Weekly Washington: But the dank, Moe? The dank!

photo uploaded to flickr by QuickLunarCopJ. Freedom du Lac, besides having one of the best names in journalism, had a good write up of the tour guide license lawsuit. Constitutional scholars are mixed on the merits of the case, which, of course, is why Constitutional scholars have jobs. My favorite part: plantiff in the case and Segs in the City co-owner Tonia Edwards refers to the Old Post Office as "the second-tallest building in Washington."  Except, it's not.

It's WAY too detailed to go into here, but DC has split the baby in half in the long running debate as to whether it's Meridian Hill or Malcolm X Park. Whatever, don't sweat it, but go check it out if you're in town. It's one of the city's great urban parks. (Prince of Petworth)

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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 licenseing 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 aparently 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."

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Weekly Washington: Truthiness Restored!

photo uploaded to flickr by Ethan.KStephen Colbert and John Stewart announced last night that they will hold competing rallies on October 30th on the National Mall. You may recall that I asked my Congresswoman about this very topic this weekend. John Stewart is asking everyone to bring their indoor voices to his Rally to Restore Sanity in the shadow of the Washington Monument, while Stephen Colbert will March to Keep Fear Alive, thereby protecting Liberty and Freedom. I'll be honest, I don't make it many rallies (even one's I agree with). I'll probably be breaking that tradition this October, assuming the National Park Service manages to be more effective than the DMV. (TBD)

The whole Tour Guide license thing being unconstitutional thing keeps plugging along. Matthew Yglesias has a great discussion of it on his blog, from a Libertarian perspective. Channel 7 ran a story on it last night, although they incorrectly the test is "new" (it's been around for decades). And my original post has now been cross posted to Greater Greater Washington.

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Tour Guide Licenses Unconstitutional? Maybe!

Washington, DC is one of a handful of cities that requires tour guide licenses. As a guide in DC, I'm required to fill out some forms, pay some fees, and sit down for a written test. Thanks to some recent reforms within the District's Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), this a relatively painless process. I did it in DC and New York, and am none the worse for wear.

But interestingly enough, this process is under attack. Today, the Institute for Justice, a Libertarian think-tank is suing the city in Federal Court on behalf of two Segs in the City tour guides, alleging that the process in unconstitutional. They even have a snazzy video:

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