What reaction do you have when you read the front page of the Washington Post?

I usually shake my head ruefully, such as with stories about Jack Abramoff. I don't usually laugh at loud for an extended period. I did today, in reading this quote from the article, "Robbed at Gunpoint, Barry Harbors 'No Animosities': Assailants Helped Ex-Mayor Carry Bags"about how Marion Barry was robbed by some young adults who first assisted him by carrying groceries up to his apartment:

The thieves apparently knew that Barry (D-Ward 8) was a longtime community leader, a fact that he said made the crime "kind of hurt" because he is well respected by so many people in the city. Barry was not injured in the holdup. "There is a sort of an unwritten code in Washington, among the underworld and the hustlers and these other guys, that I am their friend," Barry said at an afternoon news conference in which he described the robbery in detail. "I don't advocate what they do. I advocate conditions to change what they do. I was a little hurt that this betrayal did happen."

Also see my blog entry Tom Sherwood, Duncan Spencer, Anwar Amal, and thinking about what I call the "Uncivil War".

Index Keywords: quality-of-life-advocacy