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Only in Washington: When your lawmaker waits for a predawn ride Date published: 12/6/2009
By KELLY HANNON During her seven years commuting to Washington as a slug, Valerie Bland has chanced into meeting thousands of people--military personnel, federal workers, government contractors. Wednesday was the first time she got into a car with her congressman. "It was neat, it was very neat," said Bland, 43, of Stafford County. "He was very nice. I missed my nap, but that was OK." Shortly after 6:30 in the morning, Rep. Rob Wittman steered his tan Toyota Corolla into an idling line of cars wrapped around the Staffordboro Boulevard commuter lot near Garrisonville Road. A line of men and women shouldering backpacks and laptop bags had formed next to the bus shelter, waiting to jump into a car. These "slugs" get a free ride to work in exchange for providing the two or three extra people needed to let a driver use high occupancy vehicle lanes on Interstate 95. Nearly 6,500 people slug to work every day in the Washington area, mostly from parking lots in Virginia along the I-95 corridor, according to a 2006 Virginia Department of Transportation study on slugging, the best numbers that exist on the practice. About one-third slug to the Pentagon. Wittman represents Virginia's 1st District, which includes the Fredericksburg area east to the Hampton Roads region. It's a district where slugging is a way of life, and he wanted to see how it worked. Getting a briefing wasn't good enough. "I wanted to experience it," Wittman said. A NOVICE'S MISTAKE As there would be for anyone new to slugging, there are some first-day misunderstandings. A woman running the slug line Wednesday calls out the destinations of the cars at the front of the line. "Pentagon, 2!" she says. "Rosslyn, 1!" The first slugs in line headed to those work destinations get into the cars. When Wittman pulls up, he says, "Capitol." "Capitol?" the woman repeats, confused. "Federal Triangle?" Wittman tries. "Federal Triangle!" she calls to the line, somewhat reluctantly. There are no takers. The woman tells him to try the Mine Road commuter lot, where slugs headed to Washington line up. Wittman circles back to the end of the Staffordboro line, and picks up slugs headed to the Pentagon.
To Rep. Wittman - I agree with some of the previous posters. He took the opportunity to experience something that his constituents go through every day so he can learn and apply it to making things better. He should be applauded, not slammed. Good grief.
The "common man" isn't homeless. Hasn't filed for bankruptcy. Doesn't live in a tent under a bridge. Doesn't stand at the corner with a "will work for food" sign. Can some people EVER give credit where credit is due - even if it is to someone from the opposing party? Geez!
for the most part. Tarp or no tarp made no significant difference in the real value of stocks. It is the emotional reaction of the fools and the cynical actions of the smart investors that drive significant overnight changes in the markets. Tarp money for the most part is still sitting in some account...on paper. The government actually has no money since they spend it faster than they get it. If there are any true blue Americans reading this...go out and buy treasuries and stop selling your stocks.
do some research on the Fed and AIG. Can't loan $ that is not
there.
It probably was the wrong call.He voted against the first and
second TARP (aka, bailout) Bills with the overwhelming
support of that vote by his constituency.The day the House
rejected the first Bill,the stock markets plummeted.DJIA
down 777 and S&P 500 had 499 stocks lose value.Values
kept dropping until this last March.I wonder if they'd gone
ahead and passed the inevitable rescue plan & shown
confidence in it,things may not have gotten as ugly,
PS,those 'BAILOUTS" were "LOANS" with high interest
rates.
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