Winter has been threatening this week. We had several cold days with bits of snow in the area melting before they hit the ground. A little while ago we actually had a flake. During the past week, DC government emailed to residents it snow plan for this winter. City trucks have had snow plows attached and some have had the salt spreaders loaded in their beds. Last night, one of the spreaders going down the street was actually filled with salt/chemical.
From Places |
One day when I was out and about, I observed a new process. At the Department of Justice Constitution Street entrance, security guards were checking the ID’s of people intending to enter the building on the sidewalk outside the building. In addition, persons were showing their driver’s license along with their official government IDs. . . I wonder if Justice is trying to keep the “transition team” out. . . During the Bush administration, the location of the Department of Justice on Constitution Street has been transformed from symbolic of justice to irony.
Just like all Americans, residents of Washington, DC:
· pay federal and local taxes;
· serve in the armed forces and make sacrifices in times of war and conflict;
· serve on juries to uphold federal laws and policies.
Last week, the lights were strung on the White House Christmas tree. This week, the ornaments are being added.
From Places |
It was not until the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan that the swearing-in was moved to the Capitol's west front, where larger audiences could spread onto the Mall.
Meanwhile, the construction of the White House parade reviewing stand continued.
DC elects a Delegate to the House of Representatives who can vote in committee and draft legislation, but does not have full voting rights. However, Congress is considering legislation that will grant DC's Delegate full voting rights.
Jeanette Takamura, Dean of the Columbia University School of Social Work, has joined the Obama transition team. The former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging in the Clinton administration has responsibility for the transition team review of the Administration on Aging.
DID YOU KNOW
That the District of Columbia is the only national capital among democratic nations of the world whose citizens have no voting representation in the national legislature?
That the residents of the District of Columbia are the only Americans who are federally taxed without voting representation in the Federal Government?
That District residents pay more federal income taxes per capita than the residents of all but one state?
That more District residents, per capita, have fought in U.S. wars than the residents of any state, even though they have no vote in the U.S. Congress which declares those wars?
That the District of Columbia is the only jurisdiction in the United States that cannot spend any of its own local tax dollars without specific approval from the U.S. Congress in which District residents have no voting representation?
For most of the nation, the license tags on the Presidential limousine are not important. But for DC residents, the tags are of great symbolic importance. At the end of the Clinton administration, the limousine wore with pride the standard District of Columbia license tag with the slogan "Taxation Without Representation". President Bush immediately replaced these tags with slogan-free tags.
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