DC MONDAY

Stupid City Council Tricks - There's a plan afoot, thanks to Vincent Gray, to name a portion of 15th Street SE as Hal Gordon Way. As Jim Abely told the council in testimony: "Let me begin by stating that Hal Gordon was a very good man, and a plaque commemorating his community service and his undisputed decency and valuable service would be appropriate somewhere. But the whole process of renaming streets for good citizens is just plain dumb. There are not enough streets in D.C. The process of renaming streets and buildings is too political and is going too far. . . . It's silly. If you want to commemorate Mr. Gordon, you can put up a plaque for the man somewhere.". . . To read something about Mr. Gordon other than a sign saying "Hal Gordon Way," check out this article in the Hill Rag

Washingtonian - Four guests at the Omni Shoreham Hotel will be living large this January. The hotel's 44th Commander-in-Chief Package, priced at a whopping $440,000, includes lots of bells and whistles to make its four-night stay for the inauguration as deluxe as possible. Guests will stay in the two-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot Shoreham Presidential suite. It includes living and dining rooms, a library, a full kitchen, and a balcony. They'll be treated to private breakfasts and an in-room dinner with entertainment by political satirist Mark Russell. Because tickets for four to the swearing-in ceremony are included, the hotel will make sure that its VIP guests are well coiffed and outfitted for the event: They'll enjoy a pre-inauguration makeover by Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Salon & Spa, a $44,000 shopping spree from the Lambros Jewelry Inauguration Collection, and personalized president and first lady cologne and perfume. Getting to and from Washington won't be a problem either: The hotel will arrange a private jet for the guests' arrival and departure. And when they leave, they'll walk out the door with a puppy of their choice-yes, a puppy.

Obama is having a bad effect on at least one other politician. When questioned why he hadn't voted on a controversial confirmation of DC's attorney general, Kwame Brown told Washington's City Paper: "I mean, just like we have a president-elect who made many present votes, this was not a vote about-you know, people wanted to make this about the mayor and the council." If that isn't quite clear he went on for over three hundred words of similar garble. One reader reacted, "You know, maybe I was being too harsh on Michael Brown. He's a completely weak-willed, crony-loving, anti-urbanism empty suit just like Kwame, but at least he's succinct in his vapidness. Kwame takes 100 words to say the same amount of nothing that Michael dispenses with a "I don't know yet" or "We'll see" or "I haven't made that assessment."

Liz F. Kay, Baltimore Sun- Activists say they still aren't getting complete information from state police about 53 people identified as possible terrorists during a covert operation in 2005 and 2006, despite pledges of cooperation from the O'Malley administration. They say they'll keep demanding documents and are considering legal action. "We are nowhere near full disclosure of what they did, why they did it and who they did it to," ACLU attorney David Rocah said. . . Police had no evidence of potential illegal acts by the protesters, which is the legal standard for launching such an investigation. Names of protesters were entered into a terrorist database that was shared with other agencies. . . The ACLU said that the heavily redacted documents leave out basic information and other details that could reflect unfavorably on police. "It's information that is potentially politically embarrassing ... but it is not legally withheld," Rocah said. . .

Gary Stager - Here is a most stunning principle of the school the Obama children and Biden grandchildren will be attending. . . Wikipedia: "The school does not rank its students, as this conflicts with the Quaker Testimony of Equality." . . What? Not ranking students? No winners or losers? No AYP? Where is the accountability in that? Perhaps there are other ways of identifying educational accomplishment? . . . You wouldn't think so if you listened to President-elect Obama speak about public education.