Alright, let’s do this.

I’ve been holding off on covering the most recent embarassment to Washington D.C. government by the Honorable-my-ass former mayor, current Ward 8 council member Marion “Bitch set me up” Barry until everything was on the table.

Barry’s mouthpiece attorney just finished his presser moments ago so it looks like the time is here.

Before we start delving into this pile of monkey turds, let me give a major hat tip to Mike Debonis at The City Paper who worked his ass off all weekend to pull information out about this story.  It’s rare I compliment anybody, but he did some kick ass work.

To be quite honest, I don’t have the stamina to chronicle this trash-TV epic relationship gone wrong.  So let me just hit the highlights:

• Barry and the woman, Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, have dated for roughly 6 months
• Trouble started last Tuesday when several councilmembers hosted a Wilson Building screening of CNN’s Black in America documentary. She attended with her ex-husband, Delonta Brighthaupt, and their children. But Barry, when he learned less than an hour beforehand that Brighthaupt would be in attendance, drafted a memo asking that he be banned from the building. He was kicked out of the event. According to Watts-Brighthaupt, “It was embarrassing.”
• Saturday Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt were headed to Rehoboth Beach, Del. to attend a party when Watts-Brighthaupt decided she didn’t want to go with Barry because a reconciliation wasn’t going to happen
• U.S. Park Service Police said they arrested Barry  about 8:45 p.m. in Anacostia Park after a woman flagged down an officer to report that a man in a nearby vehicle was “bothering her,” police said. After interviewing Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt, Barry was charged with one count of “misdemeanor stalking,” said Sgt. David Schlosser, a Park Police spokesman.
• Watts-Brighthaupt denies flagging down the officer and accusing Barry of stalking her

Whew!  As I said, this nothing more than a steaming pile of monkey turds.

The one thing that still stands out in all of this to me is yet another opportunity for Marion Barry to play the victim.

He got set up smoking crack by the FBI. He got set up by the United States Park Police in 2002 after they “planted” weed and coke in his car.  He got set up again by them because he was driving suspiciously slow in 2006.  He has been “targeted and set up” by the IRS for not filing taxes and the list goes on and on.

The only constant with Barry is that nothing is EVER his fault.  He never has to say, “I’m sorry.  I made a mistake.  I will do better.”  He is ALWAYS the victim.

And yet, the citizens of Ward 8 still elect him.  He still gets his 2 cents in on every issue pertaining to the future of D.C.

Sometimes there just aren’t the words to describe how effed up a situation can be.  This is one of those.

ABC 7 reports about local granola-munchers getting exactly what they asked for and then not liking it.

Community Outraged Over Mural Painted on D.C. House

Veronica Jackson, the woman whose house it’s painted on says, “It’s a boxer girl. It’s about strength, it’s about creativity…”

Jackson says the painting came to be when artist Lisa Marie Thallhammer received a grant from the city to do a wall mural. “She needed a place. I provided a place and it’s been fabulous. I come around the corner to come home at night and boo.. it just makes me feel so good,” she said.

Still, some neighbors say they’re not thrilled with the artwork. “It borders on graffiti,” said Barbara Wilson, a neighbor. “I see it in my kitchen, in my bedroom, in my basement — it’s just in my face.”

And since taxpayer funds were used to put it up, some are particularly outraged.

Clearly, I have no sympathy here.  It is the douchebag, liberal crowd that believes in using taxpayer money to fund these types of  supposed arts (ever heard of the NEA?), but now that it pops up in their neighborhood and they don’t particularly care for the drawing they want to bitch and moan and hold meetings to have it removed.

This is so typical of this crowd of hypocrites.  They want to protest and hold rallies about various rights and freedoms, but when someone exercises their freedom in a way they don’t like they are the first to hold meetings and try to come up with legalese to get their way.  Rights be damned.

DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin says STATter911.com story isn’t true. Chief Rubin’s own PIO says otherwise.

Highly Recommended!

Missteps in Crash’s Aftermath Dull Fenty’s Luster

With shouts of “Praise the Lord!” more than 1,000 worshipers flooded a Baptist church in the District on Tuesday to honor Dennis Hawkins, one of nine people killed in the Red Line train crash last month. But when Pastor A. Michael Black introduced the next speaker listed in the program — someone from “Executive Office of the Mayor” — a worried hush swept over the sanctuary.

No one came forward.

A day later, a sort of instant replay occurred at the funeral for crash victim Veronica DuBose when the minister’s call for an aide to D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to speak was again met with no reply. The aide had apparently left the church.

In the days that followed, the mayor and his staff were noticeably absent from a string of memorials, funerals and wakes. Seven of the nine people who died were D.C. residents. Fenty showed up at services for train operator Jeanice McMillan, but he was an hour late and was wearing a light-colored summer suit that some said was inappropriate.

Welcome to the party.  What took you so long?

Source: Washington City Paper City Desk

Source: Washington City Paper City Desk

The submitter explains:

‘Took some photos yesterday of 6 kids from the Mayor’s Conservation Corps rolling [a] joint and smoking pot….I did call the police but they didn’t show up before the kids finished up. You can see a lighter and smoke in the photos. You can tell what he’s smoking from how he’s holding it. I could smell it…(don’t ask me how I know what it smells like).’

Real?  Who knows.  The reader could smell it, but we can’t so that is out as proof.  As for how they are holding it, they’re kids.  I wouldn’t expect them to have a perfected cigarette hold such as I do.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this was real.  Afterall, there is a track record of stranger things happening with these program kids.

The headline reads: D.C. Family, Court at Odds Over Woman’s Funeral Costs

Initially, I thought to myself, “Hmmm, Informer, I wonder how D.C. government has screwed someone now.”  Then I read the details of the article and that vein in my neck that pulsates when a story really pisses me off nearly burst.

The source of my anger (for once) is NOT D.C.  It’s a family ingrained with victim mentality on a scale rarely seen.

Here’s the lowdown:

For almost a month, the embalmed body of Toni Brown has lain in a District funeral home.

At issue is the $6,000 the funeral home says it needs to bury Brown. The funeral home has given Brown’s family until tomorrow to come up with the money or consider cremation.

Brown’s relatives say they don’t have the money and insist that the city should pay for the funeral.

Let’s stop there for a minute.  Why would this family think the city should pay for her funeral in the first place?  Because D.C. (which was news to me) has a compensation fund that will pay $6,000 for funeral costs to victims of homicide.

So, let me get this part straight.  The families of people who are murdered by some pathetic punk are entitled to taxpayer money to help bury their loved one because it happened within the confines of the District?

How is this logical?  What the hell part did the average D.C. tax payer play in the person’s murder?  I’ll answer that for you: None!  So, what the eff is the government doling out six grand for? I can answer that too.  Because some assholes think it is the government’s job to feed, clothe, and shelter the people from cradle to grave in exchange for power over them.  That’s an issue for another time though.

So why isn’t this family of leeches getting their six grand?

The D.C. medical examiner told Brown’s family that she had several ailments, including hypertension and high blood pressure. Brown’s family said she was healthy before she was shot two years ago by a former girlfriend. They say her health problems were caused by the shooting.

Because Brown’s death was not ruled a homicide, D.C. authorities say her family is not entitled to receive any money from a compensation fund that aids relatives of homicide victims and is overseen by the D.C. Superior Court.

So let me clarify for you. Brown was shot 2 years ago, but didn’t die until around 30 days ago.  The medical examiner believes her death was the result of her other medical ailments and not the shooting, but the family claims she didn’t have the other ailments until the shooting which would mean indirectly it was the shooting that caused her death.  Whew!  Get all that?

At this point I can see where a rational human being would say, the medical examiner could be:

1. Wrong in his assessment
2. Trying to save the tax payers some money so he blames something else for the cause of death to get out of paying

Either of those scenarios are certainly possible in my mind and since other people are getting the money why the hell not just go ahead and try to get your share too.

Here is where I nearly blew a gasket:

After the shooting, the victims’ compensation fund gave Brown and her family $10,000 to cover her lost wages. For the past year and a half, Brown had used the money for items for herself and her mother, Stephany Hill, including a bed, clothes, living room furniture and a 26-inch flat-screen TV for their house in Southeast Washington, Hill said. She used $393, the last of the money, to pay for the blue suit Brown now wears.

Are you f*cking kidding me???? Did I just read that right?  Let me do that again.

After the shooting, the victims’ compensation fund gave Brown and her family $10,000 to cover her lost wages. For the past year and a half, Brown had used the money for items for herself and her mother, Stephany Hill, including a bed, clothes, living room furniture and a 26-inch flat-screen TV for their house in Southeast Washington, Hill said. She used $393, the last of the money, to pay for the blue suit Brown now wears.

Maybe I am just a heartless bastard, but any shread of sympathy I had for this family just went out the window.

Let me attempt to get my head around this.  This family has already received $10,000 ($4,000 more than the $6,000 they feel entitled to receive) and blew that money on the obvious necessities of living such as a bed, clothes, living room furniture and a 26-inch flat-screen TV?

Sometimes the sheer balls people in this city have leaves me speechless.  Per capita, I would bet that D.C. has the most selfish people in the world.  But (yet again) that is an issue for another time.

The ultra liberals who dominate this area at the moment will find me to be a cold-hearted, selfish bastard for being angry at this.  On the other side of the political spectrum, the ultra right-wing conservatives will whole-heartedly agree with me.

Let’s get one thing clear: This isn’t about politics.  It is about people.  It’s about human nature.

This family has lived their entire lives feeling entitled to handout after handout.  Don’t believe me?  Read it and weep:

In April, doctors released Brown from the rehab center and allowed her to return to the government-subsidized home she shared with her mother and siblings. Medicaid paid for the on-call nurse who visited the house.

Their entire lives have been built on freebies from the government.  Does that make them bad people?  Not necessarily.  But it does encourage their behavior to sit back on their asses and expect a check.  It has always come before.  Why wouldn’t it now?

It also explains their behavior of blowing through $10,000 on bullshit instead of food, shelter, and bills.  That was extra money to them.  The other subsidies already took care of the necessities so they figured why not buy some bling?

Here’s the point I am trying to make: Giving handouts doesn’t ever solve the problem because people are going to be people.  If they can get it for free most people will until the well runs dry.

Entire generations in this city have grown up expecting handouts cleverly described as “assistance” and cases like this one are the result.

Two sources who must remain anonymous because they are close to the investigation allege that Metro technicians knew about a serious circuit problem on the track five days before the deadly accident and that they allegedly reported the problem to supervisors days before nine people lost their lives.

Sources say the technicians all claimed they notified supervisors and Metro’s maintenance operations center about the circuit problem five days before that collision and that the information was entered into Metro’s maintenance computer database.

Here’s the deal:  The public is pissed about the entire Metro system and it’s wide-ranging list of screw ups.  Everybody at WMATA realizes this issue is not going to quietly go away.  Some sort of action, most likely a firing or two, is going to be needed to put this shit storm to bed.  The only question is who’s it going to be?

It won’t be Catoe or any of his cronies.  So the list of possible ejections is severly cut right there.

The company who makes these sensors is already being lined up to take some of the hit, but that probably won’t be enough.

Who does that leave? Maintenance guys.

Apparently, somebody over in maintenance wised up and said we better get the info out that we did our jobs before we end up taking the fall.  Good move, guys.

The saga continues…

One bill, submitted by Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, would protect ex-convicts under the city’s Human Rights Act by preventing employers from using conviction or arrest records to make hire decisions in most cases. A less stringent bill, sponsored by Barry and Councilman Michael Brown, D-At large, would require Mayor Adrian Fenty to create a strategy to incorporate returning convicts into housing, education and job opportunities.

Oh, Marion, please tell us more:

“My philosophy is if you do your time, you have served your time, you’ve paid your debt to society. If you’ve paid your debt, that should be it,” Barry said. He said he had submitted the same bill under former Mayor Anthony Williams, which passed the council but was vetoed.

I bet you’re expecting me to say something kind of mean here.  I would, but it’s just too damn easy.  It’s like teeball.  I prefer a challenge so I won’t.

But I will rip on the sheer stupidity of this entire event.

Essentially what Barry’s bill says is that you become a protected citizen under the Human Rights Act if you infringe on the rights of another person by robbing, raping, or murdering them, do your jail time, and get out.

Please tell me you see the ignorance of this thinking.

Brown’s bill, on the other hand, says essentially let us (the D.C. government) spend taxpayer money we know we don’t have to offer a program that will in all likelihood become either incompetent or corrupt or both so we can appear to be doing something about a perceived problem.

Here’s the harsh reality, convicts.  Your actions have destroyed the ability of most people to trust you.  Call it unfair all you want.  That is the reality.  The people you now want to trust you and give you a job didn’t make you commit crimes.  You did that all by yourself.

As a result, it is your responsibility to earn back that trust and here’s a hint: Running to the council and whining for help never earned anybody a damn thing.

It might be unfair that when you get a job you have to do something way below your abilities because they don’t trust you with money or people’s personal information.  It might also be unfair that you have to work twice as hard as the next asshole to show the bosses they can trust you to do the right thing when nobody is looking over your shoulder.

Bottom line:  Actions have consequences.  Be a man and earn back the trust.  Don’t go whining to a bunch of politicians for a handout.

D.C.’s Office of Tax and Revenue has mistakenly sent refund checks to residents who actually owe taxes. In one case, a resident received a check for $2,886 — the exact amount he owed.

The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, received the check in early June and returned it with a letter alerting the chief financial officer to the error.

“We don’t believe this is widespread.”

Natalie Wilson, a spokesperson for the Office of Tax and Revenue, says there was a “processing error” which is now being investigated.

Those GD processing errors!  We seem to get them all the time over here.

In fact, one of our staffers…we’ll call him “Fred”… is currently registered as a sex offender for a processing error he had with his computer, a bag of booze, and an online chat session with a police officer disguised as a 13 year-old Asian boy.

Let’s be honest here, the only processing error in both these cases is a mental one.