Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
In his weekly show, Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
Marc Fisher
(The Washington Post)
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The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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washingtonpost.com:
Here's today's column: Drive the Deer Out of the Headlights (Post, Oct. 30)
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Marc Fisher: Oh deer! Lots of support for Bambi coming from readers today--we'll get into that, plus Tuesday's column on whether homeowners associations should be able to ban political signs from your lawns. And Virginians vote on Tuesday--your thoughts are welcome on that.
Trick or treat: There's only one house in my neighborhood where the residents offer kids a real choice, displaying a tray of raw cabbage and onions as the treat unless the kids come up with some sort of trick. The kids love that house. Any such creativity where you live?
And what about the arrest of the Ballou High mercury kid? Doublecrossing on the part of the authorities, who had promised not to punish him? Or proper punishment for a really bad trick?
Potomac Confidential begins right now...with this guarantee: We did not see the World Series from the Steinbrenner family box, unlike some columnists, and we will not bandy about our connections to the high and mighty. Your turn:
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Derwood, Md.:
Marc -
First you write a "Make Venison, Not Love" piece, then your chat gets scheduled opposite the "Cooking Vegetarian" chat. Man are you smooth!
Marc Fisher: Damn! I hadn't noticed that. So all the Bambi-lovers are over on the veggie channel, trading desperate attempts to make tofu palatable?
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Rockville, Md.:
Today's column is about a pet peeve of mine, the animal/environmental rights groups which play to people's sympathy towards cuteness. Thus their whole argument boils down to "how can you kill such a cute harmless thing" rather than tackling the important problem that deer especially have no place in the modern suburban life.
Marc Fisher: Yes, but I have to note that I have already received three offers from readers who care about my emotional wellbeing and are happy to suggest therapists I might see to handle my anger. Really.
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Westminster, Md.:
Marc -- Excellent article today. In December 2000, just after dark, a large deer bolted in front of my Ford Explorer on Route 26 (near Frederick, Md.). My Explorer weighed 5,500 pounds, the deer about 300. On impact both airbags deployed filling the vehicle with smoke and the smell of cordite, my dashboard cracked in half, the radiator was caved in, every light in the front of the SUV was shattered, the horn stuck (on, of course), both front quarter panels and the hood were buckled. The deer was dead on the other side of the road on the shoulder while I waited for help next to my now darkened SUV. The total repair tab was over $6,000 and the Explorer never operated properly after that so I sold it. In my current vehicle (Honda Accord) I could have easily been killed that night. I drive slower and look for deer all the time. We see them along our back roads at least once a week. Bring on the hunters, please. -- Deerslayer
Marc Fisher: I knew today's session would be a bloodfest.
Interestingly, our airbags did not deploy. This was a 35 mph impact and it wasn't quite head on--the main hit was on the right front corner. But still, all the mechanics thought the bags would have blown on this one.
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An ethical hunter in Arlington, Va.:
Marc, you were right on today. I however, would be ecstatic to get a 300 pound deer around here -- your average deer weighs 100-150 lbs. in the mid-Atlantic, although that doesn't mean they can't do damage, as you well know.
Marc Fisher: I hedged on the weight of the animal in the column because I really don't have the ability to estimate weight on a deer, so I went with what the insurance company said. But I defer to your expertise. In any event, it was big.
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Olney, Md.:
Marc:
Read your column in this morning's Washington Post. Without doubt, the deer situation in this area is a major problem. Why can't all the government jurisdictions get together and do something about the trememdous deer population? The managed deer hunts do very little to decrease the population. How about dropping food with some type of birth control in the food for all the deer to eat.
Marc Fisher: I vaguely recall reading about communities on Long Island and in New England that did just that, with some good results. I joke about the need to blow the animals away, but in congested neighborhoods, less explosive methods make more sense, and the birth control bullet is a real alternative.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
I read your column today, and I must say that I have noticed a lot more deer than I have in previous years. I drive Rock Creek Park regularly and it isn't a question now of will I see a deer, it's a question of how many of them will scurry across the roadway. I keep telling people that hitting a deer is very hazardous to your car and your health. Good to hear your family is alright, but something has to be done.
Signed,
a working-class stiff who tries to avoid deer, but it's getting even more difficult to avoid them than pedestrians!
Marc Fisher: They're everywhere, and several readers have pointed out a good piece of advice: If you see one, slow down in a big way, because where there's one, there's almost always a few others.
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Herndon, Va.:
So now that you have been abruptly converted to the pro-deer hunting side, has this altered your opposition to guns? Or do you seriously expect that police sharpshooters, or primitive weapons hunts will do the trick?
Marc Fisher: I've had quite a few calls and emails on this point today, and it's a fair question. This is no abrupt conversion for me; I've been writing in favor of vastly more aggressive tactics against deer for many years. And sorry, but no, this does not indicate any change in my attitude toward guns. Western Europe is a good model in this regard: A virtual ban on gun ownership coexists nicely with a vigorous, if highly regulated, hunting hobby. Government-sanctioned deer hunts can include rental of firearms or even free provision of weapons to those who know how to handle them.
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Not the Idle Rich:
Marc, thanks for your column today. I'm sure that you'll get plenty of hate mail from the animal rights activists, but I don't see how anyone can justify letting deer (or rabbits) run wild. Quite frankly, I blame Walt Disney for making people think of Bambi and Thumper.
Just try this experiment: Go to your local Safeway or Giant. What do you see? Beef. Chicken. Pork. Now wander around in the DC and the close-in burbs. Do you see any cows, hens, or pigs? No, but anyone who's ever raised a garden here can tell you about deer and rabbits. Why don't we cut a few shipments of beef from the midwest, chicken from Delaware, and pork from the South, and eat the local fauna as our ancestors did?
I'm not advocating toting a shotgun down Carroll Ave. in Takoma Park or setting up a deer blind in Rock Creek Park, but these animals need to be controlled. The side benefit is a tasty meal. If you need proof, stop by Eastern Market and pick up some rabbit or venison from one of the meat vendors.
Marc Fisher: I'm more into rabbit than venison for dinner, but that's just my taste. I'm with you on the rest of it. And indeed, there are some folks in town who pick up deer hit by cars and haul them home for some surprise dinner.
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Re: Deer:
" Aim to Kill ". Ya gotta love it.
Actually when I see a deer on the roadside, I slow down and watch for sudden movement.
If it's in the middle of the road, I steer right for it. Chances are it'll be gone by the time you get there.
Marc Fisher: Risky but fun.
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Chevy Chase, D.C.:
Deer are a very major problem where we live, too: in NW D.C. off Utah Avenue -- where I recently saw two deer in broad daylight munching away on our neighbors' plants. Where did your family's accident occur? Thank goodness they weren't hurt!
What will it take to get the local (or federal, in the case of Rock Creek Park) authorities to take action to thin the burgeoning herd out there? I don't particularly want to put a deercatcher on the front of our station wagon, but it may be necessary of things continue as they are.
Marc Fisher: Our hit occurred on Dalecarlia Parkway NW, that stretch of semi-highway that runs from MacArthur Boulevard near Sibley Hospital up to Westmoreland Circle and Western Avenue. There's a lot of forest along the parkway and the deer was crossing the proverbial road.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
Isn't part of the problem that we want to live in "pastoral" settings, and/or preserve the green spaces in our cities, but don't want to deal with the consequences -- wildlife, Lyme disease, etc?
Marc Fisher: Yes, that's the problem in the outer suburbs, and certainly, as the anti-sprawl folks have been quick to remind me today, our continuing effort to pave over the forests is contributing to the increasing presence of deer in our daily lives.
But in the city and the close-in, built-up suburbs, it's not a matter of wanting to live in pastoral settings, but rather our unwillingness to support a more radical approach to thinning the herd.
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College Park, Md.:
Running joke between me and my mom:
"Look at the momma deer and her babies!"
"Mom, dinner."
I don't care how cute Bambi is, he's tasty.
Marc Fisher: There is a remarkable lack of venison on menus of most better restaurants in town. Any thoughts on why?
And while you're mulling that, let's check out some other topics. I'll come back to deer before our time together runs out.
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The 'burbs:
Mr. Fisher,
Your derisive tone about Homeowners Associations is certainly an opinion I will defend your right to express, but it is obviously not an opinion shared by many of us who prefer this additional level of government to protect the aesthetic appeal of a community. This is especially true of townhouse communities where you are packed cheek-by-jowl with your neighbor. A case in point is the City of Rockville, which has no such covenants against political signs on lawns. Driving down Montgomery Avenue (Rt.28), the main drag leading into town from Rt. 270 the other day, I was appalled by the visual blight of a forest of signs sprouting from lawns, espousing the merits of various candidates for office in the upcoming city election. After the election these signs will become flotsam and jetsam on the lawns and streets of Rockville, notwithstanding the law that requires such signs to be removed promptly after elections. I prefer that such signs not be allowed. There are many other less obnoxious ways to profess your political convictions and preferences. Have you ever been swayed in your voting by a sign? I hope not.
Marc Fisher: The reason you see that in Maryland is that Maryland's legislature made it the law of the state that homeowners asssociations may not limit the right of residents to express their political views. Former Delegate Cheryl Kagan of Montgomery County pushed that bill through, and it's a good one that Virginia ought to, but won't, adopt.
I agree that the blizzard of signs that papers over median strips and the rest of the suburban landscape each fall is unsightly, but no more so than the strip shopping centers. And there are rules requiring candidates to get rid of the signs right after the vote.
Sure, no one should vote on the basis of a sign, but signs do raise consciousness that an election is coming, and perhaps they spur some folks to look into the candidates.
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Tysons Corner, Va.:
I live in D.C. and work out here in the Sprawling Dominion. I love it when Virginians vote. It's amazing how handing them ballots can erase all common sense.
First we had Gilmore for Governor -- "If elected, I promise to wipe out the revenue streams for basic services that you value!" And he won! and he did! and now they are picking up the mess.
Each election is a chance for people who live in a state with an incredibly low tax burden to whine about their taxes to their neighbors who pay a lot more.
There's a guy running for the legislature who has signs all around Tysons that read, "Tired of Traffic?" I bet he wins! What do people think he's going to do -- forcibly relocate people out of the region? I actually looked at his Web site. The solution is HOT lanes and fix bad intersections. No actual addressing of root causes that are turning NoVA into LA East.
It's a spectacle, it is.
Marc Fisher: Spectacle is the right word. It's all way too cynical for my taste, and those of you who visit here regularly know that that's pretty darn cynical. Promising to ease congestion should be automatic reason not to vote for a candidate, because they can't and they won't. And that's especially true in Virginia, where voters aren't willing to pay to do anything to ease congestion. That doesn't make those voters wrongheaded--it shows that they have a realistic sense of what's possible, and it shows that they have calculated that they'd rather live with the traffic than take the extreme and expensive steps that would be needed to make meaningful headway against it.
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Portland, Ore.:
Regarding regulation of political signs in your front yard ... Your article said that if political speech is a constitutional right it can't be taken away. The homeowner gave up the right when he signed the covenant restrictions. Just like the famous line, "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right ... "
Marc Fisher: Well, yes and no. Yes, he signed the covenant and must abide by it. And he's doing that--he hasn't put up any signs. But he also has an obligation to fight for what he thinks is right--and he's doing that by talking to his neighbors about changing the rules.
But in a larger way, there are rights that ought not be limited by a private organization. Homeowners associations have many of the powers of governments, yet little of the accountability of government, and that's simply wrong.
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Political signs:
Marc,
There are restrictions everywhere regarding political signs, i.e., how close to the street or polling place they can be; how soon they must taken down following the election or the candidate will be fined, etc. The residents in the community you were ranting about Tuesday can place all the signs they want in windows, as you admit, but still you are offended about curtailing "political speech" because this poor man can't plaster his front lawn with signs. Admit it, you just have a bone to pick with homeowners' associations whenever the opportunity arises. Was your mother frightened by an Architectural Control Committee when you were in the womb? You remind me of Carlton Sickles, a Democrat who ran for governor of Maryland many years ago on a platform of "A man's home is his castle." This was so poorly received by Marylanders that he was defeated by Spiro Agnew, of all people.
Marc Fisher: Ouch. The Agnew punch. That hurts.
Homeowners associations reflect the personalities of the folks who choose to live in those communities. Some are reasonable, some are wildly intrusive and restrictive. The latter communities tend to be places where folks have too much time on their hands. (Believe me, I know: I used to live in South Florida, the condo commando capital of the free world.)
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Manassas, Va.:
OK, why won't Virginia adopt the sign law that Maryland has? Is there no end to your digs against the Old Dominion?
Marc Fisher: Not necessarily a dig: Virginia is just different, and anyone who takes a day or two to go down and watch Virginia's legislature will be impressed by the near-absolute commitment to a strange mix of libertarianism and conservatism. The end result is that it's very easy to use property rights arguments in Virginia to defeat any restriction on developers and builders--and they're the ones who write the covenants in private communities. Of course, you could argue that individual property rights trump the developer's rights and that therefore sign bans must go. But I don't see much sympathy for that approach in Richmond, do you?
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Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.:
Re: the Homeowners Association person -- the problem isn't living "cheek by jowl," the problem is planning a compact community while knowing nothing about design, architecture, and urban planning. A certain amount of sameness in buildings is appealing; too much is stultifying. Go to a city neighborhood and you'll typically see a lot of very similar houses with variations in color, roof styles, decorative elements, etc., that results in a harmonious and interesting streetscape. We manage to leave more "cheek by jowl" in my neighborhood without a homeowners' association (and I am outside the historic district) and the area is physically far more appealing than townhouses in the burbs. If the HOAs would go look at older neighborhoods and pay attention to what works there, they would learn a lot and improve their communities.
Marc Fisher: True, but part of what many people find appealing about new communities is that they don't want to live close by anyone else, and the HOAs and their covenants help create the aura of safety, security and community even as people try to separate themselves.
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To Tysons re: Virginia Voters:
As a D.C. resident you want to make fun of Virginia voters? WAHAHAHAHAHA, that's hilarious. This coming from a locale that elected a crackhead mayor -- TWICE!
Nice big glass house you live in?
Marc Fisher: I love it when you get personal.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
Marc: Missing from all the proposed solutions to our traffic problems in the recent Post series was one good solution, although I might be wrong. In the District, underpasses, if that's the right word, are effectively used at Dupont Circle and where 16th Street NW meets Massachusetts, etc., for example, so that heavily used roads into the city can pass under an intersection. I would imagine that the area's worst intersections should be targeted and would benefit from this sort of approach.
Marc Fisher: Yes, but for two things: Money and space. Underpasses cost a ton. And they divide and destroy walkable neighborhoods by adding lanes and encouraging drivers to go faster.
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Homeowner dictatorship states::
There is actually a case in Florida right now where a condo owner is going to lose his house (in Jupiter) for displaing the American flag on a pole in his yard, post-9/11.
I would never buy property in one of these places. These nutcase politician wanna-be's ... put out a pumpkin? That's a $100 fine. Please -- get lives.
Marc Fisher: That case has been going on for years--literally several years--and the courts have been all over the board, but last I heard, the guy is being required to take down his flag. Many homeowners associations, seeing that they'd be pilloried after 9/11, passed temporary exemptions permitting the flying of an American flag.
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Arlington, Va.:
Mr. Fisher,
A major story has been developing in
local affairs in Arlington, Va. that hasn't
been reported on at all. The County
school board is seriously considering
building a new high school (to replace
Washington and Lee High School) on the
site of Quincy Park, a major recreational
facility for Arlingtonians in the fast growing
Ballston-Virginia Square corridor. And the
board is trying to make this decision with
a minimum of public awareness and
consultation. Granted, it's not as sexy as
blowing deer away with automatic
weapons, but it's worth some notice.
Marc Fisher: Thanks for letting us know about it--I'll look into it.
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Incredulous, Maine:
I don't follow football and I know we set the bar real, real low in pro sports, but how in the name of God can the Redskins take on Darrell Russell, who appears to think it's fine to drug women's drinks and then videotape them being sexually assaulted?! Coach Spurrier pointed out "he's not in jail, is he?" Translation: it's okay because he got away with it. I don't understand how any self-respecting woman can care about this team.
Marc Fisher: The bar can't really get any lower. There is no bar. Teams will do anything to win. Look at the steroids situation. Is there really a fan backlash against having awful people play for our favorite teams? There's some noise made about it, but mostly, people fall back on balderdash about redemption and rehabilitation, when we all know that these bad guys would be unemployable in almost any other field.
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Gaithersburg, Md.:
Re: Political Signs:
Not to sound nitpicky, but the "Agnew punch" that a previous poster threw was misdirected. Carlton Sickles was not beaten by Spiro Agnew; he instead lost to George Mahoney, who beat the more liberal Sickles in the 1966 Democratic primary for governor with the "your home is your castle" line that was widely seen as pandering to racial reaction. Agnew then defeated Mahoney in the general election with help from liberals and African Americans.
(Hard to believe in light of Agnew's later career, but it's true!)
Marc Fisher: Excellent--we've got folks on this chat who are going to keep you honest on those political facts. Many thanks! I am liberated from the Agnew stigma.
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Washington, D.C.:
"Virginia is just different." I like that. I remember a conversation (from the late 90s) I had with someone whose job was to promote Virginia as a place to put your Internet business. They had to overcome a lot of perceptions people on the west coast had about Virginia (that it's a backward place). Everytime they started making headway, she told me, something would undo it: a fight about Arthur Ashe's statue in Richmond. The religious right folks down in Virginia Beach and Lynchburg making national news, etc. And those people out in S.F. or Seattle would just kind of shake their heads and say, "Sure it's a 20th century there. Whatever you say."
Marc Fisher: Virginia politics are by far the most fun to cover of any in our region because of the wonderful contrasts between, say, Southside and Arlington, between rural NASCAR gun lovers and Alexandria lacrosse moms. Culturally and socially, Virginia is a fascinating mix that in many ways represents the entire nation's spectrum of opinions and lifestyles.
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Washington, D.C.:
By the way, for anyone who ever beleived that who we elected in D.C.(i.e., Marion Barry) should disqualify us from getting voting representation in Congress, I suggest that for electing Arnold as governor, Californians should have their citizenship revoked!
Marc Fisher: I thank you for that.
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D.C. -- Stanton Park:
Isn't it a little odd that Jessica Lynch was 'too busy' to see the Iraqi guy that supposedly was instrumental in saving her life? What's the real story here? The Lynch drama seems to be a bit contrived these days.
Marc Fisher: Dunno if it's Jessica Lynch herself or more likely her agent or manager, but clearly the decision was made to keep her under wraps until her own book--penned by Rick Bragg, the New York Times um, is fabulist the right word?--is published. Meeting with the Iraqi who saved her would, in the thinking of publicity agents, expose her too early and risk spoiling the impact of her big ABC TV interview. Which I am sure we are all holding our breath waiting for.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Why do the news media insist on continuing to call Muhammad and Malvo "alleged snipers" or "sniper suspects"? As a former newspaper scribe, I know how important it is to call someone alleged or suspected until convicted. But there is no doubt these two are guilty; not even the defense attorney would dispute their guilt. So why not drop the pretense that they're just suspects? It sounds so phony.
Marc Fisher: Well, they haven't been found guilty yet, so we'll wait until they are before labelling them as such. But we haven't been shy about writing about them as they should be written about--as the obvious culprits in the sniper shootings. Sure, it sounds phony to call them suspects, but wouldn't it sound even more wrong--presumptuous and boorish--to call them the snipers even as they are on trial?
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Washington, D.C.:
Sorry Marc. You're dead wrong on the deer issue.
First of all, they may be a danger. I'm not arguing
with that. But, I find it hard to consider them the
"vermin" when it is WE who are infringing on their
habitat. Let's put the blame for that where it lies.
You don't move to the shore and not expect some
flooding. You move where there is significant
wildlife and then claim that THEY are the ones at
fault.
I also take issue with your concept that, even if
there is a need to control the populations, they
should be on the dinner table. There are other
methods that have been used in other parts of the
this country and other countries that have worked
(i.e. birth control). Seems to me that is the far
more humane method of dealing with an
overpopulation. That would satisfy your safety
concerns and would appease the "deer lovers."
Marc Fisher: You're partly right: When we push ever deeper into the dwindling forestland on the edges of the metro area, we are indeed displacing deer and other animals, and we pay the consequences when they show up on our front lawns.
But when deer show up on city streets that have been completely built out for 200 years, then there is something wrong--a real imbalance that is born out of our failure to manage the herds properly.
It's like the California fires: When houses that are built smack on the edge of frequent fire fields fall to a fire, that's the fault of the homeowner for being so greedy as to build there. But when the fires reach into long-built, heavily congested areas, that's a failure of land and resource management.
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Derwood, Md.:
Despite the bias of my email id, I am a reasonable person who values human life greatly and also agrees that the deer situation is dangerous and out of control. I read your column this morning with interest and appreciated the information you conveyed. You crossed the line however with your last sentence. It was both outrageous and irresponsible. In my opinion your credibility was lost as a result of this inflammatory statement. This is the statement of an educated adult columnist? I think not!
Marc Fisher: I'm glad you liked the rest of the column, which was a mix of serious suggestions and basic rant. The last line was meant to be taken with a wink--I do favor government efforts to thin the herd, and that could well include organizing hunts. I am not advocating you and your friends heading out to Connecticut Avenue to take down a buck or two.
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Fairfax, Va.:
You seemed a bit harsh in your criticism of both Brickner and Connolly in your column on Sunday. Have you actually spoken to either one of them?
Marc Fisher: I've spoken to both over the years in their capacities as supervisor and school board members. I did not speak to them for this column, but rather attended some of their debates and forums.
I don't think the column was harsh; if anything, it was a plaintive cry for better candidates in a place that deserves, and usually demands, top-quality elected officials. I think people of any ideology would agree that the merits of these candidates do not measure up to the choices Fairfax voters have had in the past.
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Vienna, Va.:
How many of you Jessica lynch-bashers have ever got off your butts, gone into war, and really served your country like she did? She may not have joined the Army to end up in a combat zone, but at least she obeyed orders, went to Iraq, and went out on the mission she was told to ... and she didn't whine and cry about why we "should not be in Iraq." She was wounded and almost killed in the line of duty ... and may bear the physical and mental scars of this for the rest of her life. So she gets some royalties from a book ... so what? Lots of people wounded in World War II wrote books ... some of which are still popular today.
Marc Fisher: That would be fine except that, of course, Lynch is not writing her book. She's cashing in via a big-time, superb writer. Nothing wrong with that, but let's see it for what it is: Cashing in, not telling a story of war and human experience that has been burning inside her. I don't think any of those great World War II books that we still read were written by ghost writers.
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Washington, D.C.:
Welcomed the new Best Buy in Tenleytown to D.C. this weekend by buying a new digital camera. I hope the surrounding Tenleytown NIMBYs don't mind too much!
Marc Fisher: And I don't see any increase in traffic congestion in that area.
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Washington, D.C.:
Marc -- what do you think of the efforts in some jurisdictions around the country to give voting privileges to illegal immigrants? Also efforts to them give drivers' permits? Do you consider the efforts to make English our "official" language to be racist?
Marc Fisher: As today's story on immigrants who vote in two countries--their native land and the US--makes clear, letting illegal immigrants vote here raises real questions about divided loyalties. And it sends completely the wrong message about the responsibilities of citizenship.
If we are serious about curbing illegal immigration, then it doesn't make sense to give out driving permits to people who should be deported. But since we're not really that serious about sending illegals home, and since we do and should provide their children with school and health care, then we probably have to cede on the driving question. The last thing we need is more unlicensed, untested drivers on the road.
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Springfield, Va.:
For a good read on the problems with suburbia (design sameness, idiotic zoning, horrendous traffic and the accompying loss of community) read Jame's Kuntsler's "Geography of Nowhere" and "Home from Nowhere."
Marc Fisher: Thanks for the suggestion.
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Vienna, Va.:
Well, I guess that we in Virginia still are a little backward compared to the L.A. region ... their traffic jams are even worse than ours. (Yes, that's still possible).
Marc Fisher: Much worse. As are those in New York, Boston and several other cities. Despite what those bogus surveys say.
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London UK, former D.C. resident:
Marc,
In reference to your article today, I'm glad that your family wasn't harmed, but I object to your reference to deer as vermin. More and more deer are running into oncoming cars in the suburbs because people are taking the deers' natural habitat and bulldozing it for housing developments. The deer are being made homeless so we can have more homes. I wish you'd use your influence as a well-known newspaper columnist to get the right people involved to solve the problem. Maybe relocation or humane ways of reducing the population could be suggested. What do you think?
Marc Fisher: You're right to focus on sprawl as the main culprit here, but just because we've figured out the root of the problem doesn't mean we have the solution. Yes, it'd be good to curb our destruction of the exurban forests. But what to do about the deer in the cities and close-in suburbs? That problem cries out for more aggressive action.
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Re: Sniper Trial:
When is Moose going to testify?
Marc Fisher: Now that's funny.
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Washington, D.C.:
Sure, we elected Barry, but we never voted for someome whose platform was to wreck public services by taking away the money that pays for them.
And have you ever listened to Virginians complain about their car tax? It's a whinefest like none you've ever heard. "Ooooh, it's so UNFAIR, it's so HORRIBLE." Meanwhile their tax burden as a percentage of income is something like 40th among states. Jeez folks, grow up and stop whining.
Now they are funding their state like Mississippi, and that's what it's likely to become.
Marc Fisher: Return fire!
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Vienna, Va.:
OK, taxaholics ... why SHOULD we folks here in Northern Virginia pay extra taxes to "ease" congestion? ... Most of us don't want congestion, didn't vote for it, and resent the fact that we are stuck with it IN SPITE of the fact that we didn't want it. So WHY do we have it? Simple ... the fact that people WANT to live here, companies WANT to relocate here, and the low unemployment rate draws even more people in. Still, it is local governments that have created the problem by simply saying "yes" to development when they could and should have said "no". And, unfortunately, the courts backed them up. Developers have profited enormously from all of this ... let THEM cough up the money to get us out, not the general taxpayers.
Marc Fisher: Nice volley.
But we're over our alloted hour, so we'll have to save the rest til after next week's elections.
Many thanks for coming along. Write if you get work.
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