Washington's Hour of Talk Power
Marc Fisher
Post Metro Columnist
Thursday, April 20, 2006
12:00 PM
Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
Fisher was online Thursday, April 20, at Noon ET to look at George Allen's Democratic challengers in the Virginia Senate race, the southern Maryland school principal who led her students in cheating on state tests, and the confrontation in a D.C. neighborhood between black churches and a gay-owned night spot.
Today's Column:
Check out Marc's blog,
In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
Archives:
A transcript follows.
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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks. Lots to chew over today, including today's blog items on Peeps (best when stale, one reader comments) and Virginia's new comedy sensation, Attorney General Bob McDonnell. (His best jokes are free of charge on Raw Fisher.)
How widespread is the kind of cheating that cost a southern Maryland principal her job this week (she helped kids with answers to the statewide test mandated by the No Child Left Behind law)? How seriously should George Allen take his Democratic opponents in the mandatory Senate race he has to get through before he can jump headlong into the presidential sweeps? And how will the clash between a gay-owned bar in Shaw and the church across the street be resolved?
On to your predictions and pearls of wisdom, but first, the Yay and Nay of the Day:
Yay to Mayor Tony Williams for finally asserting himself on the folly that is the National Capital Medical Center, the proposed hospital on the old D.C. General site. The mayor has developed a powerful case of cold feet over the project and has now done what politicians do when they need to pull the plug on a project: Appoint a study commission.
Nay to the Alexandria school board members who had plenty of courage when it came to letting Superintendent Rebecca Perry keep her job despite her drunk driving arrest, but now turn out to lack the courage to face outraged voters. All but one of the board members is bailing out after this term, unwilling to face up to what they have done to undermine confidence in the school system.
Your turn starts right now...
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washingtonpost.com:
Props to the Peeps Man (Raw Fisher, April 20)and Memo to Virginia Attorney General: Keep the Day Job (Raw Fisher, April 20)
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Shaw, Washington, D.C.: That was an interesting column you wrote, in addition to the well-reported piece in Style. Will The Post, whatever section, continue to follow the Be Bar controversy? I'm a gay homowner in the District, and sometimes I feel like I have to read the Washington Blade to get news that's relevant to my community.
washingtonpost.com:
Marc Fisher: You'll of course always get much more targeted coverage of the city's gay community in the gay weekly, but the Post covers stories like this one as closely as we can. Today's Style piece by Jose Vargas is the most comprehensive and probing examination of the battle in Shaw that I've seen, and I've read pretty much everything written on the subject.
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Stanton Park, Washington, D.C.: The Shaw church-bar squabble is troubling. Last time I checked D.C. was supposed to treat everyone equally, including gays. We even have sexual orientation in our anti-discrimination laws.
So how can the ABC board possibly weigh sexual orientation as a factor in giving a license?
Equally troubling is the fact that this Reverend drives a Rolls Royce. For years I've driven by this church and seen his Rolls (among several other very expensive vehicles he drives) parked proudly in front of his church. All the while, the neighborhood is mired in poverty.
The contrast was sickening.
The Reverend has never protested the liquor licenses of the dozen or so liquor stores in his immediate neighborhood, so his 'save the children' mantra is fairly hypocritical.
Last point -- this church pays no D.C. tax. It's tax-exempt, and the vast majority of its congregation lives in Maryland.
This bar would in theory generate actual tax revenue and jobs for D.C. residents.
I think actual taxpaying residents should have more to say about what's in their neighborhood than this holier-than-thou freeloading church official does.
Marc Fisher: The ABC board will steer as far from the question of sexuality as it possibly can, and will limit itself to the existing laws and rules governing liquor licenses and proximity to schools and churches. What's interesting here is that the church that is protesting the Be Bar has not filed any protests against other establishments that have opened in its immediate proximity in recent months.
Bishop Long called me a little while ago to argue that I overplayed his opposition to a "gay bar," as he put it, when in fact he says he would oppose any bar. But he's the one who insists on calling Be Bar a gay bar, when its owners repeatedly insist that while gay-owned, this bar is intended as a neighborhood gathering spot for all.
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washingtonpost.com:
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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Marc:
The anti-gay forces in Shaw have forced gay bars out before. See this article in the Blade showing that they forced a gay sports bar on New York Avenue to withdraw it's application.
It's sad, really. And hateful.
The city has laws on its books stating that sexual orientation is not something citizens or the government can base discrimination on.
It's high time the D.C. government actually started playing by it's own rules, and it's obvious that this bar is being opposed because the owners and at least some of the clientele would be gay.
If this bar application is denied, I sincerely hope the owners get a very good lawyer and sue the city senseless.
Shaw baropposition grows (Washington Blade, March 31)
Marc Fisher: The city will make its decision based --at least officially--on the law's myriad requirements for distances from day care centers, schools and the like. But you're right that the size and character of the protests against the bar do play a role in how the votes play out on the board.
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So why don't they move?: Have the churches gotten good offers for their existing land? Why don't they move, if 95 percent of their parishoners live a half-hour away?
Marc Fisher: Good question, and there are indications that Bishop Long has been thinking about moving his operations to the suburbs, as many black churches in the city are doing in an effort to get closer with their suburban-bound congregants. Long had his church on the market briefly a couple of years ago, at an enormous price, then pulled it off. It looked to neighborhood realtors like a testing of the waters for a sale. But Long now says he is committed to Shaw.
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Washington, D.C.: Marc, thank you for covering the Be Bar outrage. I have been following it in the Blade and Northwest Current. I think, however, that you are being too deferential to the Black Church Initiative and following their lead in defining this as a "values" clash. This is bigotry, and they are bigoted. If gay people were seeking to block a black-owned establishment from getting critical permits, would The Post be so generous? Also, scripture-quoting is NOT a valid rationale for issuing permits. What also needs to be pointed our more is that, contrary to being a victim of gentrification, Rev. Long and most of his congregation do not even live in D.C. So bigots from outside the city are trying to deny permits to a gay-owned business (NOT a gay bar, just owned). On a final note: the Black Church Initiative, with 800 member churches, has NEVER opposed one other liquor license, according to the NW Current.
Marc Fisher: And the Black Church Initiative's protest against Be Bar was tossed out yesterday because they based their opposition solely on the fact that this is a gay-owned establishment. Also, it's not clear that the Black Church Initiative's role in this dispute is indicative of its purported membership of 800 churches, but rather may be just a move by one guy, Rev. Anthony Evans, who runs the thing.
That said, one person's bigotry is sometimes another person's morality, and so instead of assessing labels, I'd far rather let each party in this dispute have his say and let you all make up your own minds about their credibility.
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Derwood, Md.: Marc,
What does scripture say about a man of the cloth to be driving a "shiny Rolls"?
Marc Fisher: Oddly, it's not in my copy. Let me look further....
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Arlington, Va.: Bishop Long drives a Rolls? I thought it was easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven.
Marc Fisher: Ah, there it is.
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Wheaton, Md.: I don't know what Bishop Long is up to ... I am a Christian, a fairly conservative one at that, and grew up going to church and youth group and church camp and all that. What would happen if a place like Be Bar wanted to open across a city block from my home church? Our church would have supported the business as a sign of development and economic growth in our area (more people in the area means more opportunities for ministry) and then attempted to befriend the folks who own and frequent the bar.
While the churches I have attended all my life agree with the same passage in Romans I that Bishop Long quotes, we also feel you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. As Christians, we are always wanting to bring others to Christ, and creating hoopla over someone's sexual persuasion and butting heads with the owners and local politicians over their liquor license would not be the way to win these guys and their patrons to Christ. Jesus hated sin, but he loved sinners; he hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes and other dregs of society -- not that these guys are scum, but the fact is the Bible does consider homosexuality a sin. But as Christians, we can chose to spread God's love by loving our neighbor or acting like Bishop Long. All I know is my current minister would love to sit down with these guys, in their bar, over a pint and discuss all maters of theology, ethics, business, sports, whatever with them. And my minister would not be there in a fancy suit with some gang of staff members and driving his snazzy Rolls Royce. A humble servant of God, Bishop Long is not.
Marc Fisher: My sense from talking to the owners of Be Bar is that they'd be happy to sit down with someone like you or your minister. Heck, they'd even sit down with Bishop Long, but Long made it clear that that won't be happening. "You'll have to talk to my attorney," he said to me four times. Way to get the conversation going.
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Washington, D.C.: Would the bar even be open during the church's worship times? I can't imagine there's much custom on Sunday mornings. The bishop might want to think about it as an outreach opportunity.
Also, how do you pronounce "Be Bar"? Bay-Bar? Sorry, I'm dense.
Marc Fisher: It's be as in Let it be.
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You and Angelos and the Nats on TV: Marc,
Had a chance to hear you on Plotkin's show the other day. I thought Angelos was more than just interesting. Honestly, I thought every curve ball you tried to throw at Angelos got hit out onto Eutaw Street.
Who is telling the truth ... MASN(Angelos) or Comcast?
Marc Fisher: Ouch. Well, he is one of the nation's top trial lawyers, so maybe I was outta my league. But I thought it was pretty instructive that whenever I pushed Angelos on how this TV battle finally gets resolved, he resorted to single-minded repetition of his childish position that because he was once granted TV rights to the territory from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, he somehow gets to keep that by right forever, even after Washington gets a team of its own.
Angelos kept saying, "It is our territory," like a kid holding onto his ball for dear life. Meanwhile, as Tom Boswell documents in today's powerful column, fans throughout Angelos' "territory" are abandoning his Orioles en masse.
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Statuary Hall: Did they ever decide on what D.C. figures to put in Statuary Hall? My non-counting vote goes to the godfather of go-go, Chuck Brown. Lottery spokespeople come and go, but this way a truly talented hometown individual could be immortalized.
Of course, if Chuck Brown doesn't make it in, there's always that other legendary homeboy, Hizzoner.
Marc Fisher: Chuck is a god, but in Statuary Hall? Wow. Anyway, it's an academic debate because Congress isn't letting the District get any representation in Statuary Hall anymore than it's letting us vote. If not Chuck Brown, how about Herblock?
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Washington, D.C.: I heard an Orange for Mayor radio ad yesterday ... sung to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I can't decide if it's truly awful, or just awful enough to be a hoot.
Marc Fisher: And check out Chez Orange in today's Home section. Very, very orange. (Will Michael Brown's place be brown? Will Linda Cropp's feature agricultural motifs?)
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Washington, D.C.: What's the deal with the ban on buying and selling tickets outside the Verizon Center? There are signs all around the building saying it's illegal, and that violators are subject to fines and arrest. But at the Billy Joel concert last Friday, there were a bunch of guys loudly selling tickets, with several cops standing about ten feet away.
Does Verizon have a "preferred ticket scalper" program, where certain people can sell tickets and some can't? Or is it that the cops just don't care about Verizon's policies?
Marc Fisher: I've never seen any hassling or arrest of scalpers outside the Abe Pollin Center; they seem free to do their thing, and I'm thankful for that. Taxpayer-paid police officers ought not be enlisted to enforce the price structure of a private enterprise.
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Washington, D.C.: I realize the front page is not under your editorial control, but since you are a journalist I would like your opinion.
I wonder why Liz Clarke made such a point of making sure the reader was aware that both of the lacrosse players went to Catholic High Schools. How pertinent was that to the story?
washingtonpost.com:
Marc Fisher: Interesting question--I've heard quite a bit of chatter on the talk shows about the fact that a good many of the players at the party came to Duke from private schools. Of course, we're talking about a lacrosse team, and this is a sport that has thrived for many years primarily at private high schools, though that is certainly changing. Still, there is a legitimate question to be asked about the culture of affluence and its connection to the behavioral excesses we see in binge drinking and lousy sportsmanship and so on. I don't see why Catholic schools should be singled out, but I do think it's worth talking about differences in behavior between kids from private and public schools, and other such class divides.
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washingtonpost.com:
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Third cubicle along, D.C.: "If not Chuck Brown, how about Herblock?"
Or Art Buchwald?Or Edward Kennedy Ellington?
Marc Fisher: Definitely Ellington over the others named. What about L'Enfant, even if he was a foreigner?
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Germantown, Md.: Marc, the peeps are massing. They will be marching on the mall tomorrow. Equal rights for peeps!
Marc Fisher: Get out your minicams! Randy Newman will be the entertainer!
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Downtown, D.C.: If the new D.C. General hospital had box seats and an unobstructed view of home plate, I believe you'd be all for it.
Marc Fisher: Not if they served Dippin Dots. We have standards around here.
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washingtonpost.com:
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Southern Maryland: Regarding your Radio Listener column on 100.3 FM, I think the segregation of the radio audience was already taking place in the late '60s and '70s, and is just now catching up with the oldies market.
You can hear Hendrix in the new 100.3 format, but he became famous while playing for mostly white audiences. In the '70s, among non-Top 40 listeners, young whites were listening to album rock and young blacks were listening to R and B and funk. I think it's ironic that Hendrix started out as a backup guitarist for the Isley Brothers, and his music had strong roots in R and B, but by the '80s he was being heard mostly on album rock stations alongside AC/DC and Loverboy.
How far do you think 100.3 will go with its new format? Jammin' 99.5 was the black equivalent of the format, playing some great '70s soul music, but that station switched after only a year or so.
Marc Fisher: Good analogy. The Jammin' Oldies format was just a tad ahead of its time. There's a new station in Indianapolis, The Track, that has taken off on the fact that pretty much every dance party that teenagers go to these days is dominated by the rhythmic hits of the 70s--there ought to be a place on the radio for that music. That said, both that format and the rock-oriented hits format that is now on 100.3 in DC have to deal with a relatively limited collection of hits, and listeners may well tire of those songs within a year or two (in radio, it's called burning.) At which point, they'll just flip formats again.
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Washington, D.C.: Okay, but let's just brake up a tiny bit. Is putting a gay bar unquestionably equal to the issue of allowing gay folks to live in peace? To me, it is not. A gay bar is for a very specific group of people -- it's not totally all-inclusive, otherwise why not just let it be a bar? Or even a gay-friendly bar? By juxtaposing the ostentatious preacher with the harmless bar owner, you present an exaggeration of the effects of gentrification. Go elsewhere. Keep looking. The real effect is out there.
Marc Fisher: Ok, where should we look? If you're saying that gentrification brings a slew of fancy bars and restaurants that fail to provide the basic services a neighborhood needs, you have an argument. But if you're saying that gays who live in large numbers in a neighborhood shouldn't have hangouts of their own, that doesn't comport with urban history. The story of ethnic neighborhoods in America is one of Irish bars and Italian social clubs and Jewish community centers and so on.
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Arlington, Va.: I have no problem with gay bars (since I lived near Dupont Circle for over then years), but there could be valid reasons for not wanting a bar on your block or the next one. When I was in Chicago last week, I passed quite a few bars with signs saying something like "respect our neighbors and leave quietly." Feel free to call me NIMBY if you wish.
Marc Fisher: Right, but this bar is located on a block that is pretty well insulated from such concerns. There's a big old gas station immediately across the street and the bar has three boarded up storefronts on one side and a boarded up building and a used car lot on the other side.
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Washington, D.C.: I agree that Bishop C.L. Long's opposition to the Be Bar may be because he opposes homosexuality. However, there are many residents throughout Washington who oppose bars because of noise, trash, parking, increased police calls, etc. I doubt that your neighbors would welcome a bar on your block. So, Bishop Long is not alone in opposition to bars.
Marc Fisher: Quite true, except that in this case, the opposition comes solely from the church, and not from the neighbors who would usually raise such concerns. See above.
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Washington, D.C.: How did the church even know the owners were gay or the bar would be gay? This sounds very odd to me, like they were having trouble getting a liquor license or permits or something and hooked the church and are now ringing the discrimination bell.
Marc Fisher: There's some mystery around that point. Bishop Long told the lawyer for the bar that someone from the bar came to him and represented it as a gay bar, but now Long tells me that he didn't know this was a gay establishment until he read it in the paper. And the Be Bar folks say no one from their group ever went to tell Long anything of the kind.
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Kensington, Md. : Marc --
I feel you are discriminating against my questions, which are legitimate, and of which I've snt several now?
Marc Fisher: Hmmm, seeing as I have no idea who you are and no way of knowing which are your questions, I can't quite agree. But I took this question!
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Maryland: "Washington's Hour of Talk Power"? How long did it take for you to come up with that title?
Marc Fisher: Less than an hour. The power part was free.
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Washington, D.C. : You're missing out on the fun of Dippin' Dots. No one eats them. Instead, they are prime ammo. My favorite venue was the back seat on long car trips, but they are also quite fun at the beach.
Marc Fisher: Excellent. I could possibly be persuaded to acquire some dots to give that a try.
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Washington, D.C.: At one point during the whole Nats' ownership saga, Bud Selig said that the new owner would be free to change the name of the team. Now that we're finally on the verge of having an owner named, how likely is this to happen?
Marc Fisher: Very unlikely.
Given all the things the new owner has to address pronto--the ticket mess, the food fiasco, the wayward General Manager, the pitching horror show, the TV situation--there's little chance that he'd risk upsetting fans further by stripping out the Nats name and making everyone buy new hats.
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Re: Boswell's Column: Marc,
You are starting to sound too much like a homer. The problem with Boz's column this morning was that he did not take into account the fact that the Orioles played 5 or 6 games against the Yankees and the Redsox during the early part of 2005. I think we all know the Yankees will be one of the few sold out series for the Nats this year too.
Come on ... you columnists still have the responsibility to report the facts correctly even if you get paid to opine on various topics.
Marc Fisher: Homer? See immediate past response.
No, Boz had it just right today. He acknowledged that the Bosox and Yankees have and will continue to draw huge crowds, but the lousy numbers in Baltimore so far this season stand by themselves as a red alert, no matter who the O's were playing last year. These are record lows. Angelos ought to be a little panicky over these numbers. And if he's honest, he'll realize that he needs to back off the Nats if he wants fans in this area to live with dual loyalty.
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Home section: Do you have any trout or bass mounted on your walls at home? (Or at least one of those singing ones ...)
Marc Fisher: Shockingly, I don't, unless you count the smoked trout that was stuck to the kitchen wall for far too long after an hors d'oeuvres incident.
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Re: "Scalping": It is my understanding that it is not only illegal to re-sell tickets for more than their face value in D.C., but also to re-sell them for face value or less. Do you know if that is true? If so, what gives? That is the dumbest thing I ever heard.
So you have tickets to an event, turns out you can't go for whatever reason (sick babysitter, death in the family, whatever) but you risk ARREST if you sell the tickets to someone else -- even below face value?! Crazy, can't imagine the rationale there.
Marc Fisher: Sounds like a law that everyone has agreed to ignore. You can sell your tickets easily outside any sports venue, or of course online, where Stub Hub, eBay, Craigslist and other places are only too happy to help you unload those tix. But please give me first shot at them if the seats are any good.
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RFK, Section 519: Bottom of the 8th, we've got a one-run lead, and we trot out the relief pitcher with the 18.0 ERA? Why, why, why?!
(Sorry, I just need to vent.)
Marc Fisher: It was nightmarish. Breathtaking. My house vibrated with unfortunate remarks aimed at Mr. Robinson and his loyalty to the washed-up and the hopeless.
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Rosslyn, Va.: I'm a PK (preacher's kid) and grew up around leaders of various faiths. I am unaware of any mainstream religion that pays its clerics anywhere near enough to afford a Rolls Royce. I would characterize most of the salaries as slightly better than subsistence level. The existence of such an automobile gives the appearance of gross misappropriation of church funds. I suppose if anyone tried to actually determine the source of funds for the Rolls, the screams about persecution, separation of church and state, etc would wake the dead. I am appalled by the mere existence of a Rolls Royce in this context.
Marc Fisher: And there's a really snazzy bright yellow Nissan sportscar too. Perfectly detailed. Sitting right there on the front lot of the church.
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Why they don't move: Many urban churches with sububan congregations don't move because the church has a social mission of connection to the city: they run a soup kitchen, or affordable child care, or provide other social services that they believe a neighborhood needs and might not get except from the church. You can, I suppose, think that's patronizing or that congregants could make a 'real_'commitment to improving the neighborhood by living there. But that's why many inner-city churches stay even if in building only.
Marc Fisher: Quite true, though in this case, the head of Shaw Main Streets, the economic development agency, says that Scripture Cathedral has very little in the way of social service initiatives in the area. "Just the occasional GED class," said Alexander Padro. In sharp contrast to the many programs run by Immaculate Conception, which is right around the corner.
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Maryland: But, shouldn't it be "Washington's Hour of Power Talk"? Im just saying ...
Marc Fisher: It's all about the rhythm.
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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: On a church and resident related note, it looks like Mayor Williams is caving in to the churches again on parking, saying it's his executive right to allowing churchgoers to double park and block residents in.
For years us gay residents have complained about very severe parking enforcement around gay bars -- things like $100 tickets for 'blocking the entrance' to a building that hasn't been there for 30 years.
Yet churchgoers can double park?
This reeks of special treatment.
Link
Mayor says parking is his to decide (Washington Times, April 20)
Marc Fisher: It looked for a few days as if the city was finally going to get tough on churches that attract a primarily suburban crowd, but as soon as the District announced its get-tough policy, it backed off.
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Washington, D.C.: To the previous poster, there is no such thing as a 100 percent gay bar. All bars in D.C. allow any patrons in, unless they are a private club. Straights are welcome in any gay bar in town. In fact, some of the trendier gay bars sometimes have more straights than gays in them.
Fact is this neighborhood is grossly underserved for any sort of social gathering spot. Most likely it would attract a crowd similar to Dakota Cowgirl, on 14th Street -- a mix of all the neighborhood, of all races, orientations, income groups, etc.
And even if it were totally gay, as gay as gay can get, that's no reason to try to shut it down. Gay tax dollars are just as good as straight tax dollars. And they are way better than nonexistent tax dollars, which is what the Bishop's church generates.
Marc Fisher: True nuff. The ABC board will focus not on who comes to the bar, but on what kind of place it is--how loud the music will be, how late it will stay open, how many cars it will bring to the area. And, in this case, how many powerful ministers line up against it.
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Silver Spring, Md.: From Weingarten's chat:
"There should be a sign: Why didn't you warn us Levey was coming back?
Gene Weingarten: It's quite remarkable, isn't it?"
What is this about? I can't find any other reference. Is Levey coming back? What about John Kelly? Why is he "away?"
Marc Fisher: Kelly is just away for a few days and his column will return.
Levey is doing a blog that he describes as being like his old column.
Further know I not.
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Downtown: I loved Boz's well-reported column, but can I gripe about the RFK Stadium operations for a second.
Last Thursday, me and some buddies attended the Nats-Mets matinee. We arrived in the ticket line at 12:45 for a 1:05 start. While waiting in a HUGE line, we were informed by someone working for the team that "there were only eight people" in line at the Gate F ticket booth. Seeing that we hadn't moved up all that much, we scampered over there, only to discover a line that was as long, if not longer, than the one we just had vacated. Suffice to say, we didn't get to our seats until the bottom of the second, and missed the Mets' homer barrage in the first (one friend, a Mets fan, was slightly perturbed, to say the least).
They gotta get more ticket windows open over there.
Marc Fisher: Absolutely. And they need to fix their online ticketing process. The various ownership groups say most of these problems can be fixed in a matter of days. We shall see.
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Avenger: Let's send Peter Angelos a ton of Dippin Dots!
Marc Fisher: Our luck, he'd probably like them.
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Maryland: If the Scripture Cathedral was actually located in the burbs where the congregation lives, people might actually realize how well the reverend is living. Maybe that's why he wants to stay if D.C., not in the neighborhoods where his congregation actually lives.
Marc Fisher: The cars parked in the reserved spots for the pastors are a pretty good tip-off.
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Maryland: Need decor? I have an extra Big Mouth Billy Bass if you want it for your cubicle. Speaking of which, do you have a posh office or a cubicle?
Marc Fisher: The big show comes to you from the Windowless Cell at the Back of the Room. I regularly leave a trail of cookie crumbs so that visitors can find me.
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Fortaleza, Brazil: Rolls for a minister? Chump change. Some evangelical churches here have private jets. Which reminds me of the best justification for having a private jet that I've seen. The king of Swaziland said he needed a private jet in order to travel to donor countries to get more aid for his poor country.
Marc Fisher: Yeah, and the World Bank VIPs who clog our streets every year need their limos with curtains on the windows so they don't have to see any poor people who might distract them from their concentration on the poor people whose misery earns them their million dollar salaries.
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Anonymous: Factions are un-American. Is not one American first anymore? Why do so many people today robe themselves in "identity politics". George Washington himself, in his final address to the Congress, warned strongly of the dangers of factionalism. Yet today, factionalism is encouraged as a kind of civil right! Can you address this in the light of your article about the church and the bar?
Marc Fisher: Good point, and one that doesn't come up nearly enough in many major debates, such as the immigration discussion. The more we divide ourselves, even if we abuse the language and call our segregation by names such as affinity groups, the further we fall from the goal of learning to live together.
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Herndon, Va.: Mr. F: We want a Pulitzer for you, too! (and I'm a big Bob and Ray fan) As far as the minister with the Rolls is concerned, I think it's, to say the least, in poor taste, but that minister, and others, who live well, have congregations who know what's going on, and continue to support "The Rev."
If the congregation leaves, then no more Rolls.
Marc Fisher: Thanks--Bob and Ray would have a field day with the bishop, indeed with this whole story.
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Silver Spring, Md.: Not to defend the minister whom I personally do not know, I still want to note that it is not uncommon in some communities for the car to be showy when the home is modest. Whether this is true of the Rev. Long, I do not know, but the car could also have been a gift, or have been purchased second hand. The idea is to appear to be successful, as in any other endeavor.
Marc Fisher: Nice suits, too.
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D.C.'s Inferiority Complex: I am a native of the Washington area. Went to college in Baltimore and always joked with my Baltimore girlfriend that Baltimoreans have an inferiority complex because it isn't New York, Philly or DC.
But now I am starting to think Washington has a inferiority complex too. What do you think? Do we have an inferiority complex?
Marc Fisher: Put it this way: Whenever I read the Baltimore newspaper or listen to the Baltimore talk station, I hear comparisons to Washington. The opposite almost never happens.
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Baltimore, Md.: Re Boswell's column on the O's: The prior poster failed to note that the O's played a 3-game homestand against Boston this year and averaged under 40,000 per game. The simple fact is, every year for 8 years, Angelos has made promises that the team will turn the corner the next year. And it turns the corner and hits a brick wall. Attending a ballgame is so expensive now (especially for a family) that people don't want to pay for mediocre, or worse, performance. On the other hand, when the O's put great teams on the field in the 70s, you could roll up to Memorial Stadium at game time and buy a field box seat with no problem. I used to do it all the time. The truth is, Baltimoreans are now, and always have been, far more passionate about pro football than baseball. The physical beauty of Camden Yards -- and a couple of years of great ball under Davey Johnson -- filled the stands. Now things are returning to normal.
Marc Fisher: Yes, but there are other factors too, chief among them traffic. In the first years after Camden Yard opened, it was still possible, if difficult, to get to Baltimore for a 7 pm start on a weeknight. Now, to do that, you'd have to give up half your work day.
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I'm a uniter: Isn't the high price of gas uniting us?
Marc Fisher: Not yet. Wait for $4.50.
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S. Rockville, Md.: Do you agree that Washington, D.C., was part of the territory granted to Angelos by MLB? If you do, then shouldn't he be compensated for losing that territory? And that compensation is whatever the two parties agree upon, no matter what you or I may think is fair. Just because I don't think a house in Georgetown is worth $2 million doesn't mean someone who thinks it is shouldn't get the $2 million, especially if she can find a buyer.
Marc Fisher: No, there's no reason for him to be compensated for that because he was given those rights based on there being no team in Washington. It's only logical that Washington's team get the TV territory for its immediate market. If baseball wanted to be super nice to Angelos and give him some money after Washington got a team, that's fine, but the territory he was assigned after he bought the O's has nothing whatever to do with the division of territory once Washington got its team back.
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Baltimoron : Are you saying that Washington, D.C. has a superiority complex?
Marc Fisher: Wouldn't be the first.
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Atlanta, Ga.: Wait a second -- I went to a public high school on L.I. (New York) that had men's and women's lacrosse. Many of the students went to private school for college -- and oh, wait a second, there was a lot of money to go around (sadly, not for my family) and many students probably had disposible incomes greater than my current one (and I've been out of high school for 20 years). Point well taken!
Marc Fisher: We're out of time, so we'll have to get into that next time.
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Jeepers Peepers: Clearance priced Peeps taste best.
Marc Fisher: More peeps...
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Peeps Turducken: Marc, I don't have the link handy, but I saw a great peeps-based Easter equivalent of the mighty turducken. Stuff a cadbury cream egg into a peep (cut a slit in the bunny and wrap around). Then stuff into several more peeps. Drop the whole thing into a hollow chocolate bunny (cut the base off), and then reattach the base. Nuke the whole thing until it's a gooey, chocalately, marshmallowy mess!
Marc Fisher: Cooked in an oil drum, I presume.
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Washington, D.C.: You mention Dippin' Dots. I have always had a problem with this product. Their tagline is "The Ice Cream of the Future." But, if its available today, isn't it the ice cream of the present? The ice cream of the future hasn't been produced yet, let alone marketed to sporting event goers! Am I the only one who is so bugged by this she's never bought any Dippin' Dots?
Marc Fisher: I prefer the ice cream of the past, Carvel.
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Crappy vs. Crappie: Sorry I missed your chat last week, but I thought I'd point out to you that you goofed in your column on the liquor salesman. While Herman Aronovic might be fishing for crappy bass, he would not be fishing for crappy and bass. I've gone ahead and included a definition (in case you and/or your editor want to clip it out for future reference) of the two:
crappy
Pronunciation: 'kra-pE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): crapxer; -est
slang : markedly inferior in quality : LOUSY
crappie
Pronunciation: 'krw
Function: noun
Etymology: Canadian French crapet
Either of two edible North American sunfishes, the black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) or the white crappie (P. annularis).
Of course, that doesn't mean you're not welcome on my boat, just make sure you bring a cooler full of beer.
Marc Fisher: Thank you.
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