Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, publicly asked the government to raise his taxes in a NYT op-ed today. His position was not that of Warren Buffett, who has argued that taxes are unfairly low for the super rich. Rather, Hastings argued that higher taxes offer a more effective way to limit CEO incomes than pay caps. And he's right. To see why, we need to first understand why CEO salaries have gotten as high as they have.

So, I'm doing my typical morning thing, which includes staples such as black coffee and Google News.  I like Google News for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the sort of "smart" aggregation that can sometimes lead to interesting or amusing juxtapositions.  It would be fun if someone did a more Burroughs-Gysin style news presentation.  The technology is there.  I'm just sayin'.

To say that George Bush and Barack Obama don’t have much in common is an almost laughable understatement. About the only thing they share is the fact that each has two daughters. After Obama’s mea culpa yesterday, I was thinking about what different examples the fathers have set.

From watching their father in action, Barbara and Jenna Bush learned some interesting lessons:

Par for the course, the "national dialogue" (read: what the MSM deems to be fit for their truncated list of trite and nonsensical talking points) regarding our current economic quandary has detiorated to the sort of semantic sophistry that every single anchor on CNN will be all too happy to entertain with brows furrowed and lips pursed just so, subtle psychological cues meant to persuade the viewer that they should take this earful of horseshit seriously.

Supposedly, everyone agrees that the economy is on the ropes.  It requires stimulus.  Everyone knows that.  Duh!

Can there be any question as to what My One Favorite Thing this week was? Could it be any more obvious?? I mean, clearly, it was Rick Warren's Invocation Speech. Duh. What a beautiful testimonial to the goodness of god, the power of prayer and the righteousness of Scripture!

What a week. I've been home for four days and it still doesn't seem real. I've talked and written about the things we did while in DC, but I've been slower in finding the right words to express how I felt about the experience. 

Greta Christina has written a straight-forward piece at AlterNet that addresses what was wrong with all of the piety at the inauguration.  For my money, here's the quote:

You've read Orlando's impressions of her journey through DC on Tuesday. I was there, too, camera in hand. What follows are my impressions from the day.

Grappling clumsily with grand understatement, it has been a most interesting week.

I am no less a liberal for being a Christian. So I was somewhat dismayed that Rev. Rick Warren has come under fire for what some bloggers have called his "inappropriate" invocation at President Obama's inauguration.

Usually, on leaving day I get a wistful feeling, reflecting on the good times that I've had, happy to be getting home but sad that my vacation is over.

I don't feel like that today. Yesterday was a day that I will never forget, but today I'm even happier. My head is filled with hope and possibilities for the future.

So, A-Man, Genghis, Orlando are all painting D.C. blue tonight, making it tough for them to discuss in detail the incredible experiences they must have had today. In the meantime, I figured I'd give my take on Obama's inaugural address.

I left my friend Jake's apartment on Capitol Hill at 8:45am, clutching my hard-won "silver section" inauguration ticket. Hat, gloves, long underwear, wool socks, sunglasses--perfectly equipped for five hours of 32 degrees, mostly sunny. We wound our way around the Capitol, exchanging anti-Bush witticisms with the passerby. At first, there were big, friendly signs: "Silver section -->." The signs happily directed us where we already knew we were supposed to go.

It's finally over. Just sayin'.

Today was long. We (my cousin and I) started our day outside of Allentown, PA, and drove south, stopping briefly to pick up Genghis near Philadelphia. Having never driven in DC before, I was glad to have someone in the car who knew where he was going. So, thanks G.

OK, so I didnt find a way to scrounge up an Inauguration ticket. I'm certainly not going to spend one of the most beautiful and meaningful weeks in recent memory being bitter. At least A-man and the Big O are making me feel like I'm there with their insanely comprehensive coverage (although how about a little more multimedia please!). In the meantime, as my own little contribution to the week's festivities, I hereby offer up a special Inauguration version of my Questions column. Now these are no fun without reader participation, so you need to contribute by answering!

Crying update. Yesterday, I was overcome with emotion about Obama for the first time since November 5th. I've been searching for the video of Pam, who introduced Obama in Philadelphia at the kick-off of the whistle-stop tour. When I find it, I'll post it. Until then, you'll have to take my word for it. She was fantastic and my eyes filled with tears.

Since November 4th, serious Obama detractors have gone underground. Not as far underground as I would like them to be (think center of the earth), but they've been pretty quiet on the airwaves. Sure, there's still Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders bleating about one thing or another and there's still that guy that insists Obama was born in Kenya, but all in all, the negativity surrounding Obama has been with regard to the shit sandwich he is inheriting rather than the man himself.

I read The Audacity of Hope a few years back. Before that, I heard Barack Obama's 2004 convention speech and I followed his Senate campaign. I had only been gone from Chicago for two years at that point, and I still felt like Illinois politicians were my politicians. 

There's nothing wrong with Roland Burris and there's nothing wrong with the appointment

-- Roland Burris