Is this Washington—or Beirut? Balancing Beauty and Brawn

[dArKeR]

UGLY CEMENT barricades still line many downtown streets and ring important monuments. The first thing you see when you approach the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue is a clunky “Delta” barrier that controls car access. The big metal gate reads STOP. Some welcome mat to the land of the free.
        On Tuesday, there were so many police cars parked in front of 1600 Pennsylvania it looked more like the Big House than the People’s House. There was even a cop motorcycle parked on the sidewalk right in front of the White House, marring photo ops of the fountain. Most tourists, like Teresa Davis, a real-estate agent who was visiting from Carmel, Ind., with her son and mother, are pretty forgiving considering what the nation’s been through. Davis thought the orange emergency cones and the look of construction everywhere detracted from the city, but she was resigned: “That’s just the way it’s going to be.”
        Not necessarily. “There is no reason that security has to be ugly,” explains Richard Friedman, who headed up the Interagency Task Force of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which has come up with a plan to secure D.C. without making it look like Beirut. “If it’s done properly, you wouldn’t even notice.”

http://msnbc.com/news/968171.asp?0cl=c1

Let's put the reason for terror in jail! Lock up Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. No charges. No trial. Just lock them up and throw away the key to their Guantanamo Bay cell.

[Benhurst]

1. Washington should be kept the way it is ...

until the Bush* Gang is thrown out. The Big House decor fits Dubya's White House perfectly.

[qb]

2. Is this part of Pickles' beautification project? n/t