You may have missed it but there is an election in Massachusetts today. The weather. Bad news for Coakley, Zogby predicts Coakley win.

At Sports Left, boxing, PEDs and the Pacquiao-Mayweather contretemps are the topic this morning. Also see Thom Hauser's great piece on the subject.

Via Atrios, Harold Ford continues to amuse:

The interview - granted under the condition that the questions be limited to his rationale for running, and not issues - comes at the end of a rocky first week of buzz surrounding his potential candidacy [. . .] "This race isn't about feet, it's about issues," he said of ribbing he has taken on the web and elsewhere of his regular pedicures.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is an Open Thread.

Last year I wrote this on Martin Luther King Day:

Whether marching for peace, for justice or for human rights, there's a unifying feeling and spirit of hope that change has come and will continue.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter From a Birmingham Jail

Let's make this an open thread for your hopes of change in the coming Administration.

Rather than complaints, I'm interested in hearing from those who think we've made substantial progress towards these goals in the last year. Anybody?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There's so much TV to watch tonight. Continued news coverage of Haiti, the Golden Globes, the premiere of "24 Season 8," a new Next Iron Chef, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters.

Whether you are watching or just online, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Looks like the House is gearing up to accept the Senate bill if they lose in MA Tuesday. [More...]

I went 3-0 (Saints (-7), Over (57) in the Saints game, Colts (-6.5)) yesterday and am now 6-1 in the NFL playoffs. In less than an hour, the Cowboys and Vikings kick off in the Metrodome. I like the Vikes (-3) and the Over (44.5). In the late game, I like the Jets (+7) and the Under (42.5).

At SportsLeft, Tim Tebow, Anti-Choice Republican, is the new topic of discussion.

This is an Open Thread.

It's still morning on the West Coast. Anyway, Sports Left is up, and to give you a flavor of what that blog will be like, I link to one of my favs, Bill Simmons:

If we ever figure out the whole "gambling on the Internet" thing, how much fun would it be if there was a Web site that allowed us to bet on props and things-happening-in-the-moment wagers? For instance, we see that shot of [Cards kicker Neil] Rackers, and 20 seconds later the following prop goes up … "Neil Rackers attempts a field goal of under 40 yards on this drive: Makes it (-250), misses it (+200)." [-] and we could wager on it in real time.

This is a great idea and can be applied to Reality TV as well. Of course Reality TV would have to go live but with the gambling proposition, even I would watch it. So there is a flavor of what Sports Left will be discussing (not only . . .)

This is an Open Thread.

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.