Good afternoon, Washington. Below the links, City Paper is pleased to announce winners in its 2009 Inauguration Reader's Choice Contest.

*Ben Smith touches on the New York Times-Politico spat; Greg Sargent, meanwhile, mediates between the rhetoric of NYT Exec. Editor Bill Keller and that of Politico's John Harris.

*Farm Fresh Meat, hoping to cure his blogger's block, escapes to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

*Got a little thing for one of your local bloggers? Lemmonex at Culinary Couture certainly does:

I have a secret. I have crushes on some of you. My heart flutters at your comments. I await your haikus. I wonder where some of you are when I haven’t heard from you in a few days. I love how I can predict some of your responses. I read some of your blogs and adore the insights in to your life. Really, isn’t this the perfect definition of a crush?

If this sounds familiar, or if you'd just like to meet some of the local Rooshbags, get yourself to Marvin on Friday at 8 p.m. for a D.C. Blogger Happy Hour.

*And speaking of blogger happy hours: Arjewtino reveals the method behind the madness:

...for this one, Lemmonex emailed us and asked, “Are we doing a theme to this one or just ‘come and get fucked up’?”

*And speaking of bloggers and booze(!): Mr. T in D.C. is hoping to live to 100. His solution? A daily glass of pinot noir. Too bad he can't find a drinkable one.

Now, to the photos! Thanks to all who voted at our Inauguration Photo HQ, and congrats again to the winners of our first contest (you know, the one that actually involved multiple prizes).

Third place went to iandavidmuir for this shot:

Second, to AnyaLogic for this shot, which also won our print-version contest:

And first place went to keekeedee for this shot:

Keekeedee: Your gift basket's in the mail. And, you know, make sure to thank your friends for voting.

The Politico's Ben Smith threw up the MPD's community outreach flier on his blog today, but made one huge mistake in his write-up:

The Washington, D.C. police department launched a new initiative with a familiar slogan today, hoping to bring the sense of national change to urban youth.

The "No Shots Fired" initatiative "encourages youth to have a peaceful gunfire-free weekend," according to the press release.

The "No Shots Fired" initiative began–and ended–this past weekend. And those fliers? They were handed out in Petworth on Friday and Saturday nights, at the MPD's questionable checkpoints on Kennedy Street (I have two at home, along with a sheet detailing recently-solved homicides, which MPD officers were handing out to drivers after they questioned them over unbuckled seatbelts and outstanding tickets). The press release for the initiative, part of phase IV of "All Hands on Deck," went out Friday afternoon.

Smith's view on the flier's Obama-esque "hopefulness" is also interesting:

There are all sorts of hopes about cultural pivots that Obama's election may produce; immediate effects on crime rates seems a particularly ... hopeful one.

I don't know how much time Smith spends in the economically down-trodden parts of DC, but I'd wager that he's not a Petworth regular. Invoking Obama in tandem with random searches and foot patrols of jumpy police recruits isn't likely to dissuade the targets of a ruthless drug war from doing what they have to do to survive.