The American Spectator

Lanette| 4.7.11 @ 6:43AM

After receiving a $100 parking ticket for getting to my car at 4:00p.m. and being sick of cherry traffic, a short vacation may just be the right "Ticket."

kerry| 4.7.11 @ 7:19AM

Ha! A lady at my church, who works for the federal govn't in DC ( I live in Alexandria), said the same thing- "the cherry blossom festival will be shutdown!". My very first thought was, do the cherry trees shut down too?" I hope the government does shut down, maybe I can go down and actually find a place to park and take a nice leisurely stroll around the tidal basin, in peace, without all the hoopla and loud music coming from the event stage.

Pecos Pete| 4.7.11 @ 7:41AM

Shut the guvmint down! Do it until at least December 1, 2012. Can't be any worse than what we are experiencing now.

vicki| 4.7.11 @ 8:30AM

Sure, troops don't need to be paid to defend our country. They can wait for their paychecks

Robert Stacy McCain| 4.7.11 @ 9:50AM

Working (and especially driving) in D.C. is an experience that will sooner or later turn anyone into a vehement tourist-hater. Try to drive along Constitution Avenue, from Virginia toward the Capitol, any day between March and November, and you'll see what I mean. If it's not a slow-moving tourist bus blocking traffic, then it's a delay at an intersection while 200 elderly tourists waddle across the street.

Cherry-blossom time is absolutely the worst. Ask yourself: "What kind of person has nothing better to do with their life than to come to Washington, D.C., and look at a bunch of trees in bloom?" The answer is: Somebody who's not going to cross the street fast enough for me to get through the intersection before the light changes.

Damn the tourists and damn the cherry blossoms, I say!

jharp| 4.7.11 @ 10:08AM

"two of the worst plagues of life in Washington are (a) overzealous parking-ordinance enforcement"

I think I get it. Enforcing the law and giving assholes who park illegally a ticket is overzealous.

Everyone knows that you right wingers should be allowed to park wherever the hell you choose. Those no parking signs are for the little people.

God you people are stupid.

Occam's Tool| 4.7.11 @ 10:20AM

JHarp---live in a Liberal place where parking is hard to come by some time.

And Vicki---the troops will be paid.

mrt| 4.7.11 @ 10:29AM

Robert Stacy McCain| 4.7.11 @ 9:50AM

"Just stay away from DuPont Circle. I hear it's murder driving through there." -Sidney Ellen Wade

jharp| 4.7.11 @ 11:03AM

Occam's Tool| 4.7.11 @ 10:20AM

"JHarp---live in a Liberal place where parking is hard to come by some time."

I have douche bag. One year in Manhattan and one year in Hong Kong.

Not to mention my college years where parking was very challenging.

It's called get your wallet and pay for it or don't drive.

It's really not a difficult concept at all.

God you people are stupid.

jharp| 4.7.11 @ 11:04AM

Occam's Tool| 4.7.11 @ 10:20AM

"And Vicki---the troops will be paid."

That is not what I am reading. Do you have a link?

jharp| 4.7.11 @ 11:46AM

Occam's Tool| 4.7.11 @ 10:20AM

"And Vicki---the troops will be paid."

Eventually yes. Should be great times in business for the payday loan sharks that surround our military bases.

At Camp Liberty in Baghdad today, an American soldier asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the government shutdown affecting military pay. “Let me say,” Gates said, “you will be paid.” He noted the main problem with troops not receiving pay on time:

GATES: Based on some stuff I read this morning, if the government shutdown starts on the 8th and goes for a week, you’d get a half a check. If it goes from the 15th to the 30th, you wouldn’t get a paycheck on the 30th, but you would be back paid for all of it. So that’s the deal.

And, frankly, I remember when I was your age I did a lot of living from paycheck to paycheck. And so, I hope this thing doesn’t happen because I know it will be an inconvenience for a lot of troops.

"Taking to reporters after the Q&A with soldiers, Gates reiterated his concern. “You all know as well as I do that a lot of these young troops live pretty much paycheck to paycheck, and when I start to think about the inconvenience that it’s going to cause these kids and a lot of their families, even half a paycheck delayed can be a problem for them,” he said."

"Gates is correct. While troops will earn pay during the shutdown, they won’t actually receive any money until the budget crisis is over and the federal government is fully operational again. That means that military families, many of which do live paycheck to paycheck, will have difficulties paying rent and utilities or even buying food."

It's only food for our soldiers families, right? They'll get to eat eventually. Shut er down. Right?

God you people are stupid.

Seek| 4.7.11 @ 12:38PM

I can't stand the D.C. parking ticket kops either. But I've heard that walking is therapeutic -- as is taking the Metro subway. No ticket, no stress.

JimBrown| 4.7.11 @ 1:09PM

If there is not a method, or bill if that what it takes to pay the VERY small number of employs, like uniformed military, serious law enforcement like FBI, CIA field agents, actually in the field, minimal staff to send out checks to Ponies schema victims (SS recipients), military only Fed pension checks, border patrol, etc etc get rid of the whole Congress. That is the type of expense the Constitution recognizes.

The rest of the payroll and free federal dollar bunch can wait for their money until shut down savings balances the budget.

Tom| 4.7.11 @ 7:34PM

Dealing with the Tourons (Tourist Morons) is one of the worst things about working in downtown Washington, DC. The absolute worst week of the year has to be the week between Palm Sunday and Easter when this place is infested with Touron Brats from around the country because so many schools have their breaks during that time. When Easter coincides with the stupid Cherry Blossums, it is total agony to live and work here. We get a bit of a reprieve this year from the worst of it due to Easter being so late.

Red Eye dude| 4.12.11 @ 2:30AM

If you poor yuppies who hate toorsts work in downtown DC I assume your wages are being paid by us dummies. You could have lived in DC when Henry Clay was chased down Penn Ave by an angry goat, or when Prez Grant ran over an old lady when he was riding fast one day. Dante in Hell met a dude from Florence known as Silver Spurs who had liked to knock down pdestrans while riding fast through town. Maybe I'll see some of you Arlington geniuses in the boiling mud pit some time.