And now for something completely local

Former Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson has now pled guilty to charges of corruption (i.e. bribery and developer shakedowns) and appears to be headed to 11-13 years in prison. Johnson, who just finished serving two terms as County Executive, was arrested, along with his wife, on bribery charges at the end of last year.

Johnson is apparently "sorry for what happened" but wants to remind PG residents that "all have sinned..."

So what did Johnson's bribery yield for residents of PG County? Apperently not more or sufficient grocery stores:

What a luxury for the residents of Washington’s Cleveland Park neighborhood to fight over the redesign of a Giant grocery store. Not long ago, the Safeway serving the Landover Hills area in Prince George’s County fled. Quite recently the nearby Giant packed up; the company said that the footprint was too small for its current business model.

While I’m grateful that an Aldi’s is slated to move into that location in the fall, its stores don’t accept WIC payments — a real drawback for the low-
income residents who have walked to that location for the past 30 years.

Ah, to get into a snit over whether the new Giant will maintain the historic integrity of the building it will occupy, or whether the addition of mixed-use development there would cause traffic problems. In Prince George’s, we’re facing what’s closer to a food desert rather than the glut of Cleveland Park, which has at least five supermarkets less than two miles from the Wisconsin Avenue Giant.

“The Cleveland Park community is going to have a bright new supermarket,” says Giant’s public relations office. If its residents can’t agree on that new supermarket, please send it to the Landover area. We’ll take it.

Jolene Ivey, Cheverly

The writer is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates (D-Prince George’s).

While many will be glad Johnson is finally getting his due, as rumors and allegations of corruption surrounded him for years, it's the people of PG County who will bear the brunt of Johnson's "sins".

Behold the Awesomeness of Voucherized Medicare

I wonder, though, how and when did voucherized Medicare become the GOP’s, or anyone’s, health care gospel? All during the HCR debate progressives were all over the place complaining (with some justification) of the inadequacy of the plan, the need for something more progressive, for something less wedded to prior GOP ideas (like the individual mandate). But every Repub except the Newtster is suddenly all on board with a proposal that got no campaign attention—because it didn’t exist—and was unveiled and passed (“rammed down our throats”) with lightening speed as soon as Boner got the gavel.

If It's Wednesday, It Must Be

Anti-Chavez Day at the Washington Post, special front-page, below-the-fold edition.

Since Chavez is well-known to be planning a united Latin/South America world government and invasion of the U.S. to impose Soshulism and Shariah Law on us, this is indeed a most important report from the Post.

Seriously, the American media’s decade long Chavez-hate and military coup-amnesia has truly been a sight to behold.