What Was Barry Thinking?

Can't tell you the calls I got Wednesday from associates to former Mayor Marion Barry. People wanting to vent, privately off course, to the City Councilman's outbidding Wolf Blitzer recently for an "Opera Coat for his new girlfriend.

Word is he has asked her to become the fourth Mrs Barry. She hasn't decided.

Barry won the coat with his final $800 dollar bid. How far was he prepared to go? He was quite proud of his accomplishment in his remarks to the Post.

His friends point out that he hasn't yet heard back from Federal Judge Deborah Robinson on whether he'll be sent to jail or have his probation extended for failing to file his 2007 tax returns on time-that was a violation of his parole according to prosecutors and his poor probation officer who is trying to keep the 70 plus Barry and recent kidney recipient out of jail.

The IRS and DC government are currently garnishing Barry's DC Council pay at a rate of about $3,000 per month.

DC Clergy Organize To Oppose Same Sex Marriages

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA)--DC clergy members, claiming to represent at least 500 churches and tens of thousands of members rallied on Freedom Plaza Tuesday, across from the Wilson Building.

The ministers say they are organizing to oppose a bill given tentative approval by the DC Council that will recognize same sex marriages that are performed in States where the practice is legal.

DC doesn't have its own same sex marriage law, but David Catania, an openly gay Council member says he expects people here to get married in States where the practice is legal and then return to live in the District.

Bishop Harry Jackson, one of the organizers of today's rally put Catania and Mayor Adrian Fenty on notice saying "there will be consequences" if the Council goes through with final approval of the bill recognizing same sex marriages.

DC Safety Inspections to End

The DC Council is about to go along with Mayor Fenty's proposal to end mandatory annual safety inspections for personal vehicles.

The four hundred thousand dollars to fund the Inspections is being cut out of the new fiscal budget that the legislators will begin marking up this week, according to sources.

Councilman Jim Graham says there just isn't enough study to show the inspections are having an impact on pedestrian or vehicle safety.

It's news that will please drivers who simply detest having to drive to Southwest, idle in line, then wait to learn if their vehicles pass or fail Inspection.

People have complained about what appears to be an inconsistency in the outcomes-the time and cost to make minor repairs and media reports of Inspectors taking bribes from cab drivers and others.

Five DMV employees at the Southwest Inspection station were fired this year for allegedly conducting improper inspections. I should point out that emission Inspections will continue every two years--that's federal law.