we are so happy to have julie mason of "of the washington examiner," the life and soul of every program that she is on. >> thank you. [applause] >> you would not like the wages. julie, what have been the big things of this year that has just passed? >> obviously, al gore's problems. health-care reform. the midterms -- guest -- disastrous for obama. those were the standout issues. >> nothing with foreign policy? >> afghanistan seems to be going badly. iraq -- i know some combat troops that are heading over there. >> joe, what stands out to you? >> the war in afghanistan has not been in my mind. we have spent his entire year talking about ourselves, as in the those who are within our own borders, the midterm elections, immigration, which of course nothing has happened, and the economy and jobs. we have tens of thousands of men and women serving overseas in harm's way, not even one mention of that during the midterm election cycle. >> one thing that has not been mentioned much is the impact of the tea party. >> absolutely. we watched that the party -- we are going to be seeing a lot of the

julie mason for "washington examiner" and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer.ican stand insisting you have to do these two things first. >> yeah, i think it makes complete sense. we really shouldn't even have serious legislative lame duck sessions anyway. the republicans read the tea leaves of the last election and they think they have the high hand politically and i think they're right on that. they're only what, 17 working days in the package we heard before left. that's not even going to be all filled up. and so i think obama would be smart if he is going to cave at all just to simply cave now. i think there is a trade on the start treaty, as much as i have reservations about the start treaty, a trade to be made on that if they get the tax stuff out of the way. the dream act, "don't ask, don't tell," that's doomed. >> bret: tomorrow they vote on tax out extension for $250,000 and less. this is what nancy pelosi is pushing. and apparently republicans are not going to be able to have what is called a motion to recommit to adjust or have their own version. what

on july 13th of 2008 they were aboard a cable car which became stuck on mason and washington streets. the operators got off to free the car, which then rolled off its tracks and crashed into a curb. the settlement would have to be approved by the city's transportation agency. >>> fremont woman is the latest suspect arrested by federal authorities in connection with a crackdown on insider trading. 43-year-old winifred jiau was taken into custody yesterday in fremont. she was charged with securities fraud in connection with allegedly providing detailed earnings information about a number of publicly traded companies. those firms include marvel technology group and individual 'ya. she is set to appear monday for a bail hearing in san francisco federal court. >>> 65 has come up with an explanation for the users encountered last week. the company is blaming the 24 hour crash on a software glitch. skype's chief information is officer said today the problem stemmed from a version of software for computers running windows. >>> a new poll shows baby boomers by a ratio of two to one say they do