Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher, who looks at the latest news with a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.

Today's Column: Md. Senator at a Loss for Words Over Same-Sex Marriage Bill (Post, March 6)

Fisher was online Thursday, March 6, at Noon ET to look at Maryland's battle over gay marriage, Virginia's renewed transportation tax troubles and the new Columbia Heights retail development.

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.
Today's column on the latest turn of events in the same-sex marriage debate asks whether civil unions are civil unions if you call them something else. Is this pure squeamishness or is there some rational reason why Maryland legislators are spending their time trying to come up with a term other than "civil unions" or "domestic partnership" to use in their effort to grant the legal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples? Will any phrase that doesn't apply specifically to gays suffice? Would "tuna salad" do the trick?
Yesterday, I wandered over to the new Columbia Heights retail complex on opening day of the Target store. In most places, the opening of a big box store would hardly qualify as news, but in the District, this is only the second big box outlet ever (there's a Home Depot in Northeast) and the chance to obtain basic goods without traveling to Virginia or Maryland had customers in a splendid mood. There was an immediate and powerful shift in the street scene on 14th Street, as well--goodness, it felt like 14th Street in Manhattan out there. The whining about traffic has already begun, and there's likely to be plenty of justification for that, but the initial impact is quite enlivening.
Can Virginia lawmakers find a way to revive last year's transportation funding package without calling the new scheme a tax? Once again, it's all about the words. You'll likely be paying for a special session of the General Assembly so that the politicians can search for ways to raise money without using the dreaded tax word.
And hey, Don Imus is back on the Washington radio airwaves as of this morning, on the former smooth jazz station, 105.9 FM, which has now adopted a canned oldies format that airs on a few dozen stations nationwide. Will civilization crumble? Is the I-man reformed? Do we still care?
On to your many comments and questions, but first, let's call the Yay and Nay of the Day:
Yay to the teachers and kids at North Chevy Chase Elementary School in Montgomery County who put aside the grim task of test preparation for a few hours yesterday to devote themselves entirely to art--a subject that they are now permitted to study but once a week, for just 50 minutes. It was a mild and well-mannered bit of civil disobediance--a story told in today's Post by Katherine Shaver--but a worthy stunt that might just remind some folks that there is more to life--and much more to education--than drilling math facts and reading comprehension skills, and that the greatest achievement any school can attain is to instill in kids a hunger for learning that sticks with them long after their school years are over.
Nay to the U.S. Postal Service, which, as the Post's Lyndsey Layton reports today, is putting the screws on state legislators in Maryland and across the nation, trying to kill bills that seek to let consumers say No to junk mail. The post office is desperate to hang on to all that catalogue business that has become its #1 source of revenue, and it's trying to prevent states from creating Do Not Mail lists like the federal Do Not Call mechanism against junk phone calls. If the post office's time has passed, let the nature of the mail business evolve to a more market-based, flexible service, but don't stomp on state lawmakers who are trying to do right for their constituents.
Your turn starts right now....

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Washington, D.C.: I'm curious as to what Md. State Sen. Muse's objections are to the terms "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships." What is clear to me is that putting this issue up for a referendum is a bad idea. I strongly oppose subjecting people's access to civil rights to the popular vote. As an woman and an African American, many of the rights I have now would not have occurred when they did if it were up to referendums at that time. I also think such referendums undermine the intent of the Constitution, which is to protect minority (in every sense of the word) rights.

washingtonpost.com: Md. Senator at a Loss for Words Over Same-Sex Marriage Bill (Post, March 6)

Marc Fisher: The senator, like some of his colleagues, just doesn't want to have to carve out a path between his religious objections to gay marriage and his civil rights-based sense that there is an imbalance of legal rights that needs to be addressed.
I agree that putting this sort of question to the voters is an abdication of a legislator's responsibility. They've been elected to use their judgment and analytical skills to determine how best to use the law for the benefit of all. Saying 'gee, this one is too hard, why don't you handle it?' is not part of the job description.

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washingtonpost.com: Postal Service Feels Weight Of 'Junk Mail' (Post, March 6)

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Arlington, Va.: Gay Marriage (or whatever name you want to call it) is really, really low on the list of issues I care about. I could not see myself choosing a candidate based on this issue. Do you most people feel this way, or is the issue still something that will drive voters to the polls? I haven't really heard the presidential candidates focus on this topic.

Marc Fisher: I'm sure they would be unanimous in wanting to run as far from the topic as they possibly can. There's little upside for a presidential candidate in embracing the issue, and lots of downside. Interestingly, the divide over civil unions in Maryland's legislature and in other states as well is not entirely partisan. It's almost more generational than party-based. Gay rights activists are cheered by that and speak of a certain inevitability to the changes in law that they seek.

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NW, D.C.: Marc, when the issue of partner rights came up 10 years ago or more the issue made sense to me from the perspective of a family member. I recall the initial debate as one of insurance rights, next of kin rights and the like. The wanting to put marriage in everyone's face just ruined the discussion for logical rights in my view.

My situation was one where my brother was in and out of work for various reasons, not poor but definitely not ahead, but my nephew was at times uninsured. I simply wanted the leeway to provide for his son by adding him to my health insurance. I was paying a family rate and it did not matter if I had 1 kid or 6. I only had one kid at the time and paid $300-350 a month for the policy. I could not add him unless I was the legal guardian and had custody. The situation was not that dire for my brother and sister i law to relinguish parental rights. I just wanted to provide a safety net. I know that is not the same as gay marriage but I see that situation much in line with the first gay rights scenario. Why does it matter to an insurance company if I am the legal guardian or have legal rights to the kid/person, when you are willing or already paying for the service they provide. Maybe there is some discriminating factor in helath insurance I don't know, there's not a different rate based on race, zip code or whatever. All households pay the same for the policy. Many family situations across the country are fundamentally similar.

Marc Fisher: Whatever the religious and other ideological objections to homosexuality, it has become clear that marriage grants many legal benefits that gay couples cannot obtain--more than 300 laws in Maryland give married couples certain legal advantages, according to the state's high court. So even some legislators who are opposed for religious reasons to gay marriage are intrigued by the idea of looking for ways to even out the legal benefits.

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washingtonpost.com: Coloring Outside Curriculum Lines To Depict the Drop in Arts Education (Post, March 6)

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Springfield, Va.: Marc:

In your column this morning you write/quote:

Muse says he asked Raskin "to help come up with some language that will identify that these are the persons of whom you speak. But it can't be 'civil union,' it can't be 'domestic partnership.' "

I kept hoping to find some explanation for what's wrong with either of those terms. I have no agenda -- I just don't get it. They seem benign to me. Can you explain what they're thinking?

Marc Fisher: The objection appears to be that they are terms that the average person would know refers to gay couples. The objective for some legislators is to find a way to grant benefits and rights without appearing to do so. I think the term for it is obfuscation.

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Arlington, Va.: I read your article this week about the college Web site that posts libelous messages from anonymous users. The Web site guarantees that the messages are anonymous, but can they really guarantee that? If someone posts something about me that would be considered libel by a court, couldn't I subpoena the company for records that would identify the person who posted the message?

washingtonpost.com: The Campus Juice On Juicycampus.com (Raw Fisher, March 2)

Marc Fisher: The folks in charge at juicycampus make a big show of guaranteeing anonymity to those who slam classmates by name. The site's legal disclaimer does say that it will comply with the law, so that if someone sues and manages to get a court to subpoena juicycampus's records, the poster's anonymity could theoretically be broken. But the site tells its users it doesn't want to know who they are, and the site says it will not remove any material, no matter how much the person named in the post believes they've been slandered. The 1996 law that lets web publishers disclaim responsibility for what readers post on their sites opened a huge, huge gap.

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Washington, D.C.: DC USA opened up yesterday, well at least Target and Lane Bryant did. I'm excited but at the same time cautiously optimistic. I'm 23 years old, and I've lived in the area my entire life, so I went through that decade where things got really bad. However, I'm enjoying the development in the area, but at the same time, the "just wait until six months from now when crime will be at an all time high in this area" argument is rearing its head again. What are your thoughts on this?

Marc Fisher: It's of course impossible to predict which way crime will go, but I think there's a strong argument that it won't especially go any which way: Yes, there is now more opportunity for purse snatchings, muggings, those sorts of street crimes, now that there will be many, many more people on the streets. But for exactly that same reason, there's likely to be quite a bit less street crime--there's safety in numbers and most bad guys like to do their dirty work away from the eyes of too many others.
I'm a strong believer in the idea that urban places thrive when they are busy, and that people feel most comfortable when there are lots of other folks around--plus, the area around the new development is just crawling with cops and private security, especially in the big new parking garage.

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Washington, D.C.: I was all excited about the new Target at Columbia Heights, but after reading on DCist this morning about a rash of crimes (including muggings on the Metro escalator) in the neighborhood, I wonder how safe that area really is. Do I have real reason to worry?

Marc Fisher: I spent a couple of hours around there yesterday and it felt safer than any other retail area in the city, and every bit as safe as most suburban malls.

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Helmet sundaes!: The latest listing of stadium food providers mentioned that Giffords will be represented and one of their offerings is going to be helmet sundaes. You need to find something new thing to complain about now...

Marc Fisher: I saw that last night and immediately launched celebratory rockets through the air over Northwest Washington.
So what should I complain about instead?

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Washington, D.C.: I don't get the ban on plastic bags proposed by the Maryland legislature. What happens with the paper ones when it rains? Why not build a better plastic bag and charge a few cents for it like they do in Europe?

Marc Fisher: Or better yet, why not pay customers to bring their own bags, as some markets do here? This is a relatively small change in behavior that is fairly easy to accomplish--it's the standard manner of shopping in many countries. It's just a matter of changing a habit, and a few small incentives would probably do the trick, especially since the stores would come out ahead economically.

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Imus: Why does anyone care about him? I thought his ratings were so low that I could yell out of a window and reach more people than he does.

Marc Fisher: Indeed, he was never a ratings powerhouse in Washington, where he was previously on a low-power AM station that draws negligible ratings. His new home on FM also has a weak signal, but better than where he was, and he does have an audience that advertisers crave--middle aged white guys who are otherwise hard to find in many media audiences.

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Ft. Washington, Md.: I went to NCC years (and years) ago. It was a pretty innovative school back then. Outside of the math and English requirements each day we could pick when we took science, music, art and gym as long as we met the prescribed weekly attendence rules. It's sad to see that they now have to squeeze art in a one day "protest". I don't even want to know what's happening to music programs. Do you think this emphasis on testing will subside and allow for more rounded education anytime in the near future? I have an unborn child who's quality of education I'm very worried about.

Marc Fisher: Inevitably, in a field as wildly faddish as education, the pendulum will swing back toward a more rounded and varied concept of curriculum, but will an entire generation have to suffer through an education in test-taking before the change occurs? That may well be the case. There's no evidence that the emphasis on test skills has done anything to improve this country's slide out of the top ranks of primary and secondary education systems worldwide. Most important, you'll notice that the one aspect of our education system that remains the finest in the world--our colleges and universities--excel expressly because they do not accept the grim, narrow view of education represented by the No Child Left Behind regimen. Yet politicians choose not to draw that lesson and instead try to win votes with bogus test scores even as parents see the damage being done to their kids' spirits.

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NPR move?: Did you see Fenty's announcement about that yesterday? Could rejuvenation of that area be hizzoner's legacy?

Marc Fisher: National Public Radio's decision to turn down very attractive offers from downtown Silver Spring and instead move their headquarters from D.C.'s Chinatown to a fairly ramshackle stretch of North Capitol Street is the second time NPR has chosen to be an urban pioneer. If it works out nearly as well for its new neighborhood as it did for its current home, that will be a real boost to whomever is mayor when the development is completed.
The NPR move is of a piece with ex-mayor Tony Williams' plan to replace the Sursum Corda housing project and surrounding blocks with a New Community of mixed income housing and retail.

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Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.: Any thoughts on the story yesterday of turning UDC into a community college? I think that is the best way to serve the community at need (provided they add some more locations in the city). There are more than enough 4-year schools in this city anyhow.

Marc Fisher: Steve Pearlstein's column yesterday proposing that reshaping of the city's university was a home run--a clear and persuasive rationale for giving up on the failed dream of UDC and creating instead a college that would serve local employers and the students who come out of D.C. public schools ill-prepared for this job market.

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washingtonpost.com: UDC Is a School to Retool _______________________ So what should I complain about instead? : You always think of something..... I'm guessing the transportation to and from the stadium will keep you busy for the foreseeable future. Marc Fisher: Hmmm, well, okay, but here I was thinking that the situation around the ballpark might not be so bad. I wouldn't recommend driving there, at least not for the first few weeks, until people learn the area and stop driving around in circles, but the experience with the downtown arena has taught me that fans learn new routes fairly quickly and are ready to adapt to taking alternative means of transportation. _______________________ Zone 1 : So the taxicab surcharge was added back at a massive 1.50, the largest in the area. Are you happy now and will this stop the minor "work stoppages." Marc Fisher: Hey, I never supported the per-person charge in D.C. cabs--they were, to my mind, always the unfair and self-destructive piece of the zone fare system. You're renting the cab and the cabbie's time, and the number of passengers you put in the car shouldn't change what you pay. And no, I don't think the cabbies will back away from their totally ineffectual protest days. _______________________ Herndon, Va.: "I spent a couple of hours around there yesterday and it felt safer than any other retail area in the city, and every bit as safe as most suburban malls" Um, you do know that Springfield Mall has had problems with stabbings and gang activity, right? And the mall shooting a few months back was at a suburban mall, wasn't it? Unfortunately I don't feel too safe anywhere anymore when some moron with a gun can just stroll in and start shooting. Marc Fisher: And not just there--several area malls have had chronic crime problems for some years now, especially as the first generation of malls have aged, lost their primary tenants, and lost many customers to the big boxes and the town centers. ______________________________________________

Ballston, Va.: As hard as it may be to believe, 10 years ago, Ballston Mall was not that safe either. Gangs can show up anywhere.

Marc Fisher: Good point--good management and smart renovations can fight back against crime and the way they do that is by finding ways to achieve what the new D.C. retail complex now has going for it--big crowds.

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Reston, Va.: The Post Office needs to change with the times. I'd gladly change daily mail delivery to 3 times a week in order to be able to have a do not mail registry. I'd say 3 times a week is about the most that I receive actual mail (bills, requested catalogs, etc.). The junk mail is ridiculous and I hate having to shred all the credit card offers, etc.

Marc Fisher: The proportion of meaningful mail in each day's load seems to decrease with every passing year. So is the solution to scrap the government-sponsored system entirely and let FedEx and UPS handle all mail? If you go to three days a week of delivery, aren't you assuring the eventual death of the system? Surely Netflix subscribers wouldn't want to move to less frequent service. I doubt the eventual solution is something that exists today, but why not eliminate the monopoly that the postal service now enjoys, if only to see what innovations then pop up?

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Washington, D.C.: Marc,

What do you think if the Nationals provide rental bikes at Capitol South station to give fans on Orange/Blue lines a faster means to the stadium? The walk is about 20 minutes but on a bike it's less than 5 mins to the grand staircase on Potomac Ave (my own estimation). Do you think a good number of people will pay, say $2, for a 5-min ride over a 20-min walk (weather permitting )?

Union Station is another possibility but the ride will be like 15-min. To me it's too long (and too sweaty)

Marc Fisher: Sounds like a business idea for some enterprising folks. I don't see why you'd need the Nationals to do it. A business license should be all you'd need. Your big problem would be the deadheading. You'd need to find a way to get the bikes back for reuse.

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Nationals Tickets: I was one of apparently thousands trying to get Nats tickets Tuesday morning. I understand the volume was large, but I got angry yesterday when I read in The Post that the Nationals are claiming that there were "no glitches" at all. That is simnply false. I was kicked off the Web site twice (my buddy was as he completed filling out his credit card information) and while on hold on the phone I was disconnected. That's not volume, that is pure glitch.

Marc Fisher: Well, yes and no. I was clicking and dialing madly that morning, and never got through on the phone, but did get into the online system twice. One time, I got stuck in Virtual Waiting Room hell and never got out. But prior to that, after a 12-minute wait, I got in and got one ticket (a few seconds later, the Sold Out sign went on the Opening Day tickets.) The computer system felt a bit balky, but the tickets were sold. The Nats folks say the computer program worked the way it's supposed to, which is to say that most of us didn't get the Opening Day tickets we wanted and the computer turned us away.
So it's secondary market time for those of us who feel a sick compulsion to be there for the first game.

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Annandale: "Metro, Metro, Metro!" That's all you hear from Nats brass these days on how to reach the new ballpark. I've got to think there will be some capitalists in the area come this season, so the casual fan can park somewhere within walking distance...what's going to be your "secret route" this season?

Marc Fisher: The trick won't necessarily be to find a secret route, though I do strongly recommend side streets rather than any use of I-395 or I-295. The real problem will be finding parking if you don't have a reserved space. I expect you will see a brisk secondary market in those paid parking spaces that season ticket holders can buy, so that will serve a lot of fans well. And I don't have hard evidence, but I will be astonished if enterprising local residents and business owners don't start to rent out every patch of concrete they control for parking. Especially on the other side of Capitol Street from the stadium, there's a semi-industrial area where some cab companies have their garages where there's a fair amount of parking possibilities, should those landowners care to make some money.

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Civil Unions : I supposed we could get a lawyer to draft some lengthy title full of disclaimers that would attempt to please all. Here's a start:

"Contract Between Two Homo Sapiens Providing for the Legal Benefits of Marriage, including rights in State and Federal Taxation, Inheritance, Probate, Beneficiary Designation, Workers Compensation, Evidentiary Privilege, and Tenancy by the Entirety. "

CBTHSPLBM for short.

Marc Fisher: What's that you said? What sapiens? Back to the bill drafting bullpen with you.

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Atlanta, Ga.: Yeah, my biggest thing with domestic partnership or whatever is that children all over the country are being adopted and only one person is 'allowed' to be listed as a legal guardian. That is absurd, when there is a second person who is also a parent. It doesn't matter to me what race, gender or color they are. The children are the ones who are not protected in this case (as someone mentioned, the child can only have insurance through the legal guardian -- so you have to decide who's going to have the full-time job forever? then that person can't quit cause they'd lose their health benefits, etc. ...absurd).

Marc Fisher: In the end, I would think that the economic imperative will force many states to create some new construct to substitute for or enhance the current legal definition of marriage, if only because the courts will be ever more burdened by custody and property battles stemming from the disconnect between the adoption laws you cite and the reality that so many non-married couples adopt kids.

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Not Domestic Partnerships . . .: While it doesn't roll trippingly off the tongue, Hawaii has a Reciprocal Beneficiaries statute. Freerdom to Marry

I agree with the earlier poster that not all proposed partnerships need to involve committed same-sex couples. Why should the state care what anyone's living situation is? Why shouldn't say, elderly sisters living together enjoy the same insurance, tax, hospital visitation, and survivor benefits as a married couple?

Marc Fisher: "Reciprocal beneficiaries." Lawmakers are such poets.

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Don't call it gay marriage: The issue is civil marriage, a contract between the State and two people. If the senator can't separate the two, he has NO business being a politician. I'm agnostic and my partner isn't religious so we don't give a hoot about Holy Matrimony. Leave that to the fairy tale believers. Just let my partner and me have the same contract with the state that many hundreds of laws and protections are based on.

Marc Fisher: One of the bills being discussed in Annapolis is one by Sen. Raskin that would essentially take the state out of the marriage business, leaving that to each religious denomination to handle as they wish, while the state restricted itself to sanctioning any and all partnerships. I've always thought that the solution to many of these problems was for the state to get out of the marriage business entirely, but as Raskin readily concedes, his is mainly a symbolic piece of legislation, because most folks still want the state to bless their vows.

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Cap Hill Guy : My partner and I have been together for almost 15 years. I think that the idea of calling same sex "marriage" is what gets so many people in the gut. I think that a domestic partnership that offers the same LEGAL benefits as marriage should suffice. Or we should follow Europe's lead, where marriage is a state-recognized legal union completely independent of any religous confirmation. And for those right wingers that argue that people like me threaten the "sanctity' of marriage, wouldn't it make more sense to outlaw divorce? Britney Spears can fly to Vegas for 15 minutes but I have to spend thousands on documents so I can visit my partner in the event that he is hospitalized? Thanks!

Marc Fisher: You'd think there'd be support from both sides of the ideological divide for granting religious groups more control over marriage and limiting the state's role. But this is where we see that it's often the same religious groups that claim to oppose government interference who are really lobbying the state to keep same-sex couples at the margins of the law.

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Calgary, Canada: Hey Marc, I heard you on CBC radio yesterday talking about privacy boundaries (the school administrator's wife's phone message story!); it was a really good discussion. Is there any newsworthy follow-up to the original story that you will be covering?

Marc Fisher: Thanks--I was on a terrific Canadian Broadcasting show called Spark--check it out at cbc.ca/spark
It's a show that uses the art of radio to the fullest, with splendid production, a smart and alluring host, and a commitment to delving into topics in new ways. We talked about the Fairfax kid who called the school administrator's home to complain about school being open on a snowy day and later got a mouthful from the administrator's wife.
I haven't heard any updates lately, except that the student got a slap on the wrist and the administrator changed his home phone number.

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Free care for Va. children injured at birth: Marc, I am trying to be sympathetic but as a taxpayer in Virginia, if the doctor or hospital was wrong and caused a lifelong disability, why do I have the taxpayer have to pay instead of them? And why, in the early days of the program were about two dozen homes purchased for some of these people?

washingtonpost.com: Free Care for Life, If Money Holds Out (Post, March 6)

Marc Fisher: I had some of those same questions reading the story. Seems to me that it's good and right for hospitals to try to stave off lawsuits by doing the right thing and helping those who have been injured by medical error. But the only time the state should be involved in that is if the error occurs in a public hospital, where obviously it would be the taxpayers' money that's at stake if a dispute escalates into a full blown court matter.

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McLean, Va.: I think that the USPS should significantly increase the postage rates for junk mail. That would decrease the amount of it.

Marc Fisher: But the postal service loves junk mail--it's the heart of their business these days, as today's story reports.

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Somewhere in Md.: Speaking of test scores -- we just had a lengthy meeting with my son's teacher to get him put in Honor's math next year. The school didn't want to do it based pretty much solely on his MSA score. They didn't want to take into account that he is BORED in math and WANTS to go into Honors (seriously, this is all on him). Nor do they take into account that there are kids out there who really DO get test anxiety. Thankfully, his teacher is with us on this and agreed to do what she can to get him into Honors.

Marc Fisher: These battles have become a commonplace at many schools--the struggles over math, especially, are a staple at most schools and speaking of faddishness, there is no other area of learning in which more money has been made by more people--good scholars and charlatans alike--than in the constant effort to find the one right way to teach math. At least four or five times in the 25 years I've been covering schools, I've been at meetings where some administrator sheepishly admits that the last math program the school used didn't really work, which of course means that years and years worth of kids moved through the system and came out ill-trained.
The testing mania only exacerbates this problem.

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Not every kid is an artist: Your images of all those happy kids drawing is lovely, but you overlook the fact that not every kid likes or benefits from art class. I thought art class was pure torture and dreaded every elementary school session of it. I would have much more enjoyed and benefited from spending that hour reading in the library. I'm sure there are plenty of other kids like me out there who don't care one iota that they don't have regular art classes.

Marc Fisher: Quite right--art class isn't for everyone. Neither is any subject. But there are kids who come alive in art or science or any subject who might seem to be problems in reading or math. One strong argument for a highly diverse and broad curriculum is that it gives every kid a chance to discover a passion and it lets teachers identify students' strengths so that a good teacher can then figure out how to help the kid in the areas where he's weaker. If you narrow your curriculum to two subjects, you dramatically reduce your chance of connecting with more kids.

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St. Mary's City, Md.: Marc, two questions:

1. Did the phrase "primacy of church teachings" come from Senator Muse, or was this your paraphrasing? Either way, the idea sets off my First Amendment alert. No church's teachings are supposed to have primacy in a secular democracy.

2. What percentages are non-profits receiving from the slot machines? The only figures I've seen are actual dollar amounts, and I strongly suspect that the out-of-town owners are getting most of the money. These seem like a Faustian bargain for the non-profits who would be saddled with the social problems caused by the slots.

Marc Fisher: Primacy of church teachings was my paraphrase of his comments in the radio interview. You can hear his full remarks in the podcast that I've linked to from my posting today on Raw Fisher.
Don't expect slots to be a major boost for non-profits. The profits from slots will go above all to the track owners--the rest is window dressing.

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Virginia: Is the lack of arts education in public schools really anything new? I attended FCPS (in hippie-dippie Reston, no less) in the 80s and we had almost no art education -- there was one art teacher shared amongst 4 or 5 elementary schools, and we were supposed to have art once every two weeks. Although invariably something would come up, and the reality was that we had one one-hour art class about once a month (or less).

Obviously, I think this is terrible. I'm just wondering if things today are really worse now than they were then, since we would have killed to have art once a week.

Marc Fisher: Good point--there are schools where no real reduction was necessary because they never had much in the way of art, music, PE and science to start with. But in most schools, where cuts were made to make way for more intensive instruction in reading and math so as to try to pump up scores on the nationally-mandated tests, the rollback happened at the expense of science, art, music, PE and recess.

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Alexandria, Va.: Still no CAPS love?

Marc Fisher: They can't seem to win much respect, which is too bad, because you've got ownership that's wheeling and dealing, a world-class star player, a remarkable turnaround--it should be a huge story and fan phenomenon. But hockey is a troubled sport and business these days. Someday we'll devote an extended chunk of time here to the age-old question: Is Washington a hockey town? I really don't know the answer to that one. Maybe we can thrash it out next week here on the big show.

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RE: I thought art class was pure torture and dreaded every elementary school session of it.: So, if a student doesn't care for a subject we should not offer it? I hated math and science, should I have gotten out of those classes?

Marc Fisher: I would have bailed on math in fifth grade, when Mrs. Lobell informed us that though she was our teacher for all subjects, we would be spending most of our time on math because that was her first love.

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Atlanta, Ga.: OOOH! don't get me started on how horribly we teach math in this country. Elementary school teachers who don't like it pass on this dislike to their students, while the curriculum changes so often no one knows which way is up.

--Someone who has a master's in math but who's parents were told that she may or may not be able to make it in honors math in 8th grade.

Marc Fisher: The next year, in 6th grade, I had one of those teachers who hated math, and she announced that since we already knew pretty much all of the state curriculum, we would mainly skip math that year. She became a folk hero, even if she did refer to herself in the third person.

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Washington, D.C.: "The testing mania only exacerbates this problem."

So are you in favor of no testing? Just continuing the dumbing down of our coutnry by not making sure kids can listen to and retain knowledge? Should we not even have any standards, and just let kids get passed from grade to grade regardless of their efforts?

Marc Fisher: Much as I love the binary approach to life--watch for Binary Man, coming to a blog near you--I don't see why the choice has to be testing or no testing. I love a good standardized test--as Maryland showed in its earlier efforts at a statewide test, they can be creative and can actually teach even as they measure performance. The best of the AP tests do that nicely. But it's the use of the tests as the main determining factor in school funding that has driven this narrowing of the school experience for too many kids.

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School didn't want to do it based pretty much solely on his MSA score.: This happened to me, too! My school would not place me in the math class I and my parents thought I should be in based on a test score. A test I had to take the day after flying for 14 hours to a new home. They would not let me take the test at another time. I was completely bored in math the entire school year, and helped my friends daily with their more advanced math homework. My grades in math slipped during the 2nd half of the year, and my teacher complained to my parents that I wasn't trying any more.

Marc Fisher: And you've never held a job since?
These stories are so commonplace it's just disheartening, but I wonder whether more folks are dispirited and destroyed by such boneheaded decisions, or are compelled to prove themselves anew and are ultimately strengthened by the bad move.

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Bowie, Md.: Marc - comment please on the following example: A young couple, barely past their 18th birthdays, meet in Ocean City. Soon thereafter, they jointly lease an apartment and a car. A month later, they are in an automobile accident. The young woman dies. The young man tells the hospital that certain parts of her body may be taken for scientific research and that what remains should be cremated, so that he can sprinkle her ashes on the Ocean City beach, where they met. If Senate Bill 566 is enacted in Maryland, the young woman's family would be unable to prevent this, because the bill gives rights to unmarried heterosexual and same-sex couples that are equivalent to the authority of spouses. Those rights would override the authority of parents, adult siblings and other family members.

Marc Fisher: I would think that an apartment lease would not be sufficient in most people's eyes to prove a bond that would grant legal rights. But those disputes are going to happen no matter how you define marriage or civil union. The state ought to try to avoid being in the role of arbiter of family disputes whenever possible.

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Odenton, Md.: Hi, Marc, I'm a bit out of your bailiwick, living in Anne Arundel County, but there's a situation here that just blows my mind. A star baseball pitcher at our local HS, headed on a full scholarship to Florida State, was stopped by police going 68 mph in a 45 mph zone. The police smelled marijuana and discovered a large amount in the car, much of it in 2-gram baggies, and a scale with marijuana residue and other drug paraphernalia. Apparently the kid admitted to dealing, said he had bought it in Bowie and planned to resell it. He's 18 so will be tried as an adult.

Here's the kicker: because he was not dealing on school property, the County says he's still eligible to pitch for his team this season! And Florida State is apparently still ready to offer him a scholarship! Of course if he's in jail or home arrest he won't be able to accept. I realize he's innocent until proven guilty but I still think this is insane.

Marc Fisher: I don't know the case, but if your facts are right, it indeed sounds as if the school needs to take a more expansive approach to its role in the kid's life and in the wider community. Schools need to act to protect not only their own legal interests but more important the community's sense of self. Keeping a kid like that on a team sends the wrong message to the entire school and beyond.

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Arlington, Va.: This may be a question better posed to John Kelly or Bob Levey but I'll give it a shot with you. I have a small collection of Washington Posts from major dates in my life and I'd like to preserve them. Do you have any recommendations on the best way to keep them from fading, yellowing, etc?

Marc Fisher: Tough one. I've found that putting the clips under plastic, as in photo albums, helps a lot, but newsprint does get yellow and brittle, much like the institution itself seems to be getting (the anti-print crusaders among you will take joy in that.) Preserving the full paper is much harder. Plastic bags (shopping bags, for example) are helpful.

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Arlington, Va.: If my partner and I had a Domestic Partnership, would we be domesticated? At least with a Civil Union, we'd be civilized. But we won't have equality until we can marry. Eventually, the religious bigots will lose. But it's going to take time.

Marc Fisher: I like the idea--domesticated partners. I think that would describe many married people I know.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Perhaps they should call the "keep your religion out of it" version of Holy Matrimony something like secular marriage, or governmental marriage. In other words, offer two different marriage "products" for people to choose from. I'm straight, and would choose secular marriage not only to support gay rights but also to underline that churches should have nothing to do with who gets tax benefits, etc.

Marc Fisher: One secular marriage, please, and I'd like that wrapped.

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Mount Rainier, Md.: Marc,

On the Postal Service issue, it sort of reminds me of the debates around funding Amtrak or even Metro. The post office is a public good -- it provides a communications service to the entire nation and we shouldn't be so concerned about "breaking even," especially when our fellow citizens are so loath to pay out of their back pockets in taxes to fund such public goods. Ditto Amtrak -- we're the only industrialized nation I'm aware of that would require the National Rail Passenger service (a public good) to run profitably before we give it the tools and equipment to run properly.

And as for Metro -- I'm gladly paying the increased fares each day because I want Metro to succeed, especially since my elected representatives can't get their collective heads out of the sand and provide stable funding for that public good either.

"Running in the red" or "running in the black" are business terms not at all appropriate for most government work, especially in an sdministration that spends what, 150 times the Post Office's projected deficit each year to keep us in Iraq?

Marc Fisher: But there's only one set of railroad tracks and it wouldn't make sense to add another in most cases. This goes back to the "natural monopoly" argument of the late 19th century, but we've seen that technological advances destroy any claim to such natural monopolies--consider the flourishing phone market that developed after the dismantling of Ma Bell or the failed deregulation of the power companies. Don't the successes of the package delivery companies and the advent of email argue for a reconception of the post office?

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How Dry I Am: Marc, what brand of beer should I expect to partake in at the Nats stadium?

Marc Fisher: Should be quite a variety, though the basic swill will include both Miller and Anheuser-Busch products (and one of the prime ad positions on the giant scoreboard has been sold to Miller Lite.) But a bunch of local and smaller brews will be sold at the various local concessions, and the high rollers will get a wider variety at their private bars.

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Washington, D.C.: The Nats should have gone to in-person, box office sales for opening day. By going to a computer-and-phone system, they force the average fan to compete with national ticket "resellers" (if you want to be polite about it) who have multiple autodialing phones and can get dozens of people working computers. Demand is greater than supply, but it doesn't help when tickets are listed by brokers at 10x their face value on Craigslist and eBay as soon as it sells out.

Marc Fisher: Sounds good, but many fans prefer the convenience of online ordering to the lining up at the stadium scenario, which favors fanatics and young folks who think nothing of spending the night on the sidewalk. That system also helps the scalpers, who just hire folks to go stand in the queue.

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Nationals Tickets: Tell people to quit complaining. Buy tickets to the second or 3rd game. Or games in May and June when the weather is actually pleasant. Of course there's a demand for opening day. Pick another game!

Marc Fisher: Exactly.
The April 7 game will also feel like an Opening Day because it will be the start of the first home stand. And you won't have the hassle of Secret Service searches because the president's on hand.

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McLean, Va.: Can you imagine the effect if the site WERE responsible for what was posted there? No more commenting on WashPost stories, or blogs, unless those comments were thoroughly vetted first. Consider the effect that would have on the Early Warning blog or the Achenblog.

Slashdot, Digg, and Reddit would be destroyed in short order.

Marc Fisher: Another genie not likely to be stuffed back into any bottle.

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Baltimore, Md.: Re the NPR move: A close friend of mine is a producer/director at NPR and he has told me he is grateful he will be retired by the time the move is complete. I think 95 percent of the folks who work there would rather be back on Connecticut Avenue than pioneering the hinterlands.

Marc Fisher: I know some folks over there who love the idea of pioneering a new area. Takes all kinds.

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Rosslyn, Va.: Is outside food going to be allowed at the new stadium as it was at RFK? I'm thinking no.

Marc Fisher: They say yes. We shall see.

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What to complain about: Last week a disabled person asked what accommodations the stadium had for him, and you suggested he check the Web site.

Well, I did and found...nothing. At all. Even searching on variations of "handicapped" and "disabled" didn't bring up any hits.

Presumably he can park at RFK and take a shuttle over, but a person in a wheelchair probably doesn't even have that option.

Marc Fisher: I had a couple of readers write in about that and I referred them to the Nats front office, and I heard back from the readers that the Nats' folks contacted them and gave them everything they needed--they came away satisfied that this will be much easier than RFK for those who need accommodations.

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Cheverly, Md.: If Senator Muse is trying to reconcile his religious beliefs (and role as a church pastor) alongside his commitment to civil rights, I do not see why the bill before the Maryland Senate does not already do that. It is the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act." The bill grants civil rights while at the same time shielding religious organizations from recognizing same-sex couples. As a minister Muse himself would not be compelled to marry a same-sex couple. His congregation could decide it does no want to recognize same-sex couples.

Where is the conflict -- unless he prefers to impose his religous views on the civil definition?

Marc Fisher: He's afraid his congregants would see this as endorsing same-sex relationships.

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Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.: I live a couple of blocks from the new mall on 14th street, and of course walked over there last night after work. While I'm that much closer to my goal of never having to leave the District, I'm sad to see the tenants. All lower-end national chains, with TONS of overlap in their offerings. Radio Shack? Seriously? Next to a Target, a Best Buy, and a Bed Bath and Beyond?

I guess it's too late now, but I really wish there had been (and thought there had been) some requirement that the developers fill some hefty percentage of their space with locally-owned businesses. What we have now is just a boring old mall. No reason to go there except to consume and get out.

Marc Fisher: I share your disappointment, but look across the street at the much more varied retail mix there, and look at empty slots in the DC USA project--we're told that they're still trying to get local businesses into those. Let's see what happens.

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Arlington, Va.: marc,

Plastic grocery bags are great for scooping up after your dog just like the paper bag the WP comes in. If plastic grocery bags are banned so should the bag the WP comes in. Plastic grocery bags contribute to the greater good. Paper bags and dog poop lead to trouble. A lighter, a knock on your door, a flaming bag of dog poop and running away.

Watching Marc Fisher stomp out the flames: pricless! Bring back the good ole days!

Marc Fisher: There are many reasons I would never have a dog; one of them the vision of watching grown people walking around with plastic bags filled with animal refuse.

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Paper or Plastic: I have an etiquette question. In an attempt to avoid paper/plastic, I bought the cloth bags at one supermarket, which come complete with that store's large logo. I no longer shop there, but rather at a competitor, where I am too cheap to buy new bags, and so I am back to plastic. Is it too tacky to use the old competitor's bags at the new store?

Marc Fisher: Go ahead, live dangerously.

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Paper or Plastic in Annapolis: I don't want to give the wrong idea, since I don't care much about this subject, but one difference between paper and plastic bags is obvious: paper falls apart almost before it gets into your trunk, and certainly the first time it gets wet. Plastic just blows around the town and highways until it gets permanently snagged somewhere, or washes out to sea. I've never seen a paper bag stuck in a tree, have you?

Marc Fisher: You don't see it because the paper bags get absorbed into the tree. They are coming home, and if you listen very, very closely, you can hear a sigh of ecstasy from both tree and bag.

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Post office: So they're allowed to raise the price of stamps every May? Why don't they just make them 50 cents and be done with it?

And someone needs to tell the post office, and the Direct Mail association, that the way to win the hearts and minds of consumers is not to irritate and annoy them with junk mail they don't want and didn't ask for. Don't they care about all of the trash that mail creates? Because news flash! People don't read that junk, they put it straight into the garbage.

Marc Fisher: Was it in our paper or elsewhere where someone wrote about saving an entire year's worth of junk mail and then analyzing its weight, content, etc.? Good story wherever it was.

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Marc Fisher: That kicks things in the head for today. Thanks for coming along. Apologies to those I couldn't get in.
More in the column on Sunday, plus a Listener column in Sunday Arts on the death of smooth jazz radio in Washington. And please join me for Raw Fisher Radio right here on the big web site, live each Tuesday at noon or anytime via podcast at washingtonpost.com/rawfisherradio

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