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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - I’m not sure where President George Bush was noon last Wednesday, but I do know where he should have been — watching lovely women performing seductive, might I say entrancing, dances from the part of the world he keeps threatening.
Dressed in flowing silk dresses, flickering with sequins, ringing with tiny bells, the dancers stooped and twirled and mimicked the making of silk in their native lands in and around Persia — what we now call Iran.
“We call ourselves the ‘Axis of Evil’ dance company,” artistic director Laurel Victoria Gray told the noontime crowd that had come to see her troupe. Around 150 people sat in the brand new Sidney Harman Center on F Street for the first Happenings at the Harman.
Laurel Gray was joking, of course. Gray’s group is the Silk Road Dance Ensemble, an award-winning, tiny company based in Washington. But her dancers do perform pieces from lands along the ancient Silk Road, from China to Europe. These lands might be better called Bloody Road these days; they cut through Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
All joking aside, the dance ensemble’s appearance last week at the Harmon was a sort of cultural explosion in downtown Washington, thanks to the expanded Shakespeare Theatre. Last month, the theater company opened its new Harman Center for the Arts, around the corner from its original Lansburgh Theatre. This month, the arts company unveiled its weekly free performance programs, every Wednesday at noon.
“This whole neighborhood is alive, daytime and nighttime,” Shakespeare artistic director Michael Kahn told me.
Indeed, the part of town we describe loosely as Chinatown, Gallery Place and Penn Quarter has become the cultural centerpiece of the Washington region. It now has a half-dozen theaters, from the National and Warner to Woolly Mammoth and the two Shakespeares; the Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum; plenty of art galleries, movie theaters and the Spy Museum. The Verizon Center is celebrating its 10th year.
“When I came to Washington, this part of town was a ruin,” Kahn said. “No one was down here 15 years ago when we opened the Lansburgh Theatre.”
True enough. Seventh Street was Washington’s market street 100 years ago. It became an urban dead zone until the cultural community resurrected it in the past two decades. “We’re right in the middle of where we’re supposed to be,” Kahn says.
I caught up with some of the Silk Road dancers after the performance. Some had family roots along the Silk Road; some were intrigued by the dances and the clothes. Most were returning to the normal lives of law offices or classrooms or caring for children.
But everyone who saw them perform was touched by the beauty and grace of cultures that have been making song and dance thousands of years along the Silk Road.
Perhaps President Bush should invite them to the White House.
Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at hjaffe@washingtonian.com.
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Examiner Reader Larry Dee said:
If DMV is that much of aproblem. Try going to the Moon.
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Bill Monroe said:
DMV has a long long way to go. They sent me an automated speeding ticket for a scooter which doesn't belong to me. Now its a day off of work (who pays for that??) to show those morons how to use a computer. Please stop hiring crack heads.
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
You can already schedule a car inspection online!
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Give me a break! DC's DMV is a joke. I've never had anything but difficulty in dealing with them. It started with having tickets assigned to me that weren't mine. My car was leased. DC identifies the owner as the lease company but apparently does nothing to designate the lessee even though we all have different license plates. So lucky me, if you leased a car from the same company as the one I did I may have your ticket from a violation recorded at traffic cameras. Rather than assign it to the license plate holder they picked someone and more than my fair share where assigned to me. It took years to correct. It doesn't stop there either. I like many have many stories to share and none of them pleasant. I've never met a DC DMV civil servant that wasn't smacking on a piece of gum and I've never met one that knew the meaning of customer service. DC's DMV civil servants don't take their jobs as seriously as they do living up to the stereo-type of DMV employees perpetuated on tv.
4 agree | 3 disagree
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The BEST deal in the city! said:
The fee is $40 for the year. Period!
4 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The incidents reported in NYC and LA are atypical at best. As a daily bike commuter for the past three plus years from Northwest DC to Downtown, I can count the number of "incidents" I've had on one hand. Why so few? Because I know that when it comes to metal vs. flesh, metal wins. Just as it's my responsbilitliy to be my own advocate in other areas in my life, it's my job to be safe when I ride. That means letting others (drivers and pedestrians) know where I am and what I am or plannng to do at all times. I have lots of BRIGHT strobing front and rear lights and a LOUD air horn, which I am not bashful about using. And when someone -- anyone -- yells, shouts, is other wise confrontational or otherwise threatens my well being, I don't react. I back off. Life's too short. As a commuter, my goal is to get to work and get home in one piece. I'm not in a hurry.. I let the drivers and other riders pass me. Life is good.
5 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
what's gonna happen is that the thugs are going to have a field day kicking people off these bikes and stealing them. Happens all the time now with personally owned bikes. Get real. It's DC!
5 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The fee to use the service is unclear. "For $40 I get a card that will allow me to grab a bike in one of 10 locations in downtown, use it for up to three hours, and return it to another." $40 for three hours??? for a bike? Or $40 for a year or x number of months? If it is $40 for three hours, omylord.....
6 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Rhee has another ploy out there to protect her Teach for America ROOKIE teachers and the Fellows who want to take the mioney and run after two years in DCPS. The TFA and fellows are neophytes can not teach in our urban schools! They have no control in the classroom and our students can not learn from the blind leading the blind!
22 agree | 9 disagree
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UNC-G Grad said:
One word Greener grass: Poppycock !
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Greener grass... said:
If the grass is greener...then more than likely they are using more water. Case in point as Rhee is the gardner...she is making the grass greener for many. But if you are allergic to work this will not help many of you. If you are the type of person who doesn't enjoy the thrill of teaching; then this is not for you. If you are the type of person who equates your years of success through your years of being on the job; this is not for you. This is definitely for the teacher who's innovative; TOTALLY and not just thinking outside the box. Because many of our older teachers are from the storage box age...while the new comers are of the in-box through technology phase. Thinking outside the box is much harder for those who are trapping themselve inside with a contract that only protects those who boxed themselves into a school with seniority only being the saving grace. Thanks goodness for Rhee who's a box-cutter with the ability to reward the ones who are willing to carry the load.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This article is too true. Good cops are not reward, they are punished or humilated. Anyone remember Fenty paying for the funeral of the "good" boy killed by an officer doing his job? If the Mayor is not going to stand behind his police force and the Chief of Police, hired serving at the discretion of the Mayor is not going to support her police force, how is the police force supposed to do it's job? The Chief keeps transferring people around and cancelling traning and other useless tactics as a knee-jerk reaction to the problems, perhaps she should realize the problem lies with her and the mayor not the staff that is trying to do their job and be halted at every turn. Or worse disciplined for doing their job. Morale in the DC police department is at an all time low, for many it's now just a job and whether they work hard or not they'll be paid the same, so why work hard for a Chief or Mayor that doesn't appreicate the work.
11 agree | 5 disagree
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Reality Check said:
To "The Truth": Your ramblimg conspiricy theories not withstanding, (I'm fairly certain this reporter isn't being paid by MPDC)your wrong about OPC. I've been there, and you are simply given two alternatives: Sign the statement they type for you or face dicipline. It's true, we don't claim the title of "heroes", nor would we want it, the burden it carries is too great. I assure you that we would love to be given the lawful ability to apprehend and bring to justice violators of the law. The fact that this ability has been stripped from us is an absolute truth, and is directly related to the crime spree, and our failure to put a stop to it, that you refered to.
9 agree | 6 disagree
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Reality Check said:
To Answer: There is no loitering law in D.C. It was voted down by the City Council and the fine citizens that they represent. There are no effective gang laws or laws to address the many violent crimes commited by juvinilles for that matter.
6 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
DCPS Chancellor Rhee is a very arrogant, callus and condescending person. She operates as if she has no boss.
31 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Rhee is trying to UNION BUST
16 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Thats why DC Govt / City is some messed up
6 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
When you have $50 Million dollars hidden and waiting, you can make prosecutors and judges forgive and forget.
7 agree | 7 disagree
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The Answer said:
Policing is not rocket science as you can see on cops if you make traffic stops for things such as talking on a cell phone or not using a turn signal often you find more such as drugs and guns, in addition to this is the police see 5-10 people standing on the corner they should stop and begin to ask question because loitering is against the law once citizens see the police taking these steps they will not be as fearful and will start to come forward with information, in addition to that traffic stops and tickets increase revenue for the city and should be used more frequently
6 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Examiner's story on the rise of test scores of individual schools, which Chancellor Rhee took credit, seem to have been above the statistical range of validity. Has anyone on the newspaper's staff investigated the validity of schools that had steep increases?
5 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Great article D.C. Examiner! Many of my cops in my neighborhood are so afriad of getting complaints by the criminals because the city nor the police their department supports them. Many cops tell me that the criminals are not afriad of the criminal justice system in DC, and that it is a known joke. A young cop that I have known since he was a little boy tell me he thought he would never leave the D.C. police force, but now he is applying to other departments.
5 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
After reading some of Charles comments - it appears that he tried to get a job as a police officer and no one hired him.
6 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Charles why don't go put a police uniform on and try to police for just one day. I bet you get your ass kicked in the first day. Who will you cry to then.
7 agree | 6 disagree
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Charles said:
Dear "Examiner Reader"--rotten apples are damaging MPDC as much as misquided leadership. They are corrupting new recruits. They are impeding reforms and clean up efforts. They are damaging MPDC reputation and standing. Rotten apples are to be thrown away. MPDC efforts might be misquided, the method used might be counterproductive; yet, the principle is right. Barry and Williams' hiring spree brought all kind of second-class officers; they destroyed a fine police department. FYI, the only time I had to come back from work to escort my wife home was when a "big and threatning" DC police officer scarred the hell out of her, a small woman with two young children. A former CA police officer I worked with has even harsher words about lax law enforcement and bizarre practices. Good cops have to be recognized, bad ones fired. Whether or not FOP like it.
9 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Great idea Charles! The Department cannot hire enough officers now and loses hundreds every year to other departments. So let's make things worse for the working police officers. That will attract plenty of new qualified people. Every police department in the country is hiring like crazy, so what a great time to completely alienate the rank and file.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Charles said:
When a poorly trained police force meets arrogant thugs and so-called activists, the result is messy. Harry got is mostly right. Yet, he got it wrong when he criticizes clean up efforts--how can you improve training, management, and efficiency when your effort are undermined by crooked officers and there union? Remember FOP shuned Fenty for its efforts--a take-over of MPDC by DC government is now due. It worked for the schools. As for the rest, there is a simple lesson learned by the US army in Iraq: you don't control ground with cavalry--infantry controls. It's hot out there, but what a Marines does in Bagdad, a DC cop can certainly do it in North East. Here's the formula: more administrative support + more local police stations + leaner & cleaner police department + foot patrol + plain cloth officers = more arrests (less crime depends on other socio-economic factors). PS: Police officers and their horses should arrive at 6pm, not leave. Crime does not peak at lunch time
11 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The Mayor and Council and Police Chief don't get it, it is as old as dirt, when you are trying to cover your criminal activities, you file mostly bogas complaints against the Police Dept. or specific Officers then you restrict their enforcement efforts or cause them to be reassigned due to an investigation of a citizen complaint and of course the thug shares it with the other thugs. Even if it is bogas the complaint remains in a file on the Officer, regardless of the findings.Only in this city for which sadly I am a citizen and sees it to often.
11 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This city doesn't get it! All there good police officers are leaving MPD. The surrounding police agenices are getting our best officers and the city does not care.
8 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Say what you will, but this type of discipline was brought to DC by the Ramsey regime. He has done as much damage to MPD as Barry did to DC, and it will years and years to fix.
12 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
D.C. mentality--blame the police first. D.C. political leadership-- blame the police first and institute inane rules and regulations. Solution: STOP THIS INANE LEADERSHIP AND PUT IN SOMEONE WITH COMMON SENSE.
8 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Unless you have been stooped in that section of DC you have no idea what the police due. My daughter who was expecting (7 months) was pulled from her car and thrown up against another car. They could clearly see her condition. She was just there visiting a friend.She has no criminal record and has never been arrested in her life. Her car is insured and had no traffic violations. So I can understand how the residents feel that they are being targeted by the police. As far as the complaints against the police who are doing there jobs, well guess what they are never found guilty on any charges. They speak to the residents with such lack of respect. If they used a little more tack with them maybe they would be more wanted in the neighborhood. I know that my daughter was spoken to with such racial slur's it would curl your toes to know that the police would speak to anyone that way. So until the police change there less then professional attitude, crime in DC will be just that.
10 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Hooray -- I'd love to see more substantive oversight of Neil Albert's office. Between the corruption and the incompetence, that shop is a disaster. Read the Inspector General's recent report on construction projects at Parks & Rec. Many were initiated by Albert in the same kind of mindless deal-making frenzy he's now brought to DMPED. And the results were badly constructed facilities delivered late and grossly over-budget. This is the type of development the Council should prevent! Let's slow down and do this stuff right. The stakes are too high to mess up so many deals at once.
13 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
" Wouldn’t it be nice if that prime corner was grassed over and turned into a park, so we could breathe deeper and have a longer vista?" Um, like the park directly. across. the. street. ? My dear Mr Jaffe, I dearly love parks and fervently believe in their ability to save us from flooding during heavy downpours and in keeping us cool. But the fact that you neglected to mention that there is a park caddy corner to that building leaves me scratching my head a bit. Honestly, why was this article written? "So we can expect an environmentally friendly office building with a modern look." Well, destroying a building and then building a building is not really my idea of green, but whatever. I think most enviros these days agree that the best way to go about greening is to take existing structures and retrofit them. Destruction and building are extremely energy intensive. Not to mention all the possibly toxic chemicals released into the air with the building's destruction.
8 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
As long as it's got a huge garage underneath it, it will never be a "green" building. It will be a nice energy efficient building that suburbanites travel miles to in huge pollution-spewing steel cages. A building is not environmentally friendly if it facilitates the suburban drive-everywhere lifestyle.
10 agree | 12 disagree
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Mexicans Without Borders must leave too!!!! said:
Supreme Court ruling was the correct interpretation of the Amendment. They did the right thing.
16 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I totally agree. The entire nation now knows what DC has already found out! With DC not having state representation, he was the last person who should have asked the court to hear the case. It's not mayors who should thank him for his bungle. It's all govenors and state legislatures that should thank him. Mayors of cities just don't do that, particularly in DC and he was essentially reminded of that in one of the court's opinions. Again his arrogance and his "need to be" syndrome yielded yet another negative perception for our city.
11 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Everyone knew that this was a losing case given the current makeup of the Supreme Court. Despite strong advice to the contrary from the AG's Office, it was Mayor Fenty who decided to ask the Court to hear this case. It was purely a political decision on the Mayor's part, so that he could be perceived as strong on guns and he could blame the Court when the inevitable outcome would be to hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms. The entire Nation has Adrian Fenty to thank for this terrible ruling. Because of Fenty, City's throughout the Country will have to modify their laws. Had Fenty just listened to the advice of the experts, no one else would be dealing with the ramifications--only DC. Mayors throughout this Country should remember to thank Fenty when the repeal of own trigger lock laws result in accidental shootings of children.
13 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This column would have been more compelling if you had offered even one constructive idea for how to "make it harder for criminals to get, keep, use and reuse guns."
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
That's such a load of malarky.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
As a DC resident I am glad that the gun ban was struck down. The city's death rate was it's highest under the ban so I don't see how anyone can claim that it was successful. DC Gov't is going to find a way to avoid following the Supreme Court decision because they love to control and oppress their citizens and sadly a lot of the citizens prefer this "big government tactic" due to laziness and/or ignorance. And just a reminder GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE; PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.
14 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I saw this article just today - the day that the Supreme Court struck down DC's gun law of 32 years. Just a correction....Ron Moten of the Peaceaholics was definitely there to protest the Court's interference in our laws...but also present was me, Anise Jenkins, of StandUp! for Democracy in DC Coalition (Free DC). I participated very loudly and passionately in the "face off" holding my own against those from outside of DC who had their own selfish reasons for wanting to strike down our gun laws. Let the residents of the nations' capital have some constitutioal rights...like voting for our own members of Congress since we pay the highest taxes in the nation....and controlling our own budget (statehood - is what we need)....AND the right to determine if we want guns in our community or not!!! Keep the 2nd amendment, we already decided we don't want it! Free DC! Statehood NOW!
11 agree | 14 disagree
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Mike Licht said:
RE: Mayor’s strife with council threatens D.C. development -- Councilmember Brown's beefs aside, what is wrong with this picture? Neil O. Albert headed Parks and Rec when all those substandard structures were built. He is now pushing through development projects worth billions.
11 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is a Kwame Brown set-up. The mayor is already looking to squash the next one who gets the idea of running for mayor. If he has an ounce of common sense, he realizes that he is a one term mayor. But people don't forget which council members confirmed Rhee, Reinoso and now about to confirm Nickles. Voting power is everything. "At will" employees go both ways. It goes to working folks who lost their jobs and have to support their families as well as the politicians who voted to put you in that position.
20 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Once a crook, always a crook. Barry was the worst Mayor this City ever saw. He led the City into financial ruin and essentially bankrupted the government, while amazingly providing little to no services for citizens. Who recalls that Downtown DC was a boarded-up ghost town during his rein? Who recalls that DC owned 2 snow plows? Who brought us the lowest bond rating and a federal takeover of City finances? Who presided over more City agencies going into court-appointed receivership? All Marion Barry. I laugh today when I see him at Council hearings (he only shows for quick camera appearances) laying into City officials. The government today is monumentally more responsive and professional to citizens than during his tenure, but perhaps he was, or is, too high to remember. He is a shameful man who has brought nothing but disgrace. It's simply amazing that he has the gall to keep $1,000 from METRO above what it cost him. No doubt he'll use it for cocaine. Certainly not to pay taxe
17 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
If this piece of donkey dung is D.C.'s "strongest voice for the city’s poor and downcast", there's probably no hope for them. When you look up to a loser like Barry, you demean yourself.
16 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
After all the bad things you have to say about Barry, he is still one of the best mayors DC has had in a long time. He s truly about his people. And yes,he has had problems with drugs, but you find someone on capitol hill when has'nt use some type of drug, and I will show you a lier.
16 agree | 20 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
After all the bad things you have to say about Barry, he is still one of the best mayors DC has had in a long time. He s truly about his people. And yes,he has had problems with drugs, but you find someone on capitol hill when has'nt use some type of drug, and I will show you a lier.
15 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Insightful analysis of the situation in the city. Indeed, there should be millions to lift kids out of poverty. It's time we cultivated the political will to do it.
15 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Finally...someone recognizes that there is a lot of good going on in DCPS!
14 agree | 14 disagree
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dottie said:
The Republicans should be glad that someone wants to be a part of their party. I hope Patrick beats her bad. I will become a Republican just to get her out.
15 agree | 13 disagree
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