The next part of my story centers around frauds 6, 7, 8, and 9 of 11 criminal frauds.

AMBAC is a Monoline Insurer and they offer-

Bond insurance is a service whereby issuers of a bond can pay a premium to a third party, who will provide interest and capital repayments as specified in the bond in the event of the failure of the issuer to do so. The effect of this is to raise the rating of the bond to the rating of the insurer; accordingly, a bond insurer’s credit rating must be almost perfect.

The premium requested for insurance on a bond is a measure of the perceived risk of failure of the issuer.

The economic value of bond insurance to the governmental unit, agency, or company offering bonds is a saving in interest costs reflecting the difference in yield on an insured bond from that on the same bond if uninsured. Insured securities ranged from municipal bonds and structured finance bonds to collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) domestically and abroad.

AMBAC is suing Bear Stearns (JP Morgan Chase).

The Ambac Suit: Bear Stearns Execs Double-Dipped, Committed Criminal Fraud on Investors

By: David Dayen Tuesday January 25, 2011 11:01 am

The mortgage traders at Bear, who now are spread out across the financial sector, sold purposefully bad securities to investors – emails revealed show that they told superiors they were selling “a sack of shit.” They got data on their pools of mortgages bundled up in securities deals that came back with high percentages of bad underwriting or even loans already slipping into default. They falsified that data for the rating agencies to get AAA ratings, never told the investors about the bad loans in the pools, and sold the shit as gold. But it gets worse.

…

They got paid by the investors for selling the mortgage-backed security, AND they got paid by the originator for taking back the bad loan. So Bear traders made money on the same mortgage twice. Only the investors could force a put-back on an originator after the security was sold – Bear Stearns didn’t have a legal claim on the loan after they sold it. They did so anyway.

There is no legal universe under the sun where that isn’t just criminal fraud and theft. Ambac eventually discovered that 80% of the loans in its MBS had an early payment default. They were corrupted and substandard from the moment they received them, so awful that Bear Stearns was forcing the bank to take them back – even though they didn’t own the loans.

This Ambac suit names the actual decision-makers, Marano and two others who are working at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. JPMorgan, which now owns Bear Stearns, is named in the lawsuit as well, as a responsible party. It seems that this is a pretty standard repurchase lawsuit, but Ambac added accounting fraud to the claim to double the award owed to them.

The original Atlantic article-

E-mails Suggest Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions

Teri Buhl, The Atlantic

Jan 25 2011, 1:01 AM ET

Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Ally Financial have been accused of cheating and defrauding investors through the mortgage securities they created and sold while at Bear. According to e-mails and internal audits, JPMorgan had known about this fraud since the spring of 2008, but hid it from the public eye through legal maneuvering. Last week a lawsuit filed in 2008 by mortgage insurer Ambac Assurance Corp against Bear Stearns and JPMorgan was unsealed. The lawsuit’s supporting e-mails, going back as far as 2005, highlight Bear traders telling their superiors they were selling investors like Ambac a “sack of shit.”

…

According to the lawsuit, the Bear traders would sell toxic mortgage securities to investors and then sell back the bad loans with early payment defaults to the banks that originated them at a discount. The traders would pocket the refund, and would not pass it on to the mortgage trust, which was where it should have gone to be distributed to the investors who owned the bonds. The Marano-led traders also cut the time allowed for early payment defaults, without telling the bond investors. That way, Bear could quickly securitize defective loans, without leaving enough time for investors to do their own due diligence after the bonds were sold and put-back any bad loans to Bear.

The traders were essentially double-dipping — getting paid twice on the deal. How was this possible? Once the security was sold, they didn’t have a legal claim to get cash back from the bad loans — that claim belonged to bond investors — but they did so anyway and kept the money. Thus, Bear was cheating the investors they promised to have sold a safe product out of their cash. According to former Bear Stearns and EMC traders and analysts who spoke with The Atlantic, Nierenberg and Verschleiser were the decision-makers for the double dipping scheme, and thus, are named as individual defendants in the suit.

…

Last week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said it will take years to get through mortgage litigation risk the bank inherited and had set aside around $9 billion for litigation-related risk. Yet in the bank’s January earnings call, Dimon suggested that the bank may not have to buy back any soured mortgages from private investors and said that the issue is “not that material” for JPMorgan. Still, Ambac recently won a court order in December to add accounting fraud against JPMorgan to its suit, which can double or triple lawsuit awards. So it’s hard to tell whether America’s largest bank is prepared to pay for the sins of Bear. JPMorgan did fight tooth and nail for the Ambac suit not to be made public, however, because the firm argued it could damage the reputations of senior bank executives currently working in the industry. Individuals named as defendants in the amended complaint include: Jimmy Cayne, Alan “ACE” Greenberg, Warren Spector, Alan Schwartz, Thomas Marano, Jeffrey Mayer, Mary Haggerty, Baron Silverstein, Jeffrey Verschleiser, and Michael Nierenberg. But the court chose to fold these individuals into the charges against JPMorgan as the case goes through appeal.

JPMorgan is not the only firm in trouble-

Countrywide Accused in Lawsuit of ‘Massive Fraud’

By Karen Freifeld, Bloomberg News

Jan 25, 2011 5:54 PM ET

Bank of America Inc.’s Countrywide Financial unit, acquired by the bank in 2008, was accused of “massive fraud” in a lawsuit by investors who claim they were misled about mortgage-backed securities.

TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co., New York Life Insurance Co. and Dexia Holdings Inc. are among a dozen institutional investors who filed the complaint yesterday in New York state Supreme Court.

As I’ve pointed out before one of the confusing things about Bankster Fraud is that there are no less than 11 different criminal frauds that are all lumped together.

In my next piece I’m going to examine one particular part of this puzzle, but I should note that starting tomorrow we’re going to be one step closer to the jump-suited perp walks we’ll need to see in order to unwind this discredited neo-liberal disaster of an economy with the release of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report which recommends investigation by the Department of Justice for Criminal Prosecution.

Financial Crisis Commission Finds Cause For Prosecution Of Wall Street

Shahien Nasiripour, The Huffington Post

01/24/11 07:29 PM

(T)he decision to refer cases for potential prosecution could provoke a different conclusion: It may yet satisfy public craving for what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner once referred to as the “very deep public desire for Old Testament justice.”

…

The commission drew on testimony from less prominent senior executives with intimate knowledge of how Wall Street engaged in modern-day financial alchemy, turning mountains of dubious mortgages into seemingly rock-solid investments rated as safe as American Treasury bonds.

Richard Bowen, former chief underwriter for Citigroup’s consumer-lending unit, testified that, in the middle of 2006, he discovered more than 60 percent of the mortgages the bank had purchased from other firms and then sold to investors were “defective,” meaning they did not satisfy the bank’s own lending criteria.

Keith Johnson, former president of Clayton Holdings, one of the top mortgage research companies, testified that some 28 percent of the loans given to homeowners with poor credit examined by his firm for Wall Street banks failed to meet basic standards. Yet nearly half appear to have been sold to investors regardless, he added.

FCIC Will Refer Report to Authorities for Potential Criminal Prosecution

By: David Dayen, Firedog Lake

Tuesday January 25, 2011 6:00 am

Many have found themselves disappointed in the FCIC’s work to this point, be it their inability to gain headlines, their inability to issue subpoenas without bipartisan cooperation, or even the commission’s personnel. But lest we forget that the FCIC uncovered, virtually by itself, the enormous mortgage bond scandal, based on testimony they gathered from Clayton Holdings in October. William D. Cohan said at the time that this strong, if pulled properly, could lead to justice:

…

This could be the building block for the criminal referrals, or it could be something deeper. But we know it will be backed up by a voluminous amount of evidence. In addition to their long report on the origins of the crisis, Yves Smith notes that the FCIC will release audio archives of all of their interviews with hundreds of witnesses. She was one of them. They will also release all the source documents, which is crucial.

As for the report itself, the Democratic version promises to be extremely satisfying to those who recognize quickly that corporate greed, deregulation and a financial industry determined to sidestep oversight entirely with the shadow banking system caused the crisis. One official told Reuters that Commission Chair Phil Angelides subscribed to the “vampire squid” view of the crisis, recalling the famous turn of phrase Matt Taibbi used to describe Goldman Sachs.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 339 days remaining until the end of the year (340 in leap years).

On this day in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.

Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day, and ANA Day) is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.

Although it was not known as Australia Day until over a century later, records of celebrations on 26 January date back to 1808, with the first official celebration of the formation of New South Wales held in 1818. It is presently an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia and is marked by inductions into the Order of Australia and presentations of the Australian of the Year awards, along with an address from the governor-general and prime minister.

The date is controversial to some Australians, particularly those of Indigenous heritage, leading to the use of alternate names, such as Invasion Day and Survival Day. Proposals have been made to change the date of Australia Day, but these have failed to gain widespread public support.

Arrival of the First Fleet

On 13 May 1787, a fleet of 11 ships, which came to be known as the First Fleet, was sent by the British Admiralty from England to Australia. Under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, the fleet sought to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay on the coast of New South Wales, which had been explored and claimed by Captain James Cook in 1770. The settlement was seen as necessary because of the loss of the colonies in North America. The Fleet arrived between 18 and 20 January 1788, but it was immediately apparent that Botany Bay was unsuitable.

On 21 January, Philip and a few officers travelled to Port Jackson, 12 kilometres to the north, to see if it would be a better location for a settlement. They stayed there until 23 January; Philip named the site of their landing Sydney Cove, after the Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. They also had some contact with the local aborigines.

They returned to Botany Bay on the evening of 23 January, when Philip gave orders to move the fleet to Sydney Cove the next morning, 24 January. That day, there was a huge gale blowing, making it impossible to leave Botany Bay, so they decided to wait till the next day, 25 January. However, during 24 January, they spotted the ships Astrolabe and Boussole, flying the French flag, at the entrance to Botany Bay; they were having as much trouble getting into the bay as the First Fleet was having getting out.

On 25 January, the gale was still blowing; the fleet tried to leave Botany Bay, but only the HMS Supply made it out, carrying Arthur Philip, Philip Gidley King, some marines and about 40 convicts; they anchored in Sydney Cove in the afternoon.

On 26 January, early in the morning, Philip along with a few dozen marines, officers and oarsmen, rowed ashore and took possession of the land in the name of King George III. The remainder of the ship’s company and the convicts watched from onboard the Supply.

Meanwhile, back at Botany Bay, Captain John Hunter of the HMS Sirius made contact with the French ships, and he and the commander, Captain de Clonard, exchanged greetings. Clonard advised Hunter that the fleet commander was Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de La Perouse. The Sirius successfully cleared Botany Bay, but the other ships were in great difficulty. The Charlotte was blown dangerously close to rocks; the Friendship and the Prince of Wales became entangled, both ship losing booms or sails; the Charlotte and the Friendship actually collided; and the Lady Penrhyn nearly ran aground. Despite these difficulties, all the remaining ships finally managed to clear Botany Bay and sail to Sydney Cove on 26 January. The last ship anchored there at about 3 pm.

Note that the formal establishment of the Colony of New South Wales did not occur on 26 January, as is commonly assumed. That did not occur until 7 February 1788, when the formal proclamation of the colony and of Arthur Phillip’s governorship were read out. The vesting of all land in the reigning monarch George III also dates from 7 February 1788.

 1500 – Vicente Yanez Pinzon becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.

1531 – Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake–thousands die.

1564 – The Council of Trent issues its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.

1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day

1808 – Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.

1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.

1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States

1841 – The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally cedes.

1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.

1856 – First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.

1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.

1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.

1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.

1870 – American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.

1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum.

1907 – The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the second oldest military rifle still in official use.

1911 – Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.

1911 – Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.

1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.

1924 – Saint Petersburg, Russia, is renamed Leningrad.

1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.

1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.

1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.

1939 – Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India.

Observed as Republic Day in India.

1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

1958 – Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsizes off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.

1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.

1962 – Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).

1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.

1978 – The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US, strikes the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h).

1980 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.

1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2001 – An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.

2004 – President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.

2004 – A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

Holidays and observances

   * Australia Day (Australia)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Alberic

           Margaret of Hungary

         o Paula

         o Timothy and Titus

         o January 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)

   * Liberation Day (Uganda)

   * Republic Day (India)  

Don’t know about you, but I’ll certainly be looking for alternative viewing tonight.

Please take your seats for the second act.

But I’m not done vomiting.

• AMC Family– Mean Girls, Mean Girls 2
• Bravo– The Fashion Show (Finale)
• Comedy– Onion SportsDome
• Disney– Eloise at the Plaza
• Discovery– Dirty Jobs (last week’s and new), Auction Kings (premier)
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Florida @ Georgia, Purdue @ Ohio State
• ESPN2– Australian Open
• Food– Cupcake Wars, Chopped (premiers)
• FX– The Incredible Hulk, Lights Out x 3 (Episode 2 premier and 2 Instapeats)
• National Geographic– English Royals (with premier)
• Oxygen– Catwoman
• Sci Fi– TNG marathon
• Speed– Monster Jam
• Turner Classic– Sons of the Desert, General Spanky, Topper
• TLC– What Not to Wear (premier)
• TNT– Bad Boys
• Travel– Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern (last week’s and new)
• USA– White Collar x 2 (premier and Instapeat)
• Vs.– Canadiens @ Flyers

Hello, Fry. Muahahahaha! Just dropped by to make sure you’re as happy with our little deal as I am… oh, give me back my hands! These things are always touching me in… places.

Later-

“The use of words expressing something other than their literal intention.” Now that *is* irony!

Not quite Bender Bending Rodriguez.

• AMC– Airplane
• Comedy– The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings
• History– Top Gear (Season Finale repeat)
• Sci Fi– Dead Space: Downfall
• Turner Classic– There Goes My Heart, Zenobia
• Toon– Blue Harvest
• USA– Royal Pains (this week’s)
• VH1– Barbershop

Dave in repeats from 11/22.  Jon has James Franco, Stephen Amy Chua.  Conan hosts Steven Ho and Wanda Jackson.

Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 41 Top Stories.

1 Tunisia to shake up cabinet as US presses for vote

by Ines Bel Aiba and Hassan El Fekih, AFP

52 mins ago

2 Thousands rally in Tunisia as US urges reform

by Ines Bel Aiba and Dario Thuburn, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 1:00 pm ET

3 Tunisian protest pressures embattled government

by Ines Bel Aiba and Dario Thuburn, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 6:56 am ET

4 Three killed in Egypt anti-Mubarak protests

by Jailan Zayan, AFP

1 hr 21 mins ago

5 Egyptians hit the streets to demand Mubarak ouster

by Mona Salem, AFP

2 hrs 41 mins ago

6 Anger in Lebanon as Hezbollah-backed Mikati named PM

by Jocelyne Zablit, AFP

1 hr 16 mins ago

7 France signs contested Russia warship deal

by Philippe Alfroy, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 1:32 pm ET

8 IMF sees faster growth but recovery ‘still at risk’

by Arthur MacMillan, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 1:43 pm ET

9 British economy suffers shock slump

by Roland Jackson, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 11:06 am ET

10 At least 12 killed as blasts target Pakistani Shiites

by Waqar Hussain, AFP

Tue Jan 25, 10:58 am ET

11 Obama to push spending freeze, Republicans seek cuts

By Alister Bull and Caren Bohan, Reuters

27 mins ago

12 U.S. judge sentences ex-Guantanamo detainee to life

By Basil Katz, Reuters

45 mins ago

13 Egyptians rage against Mubarak’s rule, three killed

By Marwa Awad and Dina Zayed, Reuters

2 hrs 3 mins ago

14 Special report: In Russia, a glut of heroin and denial

By Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters

Tue Jan 25, 8:07 am ET

15 Leaks show Palestinians giving much ground to Israel

By Crispian Balmer and Tom Perry, Reuters

Mon Jan 24, 10:27 pm ET

16 Talks under way for body to oversee Tunisia cabinet

By Tarek Amara and Andrew Hammond, Reuters

Mon Jan 24, 6:50 pm ET

17 Vampire Squid? Big Government? Crisis report splits

By Kevin Drawbaugh and Dave Clarke, Reuters

Mon Jan 24, 5:29 pm ET

18 Egyptians denounce Mubarak, clash with riot police

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press

19 mins ago

19 US sees Egypt’s gov’t as stable despite protests

By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press

12 mins ago

20 Illinois high court will hear Rahm Emanuel appeal

By DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press

1 hr 9 mins ago

21 Obama State of the Union: Spending, but restraint

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

21 mins ago

22 Gitmo detainee gets life sentence in embassy plot

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

15 mins ago

23 Tax hikes have Omaha mayor facing recall election

By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press

3 mins ago

24 House GOP endorses pre-Obama spending levels

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

1 hr 16 mins ago

25 Less than half of students proficient in science

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press

25 mins ago

26 New Hezbollah-backed PM urges Lebanon unity

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

2 hrs 34 mins ago

27 Officials: US reconsidering its aid to Lebanon

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

43 mins ago

28 AP-Petside poll: Pet or paramour? Many say pet

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press

19 mins ago

29 Witness: Cuban militant worried about interview

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

33 mins ago

30 Va. historian denies tampering with Lincoln pardon

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press

41 mins ago

31 Ohio to use surgical drug in lethal injections

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, AP Legal Affairs Writer

55 mins ago

32 Ark. panel votes down health insurance bill

By JEANNIE NUSS, Associated Press

58 mins ago

33 Police-station rampage tests ‘community policing’

By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press

1 hr 34 mins ago

34 GOP calls for quick action on free trade pacts

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press

2 hrs 6 mins ago

35 Administration readies transportation plan

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

2 hrs 41 mins ago

36 Ex-Calif. sheriff surrenders to begin prison term

By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press

Tue Jan 25, 2:45 pm ET

37 US Republican lawmakers taking aim at UN

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press

Tue Jan 25, 1:07 pm ET

38 House GOP leader says no federal bailout of states

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press

Mon Jan 24, 8:55 pm ET

39 Rare whale leaves Bering Sea for Gulf of Alaska

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press

Mon Jan 24, 8:22 pm ET

40 Got a date? Mixed seating at State of Union

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press

Mon Jan 24, 7:24 pm ET

41 Resurgent GM nips at Toyota’s heels in sales race

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

Mon Jan 24, 6:24 pm ET

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Bob Herbert: Raising False Alarms

If there’s a better government program than Social Security, I’d like to know what it is.

It has gone a long way toward eliminating poverty among the elderly. Great numbers of them used to live and die in ghastly, Dickensian conditions of extreme want. Without Social Security today, nearly half of all Americans aged 65 or older would be poor. With it, fewer than 10 percent live in poverty.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tells us that close to 90 percent of people 65 and older get at least some of their family income from Social Security. For more than half of the elderly, it provides the majority of their income. For many, it is the only income they have. . . . . .

We need a reality check. Attacking Social Security is both cruel and unnecessary. It needs to stop.

New York Times Editorial: What Comes After No?

The Republicans have vowed to “repeal and replace” President Obama’s historic health care reform law. Now that House Republicans have muscled through a symbolic repeal bill, they will have to deliver their own alternative plan. Don’t expect much.

There are many more slogans than details. But it is already clear that their approach would do almost nothing to control skyrocketing health care costs and would provide little help to the 50 million uninsured Americans.

Eugene Robinson: In the GOP’s budget, a surplus of spite

Despite what you might have heard, the coming battle on Capitol Hill is not really about “government spending” in the abstract. It’s about two radically different visions of how money should be spent.

Republicans who feign attacks of the vapors and fainting spells over the big, scary deficit would be more convincing if they didn’t begin with the insane premise that defense spending should be sacrosanct. The House leadership in the past few days has begun to signal retreat from this indefensible position, but it’s unclear how much of the hyper-conservative GOP majority will follow.

Robert Reich: The State of the Union and the Federal Budget: Investing in America’s Future

Word has it that the president will be emphasizing “improving American competitiveness” in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night. As I’ve noted, the term is meaningless — but it’s politically useful. CEOs and many conservatives think it means improving the profitability of American companies. Liberals and labor unions think it means increasing export jobs.

Neither touches at the heart of the matter. Hopefully, the president will. Over the long term, the only way to improve the living standards of most Americans is to invest in our people — especially their educations, skills, and the communications and transportation systems linking them together and with the rest of the world (infrastructure).

Dean Baker: Hu Jintao’s Visit: The Story the Media Missed

The one issue that mattered for ordinary Americans was whether Obama pushed China hard enough on undervaluing the yuan

When China’s President Hu Jintao came for his state visit last week, the White House press corps completely ignored almost all the substantive issues raised by Hu’s visit. The domestic policy issues raised by this trip were altogether invisible in the reporting in major news outlets.

The news accounts were filled with the long list of items that President Obama was likely to raise with President Hu. There are issues about China respecting the patents and copyrights of US firms. The US has concerns about market access in China for our retailers, our financial firms and some of our manufactured products.

And then there are issues about the relative value of the dollar and yuan. Yep, the White House press corps got together the whole list, presented it to the public, and then went home and had a drink.

John NIchols: What President Obama Shouldn’t Say in the State of the Union Address

The great guessing game in official Washington – and the surrounding punditocracy – this week goes to the question of whether President Obama will use his State of the Union Address to open a discussion about making changes to Social Security that would undermine the retirement guarantee the federal government has maintained for three quarters of a century.

“Nobody knows what the president is going to do on Social Security,” says Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. “It’s a huge question for people like me who are strong supporters of Social Security.”

Hickey’s right. No one outside the White House knows for certain what the president will say.

But Hickey and others who are involved with the more than 200 groups (including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, National Women’s Law Center, USAction and MoveOn.org) that have formed the Strengthen Social Security Campaign know what they fear the president could say.

Ari Berman: Obama: Triangulation 2.0?

Immediately following the Democrats’ 2010 electoral shellacking, a broad spectrum of pundits urged President Obama to “pull a Clinton,” in the words of Politico: move to the center (as if he wasn’t already there), find common ground with the GOP and adopt the “triangulation” strategy employed by Bill Clinton after the Democratic setback in the 1994 midterms. “Is ‘triangulation’ just another word for the politics of the possible?” asked the New York Times. “Can Obama do a Clinton?” seconded The Economist. And so on. The Obama administration, emphatic in charting its own course, quickly took issue with the comparison. According to the Times, Obama went so far as to ban the word “triangulation” inside the White House. Politico called the phrase “the dirtiest word in politics.”

Obama’s distaste for the Clinton-era buzzword seemed a tad ironic, given that he had packed the White House with insiders from the Clinton administration and began year three with prominent Clinton alums as his chief of staff (Bill Daley), top economic adviser (Gene Sperling) and budget director (Jack Lew). Obama’s first legislative deal after the election, on the Bush tax cuts, included major concessions to the GOP in a highly Clintonian compromise. And there was the Big Dog himself, at the White House press podium on December 10, defending the agreement while Obama was under fire from the left, a predicament Clinton was no stranger to. One could be forgiven for believing that the Clinton era had returned. The parallels between now and then are indeed striking.

Chris Hedges: Where Liberals Go to Feel Good

Barack Obama is another stock character in the cyclical political theater embraced by the liberal class. Act I is the burst of enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate who, through clever branding and public relations, appears finally to stand up for the interests of citizens rather than corporations. Act II is the flurry of euphoria and excitement. Act III begins with befuddled confusion and gnawing disappointment, humiliating appeals to the elected official to correct “mistakes,” and pleading with the officeholder to return to his or her true self. Act IV is the thunder and lightning scene. Liberals strut across the stage in faux moral outrage, delivering empty threats of vengeance. And then there is Act V. This act is the most pathetic. It is as much farce as tragedy. Liberals-frightened back into submission by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party or the call to be practical-begin the drama all over again.

We are now in Act IV, the one where the liberal class postures like the cowardly policemen in “The Pirates of Penzance.” Liberals promise battle. They talk of glory and honor. They vow not to abandon their core liberal values. They rouse themselves, like the terrified policemen who have no intention of fighting the pirates, with the bugle call of “Tarantara!” This scene is the most painful to watch. It is a window into how hollow, vacuous and powerless liberals and liberal institutions including labor, the liberal church, the press, the arts, universities and the Democratic Party have become. They fight for nothing. They stand for nothing. And at a moment when we desperately need citizens and institutions willing to stand up against corporate forces for the core liberal values, values that make a democracy possible, we get the ridiculous chatter and noise of the liberal class.

David Michael Green: Civility? Whatever. Capitulation? No Thanks.

Civility in politics is – pardon the anti-pun – all the rage nowadays.

Go figure. I guess assassinating members of the ruling class tends to have that kind of sobering effect.

So everyone’s talking nicey-nice, certain members of Congress will be sitting together during this week’s State of the Union despite their differing party affiliations, and most (but not quite) everybody has avoided calling each other Nazis for a week or two.

That’s cool. You know, I’m all for civility in politics. I’ve been disgusted and sometimes horrified at what has become of our national discourse these last decades. A multi-draft-deferral war-avoider, for example, running for the US Senate by branding a triple-amputee Vietnam vet as weak on national security, an’ all. Like that kind of incivility.

So yeah, can we and should we disagree more politely in American politics? How does whatshername put it? ‘You betcha.’

What I’m not down for, however, is civility that is actually a mask for capitulation.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 340 days remaining until the end of the year (341 in leap years).

On this day in 1905, the world’s largest diamond is found. At the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond is discovered during a routine inspection by the mine’s superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened the “Cullinan,” it was [the largest diamond ever found.

The Cullinan diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g).

The largest polished gem from the stone is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at 530.4 carats (106.1 g) was the largest polished diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond, 545.67 carats (109.13 g), also from the Premier Mine. Cullinan I is now mounted in the head of the Sceptre with the Cross. The second largest gem from the Cullinan stone, Cullinan II or the Lesser Star of Africa, at 317.4 carats (63.5 g), is the fourth largest polished diamond in the world. Both gems are in the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

History

The Cullinan diamond was found by Frederick Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company in Cullinan, on January 26, 1905. The stone was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the diamond mine.

Sir William Crookes performed an analysis of the Cullinan diamond before it was cut and mentioned its remarkable clarity, but also a black spot in the middle. The colours around the black spot were very vivid and changed as the analyzer was turned. According to Crookes, this pointed to internal strain. Such strain is not uncommon in diamonds.

The stone was bought by the Transvaal government and presented to King Edward VII on his birthday. It was cut into three large parts by Asscher Brothers of Amsterdam, and eventually into 9 large gem-quality stones and a number of smaller fragments. At the time, technology had not yet evolved to guarantee quality of the modern standard, and cutting the diamond was considered difficult and risky. In order to enable Asscher to cut the diamond in one blow, an incision was made, half an inch deep. Then, a specifically designed knife was placed in the incision and the diamond was split in one heavy blow. The diamond split through a defective spot, which was shared in both halves of the diamond.

 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.

1348 – A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.

1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.

1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.

1554 – Founding of Sao Paulo city, Brazil.

1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.

1575 – Luanda, the capital of Angola was founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.

1755 – Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.

1787 – American Daniel Shays leads a rebellion to seize Federal arsenal to protest debtor’s prisons.

1791 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.

1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.

1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.

1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

1909 – Richard Strauss’ opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

1918 – The Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.

1919 – The League of Nations is founded.

1924 – The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.

1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins its defense of Harbin.

1937 – The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until Sept. 18, 2009.

1941 – Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

1945 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.

1946 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.

1949 – At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.

1955 – The Soviet Union ends state of war with Germany.

1960 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.

1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.

1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

1971 – Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda’s president.

1971 – Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.

1981 – Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death.

1986 – The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.

1995 – The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.

1996 – Billy Bailey became the last person to be hanged in the United States of America.

1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.

1998 – A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka’s Temple of the Tooth kills 8 people and injures 25 others.

1999 – A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.

2003 – 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A group of people left London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.

2004 – Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.

2005 – A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi in India kills at least 258.

2006 – Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.

Holidays and observances

   * Burns Night (Scotland and Scottish community)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Dwynwen

         o Gregory the Theologian (Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)

         o January 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Criminon Day (Scientology)

   * Dydd Santes Dwynwen, Welsh Valentine’s Day (Wales)

   * Earliest day on which the first day of Carnival of Cadiz can fall, while February 28 is the latest; celebrated two Sundays before Ash Wednesday until Ash Wednesday (Cadiz)

   * Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, which concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)

   * Tatiana Day (Russia)

   * The last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Christian ecumenism)

   * National Voters’ Day in India

Next They’ll Be Charging You For The Oxygen You Breathe    

Airlines’ path for profits: Fly less, charge more

After a decade of multibillion-dollar losses, U.S. airlines appear to be on course to prosper for years to come for a simple reason: They are flying less.

By grounding planes and eliminating flights, airlines have cut costs and pushed fares higher. As the global economy rebounds, travel demand is rising and planes are as full as they’ve been in years.

Profit margins at big airlines are the highest in at least a decade, according to the government. The eight largest U.S. airlines are forecast to earn more than $5 billion this year and $5.6 billion in 2012.U.S. airlines are in the midst of reporting fourth-quarter results that should cap the industry’s first moneymaking year since 2007.

“The industry is in the best position – certainly in a decade – to post profitability,” says Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly. “The industry is much better prepared today than it was a decade ago.”

Morality In The Stock Market? Talk About Living In Wonderland!



Sarkozy lays out plans for ‘moral’ reforms of global money markets

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and “president of the world” until November, yesterday laid out plans to impose “moral” rules on global financial and commodity markets.

At a press conference devoted mostly to his 2011 presidency of the G8 and G20 groups of developed and emerging economies, Mr Sarkozy proposed sweeping ideas for a new world financial order in which global speculation would be subjected to new forms of global regulation. He acknowledged that many of his ideas had already been shot down by other countries and by the self-appointed guardians of “free” global markets in “the Anglo-Saxon press”.

Who Should Lead Kosovo?  That Mafia Guy

Western powers backing Kosovo’s government considered its prime minister one of the country’s “biggest fish” in organised crime, according to leaked Nato military cables  

Leaked Nato cables allege Kosovo PM was ‘biggest fish’ in organised crime

The documents, produced by Nato’s peace-keeping force in Kosovo, also described Xhavit Haliti, a senior ruling politician and a close ally of Hashim Thaci, as having links to the Albanian mafia.

The Guardian, which reported the leaks, quoted a Kosovo government spokesman as dismissing the allegations.

“These are allegations that have circulated for over a decade… They are based on hearsay and intentional false Serbian intelligence,” the spokesman said.

Use Your Authority To Enrich Yourself  

 

30 Brazilian soldiers suspended amid looting allegations

BRAZIL’S ARMY has suspended 30 soldiers accused of looting in a Rio de Janeiro slum they occupied last November after chasing out the drug traffickers who previously controlled it.

The move follows dozens of complaints of abuses committed by police officers against local residents, complicating the government’s attempts to return to state control large swathes of Brazil’s second city which for decades have been run by heavily armed drug gangs.

More serious accusations were denounced to the United Nations by local human rights groups who documented cases of illegal entry, extortion, intimidation, illegal detention and threats of torture and death by police officers against shanty town or favela residents.

No More Hot Chocolate With Marshmallows For You  

 

Ouattara calls for cocoa export ban amid lingering crisis

COTE D’IVOIRE’S internationally recognised leader, Alassane Ouattara, has called for a one-month ban on cocoa exports in a move that could cut off one of the last sources of funding to incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power.

The statement from Ouattara’s camp comes at the height of Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa export season, though it is unclear whether the ban will be heeded by cocoa growers or how it will be enforced.

“The government informs all the economic operators of the immediate halt to all coffee and cocoa exports,” Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted the statement as saying late Sunday, adding that anyone who did not follow the order would be “subject to national and international sanctions.”

While the United Nations, U.S., France and the African Union have endorsed Ouattara’s presidency, he is attempting to run the country from a hotel being protected by UN peacekeepers.

The Video Showed Them Torturing A Man. They Were Convicted Of Insubordination  

 

Indonesian military trial outrages activists who charge torture

Jakarta, Indonesia

An Indonesian military court today handed down light sentences to three soldiers for their role in the torture of two farmers from Papua, sparking an outcry from human rights activists who slammed the verdict as weak.

The accused were caught on a cell phone video, posted on YouTube last October, torturing two farmers who were believed to have information on a secret weapons cache belonging to a group of separatists known as the Free Papua Movement.

But because the military Criminal Code does not recognize torture as a punishable crime, despite Indonesia having ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1999, the men were found guilty of “not following orders.”

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains whether President Barack Obama’s new approach will create more jobs or send those jobs overseas.

Rough transcript

President Obama is expected to talk about his pro-business agenda in the SOTU. Thisis supposed to be about his effort to create more jobs here, but does that make sense? According to the American Policy Institute, American companies created more than 2 million jobs in 2010. Fantastic , right? But it turns out fewer than half of them were created here in the United States. I actually don’t blame the companies they’re not American companies. They’re multi-national. They’re going where there is cheap labor and lower costs Some are going where the new consumers are, China in this case. Tis year GM sold more cars in China than the US. But it was US tax payers that bailed them. That’s my point. Helping so-called US companies doesn’t help the average American. They are noe multi-national corporations with no obligation to the American people whatsoever. The Republican s say if we give big business everything they demand, they will help American workers, but a great piece in The National Journal shows that’s not true at all. Look, quote, here is waht thye say:

Rapid advancements in technologies and the opening of new international markets paid dividends for American companies but not  for American workers.

It’s been good for business but bad for you. Here’s what happened with jobs while multi-nationals were making profits:

Job growth in the 2000’s was the lowest of any decade ever recorded by the Federal Government

Real middle class income fell from 2007 to 2010. Another first in US record keeping.

That amazing. We were told that if we just gave big business what they want, they would hire here and we would be better off. That proved to be untrue.

So, why is the President getting ready ti make the same case tomorrow night? And A democratic President at that? These are important questions.

Joining me now is Professor Robert Reich. He’s a professor at UC Berkley and the author of “After Shock, the Next Economy in America’s Future“.

Let me start by asking about this concept of US business. Is there really any such a thing left?

Robert Reich: Well, not many. There are small businesses that are US businesses. I mean they are employees, shareholder, if they have any. Certainly there are US customers, but increasingly, large American companies are going global. They’re international entities. They get their supplies from all over the world. Their customers are all over the world. Their investors are all over the world. They may have head quarters here in the United States but that’s not necessarily where they make their money. and the question you raise is going to be very central in the next decade. Why is it that we should defer to the needs and wants and wishes of American business, when in fact their gaol is to make money, particularly for their shareholders, may not have anything to do, oreven the remotest linkage to the wages, to the well being and certainly the job growth of Americans back here in the United States.

CU: Ao, we were told fro the last 30 years, but certainly for the Bush years, 2000, 2008, if we just gave them more tax breaks if we gave them subsidies, if we gave them x, y and z, they would create jobs here. Now, that did not happen. And if that didn’t happen, did any – have any of our politicians learned that lesson?

RR: Cenk, that did not happen. More important to understand this, American companies, big American companies are making a lot of money. In fact, they are sitting on about one trillion dollars of cash. The problem is that they’re making by selling abroad. They’re also making a lot of money by reducing their costs here in the United States. The biggest cost they have in the United States. So they have been fighting unions. They’ve been out-sourcing abroad. They’ve been replacing workers in the United States with automated machinery. I’m not blaming them because as you said before companies exist to make money. We’ve got to keep that distinction very, very clear. Do politicians understand that distinction? Good question. I don’t think a lot of them do. A lot of them are still mesmerized by the idea that somehow American competitiveness is the same as the profitability of american companies.

CU: Secretary Reich, I know about the Republicans. You know, you follow it day in and day out and they vote for these guys and the tax breaks every single time, right? I view them as subsidiaries of multi-national corporations. The question is, we have a Democratic president who is about to give the SOTU, it seems like he is going to say, “all right, I give all in to big business. We’re going to do all the same thins the Republicans said.” Doesn’t that sound like just not a bad policy idea, but a bad idea politically, basically saying the other side is right.

RR: Politically it is important for any president to hold out the welcoming mat to big business to make sure he is not perceived as anti-business, but at the same time you’re right, there is a danger here that a president, a Democratic president that has a constituency that is different than the Republicans’ constituency, that is the working people of America, says over and over again that the interest of big business is the same as the working people of America, a lot of people are going to get confused by that message. And particularly if that president starts believing it. We must not be seduced. I hope the president is not seduced. We must not be seduced that the interest of big business, which is global, and making money is the same thing as the average American working people or people out of jobs. It’s no longer the same thing. It might have been the same thing, you know, when Engine Charlie Wilson, the head of General Motors, who came into the Truman administration and said the interest of GM is the same as the American people. It’s not the same thing any longer.

CC: You know, one last thing real quick. If President Obama keeps going down this same path which has proven not to work over the last ten years, where you just give ti big business and they don’t create jobs here, are we going to be able to create any jobs here over the next two years? And if we don’t, is the president in massive trouble for his re-election?  

RR: This is the critical political piece, that the president understands. I’ve met the president a few times. I’ve met the people around him. I’m in contact with him. I know he and his advisers understand they’ve got to bring down unemployment. They’ve got to show by the election, by 2012, they’re going in the right direction and we’re going in the right direction in a fast way, that the jobs are being created in the United States. The president’s got to use whatever leverage he has with the business community to create jobs here. That means, every tax break he gives to big business means he has got to get reassurance back from business they’re going to use those tax breaks to give jobs here.

CU: It’s one thing to give them money and another thing to say spend it wherever you like. If you’re going to give them breaks, they’ve got to spend it here.

RR: It’s got to be quid pro quo. That’s the deal.

Lots of premiers.  No Keith day one.  Frankly I can’t think of a single reason to watch the Prison Porn channel anymore.

A good night to read a book or write a diary.

I don’t belong here, I feel it, don’t you think I feel it. I can’t do any of these vile things and I wouldn’t WANT to. Oh, my life is like death. My children are the spawn of hell, and you’re the devil. Oh God.

But baby, we LIKE you.

• ABC Family– Pretty Little Liars x 2 (premier and Instapeat), [Greek (just a premier)
• AMC– The Brave One x 2 (again and again)
• Comedy– Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon (evidently someone at Zap2it or Comedy Central has noticed that these 4 year old episodes are not new)
• Disney– Hannah Montana: The Movie
• Discovery– Sr. v. Jr. (last week’s and new)
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh, Baylor @ Kansas State
• ESPN2– Women’s College Basketball, Iowa @ Ohio State, Australian Open
• Food– Triple D (premier)
• FX– Forgetting Sarah Marshall x 2
• History– Pawn Stars and Pickers (premiers)
• Lifetime– Final Sale
• National Geographic– Aliens! and Cannibals
• Sci Fi– Being Human marathon (actually they think they have a premier in there, but it looks like the one Series Premier  episode in an endless loop to me)
• TBS– Family Guy night
• Turner Classic– The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Member of the Wedding (Carson McCullers night)
• TLC– Cake Boss marathon (last week’s penultimate and Season Finale)
• Toon– Regular Show (premier)
• Travel– Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations marathon
• Vs.– Rangers @ Caps

Later-

• AMC– Overboard
• Sci Fi– Saw IV
• Spike– Barbershop
• Turner Classic– The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (more Carson)

Dave in repeats from 1/6.  Jon has Anand Giridharadas (get a Wiki page!), Stephen Charlie Rose.  Alton does Grilling and Barbecue.  Conan hosts Shaun White and Iron & Wine.

My children are in need of medical assistance! And you can sit here and smugly lecture me on the importance of tests? Tests which exist to pigeonhole childrens potential, a thing which cannot *possibly* be measured, least of all by anal compulsive HUNS! And my husband may be a “large child,” but that’s none of your business! And my children may be rotten, but they’re MINE. And I think that they’re bright, and sensitive, so I have no doubts whatsoever about their intelligence. I do however have *serious* doubts about YOURS.

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