Weekly Washington: Same Old, Same Old

photo uploaded to flickr by J-BlueDiscussion continues to swirl around the Constitutionality of Washington, DC's nearly 100 year old tour guide licensing program. The Institute of Justice's Robert McNamara laid out their position againt licenses in last week's Washington Post's All Opinion's Are Local column, and the Guild of Professional Tour Guide's President Jim Heegeman rebutted in this week's (WaPo Tag Fail: listed under "crime"). Both gentlemen further discussed the issue in person on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. The Washington Post apparently clipped and pasted the Institute of Justice's press releases in writing this Op-Ed, which must have taken as much as thirty minutes to research and write. John Kelly calls the Institute's lawsuit "ridiculously apocalyptic in its descriptions of the dangers of D.C.'s regs, raising the specter of taxi drivers being thrown in jail for pointing out the Washington Monument."

Arlington National Cemetery continues to try and dig themselves out of the very large hole they are in. Un-freaking-believable, really. Rumors continue to swirl that management of the Cemetery may shift from the Department of the Army to the Department of Veteran's Affairs. Sadly, that may be the best route; the Army certainly dropped the ball here and Veteran's Affairs has experience running 131 other National Cemeteries throughout the country. (WaPo)

In more positive news, 1Lt Vernon Baker was laid to rest at Arlington this Friday. Lt Baker was the only living African American recipient of the Medal of Honor from World War II. (TBD)

I made the very serious mistake (from a productivity standpoint) this week of following FindAGrave.com on twitter. Who knew that Bob Fosse dropped dead of a heart attack at the National Theater right here in DC? 

I hope the Capitol Police do a better job of protecting the Capitol than managing their finances. (Politico)

The Capitol Visitor's Center staff voted to unionize this week, with a vote of 96 for and 33 against. Any bets that the Architect of the Capitol wishes they had been a little less stingy about what clothes the Capitol Guides could wear? (WaPo)

And finally, Union Station continues to undergo renovations, including their infamous bathroom (not a family friendly link, btw). (WCP)