Orange Line Metro, Washington DC

I'm fairly certain that some of the folks that drive the trains on the DC metro are stoned on the job. IT turns out to have been a good guess on my part, as apparently Thrasher knew a guy who worked down there and knows some pretty embarrassing stuff about the way the metro is run. For anyone taking the rail for any significant distance into the city, your first hint will likely be the asynchronous acceleration and breaking maneuvers that are often performed as if there were no human passengers on board but rather crates of meat an cheese on their way to a refrigeration factory before a massive industrial cheese-spoilage disaster occurs.

Aside from the joys of public transport, I had the opportunity to watch Charlie Wilson's War this afternoon, to which I have only to say that it was a fairly relevant and poignant piece of historical fiction to have come out last year and a good stab at a lot of the more boneheaded cold war war policy. The fact remains however that Tom Hanks is still a giant chode who ends up overacting his roles while somehow simultaneously failing to keep the same faux accent consistently through his films. I was pretty surprised myself to learn that a 1980's Good ol' boy House Rep from the 2nd Texas had the uncanny ability to randomly entertain constituetns with a flawless Tom Hanks impersonation. It must have been great fun at fundraising dinners.

It just seems all the more amusing lately seeing as how I'm surrounded by the DC vibe if super-serious political hardass-ery in between the skechy street vendors (be it Arab dudes selling questinable hot dogs and "FBI: Female Body Inspector" T-Shirts, or Black dudes dealing boxes of Foakly's and making you listen to thier rhymes) and those suit-coated shitheads at the National Gallery who lean over and bark "SHHHHHHHHHHH!!" in a condesending manner with their finger over thier lips when you're just trying to discuss a fucking Monet painting with a friend.

[Hand drawn cartoon of the Mall looking east]