If you’re reading this post on January 20, you’re probably not among the millions of people flooding into Washington DC for the presidential inauguration. In fact, you’re probably stuck inside an office.

For all of us poor saps who aren’t standing out in the cold on the National Mall, UsStream.tv has a live video feed from the event that you can watch below. Just remember to minimize it when your boss walks by.

You can also check for updates on the Utne Reader twitter feed.

(Thanks, Wonkette.)

Here is your inauguration day homework, in a paragraph: A Lincoln biographer imagines a conversation between Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama and digs up this nugget from Illinois senator Everett Dirkson: “The first task of every politician,” Dirkson said 50 years ago, “is to get right with Lincoln.” You should get right with Lincoln too. Here's his inaugural address. The Nation Institute’s Tom Engelhardt submits the speech he would have Obama deliver. Slate Magazine’s member-crafted People’s Inaugural Address has been posted. There is a searchable database of every inaugural address from George Washington to George W. Bush but there’s no need to read Washington’s inaugural address when you can watch it. And of course, Obama will take the oath of office on the Lincoln Bible. Be sure to read up on that burgundy velvet treasure.

Now that the U.S. presidential contest is finally over, GOOD magazine suggests that people turn their attentions to six particularly interesting elections that will take place around the world in the coming year.

First up is Israel’s parliamentary election, which may be delayed due to the current conflict in Gaza. The top two contenders are Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni; Netanyahu currently leads in the polls, but Livni has experience as the current Foreign Minister and a reputation of being untouched by corruption.

Other contests to follow include India’s parliamentary election in May and Iran’s presidential election in June.

Barack Obama’s inauguration bound to be raucous. People are streaming in from around the country, and CNN reports that a single ticket is selling for as much as $20,095. Craigslist has a bevy of requests to sell, buy, or trade inaugural tickets, and some of the requests seem suspiciously amorous. 

No matter how wild the Obama inauguration proves to be, attendants will be hard pressed to live up to the standards set by Andrew Jackson 180 years ago. According to the Smart Set, drunken supporters stormed the White House during Jackson’s inauguration, partying and destroying china and upholstery. Jackson was nearly crushed by the throngs of unruly well-wishers.

One eyewitness described the scene as, “a rabble, a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling, fighting, romping… Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses, and such a scene of confusion as is impossible to describe.” Eventually, according to the Smart Set, the chaos was diffused when “servants struck upon the idea of passing barrels of liquor and ice cream out the window in order to get the revelers out onto the lawn, where they could do less damage. It worked.”

The ACLU has gone to court to challenge Act 1, an Arkansas law approved by ballot initiative last November that bars unmarried couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents, the Advocate reports. The law is aimed particularly at gay couples, and the ACLU argues that the act’s language was confusing to voters. More broadly, Marie-Bernarde Miller, an attorney on the case, says that it “violates the state’s legal duty to place the best interest of children above all else.”

The suit was filed on behalf of more than a dozen families and will be presided over by Judge Timothy Fox, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He may be sympathetic to the plaintiffs: In 2004, he overturned a state ban on gay foster parents.

Image by Matt McGee, licensed under Creative Commons.

(Thanks, Feministing.)

Take a break from guessing who’s going to snag an Oscar and check out who’s in the running to take home top honors for their political blunders this year. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo released the nominees for the second annual Golden Duke awards with fun categories like Sleaziest Campaign Ad and Best Scandal: Sex & Generalized Carnality. My favorite is Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-Based Chutzpah. Marshall says it’s difficult to judge because it’s so nuanced—not to mention “the difference between chutzpah and just being a complete f---ing moron sometimes is subtle.” Winners will be announced on Wednesday, so now is the perfect time to start an office pool for your personal favorites. You could also just bet on Sarah Palin—the repeat nominee is bound to nab at least one. 

One of the most unpopular administrations in U.S. history will leave office this January, passing the presidency on to Barack Obama, a man millions expect to be a transformative leader. Obama will take the reigns in the midst of a worldwide economic meltdown, with American troops fighting two wars abroad, the climate in crisis, and that’s just the beginning.

The time is ripe for political resolutions to ring in the New Year.

The coming year should be the time we “return to integrity and put pressure on our government and corporate leaders, our employers and colleagues, to do the same,” Courtney E. Martin writes for the American Prospect. It’s time to “hold one another accountable to our highest selves,” she argues.

Taking a global perspective, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon trumpeted a more concrete resolution at his last press conference of the year, the AFP reports: “2009 will be the year of climate change.” He continued, “We must reach a global climate change deal before the end of the year [2009]—one that is balanced, comprehensive and ratifiable by all nations.”

Obama is widely expected to heed the call to step-up American leadership on climate change. And he’s already made a slew of other promises for new direction, including pledges to “value science,” create millions of jobs, initiate health care reform in his first year in office, shutter Guantanamo Bay, and restore America’s stature on the world stage. Here’s hoping these New Year’s resolutions aren’t forgotten by March.

Have any political New Year's resolutions of your own? Share them in the Utne Salons, or in the comments section below.

Image by Waldo Jaquith, licensed under Creative Commons.