With Foot Firmly In Mouth

Washington DC (see the picture)
N 38 52.736 W 077 01.507

We almost made a huge mistake. Last night, Libby's knee began to hurt making it hard for her to walk. Oh no! Some years back, I got tendonitis in one knee because of overuse. I had to lay flat for more than a week for it to heal. It would be a huge mistake to let that happen to Libby here. So today, we're giving Libby's knee a rest, just as a precaution.

I went alone up to the FBI building to get the tour. When I got there, the guards told me, "Nope. We don't do that any more after 9/11." Boy this country sure surrendered immediately and willingly to that terrorist attack on 9/11. The purpose of terrorism is to get a society to change it's behavior -- in other words to become terrorized. We sure did that. I support anything we can do abroad to prevent more attacks, but in my humble opinion, all the domestic security changes we've made just play in to the hands of the terrorists.

Anyhow, I continued walking down Pennsylvania Ave looking for something to do. Soon, I found the Old Post Office. I went in and rode the elevator up to the tower to get a specacular view of the city. I also saw the wonderful congressional bells, and learned a whole lot about bell ringing. How about you? Do you know the true meaning of peal as applied to bell ringing?

I walked further to the White House to get a picture. There were several men in black suits handing around the gate waiting to get in. I think one of them was Pat Leahy, my senator.

What about the foot in mouth? In yesterday's blog I wrote about being taught how to pronounce Hiroshima by a Japanese tourist. Wrong! What a blockhead I am. He was talking about the nearby Hershorn Museum, not Hiroshima. I could go back and edit yesterday's blog to cover up my embarrassment, but what the hell -- go ahead and laugh at me.

Being in Washington is sure fun, but being surrounded by the visible evidence of the money and power of the federal government is depressing. Those who would be servants of the people inevitably turn to become their masters. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think our whole system of government is terribly wrong and getting worse year by year. My libertarian views are documented. Being in the middle of it, exacerbates that. I almost stopped in the IRS building to eat lunch (it was convenient) but I decided that would be too far into the belly of the beast.