Have You Been To Washington D.C. Lately - It Is A City Under....

siege. Barriers everywhere. Disguised to look like they are part of the scenery. Tours that one was once able to do by just being there now need to be scheduled. Security systems in virtually every building. Police presence everywhere. Jittery. Suspicious. Paranoid.

Somebody needs to photograph all the different looking barriers in this city under siege. These pics would tell the story.

One real interesting note - I passed by Rahm Emanuel's office in the Longworth House Office Building and had an experience that I've only had when I stood in front of the Viet Nam War Memorial.

Outside of his office are a series of tripods with posters of pictures of soldiers that have been killed in this so-called war. He calls it "Faces Of The Fallen" - "Let Us Never Forget".

Seven pics per row - six rows of pics per poster - and they line the long hallway from the Congressman's office. My eyes teared up and I couldn't speak. It had the impact of standing in front of the Viet Nam War Memorial. It drove home - at least for me - that we need to bring those brave souls - that are still there - home.

I went into Rep. Emanuel's office and commended them on this fitting tribute to the fallen - and was told that it wasn't even up to date - that they were working on additional posters to display.

No Tony Snow - it's not "just a number". This is real and it is a tragedy. Go up to the Longworth and take a look for yourself - and then tell me it's "Just A Number".

Rahm Emanuel should be encouraged to take this display on the road - all over the U.S. - just like the touring Viet Nam Memorial Miniwall.

I think if he did this - it could turn the tide of this occupation and overturn this corrupt administration.

so the President might be safe but the rest of ordinary Americans are screwed....

The ports are porous, the borders are porous....you would think that they are prepared for a serious march on DC by the citizens of this country.....

when I visited DC it looked like a perfectly groomed city. No more.

Some who did this would be under arrest very shortly

He is the most hated man on the entire planet. He is loathed by BILLIONS.

Hopefully the conditions outside of Green Zone USA doesn't get as back as those outside of Green Zone Iraq.

everywhere.

I've not been in a long time. But a client, who is a lawyer on a senate committee, says that there are loudspeakers everywhere and it isn't uncommon for them to come on and shout, as he paraphrases it, "Run for your lives!"

He says that everyone is in a constant anxious state of fear. I told him he should get out because, from the perspective of the "real world" outside the bubble, he's turning into a delusional paranoid.

I probably will never go there again if it is like that.

DC is actually in much much better condition than it was 6 years ago. Neighborhoods that no tourist would have dared enter then now have replaced their vacant and dilapidated buildings with cafes and restaraunts. Murders are down from 239 in 2000 to 194 last year, a drop of nearly 20% (and far below the high 400's of the early 90's.). Most city services are at least moderately well run, with far less crony patronages than was present a half decade ago.

There are, of course, streets closed and barriers erected around a few blocks around the WH and Capitol. And it's pretty damn hot and humid, traffic still sucks, the Public Schools are still failing, and there's very little room for a middle class, but all and all it's better than it was.