One of my many pet peeves regarding the media is the way they trot out the statement "terrorism has been ruled out" or "it's not terrorism-related" every time there's any sort of disaster. Just a few hypothetical examples:

Hotel fire in Las Vegas: "it was an accident, not terrorism"

Building collapse in NYC: "terrorism has been ruled out"

Any plane crash: "terrorism is not suspected"

Fire at oil refinery: "it's not terrorism-related"

Wildfire in CA: "caused by arsonist, terrorism is not suspected"

The media really needs to stop hyping the fear of terrorism, and get on with reporting the facts. The whole "be afraid, vote Republican" post 9/11 theme is tiresome, especially since the toll of Americans killed in ordinary crime, fires and traffic accidents since then is so high, compared to a big fat zero for terrorism. Of course it's not terrorism-related!

You may have heard about the MPD recently increasing the number of foot patrols, with what they are calling Operation Full Stride (I keep thinking  Operation Wide Stance instead, hee hee). Last night, television news crews were following a police officer walking the beat around Columbia Heights. It looked like Ellen Chang of Fox 5 News was interviewing him, and as I walked by on the way home from the grocery store, another camera crew approached me and asked if I lived nearby and would like to answer a few questions. I said sure, even though I'm still sick, and my voice is is worse than usual. It was a WJLA Channel 7 crew, so I wouldn't even indirectly be aiding the Fox News empire. They asked my full name, with spelling, for the record, and asked me a couple of questions about the new MPD foot patrols. I said something along the lines of it being a good thing, anything to get the police out of their cars, whether it be on foot, bikes, Segways or horses. I babbled on for a few minutes about how when police are in patrol cars, they can't interact with citizens or business owners very well, can't hear the sounds of the streets, but on the other hand are able to respond to 911 calls faster.

Being sick, I really didn't want to stay up to watch the 11:00 news, but curiosity got the better of me. Sure enough, when channel 7 ran the report on Operation Full Stride, they showed part of my interview. It was embarrassing and a little freaky to see myself on TV, but the worst was my voice - it sounded really bad due to the sore throat and cold. Not that it's great normally, but I definitely wasn't looking/sounding my best. We don't have a DVR, so I didn't record it. The segment also isn't posted on WJLA's website. There's an article on the story, and a different piece of video that apparently aired on the earlier evening news. So, if you missed it, you missed it.