Anne Lamott, well known in writing circles for her books Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies, among others, has come out with a new book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. In it, she expresses her deep dislike of President Bush.

She writes, “I wake up some mornings pinned to the bed by centrifugal sadness and frustration. A friend called to wish me a Happy Birthday, and I remembered something she’d said ... while reading a Vanity Fair article about Hitler’s affair with his niece. ‘I have had it with Hitler,’ she said. And I’d had it with Bush.”

Lamott’s fierce opposition to the war in Iraq causes her to ask, “Hadn’t the men in the White House ever heard of karma?”

Of course the book is supposed to be spiritual. So she writes that she prays for the willingness to forgive Bush, “who got us into this mess,” and of the “daily depression of living under the Bush White House.” And to combat her icky feelings toward the president and his administration? She sends checks to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Oakland’s “progressive” representative.

Overheard…Reps. Diaz-Balart, Cannon sorting gas crisis
As gas prices continue to soar, causing President Bush’s approval ratings to drop and putting political pressure on congressional Republicans, lawmakers are batting around some unorthodox — one might even say zany — solutions.

One, discussed by Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Chris Cannon (R-Utah) in a Capitol elevator recently, would be to fuel cars with natural gas instead of oil-based gasoline.

Diaz-Balart recalled his days of living in Spain, where he asserted the cabs were all fueled by natural gas. But confusion momentarily sprang up as the two lawmakers pondered whether natural gas as car fuel would come in liquid or gaseous form.

Cannon solved the dilemma by remembering that butane is indeed a liquid, since, after all, cigarette lighters slosh when you shake them. No word yet if anyone is working on an amendment to the energy bill.

Washington being pegged as fashion-forward
The assertion that Washington is becoming a fashion capital is reason enough for the stuffy suits and staffers with their perpetual iPods to be alarmed.

But according to an astonishing release that came across ITK’s desk, today’s opening of an upscale fashion boutique in Georgetown could start making heads turn.

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who isn’t particularly fashionable in his constant bow-tie motif, will be on hand for the grand opening of Intermix, a specialty boutique on M Street that features clothing from such labels as Chloe, Stella McCartney and KORS by Michael Kors as well as Valentino, Givenchy and Diane Von Furstenberg.

The boutique is located at 3222 M St.

Something fishy going on in two congressional offices
Small talk has turned into a fine art in at least two offices on Capitol Hill.

In the offices of Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) are large tanks full of exotic fish. In Foley’s foyer, it’s a sprawling 72-gallon tank filled with 72 fish, everything from a neon dottyback, a striped dottyback and an orchid dottyback to a clownfish, three starfish, two sea cucumbers, conches (queen and fighting) and approximately 200 crabs and snails. Visitors can’t help but stare and ask about it.

“People come right through the door, their eyes go right to the fish tank and the big yellow fish we’ve got in there,” says Jeff Ostermayer, the staff assistant who mans the front office. “People coming in just to drop things off spend several minutes watching the fish. Sometimes I’ll sit back and wonder how long it will take. Some people won’t even notice it, others will turn around say, wow, fish tank.”

The tank is on loan from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, Fla., and has been in the office for the past two months. So far, none of the fish has eaten another fish and none has ended up belly up on the surface of the water.

USO wants members, staffers to stuff care packages
The USO Caucus is hosting a care-package stuffing party today at 10 a.m. in the Rayburn foyer.

Members and staffers are urged to come help stuff packages for soldiers in Iraq. Items include toothbrush and toothpaste, bubble gum, Wet-Nap wipes, bug spray, suntan oil, playing cards and AT&T phone cards.

The USO Caucus is chaired by Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). On hand will be celebrity spokeswoman and go-cart champ Leanne Tweedon.

Announcements

Lawmaker welcomes preemies into world
Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) and his wife, Rachel, recently celebrated the births of newborn twins.

They arrived early and were so small — 4 pounds, 4 ounces and 4 pounds, 16 ounces — that for two weeks they were placed in an incubator. The boys are now happily at home with heart monitors and weigh in the six-pound range. Their names are William and Walker, after the boys’ grandfathers.

“We’re getting three to four hours of sleep a night,” the proud Baird reports.

Aide gets engaged
Chris Herndon, 27, a new legislative assistant to Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), is engaged to be married. Though he won’t name his fianc�e, she’s a third-year law student at George Washington University. The couple will marry in August in Clearwater, Fla.

Edited by Betsy Rothstein
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Megan Scully and Alex Bolton contributed to this report.