An interesting article. One of the key graphs:

Andrew Laurence, an advocate for the Ethiopian arts, makes a point of highlighting the shared history of American blacks and Ethiopians when he makes appeals for the designation. He also likes to say that many African Americans have moved from the District in recent decades. "They ran out to Prince George's County; they left it for 30 years," he said. "Now other people are coming in, and they want to reclaim it."

Deairich "Dee" Hunter, chairman of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission that encompasses Shaw, responded that many African Americans remain in the neighborhood, even as newcomers transform its character. "It's being revitalized and gentrified, and the people in the forefront are not the Ethiopian community," he said. "The reality is that it's predominantly whites and gays, but you don't hear these populations asking to change the name."

I'm often tired of friends from other cities coming to visit and wishing to eat Ethiopian food. It's nice (if you order the right dishes) but DC has so many Ethiopian food places that it quickly loses its novelty. As for renaming 9th Street, I think that the lousiest argument for such a change would be that African-Americans have left the district. Um? Really? Last time I checked DC was still a majority Black city.

And although I think revitalization of 9th Street is good, I don't think renaming it "Little Ethiopia" would be any more constructive than naming 14th Street "Little Yuppieville". Much like 14th, the neighborhoods surrounding 9th are not composed of the same mixture of people who frequent the stores around said area. If 9th Street neighborhoods, like those near the 'werkz, were full of Ethiopian families, it would makes sense. Otherwise, it just seems like a silly marketing campaign. And for what? So that tourists can figure out where to go for Ethiopian food? As I said earlier, that's not a problem in D.C. Putting "Little Ethiopia" in a street that's one block from Howard and right next to U Street seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

This looks bad.

See, it's one of those things that at the time, if Gonzalez was innocent, I could see him messing up. (Why the hell would he call Andy Card if he was innocent, though?) But in the current context, it's inexcusable. Giving people time to destroy evidence is criminal. Especially if your the White House Counsel.

Does this image want to make you buy a jeep? Certainly not, right? It looks like some guy's giant head is going to eat Jason Alexander...

I'm sure I'm missing some amusing commercial that explains it, but an advertisement in a newspaper should perhaps stand on its own. This one doesn't. And besides, doesn't giving regular people the "employee discount" just another way of saying "we're screwing our employees"? Way to go, GM.

I don't get sick very often. And I mention it far less than it actually happens, because I think saying "I'm sick" is a form of weakness.

With that said, I've been sick the past two days, and it has not been fun. Hence the light posting.

Today, let me just point out one quick editorial from The New Republic. Every time I start to despair that TNR is slipping into Andrew Sullivan/Marty Peretz/crazytalk, they come out with something that brilliantly summarizes the progressive point of view on something. This editorial is just that piece.

Even the words are nuanced. Instead of saying, as the WaPo did, that Wilson's post trip activities were somehow misguided (as Wilson himself pointed out, why would he go to work for the Bush campaign, considering that they had outed his wife?), the NR merely suggests he made himself an easier target. That's the correct terminology, because in the end, Wilson has been pretty consistently proved right in each detail.

At the end of the day, Americans need to ask themselves: if the administration lied to get us to go to war, should they be trusted to govern? The answer is, of course, no.

Terminal Man has finally arrived.

It's about time.

I've discovered that I really like delis. Not, of course, the traditional New York ones...simply because I wouldn't know where to find one of those. No, I'm talking about the local deli area of the supermarket. Why would I pay $10.00 for a sandwich out when I could spend half that and get twice as much meat? A half-pound of roast beef on sourdough or pastrami on rye...mmm. The only problem I have right now is that the local panera slices their bread too thin, so I really need to get a bread knife to slice my own.

Yes, Tuesday Salon was good. As always...