Utraque Unum?
• July 26, 2011

The Latin phrase (normally not in the form of a question) is Georgetown University’s motto—”both are one”—first found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, regarding Gentiles and Jews together, on coins of the Spanish Empire, and later for the Jesuit school’s unity of learning and faith. Today, this phrase cannot be uttered between the University and the historic neighborhood to describe Georgetown, as the University’s new 10-year plan has moved neighbor groups to protest anew and loudly so.

Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans finds the plan a “disappointment,” while University president John DeGioia believes the campus plan to be “modest.” A recent Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting did not echo such mild words.

The University has argued: “Georgetown’s plan includes a handful of new projects that would enhance on-campus academic and recreational spaces, including pedestrian-friendly walkways, construction that would allow buses to turn around on campus and renovations to the Medical Center. The new plan also carries over some projects not completed from the 2000 plan, including an addition to Lauinger Library, the renovation of the New South building for student space, and construction of a new athletic training facility on campus. The 2010-2020 campus plan reflects more than two years of conversations with the university community and local residents, and includes deliberate efforts to respond to concerns about enrollment, off-campus student life, safety and congestion in surrounding neighborhoods. For example, in response to community concerns, Georgetown removed its proposal to develop on-campus student housing in the 1789 block of 36th Street and decided not to request an extension of the chimney height on the heating and cooling plant.”

Citizens groups still strongly disagreed. They see the addition of more graduate students and lack of any new on-campus housing as threatening to the historic district’s quality of life.

Indeed, the Citizens Association of Georgetown—which acknowledges the immense value of the University, founded in 1789 in a Maryland village established in 1751—has started a Save Our Neighborhood Fund: “CAG has carefully reviewed the G.U. plan and believes it violates D.C. zoning regulations and would negatively impact the quality of life in Georgetown’s residential neighborhoods.”

CAG contends that the plan would increase graduate student enrollment by more than 2,100 students, thus “increasing the total student population from approximately 14,000 to more than 16,000 students, provide no additional undergraduate on-campus housing and add 1,000 parking spaces to accommodate anticipated additional traffic to campus and the hospital.”

Moreover, CAG continues: “We will testify before the Board of Zoning — the ultimate decision-maker regarding the campus plan. We need your help to prepare for this hearing, and to educate our neighbors, our community leadership, the University’s leadership and our city decision-makers about this issue.”

Georgetown student activists have been knocked out of their bubble by the neighborhood response to the plan. “It is definitely possible to understand [the neighbors’] concerns to some degree, but at times [they are] almost irrational,” said one student at an ANC meeting. And in the non-news category, let us affirm that some students have been the university’s worst ambassadors, causing late-night noise, rowdiness and vandalism.

“[The students] cannot follow basic rules of living,” ANC commissioner Tom Birch said at the same meeting. Students are left to ponder that some Georgetowners their parents’ age don’t really like them.

The previous 10-year plan wrought enormous changes within the campus: the Southwest Quadrangle (the University’s largest-ever construction), the Davis arts center and the new business school building, to name the biggest. The university is jammed against its west (Archbold-Glover Park) and south (The C&O Canal and the Potomac) with spillage, pushing north to Burleith and Foxhall and east into the west village of Georgetown. Such geography does not excuse University administrators’ past poor decisions, such as the fumbling of Mount Vernon campus. Indeed, just as the University has a presence in Qatar, and its students volunteer in Appalachia and Anacostia, the nation’s oldest Catholic institution of higher learning would do well to connect even more often and consistently to its neighbors just three blocks away.

The Georgetown ANC will vote on the campus plan at its monthly meeting, Feb. 28. “We’ve gotten the comments from the community organizations and the university. So, it’s time for us to take a position,” said chairman Ron Lewis. Expect lawsuits to follow—just like last time.

Again, Hoya paranoia spreads, and generational resentment grows. Not that anyone is really seeking a “Can’t we all get along?” moment. There need be no call for an idealistic “Utraque Unum.” Nevertheless, both of us are here, in this together, and we can say hello to each other. It is merely a separate peace that we can abide.

District Gripes & Other Thoughts
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Just last week, we went to the Kalorama Citizens Association meeting and heard guest speaker Mayor Vincent Gray talk about the District’s budget deficits, saying that this was a time that required sacrifices on the part of everybody.

That apparently included himself, as he pointed out that he too was taking furloughs ordered for city employees.

That message of sacrifice and austerity didn’t seem to resonate everywhere. Certainly not with City Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who found himself embroiled in another spendthrift controversy. As reported, Brown purchased a fully-loaded Lincoln Navigator SUV for his traveling vehicle, at the cost of monthly payments of around $1,900, which the city must pay.

Chairman Brown must know how this sort of stuff resonates, and claiming that he actually didn’t know how much the payments were sounds lame for a council chairman who is heavily involved in decisions on the District budget. The last thing Brown needs is a revival of grumblings about perceived or real financial extravagance, especially in times like these, and especially given that he’s already had a controversy over huge credit card debts during the campaign.

If Brown hadn’t gotten the memo about fiscal sacrifice, Mayor Gray apparently didn’t read the details either. Word has it that he has hired several top staff members at salaries considerably higher than those paid during the Fenty administration, including his new chief of staff Gerri Mason Hall, who’s getting $200,000 a year, above the salary cap for that position.

Gray may have viable reasons for the pay raises—getting the best people for critical jobs as he’s said—but for the Mayor to ask everyone to make sacrifices and then hire staff at a premium is not good imagery. But we’re also curious how the salary figures were arrived at in the negotiations for hiring, and what the conversations were like. People working at the highest level of government, be it city, state or federal often describe themselves as servants of the people. Maybe somebody should have first asked the people or their representatives on the council if they wanted to pay that much for these particular servants, or for that matter, for Chairman Brown’s “fully loaded” vehicle.

Outside of our own concerns, the world is in turmoil. The earth is shaking in New Zealand, and the streets and cities in North Africa and the Middle East are full of demonstrators, violent responses, gunfire and blood from as the revolutions, which toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt and have spread to Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and Libya.

There were lots of demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin, where the conservative governor Scott Walker was standing fast in his effort to eliminate collective bargaining by the state’s public workers. The governor, who insists he’s not a union buster but a deficit cutter, has made the collective bargaining issue part of legislation to combat Wisconsin’s huge budget deficit, legislation that’s sure to pass if it gets to a vote in the Republican-controlled legislature.

Thousands of workers, union members and protesters have gathered in Madison to protest the legislation, equaling in size many of the demonstrations in Middle Eastern cities. To Democrats, many union leaders, and public workers like policemen, firefighters, and teachers, this smacks like an effort to crush public worker unions, key supporters and fundraisers for the Dems.

It sure doesn’t sound like budget-cutting. Governor Walker said this would cut the deficit, although it was not provided how that might happen, or the figures to go with it. Walker doesn’t look like he’s going to budge. The few Democrats in the Wisconsin legislature are AWOL.

Revolution, it seems, is in the air. In Wisconsin, it looks like there are competing revolutions. The GOP seems to want to party like its 06…1906, when labor unions were all but non-existent as effective bulwarks for workers.

Vigilance is Critical to Holiday Safety
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-The recent crime wave in the Georgetown neighborhood, coupled with a handful of rather bizarre local drug busts, has been a source of unease within the community at large. For the past few months, petty burglaries and assaults have been on the rise, with increasing numbers of incidences occurring among our numbered and lettered streets, frequently just off our main intersections and cross streets (M and Wisconsin). In a few cases, houses have been broken into. But let’s not forget the BB&T Bank heist, which was something right out of Bonnie & Clyde.

Approaching the holiday season, shopping and consuming come to a rolling boil, and no one jumps more immediately into the thick of retail frivolity (all in the name of giving, of course) than Georgetown. This means that there is a lot of shopping, which in turn means that there are a lot of folks out there walking around with bags of expensive, nice things. Criminals are aware of this. This is why crime always spikes around the holiday season, like a squirrel fattening up for the winter.

Thankfully, Georgetown has a caring community. The local ANC meetings have been regularly inviting the police chief to speak to the community, and the local crime watch is effective and efficient in releasing statements of burglaries in or around the area. Recently, the Georgetown BID donated two Segways to the police force to be used exclusively to patrol the streets of Georgetown. We just wanted to say thanks.

Please be safe this holiday season, especially around the neighborhood. It is important to be mindful of your surroundings; don’t go walking around the streets with your head buried in your brand new iPhone from the new Mac store. Be mindful of your surroundings. If you’re going on a shopping binge, you might want to rethink parking too far off the main roads. While it may seem irritating to spend $15 to park in a garage, it isn’t much when compared to the amount you would lose if your holiday gifts were stolen.

High Time For Oil Conservation
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In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the people of the United States will have used up (forever) 100,000 gallons of oil.

The most important well ever drilled was in a remote section of northwestern Pennsylvania in 1859 by “Colonel” Edwin Drake. This may have been the first successful well ever drilled for the sole purpose of finding petroleum, and began the international search for oil that eventually changed the way we live.

Today hydrocarbons power our economy. They provide the raw material for fertilizers to put food on our table and for the plastic containers that we drink from. They also drain our funds, enrich our enemies by bankrolling terrorism, corrupt our political system and foul our environment. Much like the whale oil of old, petroleum is a depleting resource. Petroleum, coal and natural gas (the “fossil fuels”) are forms of stored energy from trillions of plants and animals that were buried before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Of course, new oil is still being formed today in some parts of the world, but you might have to wait another 150 million years to turn it into something you could use in your car.

Oil is only worth something when its final value is more than what it costs to produce it. As we drill deeper, the costs of extraction go up exponentially. In the case of deep offshore drilling, very little of the difference between revenues and costs accrues to our benefit. Unlike countries that have already nationalized their petroleum industry (like Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Libya) only a relatively small portion goes to our government in the form of royalties and taxes. The rest accrues to the benefit of largely foreign shareholders who often recycle that money back into our own economy by buying even larger interests in American assets like other oil properties, real estate and shares of American banks.

Many of us have heard that the U.S. is sitting on enough domestic reserves of gas and coal to last centuries. We are not told that much of the gas is too deep and the coal too remote to produce it without heavy subsidy. Natural gas development requires substantial investment in infrastructure spending. And, after centuries of mining, our shallow coal resources have been heavily exploited. The recent Massey Energy explosion in West Virginia brought renewed focus to the dangers of deep coal mining.

Deep water provides its own set of challenges. Typically below 1700 feet, offshore platforms cannot physically rest on the sea floor and instead must float on the surface. By now, we all know what problems can be created when things go wrong thousands of feet below.

Whenever we suffer through an oil boycott, a fall in the value of our currency, a terrorist attack or a disastrous oil spill, we must again remind ourselves that we have to act now to conserve. Alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind are simply too undeveloped to have an immediate impact, though efforts in those directions must be encouraged. Nuclear energy is burdened by its own set of problems — exorbitant costs, the risks of an accident or terrorist attack, the threat of proliferation and the challenge of disposing of the nuclear waste to name but a few. A nuclear accident will make the Gulf spill look tame. Unlike oil pollution, deadly radiation cannot even be seen or smelled. Then there is the issue of uranium depletion. The best ores of uranium have been mined, leaving mainly low-quality ores left to exploit. And with a country the size of ours (compared to the size of France, which has an active nuclear program) it would take a massive investment in many dozens of new plants taking many years to make even a small dent in energy availability. Some experts think that hydrogen will form the basic energy infrastructure that will power future societies, replacing today’s fossil fuels, but that vision probably won’t happen until far in the future.

There are obvious things we can do personally to save energy by changing our habits. Others, such as increased mileage standards and light rail systems, can only be accomplished though government mandate. Higher taxes on energy will spur a better allocation of resources. The higher cost of gasoline in Europe has led to the widespread use of lighter fuel efficient vehicles and greater utilization of public transportation. Higher taxes on energy use might be acceptable if offset by tax cuts elsewhere. Higher prices for petroleum products will inevitably curb consumption. Would it not be better that the proceeds from higher prices be directed to our own treasury rather than to foreign entities?

The unemployed are another wasted resource. As a temporary measure during the Great Depression, FDR created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs to millions while providing natural resource conservation on public lands in every state. During that time, volunteers planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America and constructed more than 800 parks that would become the foundation of our state parks today.

We can and should vote for candidates who promise to do something to promote conservation and the environment. We have all heard the mantra “Drill Baby Drill” from the likes of a certain political figure (I won’t embarrass her by mentioning her name). How many times must we be reminded? The U.S. today consumes a fourth of the world’s supply of oil, almost 3 times that of number two contender, China. As the populations of the developing world continue to trade in their bicycles for cars, the price of oil is certain to rise. Comprehensive climate and energy legislation must be given top priority — now.

There are no easy solutions. Wrenching lifestyle changes are going to happen anyway. Perhaps these can be greatly lessened by our immediate attention.

The author, a former oil industry analyst for a major mutual fund company, is a frequent contributor of photographs to The Georgetowner and The Downtowner.

The Georgetowner Endorses Adrian Fenty for Mayor
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Say what you will about his communication skills. Criticize his attitude all you want. But Adrian Fenty is getting things done in Washington.

We are prouder of our city today than we have been in a long time. The bus system is running more efficiently than ever. There has been development from Southeast Waterfront and Anacostia to the upper Northwest. Crime rates are down, park development is up, bicycle accommodation is being taken into effect for the first time, job growth is up despite the worst nationwide financial deficit in almost a century, and the list goes on.

As far as education is concerned, to quote the Washington City Paper, “When it comes to reforming a failed school system, you either go monomaniacal or go home. It’s naïve to think that you can do it while simultaneously making nice with the old guard.” Though Michelle Rhee might not be the most popular woman among council members, her and Fenty’s combined ambition to raise DCPS above the low standards the city once accepted will improve the future lives of children and in turn ensure the quality of our city in the coming decades.

Fenty is bringing real change to Washington, and his passion for the city is made clear in the difficult decisions he continually makes without hesitation. We are in a good place. Cutting him off now would be a tremendous mistake. As the old adage goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

We urge the city to go out and vote in the mayoral primary tomorrow. The city needs our voice now more than ever. Get to the voting booths and be heard. Go to www.dcboee.us to find out where to vote.

The Purgatorial Restoration of the City’s Flagship AME Church
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The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) at 1518 M St. appeared recently on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the country’s 11 most endangered historic places, and on the D.C. Preservation League’s annual list of the most endangered places in Washington. Founded in 1838, the structure stands as a significant piece of cultural and architectural heritage, a bastion of advocacy for human rights.

From anti-slavery leadership in the mid-19th century, to fighting on the front lines for civil rights, to AIDS education and voter registration projects today, Metropolitan AME Church not only been a major center of worship, but also an institution in the forefront of the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of African Americans. In 1895 it hosted the funeral for Frederick Douglass, a regular attendee, and in 2005 held the memorial service for Rosa Parks.

The red brick Victorian Gothic-style church was constructed exclusively by donations from AME congregations across the country. Their goal was to establish a permanent presence near the White House and U.S. Capitol in order to pressure the federal government for equal treatment of the African American community.

Walled in on three sides by recent development projects, the church has suffered numerous structural cracks resulting from vibrations during adjacent construction. The congregation has been a responsible steward, funded major repairs over the years to maintain the building and has begun a restoration drive. However, previously unknown, ongoing water infiltration has caused more extensive damage. Over the years, the 29 stained glass windows have been compromised due to deteriorated lead jointing, the grand staircase and sanctuary floors have settled, and inadequate internal gutters have caused water damage to the walls and ceiling. The building urgently requires a multi-million-dollar rescue effort, an investment that Metropolitan AME Church’s community of dedicated supporters simply cannot afford.

And while the U.S. government and District BIDs have been manically funneling its resources into a kaleidoscope of potentially unstable city programs and distributing grants in attempts to defibrillate the economy — the blind faith in the success of electric cars comes to mind, despite almost a century’s worth of evidence to the contrary — they sometimes neglect the true strength of communities. In history and unity lies strength, and by neglecting the foundations of our country’s past as it deteriorates beneath infinite parking garages and office buildings of the big businesses that tanked the financial sector in the first place (which are in themselves on the life support of government loans), we are only further impeding the recovery of our local communities.

This is probably nothing that will go noticed in the short term, nor will the detriment ever be precisely quantifiable. But without the surrounding culture and the history of fighting for human rights, for freedom, a fight that Metropolitan AME Church has stood for since its foundation, Washington as a city has little to stand for at all. The health of a richly historic community in the nation’s capital is surely worth the price of one building’s renovation. While Metropolitan AME hosts patron-dependent “Historic Restoration and Preservation Crab Feasts” at $55 a ticket, one wonders who could step in and lend a hand.

We Remember: A Star, A Poet and A Bruin
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Rue McClanahan of the Golden Girls
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If you’re a television star, as opposed to any other kind of star, you are who you play even unto death.

This is why A-list movie stars were and are rarely seen on television, except when promoting their latest project on late night talk shows.

In the kingdom of television, Seinfeld will always be, well, Seinfeld, Carroll O’Connor will always be remembered as Archie Bunker, Ted Danson, no matter what he does, will be Sam the bartender on “Cheers” and the late Dixie Carter will always be remembered first and foremost as Julia Sugarbaker.

And so on.

“The Golden Girls”, the mid-’80s and early ’90s sitcom about four women of a certain age, which defied the conventional wisdom that people wouldn’t watch a show about women of a certain age, is a splendid example of the adage that on TV you are and will always remain who you play.

And so on “The Golden Girls”, Bea Arthur will always be the retired school teacher Dorothy Zborniak, Estelle Getty will always be her crusty Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo, and Betty White will always be the dimly long-winded Rose Nyland.

And Rue McClanahan, who died recently at the age of 76, will always be Blanche Deveraux, man-hungry and slightly slutty, but with dash, a breathy languorous, dishy way about her that gave Scarlett O’Hara a run for her Confederate money.

No question it wasn’t all that McClanahan did in her showbiz life. She was a dazzling hoofer, stepping her way to stardom in numerous shows, and also criss-crossing with Arthur on “Maude” (the other role Arthur will be forever remembered for) and with White on “Mama’s Family.” She starred on stage in “The Vagina Monologues,” among other plays, and in 2008 starred in a cable series called “Texas Sordid.”

“The Golden Girls” was an anomaly among TV shows in an age where the young audience was already courted for its spending power. It was a big hit for seven years and lives on mightily in syndication on Lifetime. Shows like that become national mantras for a reason, in this case, because the women were complex, funny and struggling with life issues that were familiar to anyone getting older, or younger people with parents. And that the women were portrayed by gifted, vivid actresses who remain hard to forget.

McClanahan had a sassiness about her, a certain shamelessness that refused to bow to age. She was going to be the prom queen for as long as they had proms and young guys with eyes that roved everywhere.

They’re almost all gone now. Arthur died last year, and Getty passed away the year before. All four actresses won Emmys for their roles at one time or another.

Only one of the Golden Girls remains standing, and that’s Betty White, who defies the rule. Rose may be memorable, but White goes beyond any television role. She is television, and was television, going back to her roles on radio, game shows, daytime soaps, trashy movies (she played a monster mom who controlled a deadly alligator), memorable commercials and, most recently, an acclaimed appearance as the oldest person to ever host “Saturday Night Live,” courtesy of a wild campaign on Facebook.

Those Golden Girls, they’re golden.

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Peter Orlovsky of the Beat Generation
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Peter Orlovsky died May 30 of lung cancer.

If you want to find Peter, really see him in sunshine and splendor, go to the National Gallery of Art’s West Building, where he remains luminous in black and white in the exhibition of beat poet and icon Allan Ginsberg’s photographs.

Orlovsky’s prominent presence in this exhibition — along with Ginsberg himself, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Gregory Corso — can be accounted for by the fact that he was, off and on, through thick and thin and other relationships, Ginsberg’s great love and companion for over 40 years.

In the exhibition, Ginsberg, in front of the camera and behind it, reigns supreme, as guru, jester, enthusiast supreme. Orlovsky, supine, up front with his stunning face, seems bemused, a kind of passive Pan to all the other great writers and cavorters. He was one of the true boys, like Neil Cassady or the often sullen Kerouac.

Orlovsky was, of course, more than Ginsberg’s muse and companion, even inspiration. He was a poet himself, and became quite a fine one, though never quite attained the quality or style that could blot out the literary sky like Ginsberg with his “Howl.” He published several books of poetry, including one with Ginsberg, “Straight Hearts Delight: Love Poems and Selected Letters.”

Ginsberg died in 1997. Orlovsky continued to write. Both appear very much alive in Ginsberg’s photos, which not only resurrects their life as a couple, but a whole culture that was counter to the Eisenhower’s placid small-town, suburban 1950s America long before there was a counter-culture that went by that name.
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Coach John Wooden
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John Wooden, who died at the fine age of 99, was the best basketball coach ever. Period.
Coaching the UCLA Bruins of the ’60s and ’70s, he won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, including seven in a row between1967 to 1973, the height of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton eras. He won 620 games in 27 seasons. His record of NCAA titles is not likely to be topped in the men’s game any time soon, if ever, given that most college players with an aptitude for the pros are drafted before becoming upperclassmen, and the kind of consistency and solidity provided by four-year players no longer exists.

Wooden, known as the Wizard of Westwood, a nickname he apparently hated, was not much for razzle-dazzle. In fact, he was both one of a kind and a throwback, a man who was deeply devoted to his religion and to his family in a way that would brook no hint that he was anything other than what he appeared to be. He wrote love letters to his wife for years after she passed away, and, speaking of his Christian faith, was famously quoted as saying that “If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.”

He coached teams, not individuals, even though he had spectacular stars among his list of players. He was no overnight sensation — he didn’t win his first NCAA title until his 16th year at UCLA — but by the end he had won a record 88 games in a row, 38 straight NCAA tournament games in a row and 98 straight home games.

The record also shows that he never made more than $35,000 a year. He obviously did not have an agent, never asked for a raise and turned down an offer to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Imagine all that.

What’s Happened to Sports?
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As everyone on the planet now knows, basketball superstar LeBron James decided to abandon the city of Cleveland, its team, the Cavaliers, and its loyal fan base as soon as his contract ran out. Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert called his departure a “cowardly betrayal.”. Former fans burned his number 23 jersey and stomped on cardboard cutouts of his image.

What is most surprising of all is that anyone could have expected any other outcome.

At the heart of organized professional sports is a tenuous balance between fans, players and owners. For the better part of the last century, team owners had the upper hand and could exercise monopoly control over its players. If a player was not satisfied with the team’s salary offer, he had no alternative except to sit out the season or play overseas. Team owners were also free to sell or trade player’s contracts with other teams, often without the player’s consent. This was commonly referred to as “the reserve clause,” which kept a player beholden for life to the team with whom they originally signed. This had the natural effect of keeping players’ salaries (and ticket prices) low. There was a sense of order to the league. Players tended to stay with teams, often for their entire careers, and fans could develop a loyalty and true attachment to them. It was a time when it was not uncommon for star players like Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron to spend virtually their entire baseball careers with one team. When a player did depart for another team, he was “traded“ for like value.

This comfortable system started to unravel when baseball player Curt Flood, a star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, refused to accept a trade to Philadelphia following the 1969 season, and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Though Flood’s legal case was ultimately unsuccessful, it encouraged other players in the league to begin a quest for free agency. Ultimately the reserve clause was struck down in 1975 when an arbitrator ruled that since pitchers Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith played for one season without a contract, they could become free agents. The decision essentially dismantled the reserve clause and opened the door to widespread free agency. Players in other sports demanded and ultimately received the right to negotiate with other teams at the expiration of their contracts. The result was predictable. Players salaries escalated to such a high altitude that some have even become team owners. In 1930, Babe Ruth was making $5,000 more than President Herbert Hoover. When asked by a reporter if he thought it was right to be making more than the President, Babe responded “Why not? I had a better year than he did.” LeBron James will roughly match the current President’s salary every two games.

Sadly for the fans, the breaking up of team cohesion has become the norm and their loyalties have been tested. Players today swap jerseys faster than Larry King changes wives. The advent of free agency inevitably tilted the balance of power in favor of those teams with the largest war chests and stretches fundamental principals of fairness. Players want to move to successful franchises, tilting the balance still further. Compared to what it was, the overall product is debased. Alas, most of us are too young to know that for sports fans, things used to be much better.

Behind the Lens
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I assure you that my images on this page are not the result of trick photography or Photoshop chicanery. That is indeed House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer locking hands with Republican Whip Eric Cantor. And that’s outspoken conservative Congresswoman Jean Schmidt having her softball signed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

There they were. Members of Congress of both parties wielding baseball bats, but not at each other.

For one entire evening, bipartisanship indeed reigned supreme as female members of Congress participated at the Second Annual Congressional Women’s Softball game at Guy Mason Park on June 16. The fundraiser raised money for the Young Survival Coalition, a breast cancer advocacy group. The D.C. Women’s Press Corps team came back from an early deficit to defeat the Congressional members squad 13-7 in a spirited match. It was much closer than the final score would indicate, with the Congressional team actually leading until the final inning against a Press team that was, on average, literally half their age.

It’s unfortunate that convivial Congressional events such as these are so rare. The “process” is partly to blame. Members of Congress require enormous quantities of cash to get re-elected. Fundraising demands that they spend a large amount time traveling back to their own districts, leaving less opportunity to socialize with their peers.

Apparently, the way to raise the big money these days is to appeal to the more extreme elements. Partisan acrimony seemed to reach a low point when, during the last Presidential State of the Union address, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson screamed “You lie!” Wilson promptly became a hero to the right wing, and millions of dollars poured into his coffers.

Joe Wilson’s remark was not the lowest point in Congressional incivility. That might have been in the spring of 1856, when another South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks, assaulted Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts literally on the floor of the United States Senate. Sumner had given a speech attacking Brooks’ relative, Senator Andrew Butler. A few days later, Brooks confronted Sumner at his writing desk in the Senate Chamber. Brooks said, “Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.” As Sumner began to stand up. Brooks began beating Sumner with his wooden walking cane which had a gold head. Sumner, trapped by his desk and blinded by his own blood, collapsed into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat Sumner until he broke his cane.

Other Senators rose to help Sumner but were blocked by fellow South Carolina Congressman Laurence M. Keitt, who took out a pistol, shouting “Let them be!” Sumner would be unable to return to his duties in the Senate for three years while he recovered. South Carolinians sent Brooks brand new canes with one bearing the inscription “Hit him again.” Brooks resigned his seat but his constituents, considering him a hero, promptly returned him to Congress.

It is no accident that Congress today has a favorability rating only slightly higher than that of British Petroleum.

As everyone knows, a filibuster is a form of parliamentary obstruction in which a lone member of a legislative body can delay or prevent a vote on a legislative measure. It is not new. One of the first known practitioners of the filibuster was the Roman senator Cato the Younger over 2,000 years ago. There was a rule at the time that all business in the Roman Senate had to be wrapped up by nightfall. With his long-winded speeches, Cato would stop a vote just by talking — and talking. Needless to say, Julius Caesar was not pleased.

Our legislative branch of government had worked reasonably well over the years precisely because the filibuster was only rarely invoked. A minority party that can keep its members in line has the power to stop any legislation or nomination in its tracks, which is what the Republicans have done on almost every occasion since Obama became president.

Under the rules of the U.S. Senate, any senator can speak on any subject unless three-fifths of the Senate (60 members) bring debate to a close by invoking cloture under Rule XXII. Changes to the Senate rules can be changed by a simple majority. Unfortunately, a rule change itself can be filibustered, which makes any change difficult. In the current environment when the majority party fears becoming the minority party, the prospect of eliminating the filibuster rule would seem remote at best.

Clearly this is not what our Founding Fathers intended. I do not suggest that the parties have to agree. Partisan differences are healthy necessities in an American democracy, but serious matters such as immigration, energy, our environment, the deficit and unemployment all demand immediate attention. In a rapidly changing environment, doing nothing is seldom a good option.

The filibuster rule is a purposeless artifact from another time and place. At Wimbledon and the World Cup elimination rounds, someone has to advance, and a tiebreaker is often used to establish a winner. Penalty kicks wouldn’t do too well in the Senate, but a simple up or down vote would work just fine.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that “in free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.” That’s a tall challenge, to be sure, but the harmony that prevailed on a Georgetown softball field offers the prospect that all things are possible. [gallery ids="99156,102854,102856" nav="thumbs"]

Turn up that ‘Stat, Stat!
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For D.C. residents wilting in 90-plus-degree days, stepping out of the heat can be a welcome relief. But chilly stores and restaurants are bringing winter back at great harm to our budget, bodies, and planet. Crank up your thermostats, Washingtonians, and rack up these benefits:

#1 An Accidental Bikini-Ready Bod — Georgetown saleswoman Durban Clarke is on an unintentional diet. “Normally I have a big ol’ sandwich for lunch,” she sighs languidly, withering in an 84-degree store with broken air conditioning. “Today I could barely finish a pear.” Not surprising: eating less and lighter is typical when hot. That’s useful information for locals trying to shed a few pounds before lounging in swimwear as well as others aiming to drop more. And the evidence is beyond anecdotal. A study in a 2006 International Journal of Obesity cites air conditioning as an important, often overlooked contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic. It’s time for Washingtonians to warm up — and slim down.

#2 Eliminating the Implicit Instruction: “Bring a Jacket, It’s 95 Degrees” —
Many workers must dress both for inside temperatures in the 60s or low 70s and sweltering outside air or suffer the consequences. For one Georgetown worker keeping warm starts at her core. “I wear a padded bra every day to work,” she confesses. But avoiding frequent battles over thermostat settings with her male coworkers requires even more — her chair holds a jacket and a sweater while her desk hides a space heater. Numerous other locals use their props in winter and summer with little basis. Four of five people around the world are comfortable between from about 76 and 89 degrees at a 92-degree outdoor temperature, according to analysis in the air conditioning book “Losing Our Cool” by Stan Cox.

#3 “It’s How Much?” (or Avoiding Statement Shock) —
It took the last seven summers to bring two 100-degree days but the mercury’s already reached 100 three times this year. And June featured more than twice the usual count of 90-degree days. The soaring heat is sending electricity bills skyward. Boosting the thermostat can keep them in check. Pepco recommends setting air conditioning to 78 degrees and using energy-efficient fans. “Every degree you raise your thermostat can result in a 5 percent savings on the cost of cooling your home,” says Clay Anderson, spokesman for the electric company which serves more than 750,000 Maryland and D.C. residents.

#4 Conserving Energy: It’s In Again — Conservation may not be as hip as it was in 1979 when solar panels topped the White House and jumpsuit-clad residents pored over electric bills. But the reasons to cut back are just as compelling. Local provider Pepco’s fuel mix relies much more on carbon-emitting sources (three-quarters overall, including 40 percent coal) than carbon-free (about one-quarter nuclear and renewables). And using carbon-producing energy can contribute to a nasty cycle where greater greenhouse gas emissions bring warmer temperatures which prompt more a/c use. Turning down the thermostat — particularly during hot daytime hours — can also help avoid electrical equipment failures. Make it warmer to shrink carbon footprints and lessen grid stress.

#5 (No More) “You’re Hot Then You’re Cold” —
So sings a furious Katy Perry afraid of being jilted at the altar. Frequent temperature hiccups might be easier on the emotions but they’re uncomfortable physically. In fact, a year after central air conditioning was installed in the U.S. Capitol, Rep. John Rankin rose to complain that the 15 to 20 degree temperature differential was too much. “This is a regular Republican atmosphere,” said the Mississippi Democrat, “and it’s enough to kill anyone if it continues.” In fact, surrounding temperatures rarely varied by 30-plus degrees until this century, and many signs show we aren’t made to duck in and out of cold spaces. The quick switch stresses out bodies that have to adjust their internal thermostat, which can bring on headaches and chills and lower immunity to colds.

Of course, the usual cautions apply. Stay hydrated. Be alert for symptoms that might indicate heat illness, particularly in vulnerable populations like seniors and children. But generally, boost those temps as an act of consideration for your coworkers and clients, and for people everywhere.