Wasthington, D.C., A city of evil?

How about some Fourth of July conspiracy fun?

Ever been to Washington, D.C.? It’s an interesting microcosm of America. A capital city that is well ordered and remarkably clean in its center, yet is surrounded by embarrassing economic and social poverty. A city whose citizens are well taxed, but are without political representation in federal government. No shortage of affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods lie on the circumference of the city, extending into Virginia and Maryland. This is my nation’s capital.

I remember Steven Colbert’s poignant joke at the White House at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner: “Mayor Nagin! Mayor Nagin is here from New Orleans, the chocolate city! Yeah, give it up. Mayor Nagin, I’d like to welcome you to Washington, D.C., the chocolate city with a marshmallow center. And a graham cracker crust of corruption. It’s a Mallomar, I guess is what I’m describing, a seasonal cookie.”

Aside from the poverty and crime that results from a poorly planned economic system, Washington, D.C. is perhaps the worst city to drive through. I’ve driven my car through virtually every section, and I cannot express how easy it is to get frustrated and/or lost within that kooky D.C. infrastructure planned by the French architect and engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant at the behest of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, none of whom held any great religious sympathy for Christianity.

I have a good friend whose father worked for many years in the CIA, which no doubt has contributed to my friend’s predilection for conspiracy theories. Once while I was commenting on the arduous task of navigating the streets of Washington, D.C., he asked me if I knew that the city was planned as a pentagram. I laughed at him, knowing how much he exaggerates the implications of the Masonic ties many of the Founding Fathers maintained. But then he showed me a satellite photo of Washington, D.C., and to my amazement there was what appeared to be a pentagram. Do I think this means anything? I’m not sure, but it sure makes for interesting conversation.

Here are two photos for you, one of which outlines the supposed pentagram.

Much to my consolation, Washington, D.C. has a strong Catholic presence to counter any emanating evil from D.C’s city streets. With or without the pentagram, D.C. is hell to drive through!