Stand Up for DC: Monday Rally

Today there will be a demonstration for DC Voting rights. Congress has reasserted its power over us by telling the District's citizens how we can and cannot spend or own taxes, by imposing a rider on the budget compromise to bar the District of Columbia from paying for abortions for low-income women.

I just paid my District taxes. Congress has no business telling us what we can and cannot do with our own money.

Here are the details of Monday's demonstration. There's more information at http://www.dcvote.org .

--Bill Adler


What: It's Time to Stand Up for DC
Date: Monday, April 11, 2011
Location: 2nd and Constitution Avenue, NE
Time: 5:00 PM

As feared, Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama sacrificed the rights of DC residents to get a deal on the federal budget bill. We need to fight back before the deal is signed into law.

Demand democracy for DC by joining us this Monday at 5 PM outside of the Senate Hart Building, which is located at 2nd and Constitution Avenue, NE.

Are you tired of being treated like a second-class citizen?

The Senate and the House are drafting language for a federal budget bill that will likely include a permanent ban on DC spending its own local money for reproductive health care services for low-income women. It would also impose a voucher program and may ban syringe access programs that help stop the spread of HIV-AIDS.

Let's take to the streets outside of the Senate Hart Building on Monday at 5 pm.

Pledge to join us right now by emailing rsvp @ dcvote.org.

Pro-Democracy for Egypt Demonstration on Connecticut Avenue

If you were driving on Connecticut Avenue yesterday and you were anywhere near the intersection of Van Ness Street, then you weren't actually driving. You were parked, waiting for the large crowd of pro-democracy demonstrators to complete their march in the southbound lanes of Connecticut Avenue.  Police had closed off those lanes to car traffic to accommodate the impromptu crowd of several hundred, who were holding signs saying "Free Egypt" and chanting, "What do we want? Democracy! When do we want it? Now."

Adding to the bottleneck on Connecticut, the right lane in the block just south of Van Ness Street was blocked by street repairs.  When the marchers had moved on, allowing police to reopen the southbound lanes, the bottleneck did not clear up immediately, due to the construction.

Drivers who attempted to use Reno Road as a detour soon found that Reno Road was bumper-to-bumper as well.

Police, on hand in large numbers, were managing traffic as well as possible under the circumstances.  The demonstration was orderly and the crowd young and enthusiastic.

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert Rallies Coming to DC: Expect Gridlock and the Wrath of God

On October 30th, Washington, DC will be treated to --or tormented by, depending on your perspective-- competing demonstrations by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. (Did we need to include "Comedy Central" in the description of Stewart and Colbert? Does anyone on the planet not know who they are?)

These demonstrations will be a satire of --or homage to, again depending on your point of view-- Glenn Beck's August 28th Restoring Honor to America Rally at the Lincoln Memorial.