Happy New Congress Day!

Incoming Speaker Boehner is streaming his first day of work on Facebook

Published January 5, 2011 4:20PM (EST)

Incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner arrives for a GOP Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 4, 2011. Boehner will take over the Speaker's duties from outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tomorrow.       REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) (Reuters)
Incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner arrives for a GOP Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 4, 2011. Boehner will take over the Speaker's duties from outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tomorrow. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) (Reuters)

In a few short hours, the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives will hand over the reins to the millionth crooked white guy speaker.

At noon, the new Congress will begin their first session. They will pray to their craven god Capitalism, then they will recite the socialist-penned pledge of allegiance (I am guessing they will shout the "under god" bit). There will be a roll call vote for speaker, which Boehner will win, unless these Tea Partiers really do plan to shake things up. (Speaker Jean Schmidt? Why not!)

You can watch all of this on C-Span, obviously. Or stream it on C-Span's website, if you're at work. But if you're at work and also enjoy pointless exercises in appearing to be hip with the kids, incoming Speaker Boehner will stream the opening session on "The Facebook," which today's hip young Republicans use to "poke" their representatives in order to keep them accountable and make sure they're staying true to their conservative values. (Cut FarmVille subsidies!)

Just head over to the Pledge to America Facebook page and troll the hell out of it. It's the American way.

I will be watching the entire sad spectacle, so please come back for more.


By Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene

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