Here's the neighbor's 9/11 call in the Tiger Wood's case.

And here comes Gloria Allred, who is getting ready to represent Rachel Uchitel. Rachel flew from NY to LA today where Gloria picked her up at LAX. Gloria and her "maligned" client list go way back. It seems all of her clients are "maligned" females, from a "biting victim" in the Marv Albert case to Amber Frey to a nanny in the Rob Lowe lawsuit and the Octomom, and countless others. (Note: I like Gloria personally.) Go, Gloria, if anyone can keep the Enquirer on their toes, it's you. Come to think of it, how come Rielle Hunter didn't call Gloria?

On HBO now, the four hour Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert from October 29 and 30th. Just finished: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Steven Stills and Bonnie Raitt (Love Has No Pride). On now: Jackson Browne singing The Pretender; Still to Come: James Taylor, Paul Simon - Simon & Garfunkel, Dion, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sting, Smokey Robinson, Jeff Beck ("Superstition"),Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and many more. Set list for night one here and night two here. Good photos are here.

Watching these rockers, I'm almost convinced 60 is the new 30. Also cool: This automated Springsteen bot on Twitter with links to his videos by song.

Also on tonight: Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters and a new Next Iron Chef. No TV? Amazon has their Cyber Monday Deals up tonight.

I'm so glad I have more than one tivo. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Too funny. Via Drum, M.J. Rosenberg -- proving to be the anti-Claude Raines -- is surprised, disappointed and upset that President Obama is not a fighter:

I do not know a single person who is not disappointed by Obama's first year in office. [. . .] And the reason for their disappointment is that they wanted a fighter, someone who would implement campaign promises (at least the ones a President can do unilaterally like gays in the military) and challenge the right's lies. Instead they have a conciliator. [. . .] Michael Jackson said: "I'm a lover, not a fighter." In a President, we need the opposite.

Apparently, Rosenberg was too busy demonizing Hillary Clinton to notice Obama's Post Partisan Unity Schtick.

Speaking for me only

Our good friend John Amato critcizes WaPo's Ruth Marcus for urging Democrats capitulate on the public option. I have a problem with John's criticism for two reasons. First, Ruth Marcus does not believe in a public option. Why should she argue that Democrats should hold the line for a policy she does not believe in?

But my real criticism of John is his willful blindness regarding the fact that more influential people in the Media, who CLAIM to believe in a public option, say precisely the same thing Marcus does about the public option - that Dems should give it up. Yes, I am talking abvout the Village Blogosphere - Josh Marshall, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, Kevin Drum and others to come (just watch). Why is John silent about these voices, whose positions are much more disingenuous? Their voices are much more influential than Marcus' and their lack of forthrightness about what they really think about the public option seems to me to be much more worthy of discussion than Marcus' urging a course of action in line with her stated policy views. I am not a fan of urging people to not argue for their policy views. I am strongly in favor of urging people to argue HONESTLY in favor of their policy views.

Speaking for me only

The winner of Dancing With the Stars will be named tonight.It's between Donny Osmond, Mya and Kelly Osbourne.

Technically, the best dancer is Mya, but there's something off-putting and cold about her and she doesn't have the fan base Donny and Kelly do, so while she's the judges' favorite, I think there's a good chance Donny Osmond may win.

I'm rooting for Donny and second for Kelly. Donny is the most entertaining to watch. Kelly is very endearing and upbeat and has made so much progress. And I love watching Sharon and Ozzy get all teared up as they watch her. As for Mya, sorry, but I just don't see star quality there, and the show is called "Dancing With the Stars."

V is also coming to a close for the year tonight. No big loss, it's gone downhill since the first two episodes. This is an open thread, all topics welcome, tv related or not.

Tonight on PBS, Frontline airs The Card Game, a report on the consumer loan and credit card industry:

In a joint project with The New York Times, [Lowell] Bergman and the Times talk to industry insiders, lobbyists, politicians and consumer advocates as they square off over new regulation and the possible creation of a consumer finance protection agency. How are the credit, debit and pre-paid card industries repositioning themselves to maintain high profits under the new rules? The stakes couldn't be higher as many fear the consumer loan industry could be at the center of the next crisis.

It seems the new credit card rules won't do much to help consumers. [More...]

The Washington Post announced today it will close its bureaus in LA, NY, and Chicago on Dec. 31.

"At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure, it's necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country's politics, policies and government," the newspaper's top editor, Marcus Brauchli, wrote in a memo to employees that was obtained by Reuters. ..."We are not a national news organization of record serving a general audience. Nor are we a wire service or a cable channel," Brauchli told the Post's media columnist and reporter Howard Kurtz.

The Post says "We will continue to cover events around the country as we have for decades, by sending reporters into the field." What about international events-- will it still cover those? What about big trials -- will it still dispatch reporters to courthouses outside D.C.?

These are indeed tough times for newspapers.

Matt Taibbi:

[T]he reporters mostly all worshipped [Obama] [. . .] That part of the media-conspiracy narrative is definitely true. [. . .] Needless to say nothing like that went on in the Hillary press corps, or more especially in the McCain plane, where the more likely back-of-the-plane recreation was a reporter musing out loud about the benefits of hanging himself over continuing even one more minute on that assignment.

Told you so. Anyway, I am not a fan of Taibbi (his hit job on Wes Clark in 2003 shows he knows how to wield a hatchet himself), and I think he really misses the mark in this section:

• As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways, a really gross story on NY sewer problems in the New York Times.

• NY Times Editorial on how police are using GPS devices as surveillance tools without court orders

• S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 ethics charges.

• In the New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin compares the old NY Pizza Connection trial to the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs says he is considering a 2012 Presidential run. In the meantime, he may seek the Senate seat of Democrat Robert Menendez.

The only way I see for Dobbs to run for President is on a third party ticket. Maybe he'll bring Sarah Palin or Tom Tancredo along for the ride...into oblivion.

Via FDL, David Broder:

While the CBO said that both the House-passed bill and the one Reid has drafted meet Obama's test by being budget-neutral, every expert I have talked to says [. . . t]hese bills, as they stand, are budget-busters. Here, for example, is what Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group of budget watchdogs, told me: "The Senate bill is better than the House version, but there's not much reform in this bill. As of now, it's basically a big entitlement expansion, plus tax increases."

(Emphasis supplied.) Tax increases bust the budget according the Wise Old Men of the Village.

Speaking for me only

Via Steven D. -- The attorney for accused Ft. Hood murderer Major Nadal Hasan explains what should be obvious to most intelligent people regarding why those accused of crimes are afforded the right to a lawyer. Wolf Blitzer, as we all know, is not among this group:

Blitzer's behavior is inexcusable for a journalist. But it is about par for Blitzer.

Speaking for me only