Michelle Obama Lists Favorite DC-Area Destinations

Michelle Obama says the Newseum and historic attractions like Monticello are among her daughters’ favorite places to visit in Washington and the surrounding area, according to a cover story in the May issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine called “Mrs. Obama’s Washington: Why the First Lady Loves Her New Hometown.”

The first lady said she created an informal “Camp Obama” last summer to expose her girls to attractions related to American history because she worried that they’d learned “more about history in Europe than they did here.”

In addition to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate, which she called “incredibly beautiful,” they’ve visited Frederick Douglass’ home and Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate.

She told the magazine that her daughters “love the Newseum,” an interactive museum about news history. They enjoyed Luray Caverns in Virginia, too: “Yes! We saw the egg,” she said, referring to a formation in the cave that looks like fried eggs.

Bin Laden Sports ‘I Love Guantanamo’ T-Shirt

Travelers on the metro in the Washington DC risk coming facing to face with Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, smiling and wearing an “I Love Guantanamo” T-shirt.

The irreverent billboard image of America’s number one enemy, just a short distance from the White House, is part of an activist campaign aimed at highlighting that Al-Qaeda uses the US detention center as a recruiting tool.

The metro billboard is “to remind policymakers that torture is illegal, unethical and a top recruiting tool for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network,” creators from the Avaaz activist group said.

Avaaz believes Guantanamo is a potent symbol for the “war on terror” torture excesses of former President George W. Bush and that Al-Qaeda plays on this fact to pull in new members.

Another poster presents former vice-president Dick Cheney, who has ardently defended the controversial interrogation techniques of the Bush-era, begging the question: “Could this be Al-Qaeda’s best recruiter?”

President Barack Obama, who has vowed to shut the camp by January, is shown in a third poster, looking pensive, alongside a slogan from his inauguration speech: “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”

The advertisement campaign aimed at shutting the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is being run at Farragut North metro station, one of the closest to the White House, and in the Washington Post daily newspaper.

Defense Secretary Rober Gates said that the complexities of trying to re-house the 223 inmates still at Guantanamo meant it was “going to be tough” to meet Obama’s January 22 deadline for the camp’s closure.

Chicken Owner Shoots Himself While Hunting Opossum

A northwest Washington man is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while hunting an opossum that had been snatching his chickens.

Larry Tenbrink of Mount Vernon was watching TV when he heard his chickens “carrying on” late on afternoon.  He figured the problem was the opossum that had already killed more than a dozen of his chickens over the past few months.

Tenbrink grabbed his .22 caliber pistol, headed outside and spotted an opossum the size of a large cat wandering his property. But he accidentally pulled the trigger too early, sending a bullet through his lower right thigh.

The 61-year-old handyman told the Skagit Valley Herald that he’s back home after a trip to the hospital. And though the opossum is free for now, he’ll be hunting it again.  But next time, he says he’ll use a trap.

Bored Juror Faces Jail Time

A Oregon man who left jury duty after lunch because he was “extremely bored” will be back at the courthouse to be arraigned on a charge of contempt of court.

A police report said officers found the 25-year-old man near his home and asked why he skipped out. He said he was bored, and “just couldn’t take it” anymore.

Washington County Judge Gayle Nachtigal issued a warrant for his arrest.

Though she wouldn’t discuss the specific case, the judge said the maximum penalty for missing jury duty is six months in jail. Penalties, however, are generally waived if the person agrees to perform their civic duty.

Plane Crashes Into Toilet Field

A small airplane dropping from the sky after its engine failed wound up on a cushioning bunch of portable toilets — and the pilot was able to walk away apparently unhurt.

Gary Mayor of th FAA says the Cessna 182 crashed in Washington state after taking off from Thun Field, an airfield owned by Pierce County southeast of Tacoma.

Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer says the plane was about 150 feet in the air when the engine quit.

Troyer told The News Tribune that the pilot tried to turn around to land but didn’t quite make it.

The plane hit a fence, flipped over and landed upside down on top of the portable toilets standing in a storage yard.

Authorities didn’t immediately give the pilot’s identity.

Obama To DC: Toughen Up!

 President Obama has a message for Washington, based on years of Chicago winters: Toughen up!

A winter storm packed much of the Washington area in ice Wednesday. Schools throughout the region shut down — including Sidwell Friends, where Sasha and Malia Obama are enrolled.

Speaking at the White House the President said:  ”As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled. In fact, my 7-year-old [Sasha] pointed out that you’d go outside for recess in weather like this. . . . You wouldn’t even stay indoors. So it’s — I don’t know. We’re going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town.”

Looks like Washington schools are going to think twice before calling a snow day.  This ought to make Sasha and Malia popular with their new schoolmates. 

Memo from Sasha and Malia:  Thanks Dad.