So the Circle A Brigade, apparently the douche bags who vandalized Adams Morgan the night of the inauguration, have posted a letter on DC Indymedia defending their actions.  I can tell from this letter there is obviously no IQ requirement to be a "self described anarchist."  The letter is long, so rather than reading the whole thing, just picture someone defending the indefensible and you'll get the idea. But, as usual, I have a few comments.  In response to Jim Graham's comment, they say:

Over recent years, Adams Morgan has increasingly come under attack by gentrification. Longtime residents have been forced out because they can’t afford property tax or rent increases, largely due to upscale development projects occurring all over NW, encouraged and brokered by Graham and other local politicians. Besides the remaining poor and working class people who are barely holding on to their homes and businesses, the rich have largely occupied the neighborhood.

The rich have largely occupied the neighborhood?  It seems to me Adams Morgan is "largely occupied" by twenty-somethings who've recently graduated from college or grad school and want to live in a lively, urban neighborhood.  I doubt that many of them are what I would consider "rich."  Why don't you take a walk over to 17th and Euclid and show me where the rich people are.  "Rich" people live in multimillion dollar townhomes in Sheridan Circle, not fucking Adams Morgan.

The corporations that were attacked in Adams Morgan are multi-nationals that are there for the sole purpose of reaping as much profit as they can, and have no interest in the well being of the neighborhood.

So it's ok to vandalize a neighborhood that has a bank, a McDonald's, a Starbucks, and a KFC?  That's your logic?  Well, hell, let's just fucking burn the whole damn country to the ground.  Do you even know how the franchising system works?  Do you really think you're hurting a big corporation by vandalizing a local franchise?  I don't know who owns the McDonald's in Adams Morgan, but I bet you don't either.  For all we know, it could be some local guy who lives in the neighborhood.  So, out of town protesters, do us a favor and save yourself some money: vandalize your own goddamn town.

If you veer off 18th Street or Columbia Road, you will find the homes of the middle to upper class and extremely wealthy, with price tags of millions of dollars. If you follow Kalorama Rd. just barely over the Adams Morgan border, you won’t find the home of George W. Bush, but you will find that of war criminal Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A little further down Connecticut Avenue, you’ll find the Washington Hilton, which was host to one of the Republican Parties decadent balls that night--hence its choice as the original destination of the march. It’s no secret that many of those attending the balls also went out to nearby posh hotspots in Adams Morgan for drinks and dancing.

So because Adams Morgan, though not actually home to rich administration officials, is within the relative vicinity of such neighborhoods, you were justified in vandalizing Adams Morgan.  Fuck you, you stupid fuck.  Maybe you should have started your protest in Sheridan and marched to the Hilton.  Maybe then, you would have actually found these posh homes and rich people that seem to hate so much.  Look, we don't like it when republicans come to Adams Morgan either.  We put up with for a night, and then they leave.  We deal with it - you can too.

These businesses, while some are independently owned, cater to people with disposable income and leisure lifestyles. The residents of Adams Morgan who make the area diverse have little access, other than as service employees, to these businesses which thrive on the excesses of capitalism. Marching through this area with an anti-capitalist presence was a direct affront to the wealthy inauguration-celebrators who like to keep their opposition out of sight and out of mind.

Yeah, I hate all of those capitalists at Asylum, Pharmacy, Angles, Toledo, etc.  Drinking their $3 High Lifes and smoking their fancy Marlboro Reds.  Man, I fucking hate rich people.  Actually, I think many of the people in Adams Morgan that night were relaxing after finishing a day of successful non-violent protesting.  I only saw two tuxedos all night, and they were sufficiently heckled.  We really didn't need marching and vandalism.

Anyway, this thing goes on, and I've already given it more attention than it deserves.  If they were to say "Look, we were drunk, things got out of hand, we're sorry," I would say don't sweat it.  Happens to the best of us.  But to actually defend vandalizing Adams Morgan to protest Bush?  What are you, high?  Next time you want to say something to "the man," go vandalize a federal building or harass a politician.  Just please stay out of our neighborhood.