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 26, at Noon ET to talk about a colossal lawsuit over a dry cleaner losing a pair of pants, the latest on the Virginia Tech shootings, and asks the question, "how dangerous is it to drive at the speed limit?"

Today's Column: Lawyer's Price For Missing Pants: $65 Million ( Post, April 26)

Check out Marc's blog, Raw Fisher.

In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.

Archives: Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks--lots of reaction to today's column about the D.C. lawyer (and judge too!) who sued his local dry cleaner for misplacing a pair of pants--a mere $65 million lawsuit. We'll get into that, and the continuing discussion on the Virginia Tech shootings, plus whatever else is on your minds.

First, the Yay and Nay of the Day:

Yay to the residents of the 17th Street NW corridor in the District who have raised the possibility of creating some sort of pedestrian paradise along that strip of eateries and bars just north of Massachusetts Avenue. The idea may seem impractical--17th is a busy street and deliveries must be able to get through to the stores there--but some kind of part-time street closing might be a fun way to take the party out of the stores and extend it onto the avenue.

Nay to speed limit vigilantism, as expressed in two separate items that I discuss on the Raw Fisher blog today. The local bicyclists association is recruiting drivers to become neighborhood pace cars--you would promise to drive your car at or below the speed limit, thereby setting a model for others. You might also get your head blown off by road ragers, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for the folks behind this novel civic action. The other group that likes the idea of driving really slowly is an anti-illegal immigration organization that tried to put together a truckers' slowdown on the Beltway--that sort of thing sure might win attention, but it's hard to see how it would win converts to their cause.

Your turn starts right now....

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washingtonpost.com: Going the Speed Limit: Public Service or Public Menace? ( Raw Fisher, April 26)

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AU Park: Marc--Great column this morning. Do you know if the D.C. gov't is planning any disciplinary action against Judge Pearson for his harassing $67 million lawsuit? Doesn't his behavior violate a code of ethics or at least a code of conduct? Phil Mendelsohn's judiciary committee should look into this.

washingtonpost.com: Lawyer's Price For Missing Pants: $65 Million ( Post, April 26)

Marc Fisher: Well, lawyers have the same right to sue as anyone else. While a lot of you seem to think Pearson's behavior in this case disqualified him from sitting as an administrative law judge, it's hard to imagine the D.C. government using this as the sole cause for sending him off to another line of work.

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Fairfax, Va.: I enjoyed listening to you on Washington Post Radio this morning! (I'm a new listener, so it's the first time I've heard you -- just as wryly amusing on the radio as in print.) As for the pants story: what kind of vile human being would make THIS his personal crusade -- perhaps his legacy? Why try to sue working class people for millions of dollars? And do you think this kind of publicity will create some shame in him, or is he -- as he seems -- totally shameless?

Marc Fisher: I spent a few hours reading through the enormous case file down at Superior Court, and I can't say I saw any deep human capacity for shame in the various pleadings and arguments.

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Herndon, Va.: Mr. Fisher: We all at times get annoyed, or even enraged by the actions of others -- say a dry cleaner losing your suit. However, only a lawyer can take such an incident to the nth degree of stupidity. What really worries me is this nincompoop is a sitting judge in D.C. What kind of justice does he administer?

Marc Fisher: I'm hearing a lot of folks' dry cleaners stories today--my next door neighbor here at the Post, sports editor emeritus George Solomon, many years ago had to take a cleaners to small claims court after $20 worth of clothes went missing. George won--he got $10. That's more like what you'd want from the court system in this sort of circumstance.

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Charlottesville, Va.: This guy Pearson is a piece of work. It is absolutely frightening that an individual with such a distorted view of life could be an administrative judge in the District. My lord, he was offered $12,000 to settle this ridiculous suit. He deserves the full scorn of the citizenry of Washington. Obviously he has too much time on his hands, as well as notoriously poor judgment.

Marc Fisher: Too much time on his hands is exactly the phrase that's appeared in court papers about Pearson. One judge in this case has already made some disparaging remarks about Pearson's tactics, and a Virginia judge made very similar comments about how Pearson handled his divorce suit a few years ago.

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Washington, DC..: I know you hate lawyers, but Pearson is just a jerk. Plenty of non-lawyers are also capable of being completely unreasonable. I'm fighting an uphill battle, but there is nothing inherent about being a lawyer and acting like he is. In fact, he is actually a bad lawyer. If he went to any kind of law school, they would have taught him NOT to behave like this.

Marc Fisher: Well, I don't hate ALL lawyers. Some of my best...--well, I won't go there. But I am married to one.

But I can't agree with you on the Good Law School Theory--Mr. Pearson was graduated from a very fine institution, Northwestern University Law School.

You can read more about him in his official bio, which Rocci will link to any second now....

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Rockville, Md.: I have only one comment to make after reading your column today: Is it any wonder that people hate lawyers?

Actually, I do have another comment: Isn't there any way to rein in this madman? It seems that someone should have put a stop to his insane behavior long ago. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that his suit is so frivolous and so without merit, that he should be sanctioned/fined/disbarred or be subject to some other form of punishment.

Marc Fisher: I haven't run into any lawyers who think this is grounds for any sort of discipline beyond having this particular case tossed out of court--but if any of you legal beagles out there think otherwise, come ahead.

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washingtonpost.com: Roy. L. Pearson ( District of Columbia Web Site)

Marc Fisher: Here's that official bio.

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Judge vs. Administrative Judge: Can you explain what it means to actually be an administrative judge. What do they do? I take it this is not a prestigious position as some might think.

Marc Fisher: Such judges handle disputes stemming from interactions with a slew of city agencies, including these:

The Office of Tax and Revenue (other than cases relating to real property taxes)

The Department of Health

The Department of Mental Health

The Department of Human Services

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs

The Board of Appeals and Review

The Child and Family Services Agency (limited to certain youth residential facility licensing cases)

Department of Public Works and Department of Transportation (limited to cases brought under the Litter Control Administration Act and Illegal Dumping Enforcement Act)

The Department of Banking and Financial Institutions

The Department of Employment Services (limited to unemployment insurance cases)

The Taxicab Commission

Fire and Emergency Medical Services (limited to civil infractions)

The Office of Planning (limited to historic preservation violations)

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Washington, D.C.: He 'turned down' a $12,000 settlement? They offered a $12,000 settlement?

Crazy. Just crazy that that he could expect to get more, and that the dry cleaners would fear it.

Marc Fisher: This is the most disturbing part of the story, to my reading: The family that owns the cleaners feels compelled to make wild, completely over the top offers to make this case go away, because if they can't get him to settle for some outrageous amount like $12,000, they will have to spend vastly more than that defending themselves against his blizzard of legal tactics, and even if the family does eventually win, and even if they win a judgment of attorney's fees, the odds of actually getting the money are not the greatest.

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Alexandria, Va.: Surely there is another dry cleaner near this judge's courtroom that he could use instead of RENTING A CAR EVERY WEEKEND to get his darn clothes dry cleaned elsewhere? What does he do when his usual grocery store is out of swiss cheese -- fly to Switzerland?

Marc Fisher: I haven't done a neighborhood survey, but he claims in court documents that Custom Cleaners, which is four blocks from his home, is the only one within walking distance. Given the relatively sparse retail options in that part of town, I'd believe it.

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McLean, Va.: Okay, so here's a REAL DUMB question about Pearson's lawsuit: why didn't the judge hearing the suit laugh it out of court and order Pearson to get a life?

Marc Fisher: That's not a dumb question at all. The judge (actually, there have been two on the case so far) did toss out a bunch of Pearson's efforts to expand the case, and the judge has trimmed down Pearson's witness list dramatically, but the judge also found that he had raised legitimate enough questions about how and whether the D.C. consumer protection law might apply to this dispute that the case would go forward.

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Washington, DC: Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously? I mean.... SERIOUSLY?? I just read the pants article. He makes me embarrassed to be a person. Is there any possible way this guy actually has a case?

Marc Fisher: Well, anybody can sue anybody else about anything. I can't imagine a judge finding that anyone was damaged here other than Pearson, or that Pearson suffered any damages beyond the cost of the pants, but crazier things have happened. See the next post for one such thing.

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Leesburg, Va.: Marc,

Why does that judge even need pants? Isn't that what the robes are for? He could wear jeans, bermudas, or even his tighty-whiteys under that gown and who would know?

Marc Fisher: I knew a judge once who used to joke from the bench about not wearing anything at all under his robes. This same judge used to call female lawyers up to, yes, sit on his lap. I actually witnessed two such incidents in his courtroom, and, amazingly, the lawyers did as they were told.

After I wrote about this in the newspaper, the judge was finally removed from the bench--but not immediately! It took some months.

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Baltimore, Md.: Re Mr. Pearson's lawsuit: One has often heard the phrase "judicial temperament" and I think Mr. Pearson has so totally demonstrated that he doesn't have such a thing that I can't imagine him continuing as an Administrative Law Judge. And if the guy had multiple Hickey Freeman suits (at about $1,000 each) hanging in his closet, that makes this even worse.

Re the speed limit thing, although a bit off topic: There were 4 deaths in motorcycle accidents in the Baltimore area this past weekend, all caused by drivers grossly breaking the law. (One fool died trying to "pop a wheelie" on the Baltimore Beltway, another while running from the cops after being stopped for speeding.)

I just want to tell all chat participants to watch out for bikers driving at insanely high speeds now that the weather is warm. I saw a lot of it last weekend.

Marc Fisher: There seem to be ever more reasons to stay off the roads. But then we'd miss out on all that great traffic. (My kids have developed a passion for great, truly paralyzing traffic jams--they actually cheer for standstill congestion. Something apparently went awry in the whole child raising piece.)

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Fairfax, Va.: The Beltway slow-down sounds like something that would happen in France! I lived there for two years, and those 'manifestations' popped into my head as soon as I heard about it. I don't think that'll fly in America: if you go out of your way to screw up my day, I'm not going to be very sympathetic to your opinions.

Marc Fisher: Yeah, that was my reaction too, but somebody out there must feel otherwise, because traffic slowdown protests, while not enormously common, do happen here and there. Anybody want to defend this as a useful tactic?

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Washington, D.C.: I agree with you that vigilantism is bad, but the police don't ever seem to do anything about those small illegal nuisances that can lead to big trouble. For instance, people riding bikes on the street. So dangerous. What can a pedestrian do besides fantasize about sticks in spokes?

Marc Fisher: I know some folks--I am not repeat not among them--who throw open their car doors in the path of oncoming bike messengers. This, aside from being unbelievably dangerous and hostile, is a good way to get yourself beaten up or worse.

Sure, we'd all love cops to crack down on the little stuff that drives people bananas. That would be a way for police to become enormously popular. I saw some neighbors burst into spontaneous cheers and applause because a cop was seen ticketing someone for blowing a stop sign near where I live.

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Chevy Chase, D.C.: So here's a question for you as an experienced reporter:

Last night, on Bill Moyer's show on PBS, he began by showing a news conference at the White House at the run-up to the Iraq War. It turns out that the whole event was staged, that the reporters present knew in advance who had been 'pre-picked' to be called on by the president, and they all went through a charade of raising their hands and waiting to be called on.

Is this really what reporting inside the Beltway has come to? How often does this happen? Are news conferences typically run this way? Why would professional reporters take part in such a Potemkin village?

Marc Fisher: Your premise is wrong: Presidential press conferences are rituals that follow a standard order with rules set by tradition, but they are neither planned nor scripted. Everyone involved knows that the president will call on the AP reporter and some of the network correspondents and a couple of the big papers and some of the smaller papers--if you want to call that scripted, go ahead, but the prez doesn't know what the questions will be, and the newsies don't know who will be called upon beyond the traditional bigfoot reporters in the front row.

More important, press conferences are only very rarely a useful newsgathering tool. They are a place to get the official line, and perhaps to see how a politician handles a question that puts him slightly off the prepared material. Real reporting never takes place on camera.

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Professor's Firing: What did you think about that Emmanuel College professor's firing after his controversial lecture re: guns and Va. Tech? I can't say I agreed with his views, but I think he should have the freedom to express them without getting fired.

Marc Fisher: I don't have much patience for the gotcha-style policing of what professors say in class, any more than I have for mob-rule attacks on blowhards like Don Imus. The intolerance of intolerance is a tiresome and pathetic pursuit that allows some people to feel holier than the rest of us, without in any way touching the underlying and vastly more important issues that lie beneath the speech in question.

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Washington, D.C.: I thought my neighborhood was safe, but now I'm not sure. Apparently drunken teenagers are going to be on the loose when Whole Foods starts selling wine. Who knew the loud school kids getting on the Metro at Tenley were budding oenophiles.

Marc Fisher: This is a reference to the appalling vote in an Advisory Neighborhood Commission in the Tenleytown area of D.C. that failed to approve a request by Whole Foods to sell beer and wine in their store. The 3-3 vote came because the commissars who seek to protect neighborhoods against enjoyment and convenience bought the ludicrous argument of--get this--the next-door liquor store owner that selling alcohol at the supermarket would pose a threat to the community and would encourage drinking by school kids. This from the guy who owns the LIQUOR STORE!

Anyway, that's what that's about.

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Arlington, Va.: I know this is random, but what happened to the "new George 104.1"? I just programmed my radio dial, and all of a sudden its Gospel music? Am I crazy?

Marc Fisher: It's the new Praise 104, a production of Radio One, the Prince George's based company that specializes in formats aimed at black audiences. It's an all-gospel station, quite rollicking. George 104 was kind of a placeholder after the owner, Bonneville, ditched classical WGMS earlier this year.

I''ll have a link to my story on Praise 104 momentarily....

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Traffic jams: Your kids should have been driving home with me Tuesday. Just after I was fully committed to the on-ramp to the Beltway to sit in the emergency-sinkhole-Wilson-Bridge traffic, I realized I had almost no gas. Nothing adds to the traffic jam experience like fear of running out of gas on the Wilson Bridge in the middle of already horrendous congestion. Blocking another lane of traffic with an out-of-gas vehicle could have gotten me lynched. Fun for all.

(I made it safely into Virginia with at least half a gallon, if you were concerned)

Marc Fisher: In my decades-long experiment to see how close I can come to running out of gas without actually doing so, I discovered just the other day that you can drive more than 20 miles after the computerized readout on the dash says Zero Miles of gas remain.

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Washington, D.C.: The pace car proposal will highlight another problem: The ridiculously low speed limits on certain roads. North Capitol is down to 25 mph near Children's Hospital. NO ONE goes 25 there, so it essentially makes the limit meaningless, and gives police too much discretion to do whatever they want.

Marc Fisher: A little realism would help--after all, nobody lives along that superhighway stretch of Capitol Street north of Michigan Avenue and there are no pedestrians there. But the city seems to be committed to a District-wide speed limit. It must be a nice revenue enhancer.

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washingtonpost.com: Higher-Powered Music: Contemporary Gospel Finds a Home in D.C. ( Post, April 15)

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Alexandria, Va.: Do you know if anyone has ever based their legal defense in a speeding case on the theory that driving the speed limit is less safe? Do you think the evidence makes speeding legally justifiable? Morally justifiable?

Marc Fisher: I vaguely recall reading a story in which somebody fought a ticket on those grounds and won--certainly it would make sense on a highway where everyone is going 70 and you'd be risking life and limb to go 50.

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Pittsburgh, Pa. Perhaps every reader of this chat should go to the "Contact Us" page of the District of Columbia at Contacts and Services ( D.C. Government)and suggest to the Webmaster that Judge Pearson's bio be amended to include the statement "Judge Pearson is currently suing a family-owned dry cleaners for $65,462,500 over alterations to a pair of his pants."

There's also a link to send a note to Mayor Fenty.

Marc Fisher: We should be hearing from Mayor Blackberry on this in about 37 minutes. In fact, it's kind of surprising he didn't hold a presser outside the judge's chambers this morning.

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Middletown, Md.: If I said what I would like to say, I would probably be sued for, well, $65 million, so I will make my question general.

There has been a lot of talk about a sanity check on people who want to buy guns. Shouldn't there be a sanity test before someone can become a judge? Or can any raving nutcase sit on a bench and destroy lives with decisions instead of bullets?

Marc Fisher: Administrative Law Judge seems to be a job you apply for like any other--you send in a resume and that's about it. It's not like a criminal or civil court judge in the District who gets appointed by the president of these United States.

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Bowie, Md.:... renting a car every weekend?

Don't they have taxis in D.C.?

Marc Fisher: You mean you want the guy to have to hail a cab to take in his pants? People get sued by thinking like that. The man needs a fine rental, a Hummer perhaps.

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Rockville, Md.: Could we get Judge Judy to come down here and preside over the trial? She knows just how to handle these dry cleaner lawsuits, and with her $100M contract surely she can afford a bit of pro bono. She'd scorch Pearson's tighty whiteys pronto!

I know what she'd say about this turkey's putative rent-a-car expenses: It's HIS decision to have a car or not; the defendant can't be held liable for any inconveniences that may naturally flow from plaintiff's freewill decision. Duh!

Marc Fisher: The car is my favorite part. Well, there was also this, which I didn't get into the column: Pearson made up flyers asking neighbors if they'd had problems with this cleaner, and he handed them out and recruited himself a nice list of people who had various complaints about the cleaners, including one who said that the people at the cleaners had been nasty to her. Rack up another lawsuit!

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Burke, Va.: Shakespeare was right!

Marc Fisher: Well, not all, please. Just most.

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RE: Pearson: Would it be too bad a pun to say Pearson is suing the pants off Custom Cleaners?

Marc Fisher: Hey, you wanna come on down and write headlines?

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Washington, D.C.: The scary thing about this Pearson suit is that it could happen to anyone. If some determined nut job sets out to sue you for a frivolous, trumped up reason, what can you do? You can't just ignore it.

These poor people are losing years of their lives and thousands of their dollars to this, and what recourse do they have?

Marc Fisher: Right--they're pretty much stuck. You can't ignore a lawsuit, no matter how wacked it is. This is Reason #637 why civil disputes should not be a matter for public courts except in the most extreme cases.

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I vaguely recall reading a story ...: Yes, it happened in Maryland. The motorist pulled out a copy of the Maryland driving manual that said drivers had to keep up with the flow of traffic, and the officer admitted that the average speed was in the range of what the motorist got ticketed for, and the judge tossed the ticket.

With apologies to Ring Lardner ... you can look it up!

Marc Fisher: Very good--thanks.

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Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.: As someone who does not own a car and walks everywhere, I applaud any effort to slow down cars.

Although after I was hit by someone on a bike yesterday and knocked to the ground (hit and run too) I have to admit that I find it a bit ironic that this push is coming from WABA ... although DDOT and MPD are involved as well.

Marc Fisher: Slow is good, I agree. Except that, as utterly hypocritical human beings, most of us also believe that fast is good, at least for us. This is why law enforcement is important.

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Not a Hokie: Marc, I'm not a Tech alumni and in fact Tech was/is a hated rival of my alma mater and normally I would relish any opportunity to mock their admissions policy, but seriously, your blog earlier this week was reaching.

I work with high school students and before they may be admitted to our program, they must submit an essay ... believe me how well or how poorly an essay is written is no judge of someone's character or how they will perform once in a program.

Marc Fisher: No mocking intended--what I wrote was a straightforward look at Virginia Tech's admissions policy versus those of other colleges, in particular other large state universities. And I did that in response to a great many questions from readers, many of whom said that the single greatest puzzle to them in that whole tragic story was how somebody like Cho, who was seen to be disturbed by teachers and students going back many years, could get into a good school like Tech.

I don't for a second believe that rejecting Cho's application to Tech would have stopped him from killing a lot of people somewhere, sometime. But I do think it's worth asking whether Tech oughtn't consider some more subjective elements in its admissions process, as other big schools do by requiring teacher recommendations, student essays or other indications of a person's background and abilities beyond their test scores and grades.

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Alexandria, Va.: The 17th Street group could look to the city of Melbourne, Australia. They set aside Swanston Street (a main drag going through the heart of downtown) for trams, taxis and delivery trucks only -- as well as bikes and pedestrians (the latter on widened sidewalks).

Marc Fisher: Good--though given 17th Street's role in the lives of commuters, you might also want to keep it open to traffic during the morning rush.

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Vienna, Va.: Why were you making fun of the National Harbor project? I thought the designs look beautiful. I look forward to having a reason to visit PG County for the first time in 30 years living in this area. I've literally never been there. You might be shocked at how many of us suburban Virginians can say that.

Kudos to this man for bringing commerce and something great to PG County. And bringing the Awakening there? Icing on the cake.

Marc Fisher: I have no problem with developing that piece of land, or with the idea of creating an attraction that would lure visitors to Prince George's--that would be a great thing. I had hoped that National Harbor would be more than a shopping mall, conference center and residential development; it would have been great to see some attraction--museum, amusement facility, something more creative than that--as a centerpiece of the project.

I'm glad the developer is making public art a big piece of the plan, but I don't think The Awakening will have nearly the same impact in the midst of a big shopping center as it does on that wonderfully barren point where the Potomac and Washington Channel come together.

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'Charlie': Can you indefinitely lend me $750,000.01 so I can outbid Peterson, buy 'The Awakening' and try to persuade someone important to keep the sculpture where it currently rests?

Marc Fisher: Take it out of my winnings on my next lawsuit against the cleaners--the button on my cuff was chipped when I picked up the shirt this week.

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Cleaners: Any way to contribute to their legal defense fund? As a small business owner, that's my biggest nightmare.

Marc Fisher: Yes, you can donate through the family's lawyer, Chris Manning, at Manning & Sossamon PLLC, 202-387-2228,

cmanning@manning-sossamon.com

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Washington, D.C.: Can't Custom Cleaners do a counter-suit?

Marc Fisher: Oh so punny.

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Stratford-on-Avon: Please, can we stop quoting from The Bard? "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" was spoken by an obvious fool and comic foil.

Marc Fisher: No, I don't think we are capable of halting the quotes from Bill. It's just the language we speak.

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What's worse ...: Being an Orioles fan with Peter Angelos as the owner or being a Redskins fan with Dan Snyder as the owner?

Marc Fisher: We could do an hour on that. We should. Short answer: Angelos is worse because at least Snyder continues to hurl enormous piles of money at his team in an effort to make it better. Angelos, not so much anymore. Also: Fans remain relatively loyal to Snyder's team because at least he seems to be trying to create a winner while gouging us. Whereas Angelos seems to care only about his own passions and odd beliefs.

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Chantilly VA:"Marc Fisher: We should be hearing from Mayor BlackBerry on this in about 37 minutes. In fact, it's kind of surprising he didn't hold a presser outside the judge's chambers this morning."

Marc: Hold a "presser"? I caught that!

Marc Fisher: Little journo lingo fer ya.

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Bikes on the street: To the person who wrote in being angry that bicyclists are riding in the street -- that's where we're supposed to ride! I have encountered serious confusion among the ranks of cops in D.C., but it's my understanding that bicycles are supposed to drive on the street and obey traffic laws the same as cars.

If you're in a rush and annoyed to by the bikes on the road, take the time to contemplate the greenhouse gas emissions your car is creating for your drive through town. Sheesh, get over yourself in your car!

Marc Fisher: Caller is right--bicyclists are supposed to be in the street. That's not necessarily the safest place for them, but the law says they're supposed to take their chances against the cars rather than bother pedestrians.

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Maryland:"I discovered just the other day that you can drive more than 20 miles after the computerized readout on the dash says Zero Miles of gas remain."

The cars are actually built like that on purpose. Or so says the manual for my parent's old Chrysler. I figure they set up that way to give you time to find a gas station.

Marc Fisher: Right, and if they told us how much gas is really left when the gauge hits E, we'd lose all the fun. It's one of the rare mysteries that's been allowed to persist in an age of too much information.

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Beltway slow-down : This will be Round 2. They did 25 years ago, to protest rising gas prices if memory serves correct. Paralyzed the city, total total gridlock.

I'm on the fence on the immigration issue. I see their point about illegal immigration straining our resources, but on the other hand these people are trying to carve out a better life for themselves and their children, and legalese is at the bottom of their priority list. I just don't see how truckers will win any converts by shutting down our roadways. What, I'm supposed to think long and hard when I'm stuck on 495? No, I'll be thinking of how I can flatten one of their tires.

I wonder if Pearson cares that he's now a laughingstock.

Marc Fisher: Haven't heard from him. I'll let you know if I do.

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Arlington, Va.: Marc,

More of a Dr. Gridlock question, but I wanted to run it past you, too. What are your thoughts about an underground pedestrian walkway connecting Farragut North and Farragut West?

Great idea, terrible idea? Doable, unrealistic?

Marc Fisher: I'd love to see it, but only if it's built wide enough to accommodate retail throughout the tunnel, a la the great underground shopping walks of Montreal and other northern cities.

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Glover Park, Washington, D.C.: The Whole Foods in my neighborhood sells beer and wine. You can hardly walk around without stumbling over a drunken teen. They run around terrorizing us, and people are afraid to leave their houses. It's one big drunken teen orgy over here.

Marc Fisher: Yeah, Glover Park--the new Bourbon Street.

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Washington, D.C.: In regards to the Whole Foods-wine bit, is there more to this story or are the members of this ANC really that stupid that they bought the liquor store owners argument?

Marc Fisher: Give them some credit for not being quite that moronic--let's just say they're happily adopting the liquor store's arguments to support their own deep loathing for anything that adds to the liveliness of the neighborhood. A supermarket that stays open late and sells beer and wine would put more people on the sidewalks in the evening, and that deeply shakes the rural fantasies of the anti-development crowd.

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Washington, D.C.: I saw something the other day that made me curious about rules regarding motorcades and government vehicles.

It was a relatively ragtag looking grouping of official cars: two unmarked black sedans with flashing lights, one SUV, one stretch limo, and a white MPD police van. Sirens blaring, they blew through traffic and red lights around the Mall. I don't think that it was Bush: not enough cars, and he rides in an armored Yukon or something, not a limo.

I get that the president's motorcade is allowed to run red lights. Who else gets this privilege? And since when in the last ten years do motorcades use the relatively unmaneuverable stretch limos, as opposed to big SUVs?

Finally, the SUV in the parade had one of those Jesus fish stuck on the back of it. (Not just the fish outline. It actually said "Jesus" in it.) Is this really permissable? I can't imagine there aren't rules about affixing personal belief symbols to official vehicles.

Thanks!

Marc Fisher: Good questions--I don't have answers. Perhaps someone can chime in next time. You'd think the religious symbol on the government car would be a no-no, but it's also possible that it's a private limo and the cops were just ferrying around a dip or some other so-called dignitary.

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Washington, D.C.: For a good example of how to handle a situation when someone blows it out of proportion for their own propagandic purposes, please see John McCain's response to whoever that dummy was that went off in the House or Senate yesterday. McCain basically laughed it off and told the guy to get a life.

Wish a judge would do that to Pearson.

Marc Fisher: That'd be a delight to see. We'll have to watch and find out.

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Lack of dry cleaners: I don't have a car and I don't buy the lack of dry cleaner excuse. When a dry cleaner lost a favorite jacket of mine and there weren't any others by my house, I took my dry cleaning with me to work (via bus) and dropped it off in downtown. I'd rather have my suit jackets at my office where they won't get rumpled in transit anyway.

Marc Fisher: You're being remarkably practical and accommodating. That is not permitted behavior.

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Washington DC: I can't help but wonder whether the fact this jerk's lawsuit has gotten as far as it has is due to the fact that he's a member of the artificial family known as "Judges". Your average schlep wouldn't have had the same hearing - or the resources to mount and continue a continued legal barrage on hard working immigrants.

Marc Fisher: I don't know about that--the judges in this case are evidently bending over backwards to be fair to the plaintiff--it screams out of nearly every page they write. But in my experience, that's what most judges would do in the face of a very aggressive lawyer, no matter who the client might be.

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Liquor store dirty secret: The top contributors to state legislatural usually come from 3 businesses: insurance, auto dealers, and liquor wholesalers and retailers. Any surprise why those industries have the highest barriers to entry?

Marc Fisher: Very good point.

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Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.: Marc --

Since sculptures in national parks must be commemorative in nature, how about we get someone official to declare that "The Awakening" commemorates the fun side of Washington that Milt Peterson and the National Park Service seem determined to stamp out, and then leave the sucker right where it is.

Marc Fisher: Good enough for me. But I fear not for the Park Service. Not exactly a fun-loving bunch.

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Marc Fisher: That kicks things in the head for today. Thanks for coming along--more on the blog every day, and back in the paper and here on the big site Sunday with a column and a Sunday Arts piece about some young folks who are already thinking like those grumpy professionals who put predictable and boring music on the radio.

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