run. I'm not saying we're perfect, but we're
not as bad as you think.
Republicans have never supported DC. Bipartisanship is a two way
street. The only way to build a Republican party is if the national
party embraced DC like the Democrats have. The Republicans have been
traditionally opposed to statehood; in fact they have treated DC as
their fiefdom. Just take these examples: the Barr amendment, the ban on
needle exchange, and efforts to overturn the District's gun laws. When
Senator Lieberman had a vote in the Government Affairs Committee on the
taxation without representation bill, not one Republican showed up! Now
what self respecting DC resident would want to be a part of that
national organization? If the Republicans support increased local home
rule, then the city can build an a Republican opposition. So please,
stop the navel gazing and get behind full statehood for DC. My proposal
is this: The voting rights organization should set an ambitious
fundraising goal to establish a DC Vote PAC which then can support any
Congressional or Senate candidate who supports the cause.
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The Year in Review Response
Tolu Tolu, tolu2books@aol.com
To quote Gary from the December 18 issue of themail, “When
citizens don't have to spend all their civic time and energy fighting
city government trying to get their trash picked up and convincing the
police to do street patrols and getting their cars through DMV, maybe
more people will be free to put voting rights at the top of their list
of political causes.”
In my experience none of these city services rates a grade of “D,” while most deserve
“F” year after year. Mayor
Williams's grade in 2003 from me is “F.”
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Where Are the Plows?
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
This question was posed after last Saturday night's three-inch
snowfall in DC. I was very interested in that snowfall since I had just
put on snow tires on my new sports car and wanted to make sure they
worked since I was driving the following Monday. I would be going into a
ski area in western Maryland and from there to Kentucky on a
genealogical roots hunt. Before 6 a.m., Massachusetts Avenue was plowed
bare, but the plow kept running up and down Mass. Ave. from Ward Circle
to Westmoreland Circle.
I went to Westmoreland Hills just across the DC/Maryland border,
where I walk each morning. There are some neat hills in that area but
they were already plowed by Montgomery County. If they did not plow that
area, we wouldn't see much of those folks until spring. Then I drove
over to Arizona Avenue along Nebraska. All those snow emergency streets
were plowed and plows continued to run up and down the bared streets.
Just off Arizona, however, there were plenty of non-snow emergency
streets with nice unplowed hills to try out my new snow feet. They
worked fine.
It is clear that DC's priority is the snow emergency routes, but once
those streets are plowed, the plows should be allowed to go through the
non-emergency streets. AU Park is a tough place to plow since cars park
on both sides on most streets and folks don't (or can't) move their cars
to allow the plows to come through. The best the plows can do under
those circumstances is to plow one lane on the non-snow emergency
streets. The snow removal agency should give plow drivers alternate
routes when they have cleared their assigned snow emergency routes.
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Hoisted on One’s Own Petard
Nick Cobbs, Ncobbs@erols.com
Ed Gaull’s uncertainty about whether a petard is hoisted or foisted
is easily resolved. Petards are hoisted, not foisted, because the phrase
is a quote from Hamlet, Act III, Scene iv: “For ‘tis the sport to
have the engineer/Hoist with his own petard.” The petard was a bell
shaped bomb designed to blow up castle gates. The sappers who had to
install these temperamental machines often got blown sky high in
premature explosions. Lawyers have become particularly fond of the
expression and are quick to refer to it whenever an adversary gets
trapped in his own argument.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Joy in the City New Year’s Eve Celebration, December 31
Rhonda Spears, rspears@usmayors.org
New Samaritan Baptist Church, under the leadership of its pastor,
Bishop Michael V. Kelsey, Sr., will host a citywide New Year's Eve
celebration, on Wednesday, December 31, at the DC Armory, 2400 E.
Capitol Street, NE, called Joy in the City! Thousands of people from
across the metro DC area are expected to bring in the New Year
together at this great celebration. The Joy in the City worship service,
begins at 10:00 p.m.; doors open at 8:00 p.m. and music beings at 9:00
p.m., It will be a powerful event featuring Bishop Kelsey preaching an
inspiring and life-changing message, music by renowned gospel recording
artist Natalie Wilson and S.O.P., and the New Samaritan Mass Choir, who
just recorded their second CD. Also, Mayor Anthony Williams of
Washington has been asked to bring greetings.
In addition to the New Year's Eve service, Joy in the City has a
tremendous outreach focus. Hundreds of residents in shelters from across
the city will be brought to the Armory and will receive personal care
packages prior to the service. Additionally, referral information will
be available for those who need a variety of services such as substance
abuse treatment, counseling, parenting training, shelter, clothing and
much more.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
Darlene's Cleaning Service. We do bathrooms, bedrooms, windows, the
whole house. Whatever you need cleaned, we get the job done. If we can't
clean it, it can't be cleaned. I can be reached at
Darlenes_Cleaning_Service@yahoo.com.
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CLASSIFIEDS — WANTED
The remote for my SONY SL-2000 Betamax (yes: Betamax) VTR just died
and SONY tells me they no longer stock replacements. If you have or know
someone who has the remote for an SL-2000 (or SL-anything) Betamax
recorder still gathering dust in your basement, garage, or attic, please
let me know. Note: I really need the remote, not the actual VTR itself.
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