NEWS FROM D.C.

D.C. Tied With Seattle as Top City for Young People in Recession

Photo by Mr. T in DC

The Wall Street Journal has one of their career trends by ordinal list pieces today on where young people in the United States are deciding to move during the recession, and once again Washington, D.C. is at the top of the list. We've heard almost all of this before, but here's why the newspaper says the D.C. area is the best option for young job seekers:

Government hiring is projected to grow fast, and jobs in lobbying, aerospace, defense contracting and professional services are also a draw. Mr. DeVol calls Washington the national leader in high-tech services, surpassing Silicon Valley. Washington's 4,000-plus nonprofits hold appeal for service-minded youth. And amid rising regulation of financial markets, says Barbara Lang, president of the DC Chamber of Commerce, "much of Wall Street is now moving to K Street."

No big arguments from us here, though we can appreciate finally seeing a little hedging on the sustainability of the "so many government jobs" argument at the end of the D.C. blurb, too. At some point, the federal government is going to have to make cuts, just like all state and local governments have been doing for the last year or so.

Not quite sure how we feel about being scored as "a tie" with that *other* Washington city, Seattle, though. They may have plenty of high-tech jobs and tasty coffee and outdoorsy charm, but surely the endless, soul-crushing rain and gray skies have to be a factor here.

ORIGINAL STORY HERE

LA Times: 'Redskins' is no honor, it's an insult

I've often been hesitant to say that I am a true "Redskins" fan, because while I am a big fan of the team that plays at in Landover and calls our nation's capital home, I absolutely loath the name "Redskins." It is so offensively racist, and I have no idea why it hasn't been changed. They changed the Bullets to the Wizards because DC had too many homicides. We are the nation's capital. What does it tell you when the most profitable team in our nation's capital is a racist name. I believe it was Chris Rock who made the comparison that the Washington Redskins was exactly the same as have a team called the Newark N!ggers.

I really hope some of the Redskins players stand up and speak out about this.

Here is a piece written by Bill Plaschke of the LA Times:

On a Saturday night in New York, the sports world vilifies Serena Williams for raining threats upon a line judge.

Yet a day later across the river, the same sports world celebrates a team whose nickname is considered a threat to an entire ethnic group.

Redskins.

A pro football season begins with two noted players banished to the sidelines for "conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and confidence in, the National Football League."

Yet that same league supports a team whose entire identity is forged through a symbol of detrimental conduct known as racism.

Redskins.

It remains one of the great mysteries in sports, a 77-year-old crime that remains largely ignored and purposely unsolved.

How does a team from the nation's capital, supported by a fan base of some of the nation's greatest thinkers, maintain a nickname that is the Native American equivalent to the N-word?

Redskins?

"It is the worst thing in the English language you can be called if you are a native person," said Suzan Shown Harjo, a Native American writer and public policy advocate who is the lead plaintiff in one of the most compelling lawsuits in sports history.

Seventeen years after challenging the Washington Redskins trademark, Harjo and six others have renewed their fight, petitioning the Supreme Court to examine a lower-court ruling that denied their challenge on a technicality.

It was announced Monday that Harjo's group will appeal the decision that their challenge was made too late and falls outside the statute of limitations.

The Redskins, named in 1933, were registered as a trademark during a vastly different racial climate in 1967.

Harjo's group challenges that, now and then, the trademark violates the Lanham Act, which bars trademarks that "disparage" people living or dead.

She's on time. Of the several high-profile Native American nicknames still alive in sports, nothing is more clearly disparaging than this one.

While the Braves, Indians, Chiefs and Blackhawks all describe a group of people, the Redskin is the clear slur of an individual.

Look it up. It is listed as "offensive" in most dictionaries, and as the name given an Indian hunter's bounty in several historical publications.

"It is basically characterizing a person by their skin," Harjo said. "How wrong is that?"

The NFL and the Redskins counter with an argument found on Page 326 of the team's media guide, citing that the word "Redskin" actually refers to the red paint used on the skin of Indian warriors.

A league spokesman said they stand by the Redskins in this battle and, in fact, the NFL has paid much of the Redskins' legal fees.

Amazing, isn't it, how the sports world demands civility and good conduct only as long as it doesn't get in the way of tradition? When it comes to Native American mascots, insensitivity dies especially hard.

Chief Illiniwek has been banned from the University of Illinois, yet fans still stand up during halftime of football games and chant his name during the traditional time for his appearance.

Some fans at otherwise educated Dartmouth and Stanford, even though they have long since banned their Indian mascots, still show up at games with painted faces on their shirts.

"People lose their sense of discernment when it comes to sports," Harjo said. "With this particular issue, people just lose their minds."

Particularly in pro sports, and particularly in Washington, where one man's insult has become another man's birthright, and rationalizations run rampant.

It's stunning how many people there will insist that the word "Redskins" pays tribute to Native Americans . . . even though none of those people are Native American.

"They say, 'You're being honored' . . . we say, 'We're being offended,' " explained Harjo. "They say honored. We say offended. Then they just tell us to shut up."

Unlike the Seminoles of Florida State, there is no tribe that supports "Redskin." Unlike with some other mascots such as Warriors, there are no Native American groups that are even lukewarm about it.

"All national Indian groups support us," said Harjo, who is president of the Morning Star Institute, a Washington-based native cultural organization.

There is, in fact, precedent for changing the Redskins mascot, as it has already been deleted from major-college sports with little impact.

Miami of Ohio has become the RedHawks, and it didn't seem to bother quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The University of Utah has become the Utes, who weren't any less tough when they nearly stole a national football championship last year.

The name can be changed. The name should be changed. There is not a bigger certifiable slur in sports. There is nothing even close.

And don't even try to compare this to the Fighting Irish, OK?

If you saw a Native American on the street, would you call that person a redskin?

"It's like putting Aunt Jemima on a helmet," Harjo said.

There has long been an argument that young native Americans don't mind being used as sports symbols, but Harjo isn't buying that as a factor.

"Lots of people are saying, 'Just let us have our gambling and we'll stay out of the way,' " she said. "That doesn't make it right."

Some say Redskins owner Daniel Snyder will never make it right because it will cost too much money in merchandising. But imagine the riches he would reap with new apparel.

Some say NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would never dare mess with one of the league's cornerstone franchises. But what better way to cement his growing legacy as a curator of equality and fairness?

Of course, it is a formidable task, fighting both men.

"We aren't just fighting Coke, we're fighting Pepsi backed by Coke," Harjo said.

And, indeed, it is a fight they lose every day.

"We are the invisible population," she said of the approximately 4 million Native Americans. "So racism against our population is also invisible."

Then again, there is this:

The original lawsuit was filed in 1992, after the Redskins' Super Bowl victory over the Buffalo Bills. At the time, the Redskins had appeared in four Super Bowls in the previous 10 years.

In the 17 years since, they have appeared in exactly zero Super Bowls.

Hail to the what, exactly?

John Forte at Club Liv in DC

John Forte' Live TONIGHT

Fugees Camp affiliate/producer John Forte performs live. Performing some of the classics and also songs from his most recent highly anticipated release.

Liv
2001 11th St, NW
Washington, 20001

Early Bird Tickets available for a limited time at $12

http://johnfortedc.eventbrite.com/

Daily Show: Iranians Support the GOP

DC shoutout.

WP: Appeals Court Sides With Team In Suit Challenging Trademark

I am a devoted Redskins fan, though I have to admit that throughout the years, the most disappointing thing about the team has not been their failure to get past the first round of the play-offs or develop successful draft prospects or even negotiate adequate deals with free agents, but the fact that they are STILL called the REDSKINS. DC changed the name of the Washington Bullets to the Wizards because DC was too violent. Several college teams have toned down their Native American mascots to make them more dignified. There are a number of professional and college teams with Native American mascots, such as the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Florida Seminoles, etc. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is even endearing. But the REDSKINS? Seriously? REDskins? We are the nation's capitol. Foreign dignitaries visit DC on a daily basis. REDSKINS? South Africa would still be under sanctions if Cape Town's professional cricket team was called the Bantu.

I'm not asking for anything crazy, but the DC government should urge the Redskin's ownership to change the name of the team if for nothing more, for posterity. I'm only 1/16 Native American, but as a person of color, I think any mascot specifically referring to an ethnicity, race, religion, etc is offensive. Imagine the Newark Niggers. Seriously, REDSKINS?

WP:

A federal appeals court yesterday handed the Washington Redskins another victory in their long-running legal dispute with Native American activists over the team's name.

The appeals court did not address whether the name was offensive but upheld a federal judge's ruling last year that a Native American man had waited too long to challenge six Redskins trademarks.

An attorney for the activists, Philip J. Mause, said he was reviewing the opinion and had not decided whether to appeal.

His clients "are very frustrated that it has taken so long to get the legal system to come to grips with this and to come up with a definitive resolution," he said.

Attorneys for the National Football League franchise say the name is a sign of honor but are also fighting to protect millions of dollars' worth of sales of Redskins merchandise. If the team had lost in court, it could have continued to use the name on Redskins paraphernalia but would have faced a tougher time preventing merchants from infringing on its trademarks.

The dispute started in 1992, when seven Native American activists challenged the trademarks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 1999, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board sided with the activists, ruling that the team had no right to trademark the name. Pro-Football Inc., the team's corporate owner, appealed to federal court.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with the team, ruling that the activists had not produced enough evidence to show the name was so insulting that it could not be protected by a trademark. The judge also found that the activists had waited too long to file their challenge. An appeals court in 2005 asked the judge to revisit the delay issue because one activist, Mateo Romero, might have legal standing. He was born in 1966.

Kollar-Kotelly ruled in July that Romero was well aware of the Redskins name before he turned 18, eight years before he filed the complaint with the other activists.

The judge found that the delay unfairly penalized the Redskins, who invested millions of dollars marketing the team during that eight-year span.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday upheld Kollar-Kotelly's decision.

"Eight years is a long time -- a delay made only more unreasonable by Romero's acknowledged exposure to various Redskins trademarks well before reaching" 18, wrote Judge David S. Tatel, who was joined in the 10-page opinion by Chief Judge David B. Sentelle and Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson.

"We thus think it neither a stretch of the imagination nor an abuse of discretion to conclude that Pro-Football might have invested differently in its branding of the Redskins and related entities had Romero acted earlier to place the trademark in doubt," Tatel wrote.

Robert Raskopf, an attorney for the team, said the decision "was a great win. It's wonderful for the fans of the club, the team and Dan Snyder," its owner.

Suzan Shown Harjo, one of the activists, said a group of younger Native Americans was ready to challenge the trademarks if any appeals are unsuccessful.

Harjo is president of the Morning Star Institute, a national Indian rights organization.

Big day for WALE

DMV native WALE is releasing his debut album TODAY. The glorious period of free Wale mixtapes is over.

FLIER THAN THE REST OF 'EM
STILL GOT MY NIKES ON.

Am I becoming a fan of hockey? Maybe of DC having ONE winning team?

The Great Ones Get It
By Michael Wilbon

Ted Leonsis recalls the return trip from the NHL awards ceremony last June.

Alex Ovechkin had won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the most outstanding player chosen by the NHL Players Association, the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top point scorer and the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league's top goal scorer. There was so much hardware, it nearly didn't fit on the plane.

As thrilled as Leonsis was that one of his team's players had been so decorated, Leonsis said to Ovechkin: "Do you want to be like Charles Barkley, a great player and a big personality who makes a lot of money and is loved by everybody? Or do you want to be like Michael Jordan and win championships?" Asked after Monday night's Game 2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins if he recalled Ovechkin's response, Leonsis said, "Alex knows that a place in history only comes with winning the Stanley Cup."

Ovechkin's real and more meaningful response to that question has come in recent playoff games, particularly Monday night's three-goal outburst that led the Washington Capitals to a 2-0 series lead over Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby scored all three of the Penguins' goals, but there was a bodaciousness about Ovechkin's performance that right now separates him from every player in the game, including the gifted Crosby.

You can't expect Ovechkin to explain it in his still developing English, but there's something universally understandable about "give me the puck and get the hell out of my way." Or as Leonsis said late Monday night: "Sid is the best white wine the restaurant has to offer. Alex is a Denver Slammer, a shot of tequila in a glass of champagne. You whack the glass so that the fizz is coming up and you just shoot it."

Crosby is a wonderfully skilled player, technically superior.

Ovechkin is a beast. He explodes, like a tornado. Ovechkin is scary. His shot is scary. There's an aggression about him, a barely controlled fury that Crosby, great as he is, doesn't have. Nobody else has it. Watching Ovechkin on Monday night reminded me of watching Bobby Hull play for the Chicago Blackhawks when I was a kid.

He's the fastest, toughest guy with the biggest shot, the fewest teeth.

Every great player wants to win. Ovechkin wants to beat you down.

Continues............

D.C. Gay Marriage Measure Set for Mayor's Signature

This an important first step for DC, and for a Federal protection of same-sex marriage. This isn't about defining marriage, this is about civil and human rights.

Washington Post:

An overwhelming majority on the D.C. Council voted today to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, sending the District deeper into the national debate and galvanizing supporters on both sides of the issue.

The measure, approved by a vote 12 to 1, now goes to Mayor Arian M. Fenty (D), a supporter of gay marriage.

If Fenty signs it, the District will put the same-sex marriage issue directly before the Congress. Under Home Rule, the District's laws are subject to a 30-day congressional review period.

After the vote, a large crowd of opponents, led by local ministers, began yelling "Get them off the council!" referring to the members who supported the measure. After the vote, a large crowd of opponents, led by local ministers, began yelling "Get them off the council!" referring to the members who supported the measure. The crowd caused such a ruckus that security guards and D.C. police officers had to be called in to restore order.

"We need a new Council. They are destroying our youth," shouted Paul Trantham, who lives in Southeast. "Every minister who fears God should be here. This is disrespectful to the nation's Capitol. There is nothing equal about same-sex marriage."

Another protester, C.T. Riley, added: "This is not over. We are going to the hill with this issue." Continues......

DCist: Teabaggers Denied Their Hilarious Metaphor at Lafayette Park

This year's most double entendre-rich protest movement arrived in front of the White House this morning without the benefit of the objects of ridicule themselves. As the Post reported earlier, the so-called Tea Party protesters were greeted with bad news while they set up for planned protests at Lafayette Square and the U.S. Treasury building today: they didn't have permission to dump a million tea bags in the park, and they lacked a permit to demonstrate in front of Treasury. No massive public teabagging allowed, after all.

Still, the Lafayette Square event began on time, drawing at least 500 people in the first hour, despite the rain. DCist stopped by to survey the scene, which took on the tone of an anti-Obama, pro-capitalism protest, with relatively few actual teabags in sight. The rally is planned to continue until 3 p.m., but it's an awfully cold and wet day for teabagging outside, so we'll have to check back later to see how long the protesters make it. In our experience, teabagging isn't an activity many people can keep up all day.





The hypocrisy of the right astounds me.