Election Day: Do you know where your polling place is?

Perhaps you've been busy watching Dan Snyder tunnel his way to China, but there's a little election today in the District to fill the Council seat vacated by Kwame "Fully Loaded" Brown when he assumed the Council Chair seat.

There are nine candidates vying for the seat, including one Republican (Pat Mara) and one woman (Dorothy Douglas). Others running include professional politician Vincent Orange (who apparently walks and talks like Ward 8 residents), "incumbent" Sekou Biddle, Fenty write-in campaign leader (and, at 27, a spring chicken) Josh Lopez, former Adams-Morgan ANC commissioner and tie-detester Bryan Weaver, Ward 8's Tom Brown, Green Party candidate Alan Page, and the mysterious Arkan Haile.

Not sure where you should be voting? The DC Board of Elections website can help you with that. Happy voting!

TONIGHT: Loose Lips D.C. Council At-Large Candidates' Debate @ Black Cat

In case you haven't had enough of local politics (and, really, CAN you get enough with all the theater DC politics is providing right now?), head out to the Black cat this evening for the Washington City Paper/Loose Lips At-large Candidates City Council Debate.

The forum runs from 7p - 9p. No word on whether the forum will be followed by a set from a promising up-and-coming indie band.

Details from the City Paper's website:

Washington City Paper, NBC4, and WPFW’s DC Politics show are sponsoring an At-Large D.C. Council candidates’ forum on Tuesday, April 12, from 7–9 p.m. Our gracious host is the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW.

Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman, NBC4’s Tom Sherwood, and “DC Politics” host Chuck Thies will ask the tough questions. Former Loose Lips writers may drop by for a zinger, too.

Courtland Milloy's selective memory

Courtland Milloy wants us all to just get along.

The venerable Post columnist, who blasts users of social media while maintaining a Facebook profile, questions today why it takes a tragedy like the Tucson shootings to ostensibly bring people together and bemoans the fact that DC residents don't take heed of the killings going on right at our doorstep.

The homicide of a little-known Hispanic man has about as much chance of generating widespread sympathy as, say, the death of a resident of Juarez, Mexico, by people wielding firearms bought in the United States. We just don't see the connection to us, as if they are not part of our human family.

For most of us, the lives of the Morenos of the world aren't worth so much as a blip on our emotional radar. We discount their deaths as easily as we do those of civilians in Afghanistan who get killed by our missiles, fired from drones as easily as we fire off nasty anonymous notes via e-mail.

TBD has already performed a rather thorough takedown of Milloy's apparent technological inadequacies, but that's not my point. The man who today laments "that our current state of goodwill is not expected to last" is the same man who, only four months ago, decried the "myopic little twits" (affluent Fenty supporters) who patronize "chic new eateries" and "(fired) up their "social media" networks" whenever Adrian Fenty was supposedly under attack.

In the wake of Vince Gray's defeat of Fenty in the Democratic primary, it was Milloy encouraging those who "need more time to gloat and wave their fists" to, in his words, "take it".

One wonders whether the January 2011 Courtland Milloy, with his calls for a toning down of political rhetoric and an increase in restraint and civility, would be at all bothered by the September 2010 Courtland Milloy, who accused Fenty and his supporters of seeking to "re-create a more sophisticated version of the plantation-style, federally appointed three-member commission that ruled the city for more than a century."

Death panels? Fenty the Plantation Master? Both to me seem to be branches of the same rhetorical tree.

Not that the January 2011 Courtland Milloy doesn't have a point. Yes, the Tucson shootings were indeed a tragedy, but so is the fact that Prince George's County is averaging practically a homicide a day, as is the fact that the nation's capital--despite tremendous improvements--maintains one of the nation's highest murder rates. It shouldn't take the tragic murder of six people, and the shooting of 14 others, including a congresswoman, to remind us that all human life is valuable, argues Milloy.

No, it shouldn't. But, pray tell, what separates the charged rhetoric at the heart of the current national debate--the us-versus-them mentality, the vilification of those with whom we disagree as not simply different from us, but as people who actively seek to do harm and who must be stopped--from the heated rhetoric and "suck on it" attitude adopted by the likes of Milloy to describe the recent mayoral race and its implications on the city's ongoing metamorphosis?

If there's a line there, it's blurred beneath a cloud of inciteful, overheated rhetoric.

Do as I say, not as I do, Courtland?

TONIGHT: Mayoral Straw Poll for Ward 2 Democrats

For our readers in the Logan/Shaw/Dupont area (which is probably most of you), there is an opportunity to participate in the Ward 2 Democrats mayoral straw poll this evening at the Washington Plaza Hotel in Thomas Circle.

Both Vincent Gray and Adrian Fenty have been invited to attend, but neither have been confirmed. The event runs from 7 PM - 9:15PM. Full details are included below. For more information, visit the Ward 2 Democrats website.

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TONIGHT: Ward 2 Mayoral Candidates Forum & Straw Poll!

July 21, 2010 7:30pm - Wash. Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Cir. NW)

The Logan Circle Community Association (LCCA) and the Ward 2 Democrats are hosting a Mayoral straw poll Wednesday, July 21st at the Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle. All of the candidates who filed papers to run have been invited, including current Mayor Adrian Fenty and current Council Chair Vincent Gray.

Everyone is invited to attend, but only registered Democrats will be able to participate in the straw poll. Registration begins at 7pm, and guests will have the opportunity to talk to any candidates who are present at that time. The presentations will begin at 7:30, and voting will close by 9:15. (Times subject to change if needed.)

Each candidate will be asked to speak on several topics. Following the presentation, registered Democrats will have the opportunity to vote. For more information, please contact Ward 2 Democrats President Pat Allen at 202-296-0720 or LCCA President Bob Maffin 202-301-2125.

UPDATE: Please stay tuned this summer for additional candidate fora - including a forum for Council Chair candidates in collaboration with the Dupont Circle ANC!

What are the key issues you'd like to discuss in 2010?

Let us know your hot-button Ward 2 & District issues!

The 2010 elections offer lots of exciting opportunities for Ward 2 Democrats to discuss and weigh in on the candidates and issues that affect our streets, homes, work, families, schools, and neighborhoods here in the District.

The Ward 2 Democrats officers would like to hear from you about what key issues and topics you'd like to debate, discuss, learn about, and weigh in on as Ward 2 Democrats. Affordable housing ... city services ... public safety... parking ... development ... others?

Please contact Chairman Patrick Allen (pallen39@verizon.net) with your ideas.