Update & Weekend in NYC

Monday 4/28/08
In the morning, I got to go to the Supreme Court with our Legal Correspondent, Jay. They were just announcing a decision, not arguing a case, so it only lasted a few minutes. I just took a course on the Supreme Court last quarter, so it was cool to be able to go and actually watch them in action. The proceedings are usually open to the public, but they have to wait in line and it just depends on availability. With a press pass, we get to go in without waiting but we get the worst seats in the house and are only allowed to take a pen and paper to write notes-- no video or audio. I was lucky and got one of the "better" seats in the press section (i.e. not behind a pillar) so I could actually see the justices. The only ones I recognized were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, mainly because she is the only woman. They were announcing a decision on a rather important case regarding a voter ID law in Indiana. The law requires all voters to present state or federal government issued identification cards at the polls, which many citizens said was unconstitutional because it placed an undue burden on their right to vote. The court upheld the law and said it was not unconstitutional, but all for varying reasons. It was a 6-3 decision, but there were 3 concurring opinions and 1 dissenting opinion... so a total of 4 opinions. The people who wanted the law overturned said that it targeted people for whom obtaining an ID was especially difficult, such as the disabled, the elderly, those who live in extremely rural areas far from a DMV, and students who are attending college out of state. The justices said that it could not be proven that this really affected a significant number of people's ability to vote, and that it shouldn't be too hard to get an ID if someone really wants to vote. Both sides argued about the law's ability to prevent voter fraud, with Democrats saying that in-person voter fraud is really not very common (at least not enough to make a difference in an election), and Republicans saying that it is a good way to deter fraudulent voters. The people most likely to be disenfranchised by this law are also demographics statistically most likely to vote Democratic, and the fact that the Court is largely conservative may or may not have influenced their decision.

In the afternoon, I went to a discussion in the Capitol with authors of a new report that examines PTSD and TBI rates among soldiers and veterans of the Iraq War, and tries to estimate the costs of these diseases in treatment, lost productivity, and suicide.

New study examines costs of PTSD

PTSD is a "major health issue" for U.S. soldiers and veterans (audio)

Tuesday 4/29/08
In the morning, I went to an environmental hearing on toxic chemical policies with my coworker Dawn where I was supposed to learn how to operate the video camera. Apparently our company is starting an online video channel kind of like C-SPAN, but edited and in highlight packages, and they're starting out with hearings on environmental issues. This means that no matter how boring the hearing is, if it's related to the environment we have to go to it and tape the entire thing to put online. Because of time constraints, I ended up not really learning how to operate the camera and instead just took notes and turned them into talking points, which Dawn came up with a title for and posted later once she got Internet access.

Hearing on Environmental Protection: Toxic Chemical Policies

In the afternoon, my coworker and I went to an outdoor rally on the West front of the Capitol, where a bunch of senators and veterans, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were trying to get support for a new bill that will pay for all of, instead of just part of, veterans' college education. The sound came out really bad since we were outside, so we didn't use it and I just posted talking points and photos instead.

Rally promotes new GI Bill to send vets to college

Senators, veterans promote GI Bill to send veterans to college (photos)

My coworker went to an event with Ricky Martin, and even though I didn't go I posted the pictures for him.

Pop star Ricky Martin discusses the "Call and Live" campaign to abolish human trafficking in Latin America (photos)

Wednesday 4/30/08
There was a press conference in the morning where senators introduced a new bill that is supposed to improve airline safety and reduce delays.

Senators introduce new bill to improve airline safety

Senator Boxer warns of a "crisis in the skies" (audio)

Lautenberg cites Robert Sturgell's "failed leadership" in the FAA (audio)

Later in the afternoon, I helped my coworker Dawn videotape a really boring hearing about groundwater or something. She had to leave early, so I had to do it myself and I was kind of nervous because I had never taped anything before and didn't really know what was going on. I figured it out though. It's really hard to pay attention to what's going on in the hearing when you are operating the camera and making sure all the shots are on the right people, that they're focused and have good lighting, etc. Then I had to drop off the tapes at one of our staff member's office at the end of the day, which took a while and was kind of a hassle.

Thursday 5/1/08
I was supposed to be czar today but because there were so many events, the staff needed me to cover events instead.
In the morning, I went to an event at the Center for American Progress where Congressman Murtha talked criticized the Iraq War. They had free bagels and coffee, which is always a plus.

Murtha criticizes Bush Administration on five years of Iraq War

Murtha says Iraq has distracted U.S. from "bigger picture worldwide" (audio)

Murtha says "there is a limit" to U.S. military power (audio)

Murtha says U.S. army is "broken" and military readiness has declined (audio)

Murtha calls for end to war torture (audio)

Mid-day we had an impromptu conference call, so the new intern practiced recording that and taking notes and wrote the talking points while I posted the audio.

Clinton Campaign says Clinton can beat McCain in November (audio)

In the afternoon, I went to a hearing about how the US military is transferring military personnel and equipment from Okinawa, Japan to Guam, a US territory. The witnesses wanted to ask the Senate for federal funding because they said their infrastructure would be strained with the 30% population increase that would come with the realignment due to the relocation of military personnel and their families. The new intern came with me again and since she practiced doing talking points earlier in the day, she edited the audio and I did the talking points for this event.

Guam faces challenges in military realignment plans

Weekend in New York
Friday 5/2/08
Normally we have a seminar from 9:30 am-12:30 pm that is endlessly long and boring, but miraculously it got canceled on the day Caitlyn and I were planning to leave for New York at 1:15 pm. Our professor told us he was giving a lecture on the economy and climate change, but it would be purely for our own interest and it would not count for our grade at all. He then told us that we were free to leave unless we felt like staying, and turned around and faced the wall so we could leave without him seeing us and feeling bad. Pretty much everyone left except three people. I wouldn't mind staying normally if it were any other professor, but we were already planning to leave for NY and that professor is really hard to listen to anyway.
The bus was a great deal, $35 round trip, which is especially affordable compared to Amtrak (about $60-80 each way). It was a charter bus, so it had spacious comfy seats, free internet, and a bathroom. The only downside was that we got stuck in traffic on the way there, so we got in at about 7:30 instead of 5:30 like we had planned. Caitlyn and I were starving, so we grabbed food at a restaurant near where we got dropped off (right in the middle of the city, near Times Square) and then proceeded to get lost on the subway for 2 hours trying to get to Brooklyn, where my cousin Amanda, who was nice enough to let us stay with her, lives with her fiance. The NYC subway is way more complicated than the DC metro, so it was a little hard for us to get used to. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got to Brooklyn, so we chatted with Amanda and her fiance Sean then just went to bed around midnight so we could get an early start.

Saturday 5/3/08
We got up at 8am so we could try and see as much as possible, since we only had a day and a half to see the city. Caitlyn bought a Top 10 book of NY, which gives locations and descriptions of the top 10 things to do in each part of the city. We talked about the things we wanted to do most before we left, and divided them according to location. We did the top half of the city on Saturday, and the lower half on Sunday, and sort of planned them out roughly by how much time they would take. Amazingly, we got to do everything we wanted to do. Caitlyn is really good with directions, which is great because I'm not, and I was good about keeping us on track with time.
In the morning, we took the Metro towards Manhattan and went to Central Park and walked around the trails and ate at the Boathouse, a restaurant right in the middle next to the pond. Central Park is HUGE, about a mile wide and a few miles long. If you look at it from Google Maps it is amazing how big it is. At 11:30, we went over to Broadway to enter the ticket raffle for a performance of Wicked, which is supposed to be one of the best plays out right now. Basically anyone can drop their names in, and they choose 13 people out of a big ball, and the people whose names are drawn have the option to buy two tickets each for only $26 instead of the $150+ they sell for at face value (if you can event get them--they are sold out weeks/months in advance). About 200 people entered and we lost, so we went to the theater where Little Mermaid was playing and got orchestra tickets for only $26 at 8pm. Then we went back to Central Park and visited Strawberry Fields, the section devoted to John Lennon where Yoko Ono put up a memorial mosaic in the cement where he was shot. The Metropolitan Museum of Art borders Central Park, so we went there after but only had about an hour to spend. It is enormous, and so amazing. They have so many cool things there, it would take at least a day to even make a dent. I really wish I had longer to look around, but we had a lot more stuff on our list.
After the Met, we went to Times Square and got gelato from a little Italian cafe that sold pizza, calzones, desserts, etc. Times Square was a lot smaller than I remember, and looks totally different and unimpressive during the day.
Then we walked over to Rockefeller Center, which is also a cool place with lots of stores and outdoor sitting areas, little restaurants, etc. We bought tickets for a 5:15 tour of NBC studios, which is located at 30 Rockefeller Center-- hence the name of the new show, 30 Rock, about the "behind the scenes" of Saturday Night Live, which is hosted there. The tour was pretty cool, and they took us to the studios where SNL and Late Night with Conan O'Brien are filmed. After, we only had about 45 minutes to find a place to get dinner before our Broadway show, so went to a little Italian place called Trattori's or something like that right by the theater, which was delicious.
We headed over to the Broadway show, which was fun. It was about 60% kids under 10, but it was just exciting to see a show. I was glad we got such good seats for such a good price.
After the show, we were pretty exhausted from walking around all day and getting up so early, so we headed back to Brooklyn for the night.

Sunday 5/4/08
We woke up early again and went to Soho to have breakfast with Sean and Amanda at Spring Street Natural Restaurant, or something like that. They had really good California style food. There was a street fair going on with people selling everything from crepes, kabobs, and candy apples to fake Rolexes, designer bags, souvenir t-shirts, and all kinds of random things. Then we went to Canal Street, a sketchy area where people sell fake bags from their cars and bundled up in suitcases so they can cart it away in a second if the police come nearby.
After that, we walked over to Greenwich Village and saw Washington Square Park and a few of the NYU buildings. We were still full from breakfast, but heard that the best bagels around were from Bagel Bob's, so we went there and bought a dozen to take home. We saw a cupcake restaurant called Crumbs with dozens of different kinds of cupcakes, but we were pretty upset because we were still full and couldn't eat anything no matter how good it looked.
After Greenwich, we went to Ground Zero. There was nothing really around, it looks under construction and I think they are building a memorial site. It's pretty much a big, gaping hole in the ground and a gap in the skyline surrounded by blockades, fences, and security guards. There's a visitor center next to the site, but we didn't have time to walk through because it is an hour long tour at least.
After Ground Zero, we walked to the Staten Island Ferry, which is free, and it takes you to the island and back. You can see the island and the Statue of Liberty on the way, which is cool because we didn't have time to go to either thing.
By that time, it was about 4:00 and we had to go back to Brooklyn to get our bags and then rush back to Upper Manhattan to catch our bus. We ran kind of late and missed our 6:00 bus, but luckily there was a 7:00 one we could take. We got delicious sushi from a restaurant nearby and made the 7:00 bus, and finally got home around midnight. All in all it was a great weekend, I'm glad we planned it out in advance even though that's not usually like me, because we really did get to do a lot. It's a great city though, and I don't think I could ever see everything no matter how many times I went.