Today, the DCist has a posting about the 11th Street Bridge renovations. Thankfully, many folks commented on the need to save the Anacostia Community Boathouse. Three of the four designs for the new 11th Street Bridge would destroy the boathouse, just as the second building is being realized.

As I mentioned, I’ve been rowing this summer. The Anacostia Community Boathouse is where we row. As the name implies, the boathouse is run and maintained by the community. Member organizations volunteer their time and dollars to keep this resource on the Anacostia River running day to day. The boathouse in return has given back to DC’s residents, through rowing camps and learn to row programs aimed towards those who might not otherwise have the opportunity.

Many clubs and schools call the Anacostia Community Boathouse home (notice, lots of schools and lots of dot-orgs):

• American University
• Bishop Ireton High School
• Capital Rowing Club
• DC Strokes
• Gonzaga High School
• Holy Cross High School
• National Capital Area Women’s Paddling Association
• Wakefield High School

So, you may ask, why not just move it? Ummm… where? With what money? And who is responsible to create a facility as well realized as what has taken almost 2 decades? A quick visit to the boathouse any morning or evening during the week will show how irreplaceable it is. In the short time I’ve been hanging around the boathouse, I’ve seen how central “Community” is to the Anacostia Community Boathouse, both literally and figuratively.

It is important that the Anacostia Community Boathouse survive, not just for my purely selfish benefit (though that should be enough), but for the benefit of all residents of Washington. More information is available at the ACBA’s website, and at Save the ACBA. In addition there is an online petition. The deadline for public comments is August 28th.

Oh, Dubya… what a lousy pick in Harriet Miers (a.k.a. Mai-Tai). She’s not exactly a legal heavyweight, especially compared to Roberts. She is proving to be much easier to parody and snark than Roberts (even with the whole gay thing):

• Harriet Miers Blog!!!


• Harriet Miers’s Extreme Makeover


• Bush Appoints 60-Year-Old Virgin to Supreme Court

BTW… my vote in the vote for the doppelganger of the pit bull in size 6 shoes: Jerri

(Image shamelessly lifted from The View Through The Windshield)

From Wonkette: “U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.”

I’m just in shock. No wonder he wasn’t prepared for Katrina. He couldn’t even figure out he should take a whizz before meeting with, oh, the ENTIRE WORLD. OK, fine it was just Security Council… but I bet Blair made a quick loo break beforehand.

And better yet, he felt the need to share with Condi. He could have said that he thought it would be a good time for a 5 minute break, and not shared quite so much. I guess it could be worse… something like “I need to yuze the shitt’r”

Bush is an idiot.