The world premiere of the We Are the World: 25 for Haiti aired tonight on NBC as part of its olympic coverage. If you're not watching the Olympics (thread here), here's an open thread for other topics.

Politico:

“[Obama] wants a jobs bill, we get a jobs bill,” the [House] official said. “He wanted health care, we got health care. Then the answer is, ‘You just need to twist enough arms to pass the Senate bill.’ You can twist arms if you’ve got a handful of them to twist. You can’t twist over 100 arms. There needs to be some reality check there.”

(Emphasis supplied.) Did you hear that Jon Chait?

Speaking for me only

Roman Polanski's new film is coming out. The NYTimes discusses that and other events that have been notable about Polanski of late.

Texas to the Big 10? I see it from the Big Ten's perspective, but not really from Texas' perspective. The idea that being in the Big Ten will "globalize" the Texas brand is pretty unrealistic imo. More on this story later at Sports Left.

The Winter Olympics have their Opening Ceremony tonight. Anyone interested in blogging the Games let me know. Sports Left is available to be your vehicle. I only like the curling, the ski jumping, the downhill and the biathlon (the skiing and shooting thing.)

This is an Open Thread.

Alec Baldwin is just fine after spending an hour at the hospital last night. His daughter called 9/11 from LA after talking to him and becoming concerned he might be taking pills to end his life. He was checked out and released -- no drugs or alchohol involved - and back on the set of 30 Rock today.

Speaking of 30 Rock, Jon Bon Jovi makes a guest appearance tonight playing Tina Fey's old boyfriend in a Valentine's Day special. Speaking of Bon Jovi, the band starts their new Circle tour in Honolulu tonight.

A new Survivor, Heroes or Villains, starts tonight with former castoffs. Russell is back. Too bad Coach is too. The Olympics begin tomorrow night.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm off to court for the afternoon.

Shahid Azmi, the defense attorney for Fahim Ansari, one of the three men accused in the Mumbai attacks was shot dead in his Mumbai office today.

The Judge in Haiti today ordered the release of the American missionaries.

Has anyone besides me turned off Buzz in Gmail? If you want to, log into your gmail account and scroll all the way to the bottom where there is a link for "basic html" The "Turn off Buzz" link is right next to it. And check your privacy settings, your pictures and a lot more may be being shared on Buzz until you deactivate them. Buzz also allows people to follow you.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Now its windy and getting colder. Yes, a winter wonderland.

This is an Open Thread.

Last night I flew from Florida to a winter wonderland in New York. Ugh.

This is an Open Thread.

BTD is traveling. I'm still working.

What's on TV tonight? The Hollywood rounds begin on American Idol and Ellen DeGeneres debuts as a show co-host. It's Jay Leno's last prime time show, will anyone notice?

There's also Lost (which I don't watch) and The Good Wife.

In other news, Radley Balko writes of the 250th DNA exoneration and asks, how many more innocents in prison are there?

Is Iran bluffing? Sure sounds like it.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm busy at work today. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Jake the Bachelor goes on four hometown dates tonight. After that, it's "24" and "Life Unexpected."

Olympics coverage is gearing up. Check out former Bachelorette winner Jesse Csincsak's new show, Beyond the Medal.

What's on your agenda tonight? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

A survey of more than 100 retired NY police officials say they were pressured into fudging stats to make it appear crime was going down.

The totals for those seven so-called major index crimes are provided to the F.B.I., whose reports on crime trends have been used by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to favorably compare New York to other cities and to portray it as a profoundly safer place, an assessment that the summary does not contradict.

In Georgia, criminal defense attorney Mark Shelnutt, who was acquitted of 40 counts of money laundering, aiding a drug conspiracy, bribery and false statements, is suing the Government, using the Hyde Act, to recover his attorneys fees. What a nightmare the feds put this lawyer through, the article is just chilling.

The Third Circuit, which will be the first in the country to decide whether the Government must show probable cause before getting an order to obtain cell-site locator records, is finally going to hear oral arguments on Thursday. This is a really big deal, and not just for criminal defendants. Among those in the case: the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy & Technology and the American Civil Liberties Union.[More...]

Andrew Young has been held in contempt for not turning over the Edwards-Hunter video of a personal nature....no punishment, he gets a few more days to "purge" himself. A copy of the tape has been turned over to the FBI. Court orders here.

Charlie Sheen's Mercedes was stolen from his garage in LA and found wrecked at the bottom of a canyon. Same thing happened to a Bentley and two other luxury cars last night. Sheen quips, "It was nice to have police come to my house and for once I didn't have to leave with them." He and his wife will appear in court in Aspen Monday. Sheen will be charged and the judge will address the modification of the protective order.

The stand-off between the LAPD and the LA District Attorneys' office over the perp walk police were insisting on when Dr. Conrad Murray appears in court for the expected involuntary manslaughter charge in Michael Jackson's death is over. Conrad will get to voluntarily surrender Monday. More from the New York Times.

Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol? I sure hope not.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.