It's been a hard day's night - I should be sleeping like a log

Question of the day: REM and Modest Mouse are playing nearby in a couple weeks. Is it worth $48?

Hello everyone. It’s a pretty lazy Saturday here. It’s pouring outside, so Abhay and I are watching the Democratic National Committee decide whether to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates. It’s actually pretty engrossing. Even though I’m for McCain and he’s for Obama, we both keep yelling at the Clinton supporters for being stupid/opportunistic. It’s great fun.

Last night, I got The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and The Who’s Endless Wire at a small bargain shop in Georgetown, so I’m pretty excited about that. Also, tomorrow, Regina Spektor will be giving a free concert at – get this – the Jewish Federation’s celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary at the National Mall. So I’m definitely going to that. Pretty sweet, huh?

The internship is going great, but it’s kind of hard to find time to write. I get up at 7, leave at 8 to get to the Hart Senate building by 9, get off at 6, get back at 7 (or 8 or later, depending on if we go out to eat or to Target or something). So by the time I get back to American University, I’m really exhausted, and have only a few hours to do whatever it is I need/want to do. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but blogging might take the backseat occasionally (especially since I can’t seem to keep these posts very short.) Sorry.

This week the Senate was in recess, so Grassley is in Iowa, and we are a little less busy in the press office. (Grassley lives in New Hartford, and he saw the tornado going past from his bedroom window.) I’m still really enjoying being in the press office. The people are great, and I stay really in the know.

The conspiracy theorist I talked about earlier is standing out there by the Capitol every single morning. Abhay talked to him the other day and found out that his name is Andy. So now, every morning, we can walk past him and say, “Good morning, Andy!” If I ever have a day when I’m running early, I might try to get a video interview with him.

More pictures – I got these last weekend when we went around the National Mall.

World War II National Memorial:

Korean War Memorial:


Vietnam War Memorial:
Jefforson Memorial:
FDR Memorial:
Jefferson statue through the pillars:

Directly across from the entrance to the Jefferson Memorial:

Up close:
The shadow:

Memorial Day in DC

At the Memorial Day Concert on the Capitol grounds Sunday night (we were sitting on the Capitol steps)

The Army band, getting ready:




View from the steps:






Colin Powell (you might just have to trust me on this one - he was a long ways away.)





Playing taps:





Beautiful.



At the ampitheater behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Cemetery:





Remember this guy? (Darn that Ross Perot!)

Laura Bush, far right (someday, I will blow up all these pictures really nice and big):

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:




Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:





The way the people were cheering, you'd never guess his approval rating was hovering around 35% (max):



Sidenote: He waved at me. And I waved back. And felt just a little stupid.


He wasn't alone, of course:



Our "legend'ry" British intern friend, Tom: "What do you suppose are in those packs? [Devilish belly laugh.]"

I'm not the type to get emotional over Memorial Day. But there's a big difference between seeing graves and memorials to long-dead presidents and soldiers, and walking past plot after plot of freshly-turned dirt at Arlington's Lot 60, where they're burying casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan. We saw people there mourning children who would still be alive today if they hadn't died in the war on terror.

I'm grateful to everyone who decides to join the military, especially in times like this, but the flowery language I heard today about "remembering" their sacrifice didn't quite cut it for me. It doesn't take away the death. The strongest emotion I felt was not gratitude or patriotism, but petulant impatience. I don't want to "remember." I want it to stop.

I had this song stuck in my head today:

and after the bombs subside

and this long, low campaign calls it good for the night

we meet in the streets

will we meet in a bar's cold light?

we grip at our hands

we hold just a little tight

after the bombs

after the bombs subside

and after the rockets calm

and the glimmer of fire

pretends an early dawn

we pinch at our skin

while we wonder how we escaped harm

we forget all our trials

while there in our baby's arms

after the rockets

after the rockets calm

then we'll go dancing

won't we go dancing

yes we'll go dancing

'till it all starts over again

then we'll go dancing

yes we'll go dancing

won't we go dancing

'till it all starts over again

- "After the Bombs," by the Decemberists

"He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth."

- Zechariah 9:10

"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

- Revelation 22:20

Two days in

Quotes of the day:

"I still think 'the seizure' [Kennedy's] may have been orchestrated... Rehnquist was hit in 2004~05, Giuliani may have been hit in 2000, and Specter 'got cancer' in 2006."

"The CIA is altering human physiology through the use of chemicals and bio-engineered grain - apparently since 1992."

- PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER, a pamphlet handed to me by a guy in park by the Capitol Building. He was wearing a sign that said, "Flag cap the CIA: Stop the KGB Infiltration!"

The KGB? Should have known. Still kicking 17 years after the fall of the USSR. Will they stop at nothing?

All right, I'm two days into this intern thing. I'm absolutely loving it, but I'm exhausted, so this blog might start to get shorter and less frequent. Sorry. There are probably a bunch of typos in this - sorry.

There are nine of us interns now. I met my roommate at the office yesterday morning (he is also a Grassley intern), and he moved in that night. He is an awesome guy, and under 21, so I feel a little less lonely now. :) He goes to Wartburg College, is the president of Wartburg Democrats, and is a Hindu. We haven't had any discussions about politics or religion yet, but we're getting along great so far.

I am the lone press intern in Grassley's office, and I am loving it. Basically, my job is to collect all the newspaper articles talking about Grassley and his issues every day, put them together and distribute them around the office. I also go to some of his radio shows, TV shows, teleconferences and constituent meetings, take notes, and then work with the other guys in the office to contact media. I don't have a whole lot of real responsibility, but it's breathtaking to be along for the ride, so to speak. It is surreal to see him just walking into the office every couple hours or so. There are about eight TVs in the press office, always tuned to news channels. I'll see him speaking on the Senate floor, and then, fifteen minutes later, he'll be walking past my desk. (I use the term "desk" very loosely.) Then I remind myself that the Senate floor is, after all, only two blocks away - a short trip by the private underground train that goes from the Senate building to the Capitol Building that I GET TO RIDE ON ONCE IN A WHILE!

Tonight, I stayed late to watch Grassley do a cable call-in show for Iowa TV. I'm not sure what TV channels it was on, but if any of you saw Grassley on cable tonight, I was sitting twenty feet away from him. It's awesome to watch the way he talks to people - he has an instant command of the facts, but never in an arrogant way.

Until tonight, I had never actually walked into or out of the Capitol building. I had taken the underground train to a studio in the Capitol building for the cable show, and afterwards I walked out with the senator and two guys from the press office that I've been working with. We walked through a long maze of hallways, through two big double doors, and then we were surrounded by huge marble columns. One of the guys said to me, "Have you looked back yet?" "No," I said, and then I did - and then looked up, and saw the Capitol dome jutting into the sky.

After I struck out on my own towards to the Metro, I took this picture.

So basically, I walked out of the Capitol building alongside a U.S. senator tonight. That was cool.

I am going to bed. Miss all of you. Good night.

Two days of sightseeing = Joel's biggest, nerdiest fantasies realized

Quote of the day:

Random attention-needy eight-year-old on the Metro, to me: "I saw Ben Stiller today!"

Me: "Really? Where'd you see him?"

8-year-old: "At the big tall pointy thing."

By this, I deduced eventually, he meant the Washington Monument. I weep for the future.

My internship doesn't officially start until tomorrow, so I've met up with some of my fellow interns (really, really cool people) and we've been trekking all over DC sightseeing. Yesterday we saw the National Archives, with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and what have you. Today was absolutely incredible - we went to Arlington National Cemetery, saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then walked across the Potomac, saw the Lincoln Memorial (including the spot where MLK stood during his "I have a dream" speech), and the White House. Eventually, we made our way to the office building where we're going to work tomorrow, then met up with some friends of ours who actually started work today and went out to eat. A great time, but my legs will feel like jelly tomorrow.

One thing I didn't realize - whenever you see pictures of the White House and the Supreme Court and the Capitol Building, they're basically by themselves, framed by blue skies and green lawns. It's weird to see them up close, because they're surrounded by buildings. You couldn't see the White House from two blocks away - there are too many townhouses. don't know what I expected - to see them up on pedestals above the city? But it's still weird.

I am feeling pretty nervous, but pretty excited about starting tomorrow. I guess we'll see how it goes. I have the feeling that I am about to find out just how little I know.

This was embarassing: All the interns I've met so far are 21 or older. Last night, we went to Georgetown to try to find a bar where we could chill. They specifically said they wanted to find a place where I could go, and we headed to one that looked promising. They all ordered their beers, and then I asked the bartender if he had any soda. He said he did, and asked for my ID. No, you don't understand - nonalcoholic soda, I repeated. Sure, he said, but you have to be 21 to be in here. Oh. I'll leave then, I said.

So we all went outside to a bunch of tables they had in an area railed off from the sidewalk and sat down, them with their drinks, and me without. A few minutes later, a guy comes out: "Hey, I hear you guys aren't 21." "Well, I'm not," I say. "You can't be here," he said. (Here being outside the bar, at the tables.) "Is there any way he can just sit with us while we finish our drinks?" says my fellow intern named Ted. "Drink fast?" says the guy.

Our table was by the railing. So I ended up leaving the seating area, and standing outside the railing so I could talk to them while they drank. Yeah - felt just a little stupid. And they felt bad too. Just a bad deal, all-around.

Stupid USA, with its draconian drinking age.

OK - pictures.

At the National Archives. (The lighting in here was purposefully low to protect the documents, and no flash photography was allowed.)

The Magna Carta. For realz:

The Constitution:

The Declaration of Independence:

(Is that Nicholas Cage? Stop him!)

John Marshall's first draft of Marbury v. Madison, in which the Supreme Court decided it had the authority to overrule anything any branch of the US government anywhere might do. I gave it my best death glance, but I couldn't get it to disintegrate. Oh well.


The first draft of the 13th amendment:


Had to get this: the Canadian embassy.



The eternal flame at JFK's tomb in Arlington Cemetery. (It's there, trust me. Gas-powered?)


Robert E. Lee's house - before the Union Army confiscated it to start burying Union soldiers. Thus was Arlington Cemetery born.


The view from the Arlington House:


The Penatgon, viewed from Arlington Natl' Cemetery. My new friend Ted: "Imagine visiting here on 9/11 and seeing the plane hit." (Shudder).


"Here lies in eternal glory an American soldier, known but to God." The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are unidentified remains from three soldiers killed in WWI, WWII and Korea here.


The "big pointy thing" viewed from the Lincoln Memorial.


Our nation's greatest president. (This picture does not give the memorial justice. Dude...)



The Albert Einstien memorial:



The White House. Sweet!



No sudden moves! (Snipers on the roof).



A round-the-clock antiwar vigil right across the road from the White House. (No, I didn't argue with them.)

The room directly across the courtyard from my dorm window:

Oh - it's ON!

National Presbyterian Church. Dad and I went here on Sunday - apparently, so does Condoleeza Rice. It's even more beautiful on the inside:

The First Amendment, writ large at the “Newseum”:

That's all for now. Good night!