Martial Law in DC?

Directive Details Trinidad Checks - washingtonpost.com:

Directive Details Trinidad Checks
Questions Raised On Effectiveness, Legality of Stops

By Allison Klein and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 6, 2008; Page B01

When D.C. police begin stopping cars at a "checkpoint" this weekend in the Trinidad neighborhood, they will record all license plate numbers, verify residents' addresses and ask others for phone numbers of those they are visiting, according to a directive issued by Chief Cathy L. Lanier.

Lanier, who has been working on the "neighborhood safety zone" program for two months, said the checkpoints can expand to any neighborhood in response to violent crime. Police said it is a tool they plan to use to increase visibility, make arrests and gather intelligence.

Lanier's directive also says that anyone who does not give a reason for entering a designated safety zone may be turned away, said law enforcement sources who declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to release the directive. "Legitimate" purposes to be in the area include going to a doctor, church or community event or visiting friends or relatives, officials said. Individuals can show a flier for an event to gain entrance, for example.
ad_icon

Tomorrow's checkpoint will be in the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE.

Critics have questioned the program's effectiveness and lawfulness, and some police officers have quietly expressed reservations about conducting the stops.

American Civil Liberties Union leaders said they will observe the checkpoint Saturday and talk to motorists. Johnny Barnes, executive director of the ACLU's Washington office, said he will be there with an eye toward possible legal action.

"They seem so willing to cast aside cherished constitutional rights for quick fixes and lazy law enforcement," Barnes said.

But Lanier said the plan has passed muster with other top law enforcement officials in the District -- it was vetted by the U.S. attorney's office, and Interim Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said his office also approved the program.

Right, 'cause the Bush Administration is the obvious place to turn to when you're unsure of the Constitutionality of an action...

questions from ladyprivy

1) Where did you and Cyd first meet?

Seems to be the most popular question I get asked.  I'll just direct you to the previous one...

2) How many instruments do you play? At what age did you pick up your first instrument and what was it?

There were keyboards (piano and a cheap and LOUD air organ) around my house all the time as a kid, but I didn't do anything seriously until 5th grade, taking up the clarinet.  Switched to bass clarinet in 8th grade.  Quit that after graduating (oh the irony - I got interested in JMU because of their marching band, then never joined).

Everything I do at faire has been built up in the last 10 years (Tambourine, multiple whistles).  I also have a number of other instruments (bass guitar, bazouki, more keyboards) that I'll take more seriously when the legs tell me "ok, that's it, you're done."

3) What goals in life have you not met yet and which one to you do you want to meet in the next 5 years?

A kid.

yeah, that pretty much covers it.

My only other goal in life is to somehow have more free weekends and free time, but

1. that has proven to be utterly unattainable, and
2. goal #1 is a blunt contradiction, as there's no such thing as a free weekend after that...
   

4) What was the first Ren Faire you attended?

MDRF in '93 is the first any would recognize, but my 9th grade English teacher used to host one in the school cafeteria for all freshman students (he only stopped when they bumped him up to teaching 12th grade English).  I visited MDRF in '93 and '94, one day only, and by 95 was working it as a dancer.  I'm about to enter my 14th season, and Cat & Fiddle's 8th.

5) I think this is going to be a question that I ask everybody. What would you do if you won the million dollar lotto?

First get into the argument with faireraven over "pay regularly" (which guarantees we get the whole amount) vs "lump sum" which is usually a cut (and will get cut again by taxes).

Second is to pay off all the debts and set aside some as a safety-savings net for my parents' IRA.

Third will be new cars and start looking for a house.

Fourth, after we have the house, then we'll talk new furniture.

Oh, and then I'll go buy all of the Celtic CD's I'm behind on in my collection..by flying to Ireland to get them. :)

well, there's an hour i fucking want back...

I don't profane my subject line often, so if I do, there's only one reason: Microsoft.

My old dvd-writer seemed to be having problems and was causing my box to utterly reboot as soon as a disc was inserted.  assuming it was the drive (and not the power-supply - I haven't ruled that out), I bought an upgrade, only it meant my drive went from an IDE to a SATA.

Microsoft Windows, in its infinite wisdom, decided this was a "significant hardware change" and forced me to reactivate.

It then utterly failed on me in actually giving me the proper numbers I needed to give to the telephone people for this thing to work.

This, of course, took 3 tries of getting to someone able to actually do anything about it.

An hour on there, trying to finish getting the system to take the driver for the new dvd-rw and then letting him go through a few hoops and bam, I have a license again.

Only it's different enough that it's thrown AVG-Free off (and they don't seem to be in the mood, online-wise, to be giving away AVG-free licenses anymore).

As I said, I've not actually stuck a disc in there to see if its a power problem and not a drive problem.  Hopefully not, 'cause the store just closed and that means I'm w/out a dvd-writer for another day (I won't say the money on the dvd-drive i got was wasted 'cause i do have a spare enclosure so the old one can go to work, where that dell p.o.s. won't play dvds or dvd-roms worth a shit).

update: drive seems fine now so i'm good to go...to the pub...