respublica

Eastern Market-gone

Update:  Fire photos here via Erin M.  Video from WRC 4 the local NBC affliliate

On the Hill in Washington D.C. was one of most everyone's favorite places to visit.  Eastern Market, an old complex in the district had something for everyone, fresh flowers, meat, produce, bedding plants, an old food service counter where hoards of residents would go for breakfast on Saturday mornings or for crab cakes at noon, buy old furniture, paintings, jewelry, purses. 

Eastern Market burned to the ground early this morning.  An historic 19th century building went down to nothing but rubble, taking with it everything inside.  Firefighters believe the fire began in a trash bin behind the market.

D.C. mayor Fenty wants to bring it back 100%.  I hope he can do it.  We have been to Eastern Market many times on our visits to D.C. and we have always bought something, ate something, looked at everything.  Sad.  Somewhere I have photos from our last time there early last May maybe I can find and upload them.

Update: It did not burn to the ground as I said, but the building is "ravaged" and the south half is decimated.

Noodling is out

The Missouri Department of Conservation has put an end to noodling, otherwise known as hand fishing.  This is quite a popular way to catch catfish in these parts, but the rules have been found to be too liberal and have "kept catfish from reaching their full growth potential."

How does noodling work? 

"When an underwater catfish nest is located, the noodler than takes his bare arm and thrusts it into the hole. The object is to get the male catfish to bite onto the hand of the noodler. Once it bites, a catfish very rarely lets go, and so the noodler is then able to draw the animal out of the nest.

"I've had them bite me so hard that my hand has actually turned black from the lack of circulation," said anonymous. "And with the channel catfish, if you don't get a finger through the gill, the fish will start to roll very quickly on your hand and their teeth will cut into you."

Sounds like loads of fun.

Illinois poll of actual voters

Rich Miller in conjunction with his Capitol Fax newsletter commissioned a poll of what he calls 'hardcore' Illinois voters to see who is ahead in the race for the presidential nomination.  In Illinois.

Democrats

Obama 52.6
Clinton 24.6
Edwards 9.5
Richardson 2.4
Biden 2.3
Kucinich 1.25
Dodd  0.53
Undecided 6.9

Republicans

McCain 26.1
Giuliani 25.7
F. Thompson 17.4
Romney 10.2
T. Thompson 3.3
Undecided 17.2

Rich then analyzes the data.  No surprise Obama would be way ahead in his own state.

ty brb

The MAtH (man about the house) and I are wallowing in the many questions Dianne Isbell is answering today in her Monday Etiquette column in the Belleville News-Democrat.

Me:  Boy, Dianne sure received a lot of questions this week.

MAtH:  It's such a nice day, do we have to listen to Dianne?

Me:  You'll like this.

MAtH:  Maybe not as much as you do.

7 Wonders of Illinois

After months of voting by Illinois residents, the state Bureau of Tourism has released the places which will now be termed the 7 Wonders of Illinois.  Cahokia Mounds did not make the cut, losing the southwest Illinois spot to the Great River Road, The Great Rivers Scenic Byway.

The other six state wonders are:  Western:  Blackhawk State Historic Site, Southern: Rend Lake, Central:  Allerton Park and Retreat Center, Northern:  Starved Rock State Park, Chicago:  Wrigley Field, Chicagoland:  The Baha'i House of Worship.

Words

Best line of the day from Bill Mclellan in today's P-D.

"We're the only city in the world that dedicated a monument to the people who left town."

Cardinals pitcher killed

Updated, May 2:  KMOX radio has a cloudy video of the actual accident as it occurred taken from a highway camera some distance away.  You see the lights of the tow truck driver pulling up to a disable car and at the 1:11 mark the red tail/brake lights of Hancock driving into the truck.

It is also fairly evident at this point, even without toxicality results that Hancock had been drinking at a downtown restaurant before the accident.  The restaurant manager offered him a cab which he refused.

St. Louis woke up shocked by the news that pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a traffic accident last night around 12:30.  He was driving his Ford Explorer west on Highway 40 when he hit a tow truck which was stopped in the far left lane to help a disabled vehicle.

The tow truck driver said he had his emergency lights on and honked when he saw Hancock coming up in his lane.  A press conference will be held at 3 today with more details and tonight's scheduled ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game between the Cards and the Cubs has been postponed.

Josh Hancock was part of the bullpen which helped the Cardinals win the world series last fall and from all accounts was very well liked by his teammates and the local media.  He made his year round home in St. Louis and was said to be humble, grateful for the opportunity to be able to play major league baseball, and was always happy to be out with the fans.

He was from Alabama and was not married.  It was left to manager Tony LoRussa to call his father with the sad news.

Cracks in the carbon offset icon.  The New York Times sees some environmentalists hoping for a modern day Martin Luther.  All is not perfect in the global warming endgame.

“The worst of the carbon-offset programs resemble the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences back before the Reformation,” said Denis Hayes, the president of the Bullitt Foundation, an environmental grant-making group. “Instead of reducing their carbon footprints, people take private jets and stretch limos, and then think they can buy an indulgence to forgive their sins.”

“This whole game is badly in need of a modern Martin Luther,” Mr. Hayes added.

7 St. Louis burgers

St. Louis Magazine describes their 7 favorite local hamburgers everyone should try at least once.  A very thorough discussion with some whimsical descriptions of the food and the places that serve them.

This take on the Kobe beef fad while describing hamburger number 6 from The Royale: 

If ever there were a more overrated trend in cattle coddling than Japan’s Kobe beef phenomenon, we’re unaware of it. All this gibberish about feeding the cattle beer and giving them massages sounds suspiciously like the accidental genius of a lonely farmer than a New-Agey philosophy for making cows comfortable before leading them to the slaughter, but inexplicably it caught on with American foodies.  And so it goes at The Royale, that hitching post for hipsters and wannabe politicos, where the $10 Kobe beef burger gets a lot of hype but fails to live up to it. (There’s a sausage-patty snap to it that just doesn’t feel right.)

But they do endorse the Angus beef, Kingshighway burger. 

This is a fun read for St. Louis area folks, but the descriptions of the food and decor and such should be entertaining for anyone from elsewhere.

Shaking with Christopher Dodd

The New York Times is reporting on "the day after" today.  The day after the Democratic debate.  Here's the opening to a story on Christopher Dodd written by Mark Leibovich:

Senator Christopher Dodd has a magnificent handshake, maybe the best in the Democratic presidential field. He grips with a brisk clench, makes masterly eye contact and tops it off with a light pat on the wrist from his nonshaking hand. It is the grip of a pro, a (perish the thought) political pro, which he is, the silvery-haired son of a senator, accomplished lawmaker, backslapper and armsqueezer.

That's about as good as it gets for Mr. Dodd.  The story then goes on to deflate his chances and record a less than enthusiastic reception at a firehouse in Nashua New Hampshire:

Strolling around the Nashua fire station, hands crammed in pockets, he was looking slightly bored, or perhaps tired. It was about 10 a.m.; he is not much of a morning guy. He dutifully viewed the fire station’s state-of-the-art exhaust system, the defibrillator machine, the dive suit.

Life on the campaign trail, trailed by reporters with a brain full of adjectives.