720P:  Larry Kudlow, CNBC, re the stimulus bill in the House that passed 244-188, with 0 Republican votes and 11 Blue Dogs opposed, re the GDP pluge of 3.8%, re the bad bank proposal by Treasury and the possibility of a $2 trillion cost to the Treasury.  Shelve This Stimulus Plan - Larry Kudlow, RealClearPolitics  What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses - New York Times

735P: Professional Roundtable  Mona Charen, NRO, John Fund, Wall Street Journal, Thaddeus McCotter, 11th Michigan (R), re the stimulus package maneuvering in the House, the meeting with the POTUS on Tues 27, the vote on Wed 28, re what does the stimulus package do for the automobiles, for pharmaceuticals?  Republicans Are Settled into Bunker Mentality - Eleanor Clift, Newsweek  The Proposed Stimulus is a Clunker - Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard  GOP Finally United Against Gov't Spending - Philip Klein, Am. Spectator

750P:  Continued re the union favoring executive orders, re the Coleman vs Franken bout comes to town through the winter.  Dems Set Sights on GOP Senators Who Oppose Plan - New York Times  What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses - New York Times

805P: John Miller, Wall Street Journal, New Generation of Ocean Behemoths  Container shippers are unleashing a wave of titanic vessels on the oceans during the biggest dip in global trade since World War II.  No Protectionism: Strip 'Buy American' Rules - San Diego Union-Tribune

820P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, re Voices From the Gaza Rubble - Tim McGirk & Jebel al-Kashif, Time  Palestinian Myth Machine - Mona Charen, National Review, re the public spat between Shimon Peres and Tayip Erdigan.  Iranian Revolution at 30

835: Financial Roundtable, with Jim McTague, Barron's John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, With Stimulus, Is It 'Beggar Thy Children'? - Rob Arnott, RealClearMarkets  Why the Bank Bailouts Are Doomed - Jon Markman, MSN Money  Stocks Rise on Obama Plan for Bad Bank Assets

"...Increasing the supply of credit might help pump up spending, too. University of Texas Professor Robert Auerbach, an economist who studied under the late Milton Friedman, thinks he has the makings of a malpractice suit against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as the Fed is holding a record number of reserves: $901 billion in January as opposed to $44 billion in September, when the Fed began paying interest on money commercial banks parked at the central bank. The banks prefer the sure rate of return they get by sitting in cash, not making loans. Fed, stop paying, he says."

850P: Continued, re the bank bailout may be in trouble, re Nouriel Roubini says that it will get much worse, While the U.S. government is resisting nationalizing its biggest banks, Roubini says it will have no choice because they are now "effectively insolvent." And the outcome may be even worse than even he anticipates if governments fail to take aggressive steps to recapitalize banks and revive their economies, he says: "The risk of a near-depression shouldn't be underestimated." Crisis Has Changed Conservative Constraints - David Malpass, Forbes  

 Obama's 'Buy America' policy is an irresponsible, innumerate and pernicious bit of economic folly 

905P: Brooke Masters, Financial Times, re how Bernie Madoff recruited clients "Off the Fairway."  Pressure mounts on banks to reimburse clients for Madoff losses  Banks and money managers across Europe and the US are coming under increasing pressure to compensate clients who lost money  Off the fairway At the Interbourse golf tournament held last May at Cabo San Lucas on the tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, some

920P:   Aaron Klein, WND, re the Gaza withdrawal, re the continuing repair of Hamas weaponry, re the George Mitchell embassy.  Holbrooke and Mitchell Head to Work - Philip Stephens, Financial Times

935P: Stephen M. Younger, author, "The Bomb: A New History," a review of the atomic weapon and its first fifty-four years of wrecking the war-planning of empires and pariahs; re the growing nuke club.  (Right: the exact moment of the Nagasaki blast, August, 1945.  The three people in the foreground are yet unaware of the event.)

955P: Exeunt re Bob Zimmerman, author "Universe in a Mirror," re the exoplanet at four times Jupiter that changes temperature rapidly in orbit around its star. 

______________________________________

KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles, 7-10P Pacific Time.

705P PT: John Helyar, Bloomberg, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire,  re Madoff and the feeder funds, "...If the 70-year-old money manager was running a con, then his marketers like Access International, wittingly or not, were part of the scam.The purported mission of such feeder funds was to vet hedge funds for wealthy clients. Instead, the line between victim and perpetrator was blurred. Middlemen like Littaye funneled billions of dollars to Madoff, even, in some cases, when they suspected he was engaged in questionable trading practices. In return, they reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in client fees.

720P:  Nick Timiraos, Wall Street Journal, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, Threat of 'Jumbo' Loans Looms  Rising defaults among homeowners with "jumbo" loans threaten more pain for banks and bond investors.  Freddie Mac To Start Leasing Foreclosed Homes  Fan-Fred Criticized on Rental Policy

735P:  Professional Roundtable with Jodi Schneider, CQ,  Larry Johnson, No Quarter and State (ret), Margaret Hoover, FNC, re the stimulus bill and the strange opinion of job creation, A Sprawling, Undisciplined Smorgasbord - David Brooks, New York Times  What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses - New York Times

750P: Continued re the opinion among the Democrats that the GOP can and will be disappeared, Obama's Mandate Could End The GOP - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

805P: Professional roundtable with with Diana West, author, Bill Whalen, John Avlon, re the stimulus package.   Dems Set Sights on GOP Senators Who Oppose Plan - New York Times  See A Summary of the Bill / See an Economic Analysis Supporting the Bill  See the Bill Text / See the Report Text * *

820P:  Continued re Economics Experts Debate the Stimulus - The NewsHour  McConnell Warns GOP About Future Prospects - Politico  Calif. to Delay $4 Billion in Payments

835P: Dave Kansas, FiLife, author, "The End of Wall Street," re the story of the day the music died, September 14-15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers failed.  Poor Richard's Almanac (below) back in fashion.  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putindescribes the "perfect storm" that led to the global financial crisis. Hear a translation of his remarks.

850P:   David Grinspoon, author and astrobiologist, Exoplanet gets hot flashes Eccentric orbit creates climate extremes  Astronomers have spotted a planet being flash-heated as it swoops around its star, offering a glimpse of an extreme climate in a faraway solar system.

905P: Jim Rogers, author, "Bull in China," with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, re the bad bank idea comes to the US Treasury, re the stimulus package gets 0 votes from the GOP, re the L-shaped collapse.  Death of the decoupling myth ..and confusion. But it is too soon to make any significant forecasts. The US may prove more resilient than expected. Martin Wolf, the FT's chief economics commentator, once wrote, "We Europeans are always gloomy about our successes, while the Americans...

920P: Mary Kissel, Asia Wall Street Journal, re the currency manipulation charge by Treasury Sec Timothy Geithner, re Premier Wen's reply at Davos.  The Chinese currency question Martin Wolf, blogging from Davos: The remark by Tim Geithner, President Barack Obama's new Treasury secretary, that President Obama believes...  Jan 30 2009, By Martin Wolf, Financial Times

935P: Dacher Keltner, author, "Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life." 

720P:  Larry Kudlow, CNBC, re the hostile divorce of Ken Lewis of BoA and John Thain of Merrill over bad numbers and miscommunication, re the stimulus package at $850 billion, re the stimulus package with distortions of spending and mysteries of tax breaks, re Paul Krugman says not enough.  

735P: Professional Roundtable Jodi Schneider, CQ, Mona Charen, NRO, John Fund, Wall Street Journal, re the Obama first week, re the GITMO closing order, re what is the fate of KSM and his kindred of Cain, re Mrs. Clinton takes command at State, re Caroline Kennedy and Pinch Sulzberger, David Paterson chooses. 

750P:  Continued re the  $850 billion stimulus package so far, re the Coleman vs Franken bout comes to town through the winter.

805P: Aaron Lucchetti Wall Street Journal, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, re the continuing pursuit of how many people helped Bernie Madoff steal billions all by himself, re Mrs. Madoff was completely ignirant of the theft despite the fact that she kept some part of the accounts, Prosecutors Focus on Madoff's Point Man

820P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, re the withdarwal from Gaza and the border smuggling, re the new Secretary of State and the old envoys iof Dennis Ross and Richard Holbrooke, with George Mitchell designated to Palestine, re the Obama calls to Abbas, Mubarak, Olmert. 

835: Financial Roundtable, with Tom Donlan, Barron's, John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, re the banking sector in London deteriorates swiftly, re the Royal Bank of Scotland is Citi on a loch, re the Geithner remark that the PRC manipulates its currency.  Re the stimulus package proposal from David Obey website: See A Summary of the Bill  See an Economic Analysis Supporting the Bill  See the Bill Text / See the Report Text  The Right & Wrong Way to Bail Out Banks - George Soros, Financial Times

850P: Continued, re the Asia economies plunge into recession, re the stimulus packages in Europe, re Nouriel Roubini says that the US banking debts and obligations exceed the assets by $2 trillion. The Fed Looks Like One More Shaky Bank - Jim Jubak, MSN Money  Recession Britain All washed up.  Hopes dashed for swift UK recovery.  Eurozone as recession bites.

905P:  Aaron Klein, WND, re the Gaza withdrawal, re the emergence of the Hamas military wing intact, re the accurate casualties from Gaza, the the Egyptian smuggling routes reopen.

920P:  Norman H. Gershman, author "BESA: Muslims Who Saves Jews in World War II," astonishing testimony and photographs of the people who sheltered JEws in Albania during the Second World War.  "We lived with the Koran's teaching to take care of the other." -- Mehmet Yshref Frahseri

935P: Robert P. Crease, author, "The Great Equations: Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg."

955P: Exeunt re Bob Zimmerman, author "Universe in a Mirror," re the new NASA chief, re the Russians drop space tourism.

______________________________________

KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles, 7-10P Pacific Time.

705P PT: Michael Vlahos, author, "Fighting Identity -- Sacred War and World Change," re the new administration and the war, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq, re the closing of Gitmo as symbolic language.  "We follow the path of other leaders in earlier globalization epochs, whose untiring efforts against non-state communities and movements only accelerated the very change they most feared. Like Rome we become a critical participant in the next human transformation."

720P:  Jim Carlton, Wall Street Journal, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, re the plunging housing market as the builders see the retreat continuing through 2009, re what this means for the recovery, Builders Predict More Housing Pain

735P:  Professional Roundtable with with Diana West, author, Larry Johnson, No Quarter and State (ret), Margaret Hoover, FNC, re the Inauguration, re the GITMO decision to close the facility and redistribute the inmates, re the voiding of Justice decisions since September 11, 2001, re the war continues as a military operation or as a law enforcement operation?

750P: Continued re new Secretary of State, the old envoys Ross, Holbrooke, Mitchell.

805P: Professional roundtable with Bill Whalen, Jim McTague, John Avlon, re the stimulus package. See A Summary of the Bill / See an Economic Analysis Supporting the Bill  See the Bill Text / See the Report Text * *

820P:  Continued re the greatest threat to the economy since the great depression and the greatest opportunity for the federal government since FDR and the New Deal.  The Struggle For the Soul of Capitalism - Benjamin Barber, The Nation

835P:   Ben Cohen, blogger, "Z Word Blog," re the Gaza fighting and the challenge for Israel with Hamas, re the Qaddafi peace proposal of one-state solution, new administration and George Mitchell and even-handedness - what does this mean? 

850P:   Claudia Rosett, Forbes.com, "The New Anti-Smeitism," ...From Britain, writing in The Wall Street Journal Europe, social critic Melanie Phillips describes a demonstration at which Hamas supporters showed up dressed as "hook-nosed Jews pretending to drink the blood of Palestinian babies."

905P: Jim Rogers, author, "Bull in China," from the Gulf, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, re the collapse of the British pound, re the banking crisis in the UK, re the banking crisis in the US.  Is this the end of Old Blighty?  

920P: Joseph Sternberg, Asia Wall Street Journal, re thetainted milk scandal and the death sentence in Bejing, re the possibility of protectionism as safety and enviromental concerns.

935P: Michael Korda, author, "With Wings of Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain," re the drama of June, July, August and September 1940, when Adolf Hitler and Herman Goering threw the Luftwaffe against England to destroy the RAF and prepare the way for the invasion, Operation Sea Lion, re one special stubborn visionary, Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, who saved England with his imagination to conceive the air defense.

955P:  Exeunt re the David Obey website markup of the stimulus package, re the "green" theme.

720P:  Larry Kudlow, CNBC, re TARP 2 sails through the Senate, re the Gordon Brown. Alistair Darling Bad Bank, re the Inauguration and the Treasury's Bad Bank.  Equity Investors Will Be Smiling at Year End - Steve Forbes, Forbes

735P: Professional Roundtable Jodi Schneider, CQ, Mona Charen, NRO, John Fund, Wall Street Journal, re the Obama inaugural celebration, re the whistle-stop from Philadelphia, re the Lincoln claims and the FDR New Deal comparisons. 

750P:  Continued re the  $850 billion stimulus package so far, re the complaints of Democrats, re the new administration takes command.  US Senate blocks finance chief hearings

805P: Joanna Lublin, Wall Street Journal, with Simon Constable, DowJones Newswire, CEO Firings on the Rise CEOs at six major U.S. companies lost their jobs in just the last eight days, a sign of turmoil to come, say directors and recruiters.

820P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, re the Israeli Cabinet votes "Unilateral Ceasefire" in Gaza, re the MOU signed on Friday 16 by T. Livni and C. Rice.

835: Financial Professionals, with Tom Donlan, Barron's, John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, re Forecasting Pain, From the U.S. to Australia - Nouriel Roubini, Forbes  Government Solutions Are Slowing the Economy - John Tamny, RCM, The End of Citi's Financial Supermarket - Andy Kessler, Wall Street Journal

850P: Continued, re the legacy of Hank Paulson, rescuer or collectivizer, re TARP 2, what is it good for?  US Senate blocks finance chief hearings

905P:  Aaron Klein, WND, re the al-Shifa Hospital storage room full of Ismail Haniyeh and cronies, re the IDF closing the net, re the Olmert cabinet obeying the White House; re the Obama plan; re the IDF phased withdrawal, re the Spring '09 battle plan.

920P: Charlie Gasparino, DailyBeast.com, re Bob Rubin and the end of Citibank the Macy's of  money, re the war between Ken Lewis, Bank of America, and the man he rescued, John Thain, Merrill, Lynch.

935P: Ronald C. White, Jr, author "A. Lincoln: A Biography."  Abraham Lincoln's whistle-stop train trip, which Mr. Obama seeks to recreate, left Springfield, Illinois on February 11, 1861 enroute to his first inauguration on March 4.  At the same time, another critical trip started when 

Jefferson Davis, newly elected president of the Confederate States of America, departed his slave-owning plantation Brierfield in Mississippi on the same day, February 11, enshipped on the river to Vicksburg, and began his whistle-stop tour of his new country, the Confederacy.  The New York Times published two columns side by side:  "The New Administration," and "The New Confederacy."  For the next twelve days, the public watched the progress of the two new potentates.  Davis went to Mobile, Alabama, and eventually to Richmond, Virginia.  The trains of the two presidents, both born in cabins in Kentucky, collided in April 1861 when the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter

955P: Exeunt re the Barack Obama Inauguration, is it 1961 or 1933 or 2009?  Conditions Today Aren't Like the '30s - Conrad Black, National Po

______________________________________

KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles, 7-10P Pacific Time.

705P PT: Bob Davis, Wall Street Journal, Protectionist Wave May Deepen Crisis  A wave of protectionism is swelling around the world that could further damage struggling economies, re the similarities and differences between 2009 and 1933, re the China Price, re the safety and enviromental excuses for tariffs.

720P:  Maura Webber Sadovi, Wall Street Journal, re  Commercial Sector in California to Worsen  California's Inland Empire has gone from a booming development smorgasbord to a basket case in a few years. 

735P:  Professional Roundtable with with Diana West, author, Larry Johnson, No Quarter and State (ret), Bill Roggio, Long War Journal, re the war on terror that the Obama administration inherits: in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Gaza and the West Bank, in Africa, in Iran.  Obama: not important to kill bin Laden

750P: Continued re the Obama brand and the selling of the presidency as heroic, charismatic.

805P: Professional roundtable with Bill Whalen, Jim McTague, re the Arnold Schwarzenegger announcement that California will not refund withholding taxes, re the collapse of the California economy presages the other large states, re the TARP 2, re the stimulus package.

820P:  Continued re complaint by small bankers against the Tarp that allows GMAC to offers Cds at cut rates.  US Senate blocks finance chief hearings

835P:   Matt Miller, author, "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas," especially the assumptions that our children will be better off than us, that all free trade is good, that taxes are bad.

850P:   Bob Zimmerman, author, "Universe in a Mirror," re the new names for NASA chief, re the reports of Methane on Mars: organic or volcanic?

905P: Yoseff Bodansky, author, "Chechen Jihad," the Israel declares unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, re the three weekend campaign against Hamas that ends in failure, re the Obama ambition and the Tehran counter.

920P: Mary Kissel, Asia Wall Street Journal, re the China Price, re the push back by Chinese labor against the exploitation of the migrant workers by factories and mines.

935P: Willie Hensley, "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow,"  author, re growing up Inuit on the coast of Alaska north of Nome, re the discovery of native people's right, re the politics of the Alaska land.

935P:  Exeunt re the Obama Inaugural and the irrational exuberance of the public.

720P:  Larry Kudlow, CNBC, re $1 trillion deficits, $1 trillion stimulus, re the collectivism of banking, insurance, agriculture, re the resignation of Bob Rubin and the breakup of Citi.  Obama Employs His Version of Reagan - Larry Kudlow, RealClearMarkets.

735P: Professional Roundtable Jim McTague, Barron's, Mona Charen, NRO, John Fund, Wall Street Journal, re the Obama administration floats a trillionaire stimulus package and announces trillionaire deficits, re the stampede to collectivism and debt, re Congress wants to buy out foreclosures, too.

750P:  Continued re the  Mr. Franken goes to Washington, re Mr. Burris (right, barred from the Senate, Jan 6) goes to Washington.

805P: Thaddeus McCotter, 11th Michigan (Wayne County, MI) (R), Lou Ann Hammond, carlist.com, with Simon Constable, DowJones Newswire, re the Detroit Auto Show and the missing autos, re the decline and fall of American auto manufacturing as the annual rate falls under ten million vehicles, re the end of dealerships.

820P: Joanna Chung, Financial Times, re the attack on executive salaries and bonuses, re the claw back by shareholders and Congress, Fear of falling  Dan Pedrotty can pinpoint the moment he first saw middle America's rising tide of anger against the gargantuan pay packages.  Madoff ordered $150m transfer Bernard Madoff ordered his UK company to transfer about $150m to his US firm just weeks before he allegedly confessed to.  Prosecutors drop charges against Stockman US prosecutors on Friday dismissed fraud charges against David Stockman, who served as president Ronald Reagan's budget

835: Financial Professionals, with Tom Donlan, Barron's, John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, re Unemployment Jumps to 7.2% re the trillionaire bailouts, the trillionaire debts, re if the first TARP didn't work let's try again, re the strange death of Adam Smith.  Tim Geithner Is Preparing Overhaul of the Bailout - Washington Post  Hank Paulson Bailout Didn't Give Taxpayers Buffett's Terms - Bloomberg

850P: Continued, No, Obama's Recovery Plan Falls Short - Paul Krugman, New York Times, Andrew Mellon vs. Bailout Nation - Bill Gross, Pimco Asset Management.

905P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, re the UN Security Council resolution fails, re the IDF goals, re the U.S. Congress support of Israel, re what will Tehran do?  Re the report that the Bush administration nixed an IDF raid on Iran in 2008. Hamas Makes the Foulest Fight.

920P: Max Blumenthal, DailyBeast.com, re the mystery of Rick Warren and his mission to fight AIDS in Africa.  Rick Warren's Africa Problem  Team Obama likes to cite Warren's work on AIDS in Africa to combat criticism about the controversial pastor.

935P: Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Part 2, author, "Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her," the story of a single moment of horror in 1945 when a young Japanese student pilot named Kiyoshi Ogawa plunged his Japanese Zero into the center of the flight deck of the Essex Class aircraft carrier Bunker Hill.  The kamikazes were directed by Japanese Admiral Matome Ugaki, who called the mass suicide attacks Kikushu, or chrysanthemum water.  Japanese poetry associates flowers with death.   There were ten Kikushi raids launched between April and June, 1945, and they were increasingly deadly.  The American fleet at Okinawa was losing more than a ship a day, and the famous Intrepid, now in anchor as a museum in New York, was hit and driven from battle on April 16.    Mr. Kennedy has identified one particular hero of many whom he and many of the veterans today choose as the man who saved Bunker Hill, chief Engineer Joseph 

Carmichael.  About ten minutes after the explosions, Carmichael heard a rumor spreading that the ship was sinking.  He took to the public address system and gave a speech that matches anything of Ceasar's in strength and valor: "This is the chief engineer speaking.  This ship is not sinking.  It is not in any danger of sinking.  And it will not sink.  So put your minds at rest on that."   Two days later, Bunker Hill made the largest mass burial at sea in Navy history to this day, 352 officers and men were put into the sea about 380 miles southeast of Naha Town.  

955P: Exeunt re Bob Zimmerman, author, "Universe in a Mirror," re the most successful Mike Griffin will leave NASA, and was he fired by the Obama team to make way for cuts and retreat?

______________________________________

KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles, 7-10P Pacific Time.

705P PT: Amity Schlaes, author, "Forgotten Man," with Simon Constable, DowJones Newswire, re the trillionaire economy of debt and stimulus, re re the report from Thailand that the local economy issues scrip and what this means, re The Budget Deficit: Waiting For God-Only-Knows-What - The Economist

720P:  Joseph Sternberg, Asia Wall Street Journal, re the Saytam scandal and the now in custody slumdog billionaires, the Raju brothers, (right, 

Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju's lawyer S. Bharat Kumar, center wearing black, arrives at the magistrate's house in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009. Indian police detained the chief financial officer of embattled outsourcing giant Satyam Computers on Saturday, the third executive to enter police custody in the wake of a massive fraud scandal.

735P:  Professional Roundtable with with Diana West, author, Larry Johnson, No Quarter and State (ret), Margaret Hoover, FNC, re the trillion dollar  Tim Geithner Is Preparing Overhaul of the Bailout - Washington Post.   Dems Stew in Botched Burris Imbroglio - Bresnahan & Raju, Politico. 

750P: Continued re Rubber Stamp for Hillary - Diana West, Washington Times. 

805P: Professional roundtable with Bill Whalen, John Avlon, Monica Crowley, GOP Revival Will Start in the States - Steve Moore, Wall Street Journal.  Can Obama Deliver on His Promises? - Eleanor Clift, Newsweek.  Schwarzenegger's Failure - Matt Welch, Reason 

820P:  Continued re Are Moderates Really Pragmatists? - Josh Patashnik, The Plank.

835P:   Adam Michaelson, author, "The Foreclosure of America," re Countrywide and the housing bubble of 2002-2008, the stuff of what dreams are made of before they burn, re the authors five years at Countrywide, re a defense of FOA, Friends of Angelo, in Congress and in Freddie Mac ad Fannie Mae (right, Countrywide boss Angelo Mozilo gets in line).

850P:   Olivier Guitta, Middle East Times, re why are Syria and Hizballah sitting ou the Gaza War, what are the Damscus and Hisballah options?

905P: Michael Phillips, Wall Street Journal, re the housing bubble and the predatory practices and willful greed of lenders and homeowners during the bubble.  In Arizona, A $103,000 Shack.

920P: Henry Miller, Hoover Institution, re Avian flue death reported outside Bejing, re Steve Jobs mystery of weight loss, re update on FDA administration, who watches the watchers?

935P: Steve Knopper,  Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age  "...Now, because powerful people like Doug Morris and Tommy Mottola failed to recognize the incredible potential of file-sharing technology, the labels are in danger of becoming completely obsolete. Knopper, who has been writing about the industry for more than ten years, has unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world's highs and lows. Based on interviews with more than two hundred music industry sources -- from Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. to renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning..."  "...Time Warner said it will record $25 billion in write-downs for the fourth quarter, with nearly $15 billion of it coming from Time Warner Cable. The news, coupled with Time Warner saying 2008 results won't meet November expectations amid worsening ad weakeness, sent Time Warner shares down 6.2% in premarket trading -- Jan 2009...".  Re the greed, stupidity, deafness and futility of the handful of characters who rule the pop music business as it burns like Citi  (right, Tommy Mottola weds a pop star).  

935P:  Exeunt re Gaza update, re Cairo wants Jerualem to finish the job, re Tehran has not decided if it will sit out, re the IDF wasn't another three weeks to decapitate Hamas, re the report that the Bush administration rejected the IDF plan to raid Iran in 2008, instead starting a covert op to disrupt the supply chain for Iran's nuclear fuel cycle.

720P:  Kerry Grace, Wall Street Journal, with Simon Constable, DowJones, re the delayed fuses of rotten mortgages, theft, brown lawns, ghost towns, wrecked families, accelerated despair, in the U.S. housing market that looks to become black humor in the new year.  "My house is worth half what I bought it for!"  "You still have a house?"  Home Prices Slide; 
Confidence Hits Low

735P: Professional Roundtable Harry Siegel, Politico.com , with Diana West, author, Jim McTague, Barron's, re the political prospects for Congressional catastrophe in the new year with a majority party in the White House; re the Blago appointment of the combative and clever Roland Burris ("...neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."), re the Paterson/Kennedy/Bloomberg/Cumo quartet in NY; re the 111th Congress.

750P:  Continued re the Franken/Coleman imbroglio, re the best and worst political events of the year.

805P: Ethan Perlson, Benjamin Sarlin, DailyBeast.com, re the Gaza War hits Facebook, re Gaza and the Hamas war on the web, at Facebook, Twitter and the new tools of the information age, re the viral bashing of Israel, re the viral boosting of Hamas propaganda and the usual storybook fiction of  Palestinian victimology.  

820P: Bob Zimmerman, author, re the 2008<http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=315533893763712>">second least active sun since records were kept and what a lack of sunspots means; re Space X; re NASA vs the Obama Team; re the space race in 2009, re best and worst space moves of the year.

835: Financial Professionals, with John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, the      Why 2009 Will Be Worse Than 2008, Worldwide, a Bad Year Only Got Worse   Paulson says crisis sown by imbalance 

850P: Continued, Unemployment Insurance: A Safety Net in Need of Repair - Another Boneheaded Move Ahead from The Fed  Obama, Deflation & Recovery  Mutual funds suffer $320bn outflow

905P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, from Jerusalem, re the Gaza crisis and the Hamas War on Israel; re the limitations of the IDF operations, re the Egyptian cooperation with Israel, re what does Cairo want?

920P:   Charles Fourelle, Wall Street Journal, re Iceland collapses, re the Iceland market was down 95 percent in 2008, re the search for cash and credit, re the rebuilding of the republic and public anger, re "Did Iceland Die For Our Sins?"   Iceland's Fall: The Isle That Rattled the World  Iceland is an extreme casualty of an era in which it was easy to borrow money. The tiny isle became so leveraged that its collapse has rattled the world

935P: Pete Earley, author, "Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's MAster Spy in America After the End of the Cold War, re  "Tretyakov, who had been assigned to the Russian mission at the United Nations since 1995 and to Ottawa before that, gave the FBI 5,000 secret SVR cables and more than 100 Russian intelligence reports, according to one U.S. intelligence official cited by Earley. Tretyakov apparently first tried to defect around 1997 but agreed to remain as an "agent in place," passing secrets to the FBI until October 2000, when he vanished from a Russian residential compound in the Bronx with his wife, daughter and cat...."  David Wise, Wapo.  Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War. 

955P: Exeunt re Gaza update, re the Hamas rocket arsenal and the threat on Dimona and Tel Aviv.  If not for bad news, no news at all.

______________________________________

KFI-AM 640 Los Angeles, 7-10P Pacific Time.

705P PT: Jeff McCracken, Wall Street Journal, re the day the music and the orchestra died when Lehman Brothers failed, the weekend of September 13-14; re The Weekend That Wall Street Died The financial crisis that led to Lehman's collapse and sent Merrill scrambling marked a shift on Wall Street. Instead of CEOs banding together, it was every man for himself. 

720P:  Tom Polansek, Wall Street Journal, Black Sea Region Wheat Exports Surge, reThe Black Sea region has muscled its way into the exclusive club of the world's top wheat exporters and is expected to continue stealing business from the U.S.

735P:  Professional Roundtable with Larry Johnson, No Quarter and State (ret), Ann Marlowe, Forbes.com, Kerry Patton, Human Terrain Program, re the Gaza crisis and the IDF armor offensve to secure the rocket sites and decapitate Hamas; re the Obama administration inherits Gaza and Afghanistan (after the handover of the Green Zone), re the Centcom surge in Afghanistan.  Pakistan Closes NATO Supply Route Pakistan closed a main road used to ferry supplies to U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan after launching a fresh offensive against militants in the area. NATO says it is considering alternative routes.

750P: Continued re Afghanistan and Taliban, and the failed state and rogue state of Pakistan: Taliban Kill 20 Afghan Police

805P: Professional roundtable with Jodi Schneider, CQ, Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com,  Craig Unger, re the best and worst political events of the late and melodramatically perfect year, re the 111th Congress promising the sitcoms of Roland Burris, Caroline Kennedy, Al Franken/Norm Coleman, and that's before the opening gavel. 

820P:  Continued re the stimulus package meets Mitch McConnell, re the Obama team meets the Senate rules.

835P:   Stephen Cohen, NYU, re Russia in winter, re Putin and Medvedev and the challenge of the oil plunge, re the nat gas cut-off to Ukraine, re the Russian ambitions in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

850P:  Continued Moscow and Kiev seek allies in gas dispute EU adopts low profile during showdown.

905P: Robert Lee Hotz, Warming Earth Blows Hot, Cold and Chaotic Three independent research groups have concluded that 2008 was a comparatively cool year on Earth -- a feverish chill on our warming world; re climate change and the unpredictability of North Temperate Zone agriculture.

920P: Mary Kissel, Asia Wall Street Journal, from Hong Kong, re the decline and fall of the Asia Tigers: Singapore down 2%, South Korea exports down 17%, China contraction unplotted but turmoil certain with the internet and the fragmenting of regions.

935P: Tom Donlon, Barron's author, "A World of Wealth: How Capitalism Turns Profits into Progress, re the J.M. Keynes warning that every madman dictator (or publicity swollen politician) bases theory on a dead economist and his or her obsolete theories, re the inevitability of monetarists (central bankers) printing money to fight slow down and thus guareteing inflation to be followed by another recession; re the housing bubble and the current global depression, or credit freeze, or unnamed dread; re what the recovery will look like and what governments are doing to stop it.

935P:  Exeunt Lou Ann Hammond, carlist.com re "Is this the end of the car dealership?"