BTD and I are both busy at work today. Some other things going on:

The ACLU on the hacking attack on Google (which prompted it to tell the Chinese government it would no longer censor on its behalf):

[W]hen you design information architectures around providing law enforcement with people's personal information, that can open up significant security gaps that become vulnerable to exploitation by hackers.

See this Computer World article.

The Supreme Court may have banned video from the Prop 8 trial, but Firedoglake is there and Marcy Wheeler is live-blogging.

The Immigration Policy Center says granting TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to Haitians is now an urgent matter.

The AP reports a tentative deal on the health care bill Cadillac Tax.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Busy day.

Open Thread.

The teenage Somalia pirate gets hit with new charges. Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio loses his bid for a new trial. A profile of David Raskind, the federal prosecutor likely to try the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial.

American Idol begins tonight with the results of the tryouts in Boston. The new season of "24" starts Sunday.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Conan O'Brien writes a letter to the public and says no dice to NBC's plan to move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. to accommodate shifting Jay Leno from prime time where his ratings have been dismal to 11:30 pm. It's a problem because they can't both follow the local news and that seems to be what's at stake. Conan writes:

For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Big surprise: Sarah Palin is joining Fox News. Like no one could have foreseen that.

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter says he won't run for Governor. With Interior Secretary Ken Salazar out, it looks like the job goes to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, if he wants it.

Mark McGwire admits using steroids. Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol. There were 444 DUI arrests in Colorado over New Year's Weekend. The Denver City Council is meeting tonight on an ordinance regulating medical marijuana.

After six weeks of extensive debate, the Denver City Council is considering an ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits. The bill sets a 1000 foot distance requirement from schools and other dispensaries, limits certain felons from operating dispensaries, bars onsite consumption of marijuana, and sets fees and security measures for the businesses.

I'm watching the faux drama unfold on The Bachelor. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Professor Paul Campos makes some good points equating the failed war on drugs with the war on terror, also doomed to be a failure the way we're approaching it now:

After spending hundreds of billions of dollars and imprisoning millions of people, it's slowly beginning to become possible for some politicians to admit that fighting a necessarily endless drug war in pursuit of an impossible goal might be a bad idea. How long will it take to admit that an endless war on terror, dedicated to making America a terror-free nation, is equally nonsensical?

What then is to be done? A little intelligence and a few drops of courage remind us that life is full of risk, and that of all the risks we confront in America every day, terrorism is a very minor one. Taking prudent steps to reasonably minimize the tiny threat we face from a few fanatic criminals need not grant them the attention they crave. Continuing to play Terrorball, on the other hand, guarantees that the terrorists will always win, since it places the bar for what counts as success for them practically on the ground.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

More NFL playoffs. The Ravens travel to Foxboro to play the Pats. I like Baltimore (+3.5).

The Packers are road favorites over Arizona. The Packers beat the Cardinals last week. The Packers look the better team. I like the Cardinals (+2).

In the real world, neither games seems bettable to me.

This is an Open Thread.

I'm told there's a football game on, so I guess that's what BTD is up to.

The TL kid is coming over for dinner. He asked me to make one of my mother's recipes he loved as a kid: chicken in a pot, with mashed potatoes. He doesn't know it but all you do is saute some onions and garlic in olive oil, add some chicken breasts, salt, pepper and paprika, and then after they are brown on both sides, add some chicken broth and 1/2 cup sweet vermouth.

If you're not watching football, ABC is replaying the opening episode of The Bachelor. It's already been leaked who wins (I won't tell here), so now watching it is all about the edit and the melt-downs along the way.

And in the election department, Public Policy Polling has the Martha Coakley senate race at a toss-up: Republican Scott Brown leads her by one point. Good.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Playoffs. NFL. They start today. In the afternoon game, the Jets travel to Cincy. Cincy is a 2.5 point favorite. the Jets demolished the Bengals last week, 37-0. The Jets are an emptional roller coaster team. They are up now. I like the Jets (+2.5).

In another rematch game, the Cowboys again host the Iggles. The Eagles are resilient. I think they bounce back from having been swept by the Boys. I like the Iggles (+3.5) tonight.

This is an Open Thread.

Update: This thread got trashed by a few commenters. It's closing and being cleaned.

If you're looking for something different for dinner, Dr. Andrew Weil has posted a recipe today for Hemp Crusted Salmon.

Colorado's battle over medical marijuana regulation is heating up again. Here's state senator Chris Romer's proposed bill (updated 12/30) and medical marijuana attorney Rob Corrie's opposition to it. Lots more legal details here.

I'm off to court for the rest of the afternoon, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The eagle flies on Friday . . . and freezes its a** off. Even in Florida.

This is an Open Thread.

Google's Nexus One is out. It looks awesome, even better than The Droid. And has some features the iPhone doesn't, like letting you speak instead of tap your text messages. Check it out for yourselves, here.

The drawback: Unless you want to pay $529.00, it's only available on T-Mobile. What's that about? I guess I'll wait until the spring when Verizon is also going to offer it.. unless I decide to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS and stay with AT&T instead. These phone company wars are really tiresome. If you need help deciding if the Nexus is right for you, here's an article with some of the pros and cons. (Hint, if you are a crackberry addict who needs keys to type instead of glass to tap, it might not be for you. Or if you live out in the sticks.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.