The card’s in the mail. Our phone was broken. It just slipped our mind. Whatever the excuse, we failed to properly wish Abraham Lincoln a happy 200th birthday yesterday. Events took place around the city to celebrate the country’s 16th president, from a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial where the Gettysburg Address was read to a gathering of the country’s political leaders in the Capitol Rotunda where Lincoln’s body lay in state after his assassination. Lincoln is fondly remembered in the District for having freed the city’s 3,100 slaves some eight months before the famous Emancipation Proclamation.

Louie Gohmert Strikes Again: Ever since he declared himself and the rest of his colleagues our rightful representatives on the Hill, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) has been looking out for our best interests. So it should come as no surprise that Gohmert has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed squarely at the District, one to exempt residents from federal taxes until they gain voting representation and the other to cede most of the city back to Maryland to resolve that whole two-century-old disenfranchisement thing. The proposals are alternatives to legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House, a move many Republicans deride as unconstitutional. The Examiner as all the details; check out our own run-down on tax exemption and retrocession to Maryland.

More Trouble at WASA: The Post carries yet another disturbing story about the agency charged with providing the District with clean water. This time, it seems that the WASA published a 2007 research paper claiming that lead in the city’s water had not harmed residents between 2001-2004, even though the paper’s conclusions were seen as scientifically dubious enough that even the author agreed to delete them. The details about how the paper came to light are a little confusing, but the piece is worth a read.

DCist Editor Throws Hat in Ring for Cabinet Position: Seriously President Obama, I’ll be your Commerce Secretary.

Briefly Noted: Bureau closings and job cuts hit Baltimore Sun … Group sues to stop HOT lanes … D.C. looking to get money back for inauguration expenses … Man found near U.S. Capitol with gun ordered released from jail.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2008, we reflected on then Senator Barack Obama’s sweep of the District’s 142 precincts in the Democratic primary. In 2007, a snowpocalypse shut down the federal government early. (Any chance of that today? Nope.)

Picture snapped by e.teel