Snowpocalypse: Blumenauer-style

Like everyone in Washington DC this week, Congressman Earl Blumenauer is snowed in. Only he's not allowed himself to be snowed in. He went to work and got home... on cross-country skis:

Earl Blumenauer on skis

He blogged about the experience for The Hill:

A city that was designed for travel by foot and horses loses some of its charm with modern traffic congestion. A deep snowfall is the perfect antidote, as it adds beauty, muffles sounds and discourages automobiles. The broad streets and sidewalks reveal their grandeur when covered with snow instead of cars.

After working haphazardly at my desk, it became clear that the snow and wind were not going to subside anytime soon and it was time to have the Mall experience. ...

From the beginning of the Mall, I could barely see the Capitol Building. My grand designs of doing the loop up to the Lincoln Memorial and back were quickly scaled back to simply exploring Museum Row on the way to the Washington Monument. ...

Back at my desk, it’s actually hard to pay attention to the materials before me. I keep glancing back over my shoulder at the barely visible Capitol dome, the flag at half-mast for the late Congressman John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), at all of the wind and snow swirling past the window.

No matter how many times I run on the Mall, look at the Capitol, experience a sunrise in Washington, it’s impossible not to be inspired, both by the majesty and by what it represents. As we are starting a new year, back from the brink of the serious financial and economic problems we faced 15 months ago, there are still plenty of challenges and much work ahead of us, all in a very difficult environment. I am thankful for a couple of days of quiet tranquility to help center my thoughts and feelings on the task ahead, having the beauty of our nation’s capital as testimony to how one’s environment can be uplifting and inspirational. At this point, I’m welcoming all the inspiration I can get.

Read the rest.

  • Ricky (unverified)
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    This is the most fucked up thing I ever read.

    Our planet is experiencing a global climate crisis and he wants to gush on how peaceful and beautiful it is, devoid of human presence, when the very peace and tranquility he feels is a result of human's destroying our atmosphere.

  • BOHICA (unverified)
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    the flag at half-mast for the late Congressman John P. Murtha (D-Pa.)

    It's "half staff" Congressman.

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    Jeezus..seriously?

    The guy enjoys the majesty and beauty in DC, essentially making lemonade out of lemons..and he gets slammed for it here in comments?

    Good grief. There is a serious lack of basic perspective in these comment threads sometimes.

  • Roy McAvoy (unverified)
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    Carla, I feel your pain but Blume is the quintessential Mr. Magoo. As long as he is in any transportation mindset he remains blind to almost everything else going on around him.

  • alcatross (unverified)
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    While there has been lots of snow in my years in D.C., it has always appeared at inopportune times or quickly turned to slush and made skiing impractical.

    Lots of snow? Gee whiz... RFK Jr 15 months ago wrote a column decrying Washington's 'anemic' winters.

    Carla Axtman commented: The guy enjoys the majesty and beauty in DC, essentially making lemonade out of lemons..and he gets slammed for it here in comments?

    Well, I think it's a fine blog post... and I also think much of the country, like me, is enjoying the week of peace and quiet with our 435 kids out playing in the snow rather than creating the ceaseless cackling din and more of their customary mischief in the halls of Congress. My mind fantasizes about what a boon to the productivity and pocketbook of most every American would come from moving the whole apparatus of Washington DC to Duluth, MN!

    Anyway, I await the post(s) here about Oregon's brave Democratic legislators, buoyed by their M66/M67 win and what has often been interpreted here as the public's apparent ready willingness to give more money to Salem, pressing forward with kicker reform...
    oh wait - "The pollsters scared the crap out of these Democrats," Kulongoski said? eh... live by the polls, die by the polls?

    Kulongoski said he would now focus on the work of his "Reset" commission -- a group of advisers he has convened to study and recommend ways that various parts of government, from the higher education system to prisons, could operate more efficiently.

    Damn! Imagine that... operate more efficiently? Really?

  • Hocus Pocus (unverified)
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    Ricky can't be serious. Trying his hand at a bit of rebel doggery cum sacrcasmo with a bit of the Cutty Snark tradition throw in as well. And well done, imho, I might add.

    Uncle Earl's definitely reached icon status. Anything he does will be balm to his supporters and anathema to his detractors. THAT, imho, is a good rep. That's a sign he's repping and not self-promoting.

    It's hard not to dream about the scenario. I've often thought how a magnitude 10 subduction zone quake off the coast would make SE a pretty special place- all be it in a twisted way, but, hey, that's SE- and show the rest of the city to be poor imitators. The bridges create the illusion that the city proper is anything like SE or shares its values.

    Alc, Ted's a total embarrassment to real progressives. I would love to hear one of the "vote Dem at any cost crowd"- is Paulie available- to put together a coherent argument about how he's been a good governor in any sense. The best I've been able to get from that lot is "he doesn't have an 'R' after his name...and I would vote for him again". Fine. You've a herd mentality and you don't learn. But what has he done that you're proud of? No. No time for that. Off to support the latest "hope and change". That's the good thing about Kitz. One thinks one doesn't have to worry about hearing that from his campaign, at least.

  • Zarathustra is my real pseudonym (unverified)
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    Posted by: Hocus Pocus | Feb 12, 2010 8:39:54 AM

    uhhh, that was me. Forgot to change back after trying to close itals yesterday.

    Posted by: Roy McAvoy | Feb 12, 2010 7:58:39 AM

    Carla, I feel your pain but Blume is the quintessential Mr. Magoo. As long as he is in any transportation mindset he remains blind to almost everything else going on around him.

    As opposed to the average American that, when in the getting my crap done mindset, is completely blind to transportation. Mr. Magoo is an obscene comparison as well, as he's the prototypical SUV driver that thinks he's entitled to the road as well as his selfish driving habits.

    Very surprising that alcie has joined Richard's "Let's Idolize the Kennedy Family" club. It's incredible how people will latch onto any sequence of words like it constitutes an argument. You want to quote someone with no background on the subject? Quote me. I said in the early '90s that climate change was real, but that we would see an increase in variation long before an increase in the median temp each year was established. What? No takers? Obviously you must have a lot of personal respect for RFK, Jr.! Meanwhile tell the Brits that have spent the last 8 weeks freezing under NE Baltic winds that theories about the Gulf stream turning off, the wind shifting to the NE and the climate becoming much, much colder are BS. Oh wait. I said it should get colder for them. Oh, alcie, you must be right. We just don't understand climate change at all. Probably luck that those numbers were spot on!

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    Our planet is experiencing a global climate crisis and he wants to gush on how peaceful and beautiful it is

    Check the roll call, hermano. He already tackled a congressional response to the climate crisis. Go talk to Harry Reid.

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    And then more comments, like providence, just to prove my point.

  • Roy McAvoy (unverified)
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    Carla, sorry. It's a very very pretty picture :-)

  • chris #12 (unverified)
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    So glad that Earl thinks we are "back from the brink of the serious financial and economic problems we faced 15 months ago". Tell that to the millions of people without adequate employment and/or health care.

  • Zarathustra is my real pseudonym (unverified)
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    <h2>Aside from the wonderful romance of it all, he may have missed a trick .</h2>
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