Diane,

here's the link

Well, Reuters picked it up, maybe in the next day or two it will get picked up in some newspapers?

Capital Poorly Prepared For Year 2000 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite the best efforts of Congress and the White House to raise awareness of the Year 2000 computer problem, the nation's capital provides a prime example of what can go wrong come year end.

The District of Columbia is over a year behind generally accepted schedules for addressing the problem, and Mayor Anthony Williams agreed at a hearing Friday that the city was behind almost every similar-sized municipality.

The General Accounting Office said it would be difficult for the District to compensate for its late start.

``The District may be unable to effectively ensure public safety, collect revenue, educate students, and provide health care services,'' GAO information system director Jack Brock told the House Government Reform subcommittee on D.C.

Williams tried to assure the committee that his administration was hard at work on the problem.

``Yes, we started late and we are still behind where we should be, but we are working at an aggressive and accelerated rate so that we will finish in the prescribed time,'' he said in prepared remarks.

Of 336 systems, 84 were Year 2000 ready, 117 required fixing, and 135 were already renovated and were awaiting testing, Williams said.

The Year 2000 computer problem arises because older computers and their software usually allocated only two digits to the year in dates. When the new year arrives, these computers may just shut down or read the date as 1900.

Tom Davis, the Virginia Republican who chairs the subcommittee, said problems in the District could hurt neighboring states like his own, and disrupt the federal government. ``The District remains in crisis mode.''

D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said local Year 2000 efforts were now focusing on services where disruption could not be tolerated, including police, fire, emergency medical services, water and sewerage operations.

snip

ouch.

-- Deborah (coming@soon.???), February 22, 1999

Answers

Here's related info. The Pres wants to give DC $60 mil for Y2K work. From the Washington Post... District's Y2K Effort Gets White House Aid
<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 22, 1999.

Pleeeeaaase write your Congressman today and tell them y2k is a hoax. Ask them not to appropriate any money for Washington D.C. Tell them you and your family and your friends and your union and everyone you know will not vote for them next election if they vote to appropriate money for Washington D.C. y2k remediation. Point them to Koskinen's statements and Peter de Jager's latest statement. Tell them Social Security is fixed (per the prez) so everything will be OK.

Tell them not to panic, not to "overstockpile" (Koskinen's word-stockpiling is OK, but overstockpiling is bad) and don't worry about their money in the banks. Tell them the federal government says everything will be fine and the only thing to fear is fear itself.

I can think of no other city in the world more deserving of holding back funds for remediation! ROTFLMAO.

-- PNG (png@gol.com), February 22, 1999.

Heyyy wait a minute, That $60 million is about $100 per person for the city of D.C. Why not give each person $100 for water, a few candles and some food? The problems are supposed to last only 72 hours anyway! That's $33 per day.

-- PNG (png@gol.com), February 22, 1999.

PNG, ain't you right and wouldn't that be fun! We could all be a giant echo chamber and boomerang all that happy-face BS back in their lap. Don't waste our taxpayer $$ on a stupid bump! Withhold, withhold, let 'em sweat. DC's the LAST to get any $$ or help, oh in your dreams. Every other place gotta be *finished* FIRST !

MVI, what do you think of all this? LOL, you think you're ever going to get a vacation once they strap ya in there? Still think you're a hero, please stay safe, and let us know how you're doing.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), February 22, 1999.

When I read about the $60 million tax payer donation to DC, I was so mad Icould have spit! How dare they?

Thanks PNG for a great idea! Now I can work on a counter attack. Yeessss! Send the Presiden, Congressmen and the whole sheband emails, letters, cards, calls. $60 Million to solve their problem. What problem? Y2K isn't a problem.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 22, 1999.

How long would it take for half the population of Washington, DC to storm the White House? They'ze gunna be mad when they'ze them welfar recipients don't getz their check in de mail.

-- woesme (woesme@woesme.com), February 22, 1999.

"'The District may be unable to effectively ensure public safety, collect revenue, educate students, and provide health care services,' GAO information system director Jack Brock told the House Government Reform subcommittee on D.C."

Well, yeah, we know that--but what about Y2K???

-- Overtaxed Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 22, 1999.

Here's a funny related piece from the Washington Business Journal (this is the entire piece):

http://www.amcity.com/washington/stories/1999/02/ 22/tidbits.html?h=y2k

Millennium bug doesn't bug D.C.

Most local officials are fearful that Y2K glitches might dump valuable government records when Jan. 1, 2000, rolls around.

Not D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. The District, as it turns out, is largely immune to the millennium bug because many city offices have yet to computerize in the first place. Those that have are using brand-new computers, which already are Y2K-compliant.

A District government that has barely entered the 20th century, therefore, is surprisingly well-positioned for the 21st, Williams recently told the congressional subcommittee overseeing District affairs.

"Are you Y2K-OK?" asked Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md.

"I asked one of my department heads about that, and he assured me that the index cards in his shoebox will work just fine," Williams joked. "It's ironic, but we've benefited from the fact that our systems are so far behind."

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), February 22, 1999.

PNG,

ROFLMAO!!! Great idea, only I don't think we need to waste time and energy protesting to the officals that be. They can throw all the money they want at D.C., but last I heard you still can't buy time. It is amazing though that the mind sync in Washington still believes that all you have to do is appropiate funds and spend money and that's the solution to all problems.

-- Cary Mc from Tx (Caretha@compuserve.com), February 22, 1999.

PNG,

I think you are being CRUEL to the citizens of DC. Think about this. Here are those poor average citizens going about their daily lives and you want to give them *$100*. Why that's hardly enough for an AMMUNITION budget. They should get UNLIMITED ammunitions and arms budgets.

Much better to have them well prepared if they decide to have a party up on Pennsylvania Ave.

-- Greybear, who NEVER counsels pre-emptive violence. Period.

-Got a Budget?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), February 22, 1999.

Man, ya try to get some sleep in California and the "easties" are still ahead. (Make that behind too. Balance in all things -- D.C. leads the way!)

Thanks Deborah! At least California won't be alone in scrambling. Or is it a new dance craze ... the Y2k shuffle?

Gotta check on that GAO report's availability...

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 22, 1999.

Here are a few snippits and tidbits that I posted to one of our regulars, MVI, who is coming out of retirement to work in Dee Cee - Brave Man!!!!!!! (see recent thread)

Uh, EOF (sorry, MVI ;) ), a word to the wise, something you should know about afor ye go...... maybe try and telemute, I only ever worked in McClean VA so can't really comment on DC....... From Cory Hamasaki today

"This Y2K report is covered by IRDA Oct 1998.

On Thu, 18 Feb 1999 04:03:53, jturner@ptway.com wrote:

> I have not seen anything published concerning the state of y2k readiness of > our nation's capital.Would any of you that work or live there comment on how > they are doing?Does their infrastructure impact the federal government > significantly?

You're kidding, right? Check out http://www.kiyoinc.com/current.html and follow the links to the DC Y2K Weather Reports and the mirror sites.

WRP 108 comments on the state of Maryland. I don't think I've done a write up on the January WDC Y2K meeting which was about the local area. Here's the deal, they're slinging the bull. I can't report accurately without using naughty words about people who can drive over and punch me in the nose.

Here are the true facts. Dee Cee is a third world country holding the U.S. Federal Government hostage. The previous mayor was crack- loving, pants dropping, ex-con, and that's just what they showed on TV; the Washington Post has hinted at drug and group sex parties after the mayor came out of rehab.

I have some pals who crank code at the Pentagon (it's in Virginia, across the river from Dee Cee.) They say that there is a plan to use military assets to defend the Dee Cee-Virginia bridges. Maybe there is, maybe not. Maybe it's just some guys talking trash, shuckin' and jivin' like programmers like to do.

Dee Cee is the place where armed FBI agents have been murdered by revenge seeking goons while working at their desks.

Dee Cee is where the first Car-Jacking occurred. Sure it's happened before but the Dee Cee case was the one where a woman pediatrician's car was stolen with her infant child in it. She held on to the outside of the car, screaming for her baby, the goons slammed the car from side to side; she was tangled in the three point harness; they knocked her off, battering her body and killing her. They threw her baby from the moving car in front of shocked witnesses.

Dee Cee is where Timberwolf worked security for an agency of the U.S. Government which he declines to identify. He was stationed in a place called "Buzzards Point" which is as picturesque as the name implies.

Timberwolf tells stories of rescuing employees from muggers and goons. He may be exagerating; more signifyin' like boys like to do, maybe, maybe not. He says that he was never afraid for himself but then his team carried 10 MM pistols and had riot guns, M16's, and something called an MP3, which I have never seen but believe it is like a high-tech UZI.

Dee Cee is the place where the former mayor looted the city to the point that they didn't have money to fix the schools' roofs and furnaces. The refrigeration didn't work in the city morgue, if you thought you were going to die in Dee Cee, you begged bystanders to drag your body to Maryland or Virginia so your loved ones wouldn't have to ID your decayed, green glowing corpse.

Power? Pepco? Potomac Electric Power Company? What a joke. About 10 years ago, some kind of storm came through, I was 10 miles away in Virginia and didn't notice a thing. Some trees and branches fell down. Next thing we know, the power is out in Bethesda and Chevy Chase for over a week. There are rumors from the DOE are that Pepco is clueless about Y2K; maybe, maybe not.

The weather was nice. No five feet of snow, no ice, no urban riot. Just a localized windstorm and -bang- no power to one of the wealthiest parts of the U.S for over a week.

This last winter. A misting of ice. It was below freezing for only a few hours. -bang-. The power is off in Montgomery County for days. Then just as it starts to come back. -bang- again. This time a transformer catches fire and blows up, or vice versa. They showed flames shooting up to the sky on TeeVee.

The power is off for another couple days. The people in Monkey County sit around in the dark without heat but fortunately, during the outage, the weather is clear and unusually warm, mostly in the 50s.

This place is incredible. I can't tell you how bizarre it is compared to other parts of the world.

A couple places I've worked have been shot up; the old IBM building in Bethesda, an employee went postal, drove his car up the steps, rammed the building, and shot some people. Our office building in Vienna was shot up over a weekend. The bullet holes pointed toward our accountant's office. We put clips on the end of sticks to hand him papers, we're afraid to go into your office.

I've had to detour around other shootings, tell people, sorry, I can't meet with you today, there's some kind of police thing going on outside your office, looks like they're investigating another multiple murder.

I knew people who were watching from an office across the street when Ronald Reagan was shot with those "Devastator" hollow points. The surgeon who saved Ron had been associated with MIEMSS previously.

So is Y2K going to make this place worse? I donno but outfits like the Pentagon, have their own powerplants. The government has its own security force. The streets are barricaded in normal times.

I know three people who have been trapped in overnight traffic snarls. These are three different incidents; an accident on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, a truck crash on I270, and at I95 and the beltway during a snowstorm.

One of the local legends is that there is a young lady named "Shirley". Her parents were driving on the Shirley Highway, it was one of those DeeCee area "sea of red lights", people were getting out of their cars. He looked at her, she looked at him, without saying a word, they got in the back of their van on I395; the van starts a rockin'. By the time the traffic is moving again, they're smoking Camels, exhaling french- style, was it good for you? I don't know if this is true but I saw the letter in the Post from "Shirley's" dad.

Will an infrastructure failure affect the federal government? I'd guess not because the infrastructure is unstable and the fed-boyz and fed-grrrls know it. I know and work with some of them, they are not as inept as their leadership would cause you to believe. It is a Dilbert world.

cory hamasaki 316 Days, 7,599 Hours, 39 days until all mission critical U.S. Government systems will be Y2K compliant.

Enter the Y2K contest at: http://www.kiyoinc.com/contest.html and win a prize for your bug-out bag. "

Andy

===================================================================== =====================================================================

MVI - sorry, more bad news about DC from a regular csy2k contributor... Look after yourself!!!!!!!

In article , wramey@y2k.net (Wade Ramey) wrote:

> In article <7ak0j2$oca$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, oneisone@my- dejanews.com wrote: > > > Mary Ellen Hanley, the District's Y2K program manager, said yesterday > > that the federal assessment of the city's potential computer problems is > > accurate. She said the city's primary emphasis is on developing plans to > > prevent a breakdown in the delivery of services to residents. > > Pretty serious evidence that somethin ain't okay. The GAO's job is to > squawk loudly; GAO loses only if it is perceived to have undersquawked. > But here is the Y2K program manager, usually to be found in rutting > posture, agreeing.

Yep. D.C. looks like toast. Between the million welfare/crack addicts waiting each month for their welfare and "disability" checks and the heavy military and police presence, I expect any sort of breakdown to lead to riots and such. A power failure would be bad, a welfare check failure would be TEOTWAWBKI (*).

(* TEOTWAWBKI -- The End Of The Welfare As We Be Knowin' It)

I haven't lived near D.C. since 1970, and it was a basket case even then. Those who can, live in the suburbs. Or in trendy enclaves like Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Kalorama, L'Enfant Plaza, etc. (At least L'Enfant Plaza was trendy in the 60s...I don't know if it still is, or has been converted to a crack house and is now part of the "Projects.")

And I saw riots in 1968 in D.C. The residents were on the rampage and were only stopped with National Guard troops.

We're even now hearing multiple credible reports that contingency plans are being drawn up to "seal off" the city. The half a dozen bridges will be easy to seal off, especially if military supplies in D.C. (at the NG armories and the handful of military bases, a la Fort McNair) are moved to the Virginia side so that looters can't get access to serious firepower. Sealing off the Maryland side is much more difficult, as the rioting mobs may spread north into Bethesda/CC, east and southeast into Prince George's County, and south into the more sparsely populated areas. A few folks I know in the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) area out beyond the bridges over parts of the Chesapeake to the peninsula (Cambridge, Oxford, Ocean City, etc.) say that they think contingency plans to secure Delmarva are already in place.

(The region is isolated by the few bridges, which can be defended against mobs. Large hotels and resorts in the Ocean City area can accommodate tens of thousands of relocatees, esp. as the hotels are virtually unoccupied in the winter. Farming is common, and local residents report silos being filled, egg ranches reopening, and fuel stockpiles being topped off. Could this be where many top-level government thugs and their families are relocated to? Just speculation, but it fits some observed patterns.)

Combine rolling power failures, a disruption of welfare checks, millennial partying a la "Devil's Night," and the business of the National Guard on multiple fronts and we may see the residents do what the British were unable to complete in the War of 1812...the burning of the city. Only the cold temperaturs and soggy weather will help stem this.

On the other hand, there are ample indications that various freedom fighters see December 31st, 1999 as just about the perfect time to strike at the Great Satan.

I'm glad I'm 3000 miles away. Being 100 miles south of Gomorrah is bad enough. At least the only thing upwind of me is the Pacific Ocean.

--Tim May

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), February 20, 1999.

===================================================================== =====================================================================

I saw other articles including one that implied that additional funding, up to more than $100M, would be available. Let's break it down,

$100,000,000 for 10 months, March-December.

That's $10,000,000/month

$150/hour and 200 hours/month is $30,000 per person/month.

That's 333 Y2K remediators at that burdened rate. I don't believe there are 333 enterprise systems gear-heads sitting around today. They'll have to hire some bar-room sweepings and clueless nubies.

It's also $300,000 for 10 months work. Sounds good to you? I'll take it.

> -Art-

but then maybe they expect to pay only $150K/person. Who knows what rattles around the dusty minds of IT management in DeeCee.

Maybe we'll get Frank to come back to DeeCee. We could have a *lot* of fun. Maybe install my MVS mainframe at DragonRanch and run a frame relay connection between the shed and the DeeCee government's computer center.

Please denial-butt-heads don't argue with me; tell the District of Columbia that they don't have a Y2K problem. Please, stop them before they spend 10 million bucks a month solving a problem that your big-brain knows is just hype.

When this thing gets cranked up, this one project will drive rates up in the entire metro area. If those butt-heads had started 3 years ago, they might have had a chance.

I don't think DeeCee is that unique. In fact, this seems to be the standard across government and private industry.

Times up people

All together denialists: this problem is overhyped; Bill Gates will solve Y2K; I have a big-brain and I don't see the problem; only survivalist loonies are stocking up on food, alkaline batteries, meds; nothing to fear except fear itself; I'm buying some cookies.

What idiots, we should have been crankin' years ago. There is no time left now. When the losers, twinks, clueless nubies, and bozo the QA clown start slamming code into DeeCee's systems, it will take decades to straighten it out.

If you think any industry is going to make it, watch DeeCee.

This is a disaster, we'll all end up paying for it. Moshe, Howie, the rest of you, get the H. out of dangerous places.

I'm not telling you what to do, that's up to you. I'm not saying bail for the boonies, buy a generator, or store a couple hundred bucks of canned stew and corned beef at a pal's farm. Everyone has a different tolerance for risk.

I am telling you that DeeCee is not unusual. Two other large organizations in the area have declared "deathmarch". It's not for me to name them, they haven't gone public. I was writing about them weeks before DeeCee hit the news. My rant on the disaster of DeeCee hit the newsgroup days before the word on the federal funding made the press.

I am saying that you two, Moshe, Howie, have misjudged this disaster. While we've had a good time slinging keystrokes, kiddings over guys; get yourselves ready and forget this stuff about having twenty bucks in cash, a couple two liter bottles of water, three cans of Campbell's soup, and a candle.

6 months ago, I was pushing for moderate but steady preparations. That time is over. If you didn't start last year, start now at 4X the rate.

cory hamasaki 312 Days, 7,504 Hours. http://www.kiyoinc.com/current.html



===================================================================== =====================================================================

And finally this one, from our esteemed and venerable Mr. Milne :)

The District of Calamity by Declan McCullagh

3:00 a.m. 20.Feb.99.PST The single strangest thing about Friday's report that the District of Columbia's computer systems were about to become as useful as a Commodore 64 was how surprised everyone acted. Officials darkly warned that the federal auditors' report of Year 2000's dire impact on city services should alarm the public. "The District remains in crisis mode," announced Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican.

To be sure, the report was damning. Less than 1 percent of Washington's 200 key computers -- in other words, just one -- have been fixed so far. The rest aren't expected to make it in time.

But none of this should come as a surprise.

(Really? I love the way you flip flop every other day, Declan. One day you announce how wonderfully optimistic you are and you have ceased making preparartions, and the next you regale us with the fact that no one should be surprised that DC is enscrewed.

You are a pathetic weasel, Declan. )

Washington boasts a city government best known for its unparalleled sloth and incompetence.

( This **ALONE** should have clued you in that no matter what happens in DC they NEVER could have remediated their systems in time.)

A new report from the city's inspector general reveals the District is paying US$1.8 million a year for over 9,000 telephone lines -- one-third of the total

-- that the government has never used.

In 1995, the city was in such miserable shape that Congress created a financial- control board to oversee all budgets and revenue. It didn't help. A 1997 report from the General Accounting Office, Congress' auditing arm, revealed that the city didn't know how many students were enrolled in public schools. "The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights released figures differing from [Washington public schools'] official counts by more than 5,000 and 2,000," the report said.

As far back as last fall, Congress was warned that the city was in Y2K peril. The fire department and the city's reviled police force might be hamstrung because of communications and 911 failures, GAO said. Unemployment, tax, accounts payable, retirement, alarm, security, and a slew of other major computer-provided services were at risk, said the 2 October report, entitled "Year 2000 Computing Crisis: The District of Columbia Faces Tremendous Challenges in Ensuring Vital Services Are Not Disrupted."

So what's changed? Perhaps officials realized that 314 days left until 1 January 2000 leaves scant time for error.

(This over-emphasizes the ACTUAL time remaining. Calender days are irrelevant. WORKING days are what is important. There are only about 225 WORKING days left.)

[wrong wrong wrong Paul - 150'ish working days - Andy]

Another likely explanation is that Davis, chairman of the DC oversight committee that met Friday, realized that any problems in the city would affect his district in the nearby suburbs.

In particular, Davis wasn't pleased to hear that the District was over one year behind where it should be.

==================

Washington DC can not make it. It is toast. This is a metaphor for the whole country. If the capital itself is not going to make it, please pack up your naive assurances that most of the rest of the country will as well.

Once again, if you live in a city, you have next to no chance at all of walking away unscathed. There is not ONE major city in this country or ANYWHERE on the face of the earth that is ready.

http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18029.html Paul Milne

If you live within five miles of a 7-11, you're toast.

===================================================================== =====================================================================

To which a hapless young lady by the name of Kari enters Paul's sights ROTFLMAO!!!!

Paul, I think you're wrong, even within your own TEOTWAWKI scenario. If ANY city makes it, I would bet on dee cee. Clinton thrives on 'symbols' and I can almost hear the rational..." This is our Capital, it must not fall". And " I will not go down in history as the president that let modern Washington fall". My geuss is (barring a nuke exchange) dee cee is where they will make their stand, IF your meltdown occurs. Even if they have to replace each and every 'puter in that hell-hole to do it. I base this on Clinton's ego, and it is just an opinion, but I'd bet you a full ounce Am. eagle I'm right.

~~~KARI

[WATCH OUT KARI!!!!!!! :)) - Andy]

More proof of your ADVANANCED idiocy. How anyone, in 24 years, could have acquired virtuoso status as a moron is beyond me.

> Clinton thrives on 'symbols' and I can almost hear the rational..." This > is our Capital, it must not fall". And " I will not go down in history > as the president that let modern Washington fall". > My geuss is (barring a nuke exchange) dee cee is where they will make > their stand, IF your meltdown occurs. Even if they have to replace each > and every 'puter in that hell-hole to do it. > I base this on Clinton's ego, and it is just an opinion, but I'd bet you > a full ounce Am. eagle I'm right. > > ~~~KARI > >

I have rarely run across anyone quite so stupid as you, Kari.

If ANY city will fail, it will be DC.

Paul Milne, Toast etc.

===================================================================== =====================================================================

Bottom line is - too little too late - less than 150 working days left.

MVI the best thing about working in DeeCee may turn out to be "Shirley" - keep your Glock handy and have your escape route well- planned!

Andy

Two digits. One mechanism. The smallest mistake.

"The conveniences and comforts of humanity in general will be linked up by one mechanism, which will produce comforts and conveniences beyond human imagination. But the smallest mistake will bring the whole mechanism to a certain collapse. In this way the end of the world will be brought about."

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, 1922 (Sufi Prophet)

"We're doomed I tell ye, doomed!"

Private Frazer, Dad's Army, Walmington-On-Sea Home Guard, 1939 (Undertaker)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), February 22, 1999.

And now yet another Washington Post story, dated today, Feb. 22. Here comes the spin... No problem... DC Update

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 22, 1999.

I just got back from Sam's club. I have this mysterious urge to go again.

I picked a bad day to quit doing Valium.

(kidding)

-- Deborah (gotludes?@y2k.com), February 22, 1999.

Well, folks. What can I say? For those of us who are going to weather it out in Dee Cee, all I can say is send us good vibes from time to time. The Post articles were very sobering and gave us a push to finish up our preps fast. Lamp oil remains hard to find. Supplies in Costco still OK. Will keep you posted on life in Dee Cee as long as we can. Peace, Libby in Dee Cee

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), February 22, 1999.

Miss Libby - you remain in my thoughts - try to leverage what you can by scaring Congress to death that they won't be able to DO anything in their building with no power, lights, heat, TV cameras, or copiers, - before they lose all their workers, their subway, their trains, and their gas pumps, their cafeterias, their hotels, and their apartment buildings.

If nothing - get their aids and secretaries aware of the potential (probable) dangers of trying to commute and work under those conditions.

And, be careful yourself.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.R@csaatl.com), February 22, 1999.

PNG, for a minute there, you sounded like Sally Strothers:

"That $60 million is about $100 per person for the city of D.C. Why not give each person $100 for water, a few candles and some food? The problems are supposed to last only 72 hours anyway! That's $33 per day."

I apologize if I offended anyone, but this was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this.

-- Faze the Nation (dazed@confused.com), February 22, 1999.

What can I say? D.C. is a third-world country you know...

-- PNG (png@gol.com), February 22, 1999.