Potomac Phil Predicts 6 Weeks of Winter, 9 Months of Gridlock in Congress
• February 13, 2012

The dead, stuffed Potomac Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and nine more months of gridlock in Congress, reports Patrick Ryan of SnarkInfested.com. The rodent-meteorologist event was held at Dupont Circle, Feb. 2. Potomac Phil’s message was made about an hour after the famous Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania saw his own shadow and foresaw six more weeks of winter.

This first-ever D.C. gathering for a groundhog earned a resolution from the D.C. Council and announced the even easier prediction of gridlock in Congress. Local Council member Jack Evans joined event coordinator Aaron DeNu and others, as they leaned over the stuffed groundhog. There were groundhog-shaped cookies for the group, and a rabbi offered a prayer about light.
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Single Lane Conditions and Traffic Stoppages Planned for Canal Road
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The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced motorists will encounter single lane conditions and traffic stoppages along segments of Canal Road between Foxhall Road and Arizona Avenue in northwest Washington starting this Friday.

Flagger-controlled alternating lane closures and five-minute traffic stoppages will be in effect between 10:30 am and 2 pm on Friday, February 4 and between 7 am and 7 pm on Saturday, February 5, weather permitting, to allow crews to resurface the roadway.

Motorists are advised to use an alternate route or add extra time for travel to avoid delays.

Temporary signs and traffic control measures will be in place to alert and guide the traveling public through this area.

For additional traffic advisories please visit DDOT’s Traffic Alerts page or visit GODCGO.com for more information on transportation options in the District

The Insanity of Protecting Rats
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Back in the 1980s, I have worked professionally with elements of the pest control industry providing public relations services The process of educating the public is necessary because new generations must be informed of the threats pests pose to health and property.

Back when it was still known as the National Pest Control Association, I even received a beautiful certificate of appreciation that hangs in my office. At some point several years ago, it and state organizations changed their name to “Pest Management” presumably to divest themselves of the image of actually killing the creatures that annually spread disease and do millions in property damage.

In past years, environmental organizations devoted a lot of time and money to convince the public that the real problem was the pest controllers, not the pests. If they all changed their profession next Monday, the entire nation would be totally over-run with roaches, termites, rats and mice in a month. The work is not glamorous, but it is utterly essential to society.

A case in point is bed bugs that have emerged in a few short years into a full-fledged pest problem from coast to coast. Thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lack of pesticides registered to exterminate them has facilitated this new plague. There is, I believe, only one.

I have watched as the EPA has, since its founding, insanely strip pest control professionals and consumers of access to pesticides that formerly had protected their parents and grandparents, as well as their homes and businesses.

When you take away the pesticides, all you have left are the pests.

The modern pest control industry had its beginnings in the Middle Ages with the emergence of “rat catchers,” men who had developed a variety of poisons to rid homes and other properties of the ubiquitous rodent. Even the kings and queens of England had a royal rat catcher.

They were such a part of life in those times that the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin has been passed down to us. It was, of course, the combination of rats and fleas that spread the Black Plague in the Middle Ages, killing a third or more of the population of Europe.

So why, one must ask, have the burghers of Washington, D.C., responsible for passing the laws, passed the truly insane one titled the “Wildlife Protection Act” that requires pest control operators not only to capture rats in a fashion that does not harm them in any way but to transport them 25 miles away to be set free?

As Don Boys noted in a recent Canada Free Press article, “Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general, said D.C.’s new rat law is ‘crazier than fiction’ because it requires vermin not be killed but rather captured, preferably in ‘families,’ and transferred to a ‘wildlife rehabilitator’ ” — presumably living in Virginia.

Here are a few facts about rats:

— Rats have a life span of approximately nine months.

— Rats are ready to breed within three months. Their gestation period is 22 days, and they have an average litter of eight. An average female rat will provide 20 offspring.

— A single pair of rats has the potential, mathematically, of producing 359 million descendents in three year’s time.

— The average overall length of a rat is 16 inches, with a body measuring 9 inches and a tail of 7 inches. The average weight of a rat is 1-1/4 pounds. Their color can range from reddish brown to black.

— A rat’s sense of smell is excellent, as is its sense of taste. They are particularly suspicious of food. This results often in “bait shyness.” Rats will leave a poisoned bait untouched for almost a week. Other members of the pack will avoid food not eaten by other members and often warn other rats away by sprinkling it with their urine or feces.

— Rats can gain access to virtually any structure. They can climb 15 feet up a rough, surfaced vertical wall. They can jump vertically one foot from a flat surface and they can easily traverse telephone wires and ropes. They are, in addition, good swimmers.

Virginia and other states near Washington, D.C., do not want the District’s rats. They have plenty of their own. They also have a complete host of other rodents and wildlife that require the ministrations of pest control professionals.

There are a host of very good reasons why every American city and town has extensive laws regarding the control of insect and rodent pests, as well as wildlife that includes raccoons, opossum, squirrels, turkeys, coyotes, deer and bears.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that rats must be killed to protect people and property, but not the members of the District Council who were more intent on protecting the rats than their constituents.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

A past contributor to these pages, Alan Caruba also posts daily commentaries at “Warning Signs” .

Christopher Siebert Comes a Long Way With “La Cage Aux Folles”
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During the course of our telephone conversation with Christopher Siebert, who has the flamboyant, star turn of Albin in the touring company of “La Cage Aux Folles,” winding up its Kennedy Center run at the Eisenhower Theater Feb. 12, we told him that he seemed to embody the essence of a Broadway pro.

Specifically, we said, “You’re a Broadway baby.” That means Siebert is never far from a rehearsal, a road trip, an audition, a star turn, a song in his heart in a musical, a night on the stage.

“Yup,” he said. “I believe that’s true.”

Of course, there’s a lot more to Siebert than show biz per se, in the sense that the business, a world which he inhabits as a genuine star, is never far from intersecting with real life, especially with “La Cage Aux Folles,” which first exploded on the Broadway scene in the 1980s. With music by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein, who also starred as Albin, it became an instant classic, spawning revivals and even a hit, non-musical film, “The Bird Cage” with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.

Siebert was a teen in Minnesota when “La Cage” erupted on the scene. Nevertheless, he is keenly aware of its status and history in Broadway lore and feels closely connected to it on several level.

“That show meant a lot then, and it means a lot more now, in a different way,” he said. “Plus, Harvey has been a great friend of mine. So, there’s almost no way of avoiding it anyway.”

Siebert isn’t just alive in the lights of the Great White Way or on the road. He’s something of a pop culture icon with some of his Broadway roles as well as having starred in the television series, “Two of a Kind,” with The Olsen twins, and you don’t get anymore pop culture than that.

But on Broadway he made his real mark, initially playing in shows full of characters already embedded firmly in the buzz-and-cool minds of several generations of youth culture. He was Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast,” Rapunzel’s prince as well as the wolf in “Into the Woods” and Sir Dennis Galahad in “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

But Siebert really hit the jackpot when he got the role of Lord Farquaad in “Shrek, the Musical,” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, an Outer Critics Award Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award.

He was playing the stylishly sleazy lawyer Billy Flynn in “Chicago,” when he got word that there was an opportunity to play Georges the other and much, much less flamboyant member of the couple in a road company of the successful revival of “La Cage.” And who was playing Albin? None other than the frog-voiced Fierstein who had originated the role and written the book for “La Cage.”

“Well, Harvey’s my friend, so in a way, playing Georges to his Albin let me see how the pair functioned as a couple, so it really gave me a heads-up on the role. There’s nobody like Harvey. He’s a true original,” Siebert said. “I don’t think anybody can make their voice go that low. So, I don’t try that much.”

Eventually, George Hamilton, the suavest movie star ever outside of Cary Grant, took over the role of Georges, and Siebert became Albin and his oft-altered ego Za Za. The crowds have come, and they have roared.

“Georges is, I think, fantastic, he gives a presence in the role you don’t often find, and he acts it in a subtle way that makes you understand the relationship between the two men,” Siebert said.

Still, it’s different now.

Watching the show, you can see that how much has happened historically. “You’ve got to remember back in those days, it was primarily about the glamour, the glitter, and gay men who had not come out would come see the show with women dates. We’ve come a long way. I think the show now is more about character, the relationship, the love story. It is about a married couple for all intents and purpose, to the point where Albin has to pretend to be a mother, wig and dresses and all.”

The plot’s emotional underpinnings, as well as those holding the costumes together, resonate differently in the age of the battle over gay marriage.

Siebert himself married his long-time partner Kevin Burrows, an actor and a chef, last Thanksgiving.

We asked him if Burrows cooks at home. “Never,” Siebert quipped. “Except at Thanksgiving. That’s his high holidays.”

Date Night Tips for Valentine’s Day
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Dinner and a movie is the classic date that also works perfectly for St. Valentine’s Day. Looking into each others’ eyes over the table and holding hands in the dark never gets old. Many of the charming restaurants in Georgetown are doing special Valentine menus. Peacock Cafe offers a Valentine Package for $69 per person, including a full-course dinner, sparkling wine, parting gifts and roses for the lady — www.peacockcafe.com. At Pizza Paradiso, they’re doing a “We Love Beer” Valentine’s Day Celebration, offering beer brewed with flowers or chocolate and special Valentine’s Day pizza pies — www.eatyourpizza.com. For $45 per person, you can get a romantic three-course dinner at Bistro Francais — www.bistrofrancaisdc.com.

At the AMC Loews Theater on K Street at the waterfront, several Valentine-appropriate movies are playing . See the lovely Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum work for their love in the romantic drama “The Vow” (1:50 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m).

For a little more action, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy fight over Reese Witherspoon in the romantic comedy “This Means War” (2:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.).

“W.E.” is another Valentine-worthy movie, a romantic drama that focuses on the affair between King Edward and Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard (1:05 p.m., 4:05 p.m., 6:55 p.m. and 9:50 p.m.).

For more things to do in Georgetown on Valentine’s Day, check out GeorgetownDC.com.

Make a Valentine’s Day Breakfast for Your Sweetheart
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Do you need a perfect beginning to your St. Valentine’s Day celebration? Treat your better half to a romantic breakfast in bed! Pancakes are, of course, a safe bet for any special breakfast, and a portion of chocolate pear pancakes are sure to satisfy any chocolate lover.

Chocolate Pear Pancakes

Cook & Prep time: 35mins

Makes 6 x 20cm/8-inch pancakes (Serves 2)

Ingredients

For the batter

50g/2oz Plain Flour

½ – 1 tablespoon Pure Cocoa Powder

1 Egg

150ml/5fl.oz. Milk

For the pears

2 Pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/ ½ – inch pieces

About 4 tbsp Sugar

1 x 2.5cm/1-inch Cinnamon Stick

Cold water

For the Chocolate Sauce

50g/2oz good-quality dark Chocolate, broken into small pieces

25g/1oz Butter

3 tbsp Honey

Vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Place the flour and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl or large jug, mix well then add the egg and milk and mix until well blended and smooth using a balloon whisk or handheld electric. Set it aside whilst you prepare the pears.

2. Place the chopped pears in a small saucepan together with the cinnamon and sugar and enough cold water to come halfway up the fruit. Place over a medium heat and bring to simmering point, mixing well and continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.

3. Meanwhile, put the chocolate, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water and leave until the chocolate starts to melt. Mix well until you have a smooth sauce. Remove the pan from the heat, cover the bowl with a lid or clingfilm but leave it in the pan and set aside.

4. Once the pears are tender, turn the heat off, drain any excess liquid, remove the cinnamon stick then crush the pears with a fork. Cover with a lid and set aside whilst you cook the pancakes.

5. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a small frying pan until very hot, swirling it around to coat the base of the pan. Pour off most of the oil then add one sixth of the batter to the hot pan, tilting the pan so the batter covers the base evenly. Cook for about 1 minute until just set then loosen the edges using a palette knife or fish slice, turn the pancake over and cook for a further 30 seconds or so until lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining batter, keeping the cooked pancakes warm under the grill or in a low oven.

To Serve fold each pancake into quarters, place three on a plate, place the pear mixture over the pancakes then drizzle with the chocolate sauce.

Maybe your soulmate is not into a major sugar kick early in the morning. Instead, treat her or him to a cup of delicious coffee with cute cookies on the side.

“I love you” Cookies

0.5 lb soft butter

0.5 lb powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

4 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 lb. flour

0.1 lb vanilla pudding powder

Preheat the oven to 356F. Run the butter and sugar in a mixer, mix until it is fluffy. Add both eggs, and the sour cream, mix this for two minutes. Stir together baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and vanilla pudding powder in another bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mix. Mix everything until the dough is ready. Leave the dough in the fridge for at least an hour. Roll out the dough, use extra flour if it’s too sticky. Use heartshaped “Message in a cookie” cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma.

Bake for about ten minutes in the oven. Let the cookies cool before you decorate them. (Recipe from www.passion4baking.com)

Weekend Roundup February 9, 2012
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Appalachian Spring Gift Wrap for Charity

February 10th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | info@appalachianspring.com | Tel: 202-337-5780 | Event Website

Appalachian Spring in Georgetown will be offering gift wrap of your Appalachian Spring Valentine’s Day purchases with a donation to Bread for the City from February 10-14. During store hours.

Bread for the City offers low-income residents of Washington, DC: food and clothing, primary medical care, legal advice and representation, and comprehensive social services.

Address

Appalachian Spring

1415 Wisconsin Ave

Washington, DC 20007

Spy at Night

February 10th, 2012 at 06:00 PM | 14.95-27.95 | vsmanagers@spymuseum.org | Tel: 202.393.7798 | Event Website

Next month, D.C.’s most mysterious museum debuts its revamped Spy at Night experience, providing area residents exclusive, after-hours access to its permanent collection and an evening full of intrigue, deception and cocktails. The first in the re-launched series is a James Bond-themed occasion on Friday, February 10, with future events occurring the second Friday of every month.

Address

International Spy Museum

800 F Street, NW

Washington, D.C.

Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station

Film Screening: HAPPY

February 11th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | $6.00

The film HAPPY is the latest from Academy Award-nominated director, Roko Belic, and is launching discussion about the state of our nation’s ‘happiness’ level in comparison with other countries, including Japan, Bhutan and Denmark. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Arizona International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Award at the Costa Rica International Film Festival, and numerous other similar awards.

Address

AMC Loews Georgetown 14

3111 K Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20007

One City Summit

February 11th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Event Website

Join Mayor Gray at the One City Summit, “Let Your Voice Be Heard” to help the District become a more livable, vibrant and inclusive city for everyone.

Address

Washington Convention Center

801 Mount Vernon Place, NW

Washington, DC 20001

Woo at the Zoo

February 14th, 2012 at 04:30 PM | $11-$22 | Event Website

Woo at the Zoo, a fun-filled event for both singles, and couples, where they can learn about animal mating, dating and reproductive habits in a humorous way.

Address

Smithsonian National Zoo

Sites Go Dark in the Fight Against SOPA — and Win. . . For Now
• February 8, 2012

Did you have any trouble accessing your favorite sites last Wednesday? Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, Wordpress.org, TwitPic, Good Old Games and a couple of handfuls more shut down on Jan. 18 to participate in the largest online protest in history.

You were unable to Google these guys as they blacked out to demonstrate what the future could hold for the internet world if SOPA and PIPA were to be passed.

No, we are not talking about the Middleton sisters, but in fact, two bills that could potentially change the way we surf the net. The Stop Online Piracy Act and its sister, the Protect IP [Intellectual Property] Act, are designed to secure the problem with foreign-based sites selling pirated movies, music and more.

Many have argued that the bills undermine free speech and make it possible for the government to take down any site that includes links to pirated content. They also give the Justice Department more authority to stop U.S. companies from providing funding to the foreign sites. It would also block access by making it impossible to type in web addresses to these sites or by requiring Google and other search engines to disable links to the pirated pages.

The way the House bill is written is so broad that SOPA and PIPA opponents fear that some of the most visited online sites, such as Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter that rely heavily on content uploaded by users which can then be pirated, could be targeted.

Thanks to our favorite pages turning their lights out, the public was alerted of the seriousness of the bill, showed us all how our lives could potentially be affected, and the bills were tossed to the trash — for now, anyway.

On Jan. 20, Congress shelved the bill. SOPA and PIPA were supposed to be debated and voted on, but after the protest, the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, released a statement explaining that they would be postponed. Pheeew.

Medical Marijuana Program in Washington, D.C. Takes Root
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Despite the Controlled Substances Act that makes cultivating, selling and distributing marijuana illegal, the nation’s capital will be welcoming weGrow, a full service hydroponic superstore, in March.
This place is a one-stop shop for everything necessary to start a garden. Commonly referred to as the “Wal-Mart of Weed,” weGrow has the largest showroom of hydroponic equipment sure to help medical marijuana cultivators and indoor harvesters but does not sell actual plants in stores.
“This is a great step forward for medical marijuana patients in Washington, D.C., and nearby states,” Wong said. “WeGrow will be here to work with medical marijuana growers to ensure the safest indoor growing practices are being followed to produce the best quality medicine for patients.”

Under a new D.C. law, doctors in the area can write medical marijuana prescriptions for patients with chronic ailments like cancer and HIV/AIDS. The law also lists 10 sites that will soon be authorized to grow the plant and five distribution centers where the medical marijuana can be picked up by patients.
The weGrow store is set to open its 2,500-square-foot store at 1522 Rhode Island Ave., N.E., near the only Home Depot in D.C. and just a few blocks from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro stop.

David Rubenstein Donates $7.5 Million to the Trust for the National Mall
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The Trust for the National Mall announced today that it has received a $7.5 million donation from David Rubenstein, Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group. The gift will provide the funding required to repair the Washington Monument, which suffered extensive damage from a 5.8 magnitude earthquake on August 23, 2011.

“David Rubenstein is a true patriot, and we are grateful for his significant and generous contribution to restore the Washington Monument, one of America’s greatest treasures,” said Caroline Cunningham, President of the Trust for the National Mall. “David’s leadership demonstrates how the public/private partnership of the Trust and the National Park Service will successfully drive the restoration and enhancement of the National Mall, home to the hope, history and heroes of the America.”

“America has been very good to me and I am humbled to be able to honor the father of our country in this way,” said Rubenstein. “Reopening the monument as soon as possible will help ensure that many people get to learn about American history and the unique role that George Washington played in the birth and life of our great nation.”

According to a report released by the National Park Service, inspectors found numerous cracked and chipped stones, including six large cracks that extend through the marble exterior of the Monument’s pyramidion, that have left the 127 year-old structure extremely vulnerable. The Monument also suffered missing mortar, the displacement of components of the lightning protection system, and damage to the elevator counter weight frame.

Congress recently allocated $7.5 million to repair the Monument with the expectation that the National Park Service in partnership with the Trust for the National Mall would raise an equal amount in private donations. David Rubenstein’s generous contribution meets that objective.

“Millions of people have seen the dramatic video of chunks of mortar and limestone raining down on visitors in the monument as the quake rocked the east coast last August,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “While no one was hurt, the damage to this iconic obelisk was substantial and it has been closed to the public ever since. Thanks to David’s gift and the support of the American people, the National Park Service will once again welcome visitors to the Washington Monument and share the story of our nation’s first President.”

The National Park Service expects to award a contract to repair the monument by this August; work is expected to take 10-12 months.

The Trust for the National Mall is the official non-profit partner of the National Park Service dedicated to restoring and improving the National Mall. For more information on the Trust for the National Mall and the work that is being done to restore America’s Front Yard, please visit www.nationalmall.org.