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What Is The Early Verdict on George Huguely?

The defense and procesuction have rested their arguments. The case of the murder of Yeardley Love goes to the jury when court resumes on Wednesday. If you have been following the trial, what's your early feeling on where the jury should go with a verdict? Please take this poll: Washingonian George Huguely poll. 

What If You Are An Addict and LIve In the Washington Area?

If you have pill, marijuana or alcohol addiction issues and live in the Washington area you have options. There is AA. There are private doctors. There's also the outpatient treatment centers operated by the Kolmac Clinic. Because drug addiction is in the news due to the death of Whitney Houston (though the cause is not known), we called the head of Kolmac to have a talk about treating addiction. He's also the head of addiction teaching at Georgetown University. The conversation appeared today on washingtonian.com. Read it here: Interview with Dr. George Kolodner. 

Judge Orders Albrecht Muth to St. E's for "Competency" Evaluation

On Valentine's Day, of all days, DC Superior Court Judge Russell Canan ordered  accused wife murderer Albrecht Muth to St. Elizabeth's Hospital for a competency evaluation. Perhaps the most interesting part of the hearing were the comments from a doctor who has visited with Muth. This is where the Archangel Gabriel and God come into the story. Read it here on washingtonian.com: Muth Ordered to St. Elizabeth's.

For further background, and my encounters with Muth and the wife he allegedly beat to death, Viola Drath, please read this column I wrote earlier for New York Social Diary: Murder In Georgetown. 

Ward 2 (Georgetown) Ranks #2 For DC Marijuana-Smoking

FROM WASHINGTONIAN: HAVE YOU USED WEED IN THE LAST MONTH?

The marijuana cover story in Washingtonian does have the town buzzing. One of the more interesting graphs shows where in the city the most marijuana is smoked. Ward 1 is first at 11.4% and Ward 2, including Georgetown, comes in second at 10.7%. This is not a surprise at all. At least not in my experience among friends and neighbors. It's just there, a fact of private and social life. If you have not yet read the cover, it is now online and well worth your time: High Society: Washington's Love Affair with Marijuana. It also includes background on the coming dispensaries that will sell medical weed. 

White House Source: POTUS Will Have to Vacate Oval Office Next Year

Here's an exclusive on Washingtoninan.com today: due to planned West Wing renovations the Oval Office will be shut down starting in 2013. What it means is that the president will have to relocate to the EEOB. Read the whole story: POTUS To EEOB.

Remembering Pearl Harbor, Before and After

FROM WASHINGTONIAN.COM

Author Craig Shirley on the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Craig Shirley is the president and CEO of Shirley & Banister, a conservative-leaning government affairs, marketing, and public relations firm based in Alexandria. But he’s also an author of several books, including two on Ronald Reagan and one on Newt Gingrich. In his most recent work, he turns his attention to a timely piece of history: the month of days before, during, and after the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the event, in which 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 wounded.

December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World is broken down by date from the first day of the month to the last. Shirley worked on it with his son, Andrew, a veteran, and dedicates the book to “family and friends who chose to serve”—not only in World War II, during which his uncle was killed in the Pacific, but in American wars going back to the Revolution. It is a page and a half of names.

I talked to Shirley about his book and his thoughts on the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Read my interview with Craig Shirley. 

 

The Madoff Suicide Fail

HAPPIER TIMES (splash news)

On behalf of the many folks who got bilked by her husband, it's legit to doubt Ruth Madoff's claim that she and Bernie attempted suicide. It's the part about saying they used Ambien but not being able to say how many pills they took, and how they just woke up in the morning, and then - in the interview - how she smiled after recounting the story, recalling how happy she was to wake up and be alive.Sort of like the way his clients felt after waking up to realize all their money was gone. This is not an attempted-suicide story, it's a sympathy-grab story that doesn't play.  Ruth, some unsolicited advice: best to stay off the grid. 

The only sympathetic portrayal of Ruth Madoff was Lily Tomlin's on "Damages" last season. Tomlin gave her nuance and pathos. She's not able to do that for herself.

Are Vincent C. Gray's Days Numbered?

MAYOR GRAY AFTER HIS APPEARANCE ON THE Q&A CAFE

...that's what I hear councilmember David Catania is telling close friends. The forecast being whispered in District Building circles? A December indictment followed by a January resignation. What do you think? Possible? Not Possible? 

   It wasn't so long ago the Mayor-elect and I were finishing a Q&A Cafe interview with a happy swing dance at the Georgetown Ritz. 

Cafe Milano and the Alleged Assassination Plot, on NYSD Today

Yesterday I went over to check out the lunch at Cafe Milano, in the wake of speculation connecting it to an alleged terrorist plot to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. Is it the mystery restaurant mentioned in the FBI account of the scheme? My thoughts are on New York Social Diary today. Read the story here.

Washington - Shaken, Not Stirred - on NYSD Today

A visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial this weekend got me wondering what MLK would make of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, and the general self-centered disconnect of the nation's capital, while the establishment party's on.

A sample: 

Standing there, looking up at him, I thought about what MLK would make of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Would he be supportive? Probably so, if for no other reason than it is about venting frustration. He’d probably understand The Tea Party, too, because he understood vexation with the established order. We, especially baby boomers, and our children, have become woefully well behaved. Whatever happened to outrage? Is our great national energy now relegated to text voting on dance shows, posting an updated “status” on Facebook and standing in line at Starbucks? It feels that way. So, speaking only for myself, I say hooray for protest movements. Enough with complacency. 

Read the full column here. 

Now That I've Said That...

My post about racism brought a lot of comments, mostly through email and FB, and I'm grateful. That's one reason bloggers blog, to stir debate. Not everyone agreed with my point of view, but that's okay. 

Among the negatives, the most prevalent point was why didn't I take President Obama to task for his performance in office. It's simple. I don't consider the two subjects related. Underlying racism and job performance don't belong in the same column.

But now that I've addressed racism, I will say this to those of you who brought it up: Yes, the Administration needs to step it up, needs to become more aggressive and assertive and not be afraid to engage. And please get us out of these awful, wasteful, corrupt wars. 

I watched the excellent documentary, "The Tillman Story," yesterday and it got my war anger up all over again. This scandal is not in Obama's column, it's a Bush Administration scandal, but the story hits on all the corrupt reasons we went to Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place, and all the corrupt reasons we're still there. The scene where the Pentagon brass show up to testify before Congress, including himself, Rummy, is an embarrassing disgrace, reminding me of when the tobacco company bosses appeared and lied before Congress. Also, with the 9/11 anniversary coming up, with all the liberties we've given up in the service of "Homeland Security," I don't feel safer. 

But back to President Obama. One of my closest coffee buddies is a long-serving member of the GOP. He believes Obama will be re-elected without doubt. He feels the Republican field, no matter what, is weak. On the other hand, one of my dearest friends, a long-serving Democrat, believes he is entirely vulnerable.

I can't imagine anyone doing the job and being able to sleep at night. I appreciate his calm and intellect and thoughtfulness. Bob Woodward's book gave me new insight into the man and how he works. I'm not overjoyed with this Administration but I'm also not displeased. They've done a lot that I'm proud of, and I wish they'd do more. They are up against some thugs in the right wing, and that's where they need to become more assertive. Don't get yourselves pushed around by bullies.

It's all about jobs, though. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Money, money, money. People need jobs and to feel financially secure. If Obama can create jobs, the GOP can't touch him. Wouldn't a massive re-investment in the infrastructure be a good direction? If most of us keep slip sliding down (while the rich get richer), oh, what a mess, because the Republicans don't know what they want to be, right or far far right; the Tea Party has the party leadership by the short hairs. When this country is in chaos we tend to make the worst choices in leadership. Yes, I'm thinking of 1968 and Richard M. Nixon. Arguably, Jimmy Carter, too. We weren't in chaos when we elected Obama. Instead, it was a bright, hopeful investment in the future, a new century. He's had to live up to a lot of expectations, some realistic and some not.

I wonder what my Republican friends think of Rick Perry? (I know my friend mentioned above is not a fan). I was astounded by The New York Times piece this weekend that reprised his various published writings. That is a must read. It's a head scratcher, too. Mitt Romney? I can't get him into focus, but he and Perry both have that big coiffed head thing going on. I feel I could skip dimes off their hair. Michele Bachmann is all about hair, too. The Big Coif Party? Their hairdresser bills have to rival John Edwards', with or without Bunny Mellon to pay the bill. 

Racism, That's All

This isn't a political statement, but it is an observation of politics at this moment in our history and involving this particular President, his wife and their family, who are African American. or black, or mixed, because he is half caucasian, or white. He's a blend. For me, the observation comes from frustration. I'm sick of the meanness. No matter what he does or says, no matter what they do, or where they go, the haters are on it, and in a way that is disrespectful, rude, crude and designed to inflame. Why? I think it's very simple. It's racism. That's all.

We're not supposed to use that word, I know. The haters have marked it as a lefty buzz word, but I'm not a lefty. I'm down the middle. Independent, registered and in my politics, too. But you have to be blind not to see the subtext of racism that comes from Republicans in general and the extreme right in particular, and not always "sub."

Speaker of the House Boehner was plain rude in the way he behaved about the President's planned jobs speech before a Joint Session of Congress, but anybody could see it coming the moment Obama asked for the date and time. Did Boehner mean to appear uncouth? Does that appeal to the base? I fear so. He's treated President Obama in this off hand, dismissive manner since he got the job. He gets away with it, appealing to this awful racial ignorance and anger that the Speaker of the House should instead be trying to erase rather than inflame. I don't know why the media don't call him out.

Nobody talks about it publicly, but it's always there. Whether Mrs. Obama takes a holiday, or an official trip, or she and the President go out to dinner, or they take a trip with their daughters, or wear certain clothing, or happen to be golfing when an unexpected earthquake happens, and on and on and on. No matter what they do they get slammed.

Criticizing a president is fair game in our system, but the GOP snipe in an unrelentingly demeaning tone, and in code, as if our president and his wife have been "uppity" and need to be put in their places. No. It's the racist complainers who need to be put in their places.

It didn't start with Boehner. It started in the presidential campaign as soon as Obama began to gain ground. The fear of him incited those who can't accept racial equality. It got wind from, of all people, Bill Clinton, and then was played to mercilessly by John McCain and Sarah Palin, a pattern later picked up by others, particularly Michelle Bachman and Boehner.

The tone the haters set came through loud and clear in the hateful rants I heard on that 100,000 watt FM station in Shreveport, where the hosts repeatedly called the President a "jack ass" a "communist" and a "criminal." I wanted to find the station, go into the studio, and unplug their power cords...at the very least. But I doubt anybody would try to get away with this talk unless they knew they could. 

Boehner and his ilk are a bunch of big racist babies. Any opportunity they get it's  "Waaaah, waaaah, waaaah, it's the black man's fault."

This is only my opinion, but please, can we have some simple human courtesy. Decency. Adult behavior. Decorum. It's supposed to go with the job as an elected official. 

LATER, an appropriate and decorous email about this post, putting the example to argument:

"I just read your column entitled "Racism, That's all." I could not disagree with you more, but you're a bright gal, and I'm sure you know how the rebuttal would go, and so, here's the punchline: I disagree with you, but I still like you!

 

"I'm sure that's a source of endless reassurance to you."

 

 

Maybe Be Paranoid; Maybe Be Very Paranoid

 SEPTEMBER 11 LAST YEAR - THE BOOK IS ALWAYS OUT ON THE ANNIVERSARY

Court case lifts lid on secret post 9/11 flights

By STEPHEN BRAUN, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A hidden network of U.S. companies, coordinated by a prominent defense contractor, played a key role in the covert airlift that transported terrorism suspects and their American minders, according to newly disclosed documents in a New York business dispute between two aviation companies.

The court files of more than 1,700 pages shed new light on the U.S. government's reliance on private contractors for flights between Washington, foreign capitals, the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and, at times, landing points near once-secret, CIA-run overseas prisons. The companies included DynCorp, a leading government contractor that secretly oversaw a fleet of luxury jets, and caterers that unwittingly stocked the planes with fruit platters and bottles of wine for the transoceanic routes, according to the court files and testimony.

The business dispute stems from an obscure four-year fight between a New York-based charter company, Richmor Aviation Inc., which supplied corporate jets and crews to the government, and a private aviation broker, SportsFlight Air, which organized flights for DynCorp. Both sides cited the government's program of forced transport of detainees, or "extraordinary rendition," in testimony, evidence and legal arguments. The companies are fighting over $874,000 awarded to Richmor by a New York state appeals court to cover unpaid costs for the secret flights.

The court files - they include contracts, flight invoices, cell phone logs and correspondence - paint a sweeping portrait of collusion between the government and the private contractors that did its bidding - some eagerly, some hesitantly. Others turned a blind eye.

Trial testimony studiously avoided references to the Central Intelligence Agency. When lawyers pressed a witness about flying terrorists from Washington or Europe to Guantanamo Bay, Columbia County, N.Y., Supreme Court Judge Paul Czajka put on the brakes: "Does this have anything to do with the contract? I mean, it's all very interesting, and I would love to hear about it, but does it have anything to do with how much money is owed?" At another point, the name of a high-level CIA official was mentioned, but the official's intelligence ties were not divulged.

Among the new disclosures: Associated Press.

 

Do You Want to Get Paranoid About The 9/11 Anniversary? Read This:

FBI on Heightened Alert for 9/11 Anniversary

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 07:57 PM

By: Ronald Kessler, Newsmax

The FBI will be on heightened alert around Sept. 11 because of the possibility of attacks timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

“In the past, al-Qaida has not been fixated on anniversaries,” says an FBI official. “But from the material seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound, we see references to the 10th anniversary indicating it had significance to him.”

As a result, “Every office will be on heightened alert,” the official says.
No agents will be given leave during that period, meaning that all of the bureau’s nearly 14,000 agents will be on duty.

“We are going to treat that period as having significance,” the official adds. “But there is no information of a specific threat.”

However, evidence that terrorists remain intent on launching an attack in the United States came with the arrest of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia who allegedly was planning to blow up the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He has been charged with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

And it is the possibility of a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction that really keeps FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III awake at night. 

“The possibility of a nuclear attack is relatively remote, but you can never dismiss it, because of the devastation that would occur,” Mueller told me in a rare interview for my book “The Secrets of the FBI.”

“A radiological attack is not so remote, because it’s relatively easy to get radiological materials and have some sort of radiological improvised explosive device. Although the damage would be far less than from a nuclear detonation, the threat is still there today.”

In fact, Dr. Vahid Majidi, chief of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, says the probability that the U.S. will be hit with a WMD attack at some point is 100 percent. Such an attack could be launched by foreign terrorists, lone wolves who are terrorists, or even by criminal elements, Majidi says. As Mueller suggests, it would most likely employ chemical, biological, or radiological weapons rather than a nuclear device.

Even a WMD attack that does not kill a great number of people would have a crushing psychological impact. 

“A singular lone wolf individual can do things in the dark of the night with access to a laboratory with low quantities of material and could hurt a few people but create a devastating effect on the American psyche,” Majidi says. 

To hunt down terrorists, the FBI devised what Art Cummings, who headed counterterrorism and counterintelligence until last year, calls trip wires that might tip off the bureau to terrorist activity. For example, the FBI urges chemical supply companies to develop profiles that pinpoint large or suspicious purchases of chemicals that can be used to make explosives.

To supplement the trip wire concept, Cummings initiated a $350,000 project to, in effect, reverse engineer a terrorist operation. It looked at a potential terrorist incident and then worked backwards to pinpoint all the elements a terrorist might require to achieve his goal so that the FBI could be on the lookout for those clues.

“We set these trip wires, and when people come across them, we have abilities to report that, wait a minute, someone is buying dual-use technology or the precursors to make nerve gas or industrial strength peroxide,” Cummings told me for the book. “Someone does that, boom! We have an alert, either a HUMINT [intelligence from a human] alert from an individual or a technical alert.” 

To be a terrorist, “You need communications strategy, you need to be able to raise money, you need to be able to move money, you need an organizational structure that allows for that to happen, and you need communications that go back to the mother ship,” Cummings says.
So the FBI looks at people caught by Customs with cash in excess of $10,000, he says.

“I’m going to correlate this person who is leaving the country with money with his communications. If he is raising money for Hamas and is communicating with the occupied territories, that is of interest.”

Then, he says, “You get the personal transaction reports from the bank and find he is depositing or withdrawing funds just under the $10,000 reporting requirement. You find he is a guy who is Palestinian, goes to a mosque that is dominated by Hamas supporters and Palestinians, and is wiring money on a regular basis to the occupied territories. Right there, I’ve just built a picture of a Hamas fundraiser.”

In the same way, the FBI has asked beauty shops and beauty supply stores to contact an FBI office to report purchases of chemicals like hydrogen peroxide in high concentrations.

“They are asked, if they have any suspicion of any kind whatsoever about people buying large quantities of such chemicals in industrial strength, to make a phone call to the FBI,” Cummings says. “Our guidelines are such that we’re not going to violate anybody’s civil liberties simply because they bought a certain amount of hydrogen peroxide.”

As lone wolves become an increasing threat, trip wires have become especially important. Lone wolves have no ties to existing terrorist organizations or networks.

With lone wolves, “You don’t have financial networks that if you look really, really closely you see a thousand dollars going to an operator somewhere,” Cummings notes.

“We don’t see it, because there isn’t someone sending that lone wolf a thousand dollars. This is very difficult, so we rely heavily on trip wires and HUMINT. These are the eyes and ears on the street. And we rely heavily on the lone wolves’ breaking out of that complete and absolute isolation. Human nature being what it is, they do. We’ve caught several recently who were pretty isolated, but they still wanted to talk and share their ideology with people.”

Trip wires led to the arrest of Aldawsari and thwarted the possible attack on former President Bush’s home and other sites. 

The FBI received a report from Carolina Biological Supply on February 1, 2011 that Aldawsari had tried to buy large quantities of concentrated phenol, which can be used to make a deadly explosive. The order was sent to a freight company, which called police in Lubbock, Texas, where Aldawsari lived, and the police also notified the FBI.

In two covert entries of his Lubbock apartment, FBI agents assigned to Tactical Operations teams found a hazmat suit, chemicals for making explosives, and bomb-making paraphernalia. In his journal, the team found this entry: “And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.” 

The subject line of one email message Aldawsari allegedly sent to himself said “Tyrant’s House” and included Bush’s Dallas address. Other emails listed “nice targets,” including reservoir dams, nuclear power plants, and hydroelectric plants. In addition, he emailed himself ways to construct an explosive device and convert a cellular phone to detonate an explosive device. The suspect posted jihadist sentiments on an extremist blog he created and made it clear he had been inspired by Osama bin Laden.

Aldawsari was arrested on Feb. 23 and faces life behind bars.

Mueller adds: “The biggest threat comes from individuals who have had some association with the United States, understand the United States, can move either individually or with others relatively freely into the United States and within the United States.”

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, "The Secrets of the FBI," has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email. Go Here Now.

Martha Joynt Kumar, Featured on Politico

 MARTHA KUMAR AT THE Q&A CAFE

This appeared on Politco Tuesday about Martha Joynt Kumar, my sister-in-law. She's supposedly on vacation, but as you'll note, not entirely:

Scholar Martha Kumar tracks President Obama and the media
By ABBY PHILLIP | 8/1/11 10:00 PM EDT

 At about 3:35 p.m., hours after President Barack Obama appeared in the press briefing room for thesecond time in a week to discuss debt ceiling negotiations, an email landed in the inbox of White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest.

Subject line: “From Martha: News Conference As Seen in Hilo Hawaii.”

“Or more specifically from the treadmill … in Hilo on the Big Island. It was carried in its entirety on CBS as probably on all the others,” wrote Martha Kumar, the Towson University professor widely considered to be the foremost scholar of tracking the interactions between the presidency and the press. “The newsers have worked to [Obama’s] benefit,” she added in her July message, as debt ceiling negotiations intensified.

Kumar, 70, is perhaps the only academic to spend more time in the White House briefing room and the West Wing than most correspondents. She records every instance of the president’s dealings with reporters — from press conferences and joint availabilities with world leaders to one-on-one interviews with local affiliates.

Kumar travels from her Georgetown home to Pennsylvania Avenue on her zippy silver Vespa as often as four days a week. She sits in the cramped basement of the White House press room among the scribes, and when she’s not conducting interviews for her book about Obama’s presidential transition, she makes the rounds in the West Wing, offering a political scientist’s insights on the administration’s communications strategy, home-baked treats and small talk.

Earnest said that when Kumar speaks, he listens. She advises from the prism of an academic who has scrutinized presidential administrations dating back to Gerald Ford.

“She’s agenda-free,” Earnest said. “I would say that most of the time that she comes with the data, she comes with some insight to share: The data comes as a one-pager, the advice comes in her gentle tone.”

Underlying all that work, Kumar says, is a desire to help each administration learn from the communications and organizational mistakes of its predecessors.

“Generally my feeling is as political scientists we should share the information that we gather to make government operate more effectively,” Kumar said in a phone interview with POLITICO from her home in Hawaii, scheduled during a marathon writing session for her book. “That is my goal: not only develop an understanding about how government works and how the White House communications operation works but also to assist people in government.”

It’s not unusual to spot Kumar perched on a small folding bench next to the briefing room’s front row. With clipboard in hand, she collects statistics about the briefing, including the number of questions asked and the number of reporters present. She has offered her data as a resource to White House press secretaries since the Clinton administration.

“Who’s that lady with the gray hair?” former Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry remembers thinking soon after he started the job. “A lot of people just assume she’s a reporter.”

Smart press secretaries learn quickly to use Kumar as a resource, McCurry said.

“She doesn’t have any of the barriers that the members of the Fourth Estate have,” McCurry said. “She’s somewhat outside of the adversarial relationship, so she can observe it and comment on it. She helps the White House understand the press and the press understand the White House.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60431.html#ixzz1TvzT3eQk

 

The 9/11 Memorial Museums, on NYSD Today

 
In my New York Social Diary column today I focus on the three memorial museums at the sites of September 11th terrorist attacks. They were discussed in detail in a program last week at the National Building Museum. It was a moving prelude to the upcoming tenth anniversary. Read it here. 

Off The Grid, And For Good Reasons

 TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, WILL CONGRESS BEAT THE CLOCK?

I'm back from 24 hours off the grid. Would actually like to have 24 months off the grid, but haven't figured how to do that and still pay the mortgage. When you are unemployed and job-hunting it becomes, sadly, all about the grid. In fact, to such an extent you begin to despise the grid. It can be a form of noise, brain pollution, distraction, an anti-creative force, the black cat crossing your path. The grid is at the root of our trend obsession. When inundated with questions about one's social-networking fluency it looms as a hyphenated false marker of relevance, even though I participate, and play the social media game well. Sometimes that focus on electronic communication seems more busy than authentically productive. 

But then I digress.

I was off the grid for other reasons, too. My son had his wisdom teeth out. All four. And so I used that as an excuse to be full-time "Mom" for a day, fluffing the sofa, feeding the DVD player, bearing bags of frozen peas, smoothies, Percocet. He sends me texts: "I'm not a baby." I reply: "You are my baby." But I know he's not. His wings are fully formed and the nest I made for him is in his rear view. So I seized this moment where I could be needed. Why would anyone even think of social-networking under those circumstances??? I ask you???

Which brings me to another reason for being off the grid. Next week we drive to Texas to deliver him to his sophomore year of college. I'll make a NYSD column out of it, of course, and for that reason I am in deep research about where to stay, where to eat, what to see. Nashville is one stop, Dallas is another. I seek authentic, real, indigenous, places that are nowhere else but there. Even if it is only for a few hours, I like to feel local, sometimes a touristy local - like I've got the in-laws in tow but I just happen to want to be there, too. It's the way I feel about Joe's Stone Crab in Miami and Don The Beachcomber in SoCal.

And I've been sad, too, about the closing of Furin's. Too sad really to be able to comment. I'm tired of saying farewell to good businesses in my neighborhood. They disappear, replaced by less or nothing and the texture of my community degrades. So many evenings I want to phone Griffin Market with a dinner order and they're just not there. I will feel that way about Furin's breakfasts for days, weeks, months, years. 

Most of all I'm in a funk because of this: the budget mess. I walk among these people,  our "elected officials," some who are putting us second to their own self-interests. I was at a dinner last night with many House and Senate members, cutting into the tenderloin, enjoying the good Cabernet, as if nothing critical is occurring. I wanted to jump up in that room of round tables of ten and shout: "What Is With You, People?"  

I meant what I wrote in my NYSD column Monday: put them in "political" rehab with Dr. Drew and put Lexapro in the water supply for the rest of us.

I'm accustomed to Congress cruising within centimeters of the cliffside --makes for better media, and better for the re-election ads-- but this time is different. This time there are certain among 'em who don't care if we go over the edge, so that  on the way down they can point fingers and holler, "It's Obama's fault." Well, it's not. (Do listen to Warren Olney's "To The Point" podcast on KCRW.)

How did I deal with all this inner drama? Ha! I made incredible blackberry martinis cosmopolitans and some really tasty crab cakes, shared with a friend, and watered the poor parched plants and bushes. We humans in DC have it not so good this summer, but the green things may have it worse. 

Good News For Women and Men Who Seek Innocent Spouse Relief

A JOURNEY TO SEEK AND WIN INNOCENT SPOUSE RELIEF, PLUS SO MUCH MORE

The IRS Monday changed its rules to make it a little easier for women and men who seek innocent spouse tax relief. They dropped the rule that required filing within two years. People familiar with the code --both inside and outside the IRS -- considered the time limit unduly stringent. Innocent spouse cases typically are messy. It can take years for the fraud to emerge and the spouse left "holding the bag" to get their legal case organized. I was fortunate. I knew within two weeks of my husband's death, but my case was relatively clear cut. Howard committed a crime that was routine in the restaurant business and fairly transparent. 

Since publication of my memoir, "Innocent Spouse," I hear daily from people who want to file for innocent spouse relief. Mostly women but also men. Their stories are harrowing, often making mine pale in comparison. Some are married to people who committed elaborate schemes and cons. Some are married to people who are in jail. Some have been physically abused and are afraid to seek a defense. Each and every one of them is scared and trying to figure it out, or did get it figured out and are trying to put their lives back together. So, this is a big day for a lot of those individuals.

In a statement the IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman, said, "Today's change will help innocent spouses victimized in the past, present and future." For more about the nuts and bolts of the decision read Robert Wood's column on forbes.com. I'm delighted to give the shout out to Rob because he gave my book a rave review, but even without that he is a respected go-to columnist on tax issues.

While "Innocent Spouse" has many threads -- surviving grief, the challenges of solo parenting, keeping a bankrupt small business afloat, rebuilding one's life -- it is also a journey inside the legal struggle to win innocent spouse relief. I succeeded, with the help of great lawyers, Sheldon Cohen and Miriam Fisher, but it took more than a year, and my defense met all the IRS requirements. Please check it out. Buy one for yourself and another for a friend! 

DSK in Georgetown, Part III, American Flag Edition

 DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN'S GEORGETOWN HOME ON SATURDAY, JULY 2, 4:15PM

Today a Georgetown realtor, Nancy Taylor-Bubes, distributed American flags to every doorstep/doorknob in the village. That could be how one ended up planted in the small patch of garden fronting the Dumbarton Street home of sexual assault defendant Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Only there's no evidence DSK put it there. In fact, there's no evidence he has returned to his Georgetown home since he was freed from house arrest in New York yesterday. I'm not so sure he's terribly enamored with America right now.

A PROTECTIVE STAKE-OUT ON THE STREET WHERE DSK LIVES

At 2 p.m. today he was apparently observed getting into a black Mercedes in New York. Could he be coming to DC? Only he and those close to him would know. (I'd go to the Hamptons and hide out in some rich bro's oceanside villa.) But just in case he does return to Georgetown, there is a media scrum building on Dumbarton, a protective "stake out." (Later reports indicated he departed and then returned to his NYC home.)

 THE STRAUSS-KAHN HOME VIEWED FROM ROSE PARK, WITH A PLAYGROUND ON THE RIGHT.

There's no sign of life at the house, other than the little flag gently blowing in the breeze. Across the street the church was having a lively weekend family barbecue with music and a moon-bounce. The parishioners didn't seem to notice or care about the hubbub on their usually quiet street. 

TO THE LEFT, A CHURCH BARBECUE

DSK in Georgetown, Part II

CAMERAMAN PARKED OUTSIDE THE GEORGETOWN HOME OF DOMNIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN

Will the notorious Dominique Strauss-Kahn return to his Georgetown home now that he's free to roam around -- but not leave -- the United States? Obviously a media outlet thinks that's possible. This evening there is a super sized HD satellite truck parked outside his home on Dumbarton. Across the street a man relaxes in a lawn chair with a camera on a tripod nearby. The camera is aimed at DSK's front door. For now the shades are still drawn, as they have been since he was arrested in New York.

SATELLITE TRUCK ON DUMBARTON STREET IN GEORGETOWN

If DSK does return to Georgetown he will not have a lot of protection from prying eyes. The house is quite public and is adjacent to a park and a children's playground.  

The opinion among his Georgetown neighbors (at least among those I've talked to) is that the story is not nearly finished. The charges still stand even if the prosecution's case has been weakened by the accuser's challenged credibility. DSK has a reputation here that dates back to his reported affair with a Georgetown woman. 

Note: not that they need another death knell, but the DSK episode has been just one more nail in the coffin of the American media, in all its forms, who jump and think later. 

SASHA OBAMA'S GEORGETOWN CUPCAKE BIRTHDAY PARTY

SPOTTED: THE OBAMA DAUGHTERS AND FRIENDS ARRIVE AT GEORGETOWN CUPCAKE

Casually walked by Georgetown Cupcake today and noticed what looked like discreet Secret Service activity. When I say "discreet" I mean only discernible from the average male Georgetown tourist by having focus and flat abs while still clothed in generic tourist mufti - cargo shorts, ill-fitting t-shirt, track shoes. (With the exception of one big dude planted out in front. Wouldn't have wanted to mess with him). Hmmm, I thought, something's going on here.

Then also noticed the GCC Range Rover as it arrived packed with heaps of pink balloons, which were carried into the old shop, which now serves as the studio for their TV show, "DC Cupcakes." Soon after the arrival of the balloons a squadron of black cars and one long van turned the corner from Prospect on to Potomac and parked at the front door. All those buff men dressed in "plain clothes" snapped into hyper security mode, quietly telling casual motorists to "move on" and making sure the way was clear.

From the big black van marched a dozen or so young women, including First Daughters Sasha and Malia Obama. Since today, according to Wikipedia, is Sasha's birthday, I think it's fair to assume this was her birthday party. Look closely at the pics and you'll see them both, growing tall, and pretty as ever.

 

The party included "DC Cupcakes" stars, and Georgetown Cupcake's owners, Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne. I would imagine there was some cupcake decorating involved. Note: it's a great location for a private party such as this one. Happy Birthday! 

LATER: President Obama, Sasha and Malia stopped in Georgetown's Thomas Sweet for ice cream on Father's Day. MORE HERE.

Georgetown Cupcake is hosting a book signing for "Innocent Spouse" on June 29. Please stop by. Here's background:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

 

Shame On You, MTV

 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FONDLES MILA KUNIS SUNDAY NIGHT. COURTESY OF ONSUGAR.COM

In all the brouhaha about Anthony Weiner, MTV got away with quite a lot this week. Maybe what happened on their air was dismissed because the audience was made up of mostly teenagers, but to me that's the principal point. 

Sunday night MTV broadcast its annual movie awards. From the get go, the jokes were about penises and boobs. All in good fun. Haha. Also, the opening sequence was a spoof of the Hangover movies, meaning a homage to being blackout drunk. Again, all in food fun. In the first half hour, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis took the stage to give an award. Their scripted patter was a set-up for Timberlake to come from behind and cup his hands over Kunis' breasts and hold on. He said he could do it because they weren't dating but just friends. She responded by reaching behind and cupping his penis in her hand. There was laughter, rolling of eyes, and more laughter ... but otherwise, no consequences. Again, all in good fun.

While I understood this was sophisticated insider Hollywood humor, wink wink, nod nod, I thought about the kids at home, maybe an 11-year-old boy, watching, laughing, thinking how cool that Timberlake could feel up Kunis on national TV and it was okay. She laughed, after all. She didn't slug him or call the police. So, maybe a week from now, or two weeks, or whenever, that same boy tries it on a girl at school, thinking the response will be the same ... but instead she is appropriately shocked and offended, reports it to the school administration, and the boy gets suspended or worse. He's like, "What? Justin Timberlake did the same thing on TV." 

The penis jokes, trilling from the lips of highly paid and glamorous stars, also find their way into the conversation of little kids, because they want to be like the celebs. It's cool. Getting blackout drunk is the same. I mean, you can't be more rad than Hangover II at the moment, and that's all about drinking for the purpose of blacking out. The glamour and fun is in being so drunk there is no memory. If it's cool in the movies it has to be cool in real life, too, right? What impressionable kid wouldn't aspire to that moment when he can emulate a rockin' hot Bradley Cooper? 

How does that apply to Weiner and other politicians who have critically bad judgment about behavior? As I wrote earlier today, they live in a bubble, and the bubble protects them from low self-esteem, that whole in their soul that's never been filled, that little boy who grows up thinking you can get away with stuff if you're in power.

Politicians, I fear, have no concept of normal behavior, at least not if they've been in political life for a while. Moreover, they are protected from consequences--until they get caught. They seem to want to be Jack Kennedy, or whoever they believe he was, though, as far as I can tell, he never raped a hotel maid, impregnated the housekeeper, sent pictures to young women of his half erect penis, came on to another man through a bathroom stall, or queried male pages about masturbation. Seriously. I think he just got laid every now and then, sipped a martini, and got on with business. 

It's interesting to me, though, that the MTV Movie Awards didn't cause a ripple. Oh, Robert Pattinson caused a buzz for an F-bomb. It made news only because the censors failed to bleep it, not because he said it. Every other presenter Sunday night fired off an F-bomb, almost as if part of the script. Utterly inconsequential. 

What could MTV do about it? Aw, script a good show, think about the message, have a little soul. Connect the dots. Maybe next year. Until we start thinking about these things, woe is us. 

Weiner's Woes

 ANYTHONY WEINER ON BIGGOVERNMENT.COM

So, in the end, as so many here suspected, in spite of his denials and obfuscations, it was, according to him, Anthony Weiner's very own private part which he photographed and sent in a tweet to a young woman. 

His public statement this afternoon: “Last Friday night I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I posted it to Twitter, I panicked, I  took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story to stick to that story which was a hugely regrettable mistake.”

What was he thinking? How many times has that been asked of politicians when they mess up with the inappropriate sexual conduct? And they don't learn. They won't learn from this episode, either. There will be another soon enough. 

After only a decade of many public sexual blunders by many politicians—a list too long to list here—the logical assumption is that eventually everyone in public life would get the message: you’ll get caught. But that disregards the power of the bubble.  The “bubble” is the invisible but real shelter in which elected officials live and work, where layers of staff, friends and even family, innocently, and not so innocently, conspire to protect “the man”-- and it’s almost always a man-- from the public finding out who they really are.

Interestingly, as time and scandals roll on, the power of the “bubble” has strengthened rather than weakened and is finding its sinister way into the executive suites of corporations and private institutions. It’s the lure of celebrity, of making it onto some Vanity Fair power list, but with the need to have absolute control of the image and message. That’s bubble power. Until it bursts.

When the "Weiner's wiener" photo went viral I looked at it and thought three things:

--Those are some really unattractive undies, or boxer briefs, or whatever the hell they are called. Gray? What an unbecoming choice for a close-up. Not hot. 

--I guess that’s an erection I’m looking at, or is it just another cucumber, as Harry Shearer bestowed upon his character Derek Smalls in “This Is Spinal Tap?” (Cukes are bigger)

 --There’s only one person who this picture is really gonna matter to, and that’s Mrs. Weiner, Huma. She’ll know instantly, and that will determine the course of everything.

The way Anthony Weiner behaved last week—everything from absolute denial to tentative awkward contrition--made me think that maybe Mrs. Weiner did have an opinion, and it was strong and not necessarily favorable. And now we know my guess was right, because Weiner in today's public statement said his wife was not at all happy and asked the logical question: how could you do this to me? I feel for her. I would have loved to hear the counsel she received from her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

The next days will see a flood of reports from women who were in some kind of contact with Weiner. It will be cringe-worthy. For me, basically pervvy. If his constituents find that okay, so be it. 

As for his insistence he won't resign: Oh, Mr. Weiner, Mark Foley is holding on line one.  

DSK In Washington, on Video

 

I shot this video almost a year ago at a party at the home of then-French Ambassador Pierre Vimont. At the 1:37 mark, as I pan the guests, you'll notice a woman and man standing side by side, behind them is a lamp and windows. They are Anne Sinclair and husband Dominique Strauss-Kahn. I thought I'd not crossed paths with the man before, but I was wrong. I had a faint recollection of him being at this party, which honored syndicated columnist James Hoagland ... so I went back and looked and, voila!

It's just a little moment, but it's interesting, because nobody here seems to have known him. The story I wrote about the party for NYSD is here. 

Hey Georgetown: Charlie Sheen? Potomac River Floods? A Snake?

 CAUTION! FLOODING BEYOND THIS POINT AND THE POLICE WON'T LET YOU GO THERE

Jiminy Glick Cricket what's happening here? Shortly after 9 o'clock Monday night the Potomac was expected to gush over its banks in Georgetown, splashing up and onto K Street. Not an unheard of event but reliably spectacular. Earlier in the day, approximately 5 pm, teams of workers surrounded the Washington Harbor complex, pumping water from the deluged garage and basement restaurants. Piles of sandbags could be seen in front of other office buildings. Lots and lots and lots of yellow "caution" tape. Also lots of local TV satellite trucks. 

WATER GETTING PUMPED FROM WASH HARBOR'S BASEMENT RESTAURANTS

Based on the numbers of Pepco trucks, private security guards and guys in rubber boots I would surmise Washington Harbor had a mess on hand. (Later reported the whole inner restaurant area fully flooded because the building owner did not get the flood gates up in time). While access was denied in certain areas it was easy to get to the riverfront at the Waterfront Park and near the Swedish Embassy and the boat house. 

 WILL ONE BOOT DO THE JOB?

You know what they say about snakes and floods? That the floods fill the streets with slithering reptiles. Well, it may be true, even in Georgetown. As I walked along the almost flooded canal path behind the Swedish Embassy I came upon an actual snake! eek! Given its size -- not much bigger than a pencil -- I was actually afraid for its safety. A woman came along and helped urge it across the concrete before some snake hater smushed it. She said this particular type of snake was harmless and lived on bugs and cockroaches. That is a useful snake and worth saving.

 NOT QUITE SNAKES ON A PLANE. HOW ABOUT SNAKE ON A GEORGETOWN SIDEWALK?

Everywhere I walked there were people taking pictures of the rushing water. It moved seriously fast. At one point a whole tree raced by. Not a trunk, not a few limbs, and not a baby tree, but a great big full grown tree, rollin' on the river. 

 GIVE THIS RIVER A SPEEDING TICKET

Back before Potomac flooding in Georgetown became a media event I lived half a block up from K Street, at the James Place apartments. A spring or fall flood would happen annually. This was a time before Washington Harbor and flood gates. The water simply jumped the banks and engulfed K Street. We'd walk down to the corner and watch. There at 30th and K was the momentary "new" bank of the Potomac. The adjacent basement parking garages got flooded.  OUTSIDE A PARKING GARAGE AT 30TH AND K STREETS

I know you are asking: what does any of this have to do with Charlie Sheen? Only that during my walkabout I noted two expensive and luxurious tour bosses, the Prevost kind used by many big name acts. I'm familiar with the in's and out's of tour busses due to my friendship with a band called Spinal Tap. I actually once rode on their bus. Forever after I've wanted to run away with the band (almost any band) on one of those seriously pimped out rides. It's possible Charlie is using high end busses for his tour. One for himself and the "goddesses" and another for staff and crew. It's so much easier than flying from city to city to city.

TWO HIGH END LUXURY PREVOST BUSSES PARKED OUTSIDE THE RITZ GEORGETOWN. KNOCK KNOCK, "CHARLIE?"

The two busses I noticed are parked on Wisconsin at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown. One is seriously black and oversized, the other is more conventional. Typically, when on tour, the "act" comes into town the night before a concert -- Charlie is performing here Tuesday night -- and, as the "talent," moves into a luxury hotel; the bus (or busses, and staff,) chill outside. Charlie, er, would be the talent. Ah, I understand that the "goddesses" also qualify as talent, possibly more than Charlie. Note: reports have him down to one goddess; life is rough in the violent torpedo of truth business. 

I have no earthly idea whether these busses do, in fact, belong to Charlie Sheen. I'm surmising based on experience. They could belong to Dave Brubeck, who's at Blues Alley. 

Bottom line: get out of the house, get down to the waterfront, have a flood dinner picnic, enjoy the spectacle, and on your way back up Wisconsin, knock on the bus door and ask for "Charlie." And then let me know.

btw, high tide again tomorrow morning.

NYSD Today: Farewell To The French Ambassador

PIERRE VIMONT, IN HIS ROLE AS FRENCH AMBASSADOR  

Pierre Vimont was in Washington only a few years as French Ambassador, but in that short time he made an impressive presence. Now he's off to Brussels for a much bigger job with the EU. He's the subject of my column today on New York Social Diary. Read it here. 

Valerie Plame Interview at The Q&A Cafe

 

It was a couple of years ago when Valerie Plame did a candid long-form interview at The Q&A Cafe. I thought this might be of interest to those who are seeing the well-reviewed film out now about her saga, "Fair Game." 

PART TWO

 

PART THREE

 

PART FOUR

 

PART FIVE

 

NYSD Today: The GOP and Political Terrorism

On New York Social Diary today I consider the latest round of virtual political terrorism from the Republican party's right wing. Moderates may reject their tactics, but the GOP has more power now, and when some within their ranks behave questionably, the entire party is accountable. 

Also, the vivid memories of Moscow circa 1937, recounted by "The Ambassador's Daughter," Emlen Knight Davies. 

Read it all here.