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Well, well, well... look what drivers are finding on their car windshields around my building in Rosslyn this morning?

No, no... it's not yet another parking ticket garnered by yours truly... It's a mock parking ticket issued to 48th District Delegate Bob Brink, presumably for having parked his butt in Richmond for too long without doing too much. Chuckle, chuckle.
No, seriously, this is a little out-of-the-ordinary way for Aaron Ringel, Brink's challenger who was endorsed...

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Well, this is bad news.  47% of those polled in this Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll would vote to get rid of gay marriage in Maine.  48% would vote to keep it.  5%, incredibly, can't make up their minds.
I certainly hope those fighting to keep gay marriage in the state are making their phone calls, running their ads, knocking on doors, and so on and so forth.  You can bet the National Organization for Marriage people are...

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I missed this yesterday. Alexi Giannoulias, you know, the dude with the (alleged) mob ties who wants to replace prize buffoon Roland Burris in the US Senate, is apparently whining about something one of his primary opponents did that looks a tad dodgy.
Just hours after Democratic candidate David Hoffman challenged rivals Alexi Giannoulias and Cheryle Robinson Jackson to live up to the standards of transparency set by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, the Giannoulias campaign...

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I got back from Panama late on Sunday night, and I uploaded these pics yesterday. I'm posting them here now for those who haven't already seen them.
A few observations: Panama City feels not dissimilar to both Beirut and Hong Kong in certain respects. The dominant industries there are similar-- shipping and associated industries (Beirut) and banking (Hong Kong). The skyline of course looks almost Hong Kong-like:

Each city is quite well off by comparison to the rest of the...

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Wow. I missed this yesterday, but my friend Dave Weigel got ahold of the transcript of the Senate Homeland Security Committee's recent hearing on czars, and Sen. Roland Burris-- you know, the guy who took over President Obama's Senate seat when Rod Blagojevich appointed him, the one that may soon be filled by (IMO) ethically challenged stereotypical Chicago pol and Obama chum Alexi Giannoulias-- had a whole lot of incomprehensible to say. Dave writes:
Studded with phrases like...

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I rarely blog about politics in my own backyard (i.e., Virginia), principally because the political scene here has been pretty demoralizing for Republicans over the last few years (see: Mark Warner (x2), Tim Kaine and Jim Webb wins, not to mention Democratic poaching of various Republican congressional and state Senate seats). However, today I'm going to make an exception. This is not as a result of any big, hot, sexy news pertaining to the gubernatorial race. In all honesty, I'd expected to...

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From the AP:
Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.
Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.
The guidelines to be...

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From Crain's:
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful David Hoffman late Thursday released copies of his federal income tax returns for the past five years and, with a sharp shot at competitor Alexi Giannoulias, challenged him to do the same.
[...]
Mr. Hoffman also repeated his pledge to place his assets in a blind trust if he's elected to the Senate, and challenged Mr. Giannoulias to match him.
"The personal finances of each candidate should be of interest to voters, especially...

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Check it out here.

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Maine has a big gay marriage fight coming up with this year's election and the presence of Proposition 1 on the ballot, a bit like California did last year with Proposition 8. Back in September, opponents of gay marriage succeeded in garnering enough signatures to officially put the question "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" to Maine voters. So, on November 3, folks in the Pine...

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