TresSugar

Front Page: Holocaust Museum Closed After Deadly Shooting

TresSugar — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:00:18 -0700

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum will be closed today to honor the security guard gunned down by a white supremacist yesterday. - CNN
The World Health Organization has declared swine flu a pandemic. - AP
US retail sales were up for the first time in three months. - Bloomberg
Reformists in Iran hope that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be defeated in the country's elections tomorrow. - Reuters
David Letterman sort of apologized to the Palin family last night. - AP

Picture It: Time to Plant the Garden

CitizenSugar — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:30:49 -0700

A jet-lagged Michelle Obama slipped on brown-and-white gardening gloves (no, we don't know where to find them) and went to work on the South Lawn's garden yesterday. With the help of 25 beshoveled schoolchildren, she planted perennials, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. If all goes well, the assistant chef said the White House could be serving blueberries by June.

World leaders are très excité for the victory garden. "How does your garden grow?" (bad translation) was the number one question she was asked abroad. "Every single person," the first lady said, "from Prince Charles on down, they were excited about the fact that we were planting a garden." Can't blame 'em. I mean, blueberries! They're like crazy expensive in Europe.

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Do You Want Your Legislature to Legalize Gay Marriage?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:00:03 -0700

Today was a big day for gay marriage proponents. Vermont's legislature overrode the governor's veto to legalize same-sex marriage. And in Washington DC, the district's council voted to recognize same-sex marriages issued in other states. The council will hold a final vote next month.

But not everyone's on board. A new poll out of New York state shows that only 41 percent of the state's voters support same-sex marriage.

Many people have objected to less-democratic courts inserting themselves in the same-sex marriage debate. The argument goes like this: if a state wants to legalize gay marriage, let the democratically elected representatives or the people decide not a handful of isolated judges. Do you think it's time for your state lawmakers to cut out the courts and follow Vermont's lead?

In Bloom: Cherry Blossoms Open in DC

CitizenSugar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:01:00 -0700

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off this past weekend in Washington DC, and runs through April 12. It marks the 96th anniversary of Tokyo's gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the capital city. Cherry blossom festivals are held all over Japan, and the flower heralds Spring, represents love, and illustrates a basic tenet of Japanese philosophy: perfection is fleeting (love, too).
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HIV/AIDS Crisis in US Capital - Three Percent Infected

CitizenSugar — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:00:35 -0700

Three percent of residents in Washington, DC, are infected with HIV or AIDS, a number that officially makes the illness a "severe epidemic." The rate, highest in the US, mirrors infection rates in Uganda and parts of Kenya, and it's higher than West Africa's.

The District's mayor and health officials are discussing a marketing campaign to push prevention and testing. I think we can agree that it's time to stop discussing and start acting. But, the mayor told the Washington Post that it's not that easy. He said, "You have this problem affecting us, and you tell people how serious it is and it literally goes in one ear and out the other."

The number of DC residents living with the disease has jumped 22 percent since 2006, indicating that if people don't act fast, the crisis can escalate quickly.

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Picture It: Service With a Smile

CitizenSugar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:00:54 -0800

Michelle Obama volunteered at Miriam's Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides case management, housing support, and meals to homeless people in DC. Yesterday's meal was donated by the White House in a new effort to highlight the work of local nonprofits. The first lady urged Americans to donate food and, if that's out of reach, time.

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Protesting the Weather: Climate Change Activists Storm Capitol

LibertySugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:01:03 -0800

Activists braved the cold and snow yesterday to participate in Capitol Climate Action Day. The day of civil disobedience focused on getting the capitol's power plant to ditch coal for natural gas. Participants cut off access to the plant's entrances and refused to leave when asked. The group followed action guidelines, which included a ban on violence and damage to property.

NASA's chief climate scientist Dr. James Hansen took some heat for encouraging the act of civil disobedience. The scientist, who claimed the Bush administration muzzled him, thinks:

We need to send a message to Congress and the president that we want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for young people and future generations and all life on the planet.

DC's nonvoting congressperson Eleanor Holmes Norton also supports the cause. She says the plant has "poisoned untold numbers of people who live in the District of Columbia." Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the plant, to switch it to natural gas. Maybe the protesters will get what they asked for.

To see more photos of the protest, read more.

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Have a Seat? DC One Row Closer to House Seat and Vote

CitizenSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:00:55 -0800

An argument has been a brewin' for some time in Washington, DC, over the rights of its 600,000 residents. They have a delegate in Congress, but she can't vote. Why? A tiny line in the Constitution says the House of Representatives must be chosen by the people of each state. Sorry, district!

Because DC residents pay federal taxes, they've long decried it as taxation without representation. But all that might change soon. The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the legislation 11 to 1 at its first meeting with the new Congress. Who's the naysayer? Sen. John McCain. Arizona.

Overall, Republicans aren't keen on letting the electric blue district have a vote in the House (because what's next? Two in the Senate?). But nobody's more for it than DC's nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton. To watch Stephen Colbert grill her (and vice versa), read more.

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Inauguration Week: Oprah Goes to Washington!

LibertySugar — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:01:00 -0800

Oprah Winfrey plans to go to Washington, DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama, and she's bringing her audience, which is spread out across places like Saudi Arabia and another 140 countries!

During inauguration week Oprah will tape her show at the Kennedy Center's Opera House, also the location of Oprah's rumored star-studded inauguration night party. I guess we can start calling it the Kennedy Center's Oprah House.

Since Oprah really, really wanted Obama to win, you know she'll throw a celebratory bash to remember! Are you one of the 1.5 million people that plan on being in DC with Oprah for the inauguration?

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Should New US Capitol Visitor Center Honor God?

LibertySugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:00:01 -0800

If the US is really one nation under God, maybe its fancy new Capitol Visitor Center should honor the country's religious heritage. That's what South Carolina's Republican Senator Jim DeMint thinks, and he has issued a statement to express his disappointment with the facility that opened yesterday. He stated:

The current CVC displays are left-leaning and in some cases distort our true history. Exhibits portray the federal government as the fulfillment of human ambition and the answer to all of society’s problems. This is a clear departure from acknowledging that Americans’ rights "are endowed by their Creator" and stem from "a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence." Instead, the CVC’s most prominent display proclaims faith not in God, but in government. Visitors will enter reading a large engraving that states, "We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution." This is an intentional misrepresentation of our nation’s real history, and an offensive refusal to honor America's God-given blessing.

Planners ignored Sen. DeMint's request to feature the words "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance at the center. Absent references to religious heritage, does the Capitol Visitor Center misrepresent America for the sake of political correctness, or is it appropriate that religious references stay outside the new building?

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