Roxy in Georgetown 10/19/01

03/25/10 Paddles The Beaver holds court at a National Park Service news conference to announce details of new visitor services for the 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The Festival mascot harkens back to the notorious beaver who dined on the famed cherry blossoms until nabbed by the National Park Service. The three week festival starts this weekend.

03/25/10 The Washington Hilton celebrated it’s 45th anniversary today with presidential wax figures from Madame Tussauds to represent key moments in the hotel’s history. As part of the hotel’s $140 million restoration (set for completion in June), the hotel is also restoring its name from “Hilton Washington” (as it is currently known since 1998) to “Washington Hilton,” as it was originally christened in 1965.

Three 45-year hotel employees were also honored including Mary Johnson who has been a Room Attendant since the hotel opened in 1965. She told me that one of her first jobs was putting lampshades on all the new light fixtures.

03/23/10 Actress and singer Mandy Moore was on Capitol Hill Tuesday to “to raise awareness of the need for safe water and sanitation in the developing world.” The event was billed as a Guinness World Record attempt to form world’s longest toilet queue but frankly I’ve seen longer lines at baseball games.

[ American Standard donated 14 toilets to be used as a backdrop (no pun). ]

03/11/10 The climatic House vote on health care reform took place Sunday.  The protesters who gathered on the Capitol lawn to rally against the bill were the same folks who’ve vented against health care reform at Town Hall meetings and Tea Party rallies for over a year now. These photos were taken at around 4pm when it became clear that Rep. Bart Stupak (D MI) and his pro-life holdouts would vote for the bill – thereby assuring its passage -  in exchange for an Executive Order by the President banning federal funding for abortions. This news of this deal agitated the crowd greatly.

[The guy behind the "Obama the Dictator" sign declined to give his name for a caption.]

[Rep. Jeff Flake (R AZ) looks down at the crowd from the member's balcony.]

[Michelle Bachman (R MN) does not bat an eye talking to a gentleman in a tri-corner hat.]

[I'm wondering what he wrote before correcting the words "racial slur" on his sign.]

[Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R MI) greets a tea party protester from his home state.]

[I get the "Don't Tread On Me" flags but why bring Bogie into this?]

03/21/10 Scenes from the “March For America: Change Takes Courage and Faith” rally for immigration reform on the National Mall.

03/21/10 The German-American Heritage Foundation Museum of the USA officially opened Sunday and what better way to celebrate than with an oom-pah band on the street out front with a solo performance by one of those long horns from the Ricola commercial?

The museum is located across the street from the Verizon Center in Chinatown, the area of D.C. which was once home to much of the city’s German immigrant population.

03/18/10 Entertainer Kathy Griffin leads a rally to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law on Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC Thursday afternoon.

03/18/10 Following the Radio & TV Correspondent’s Dinner Wednesday night inside the Convention Center, the BBC hosted an after-party across the street at the old Carnegie Library building.

[Black Carpet]

[Fox News' Megyn Kelly laughed when I told her how my photo of her taken years ago still circulates widely thru the Internets. ]

[Comedian Joe Wong knocked 'em dead at the dinner following a lame-o Obama impersonation and a comedic performance by Vice President Joe Biden that left a lot of awkward silences broken only by the sound of cricket chirping noises.]

[Full House.]

[Jennifer Manfré of the Milken Institute with  CNN's Wolf Blitzer]

[CNN's John King and Dana Bash]