joe mathieu from sirius xm radio, which features the audio of this program every saturday. welcome to the broadcast. >> it is good to be here as always. >> we are glad to have julie .eff giesea remember us when you make your billions, please. 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

did he get the same money or is sirius/xm giving him less?our early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, 'tis the season. the first family and the nation's capital takes time-out to share the holiday spirit. you're watching "early today." >>> welcome back. we break down your forecast. wet weather that's moving to the pacific northwest. before i forget, the hawaiian islands had flash flooding overnight and yesterday also there you'll see more wet weather this weekend. today, medford, portland and seattle, going to deal with wet conditions. l.a. to phoenix, you are dry and you'll be looking okay. call it partly cloud any l.a. today. tomorrow looks nice from vegas to l.a. to phoenix to tucson. notice a split forecast. that plume of moisture continuing into sunday in northwest while much of southern california, nevada and ars will look nice. >>> if you're watching us on kgw news channel 8, portland, oregon, make this holiday season merry an musical. a cappella quartet, the dickens carollers performs at pioneer place. that

sirius stock is often among the most actives, and no different today. shares popped 5%, but remain below $1.50 per share. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: kohl's department stores, whole foods grocery stores and dell buy all of their electricity from renewable sources. well technically, they don't, but they buy renewable energy credits to offset all of their electricity power, a move that allows them to claim to be green. this is one of the stories in the january issue of "bloomberg markets magazine," which hits newsstands on tuesday. ben elgin is an investigative reporter at "bloomberg markets magazine." he joins us from san francisco. >> tom: ben, welcome to the nightly business report. nice to see you. >> thank you. >> tom: let's start with the renewable energy credit. it gets a bit complex. a power producer sells a credit to a marketer and sells it to a buyer like dell. what's it in for the company? >> companies want to be seen as part of the climate curve. this allows them on paper to claim a substantial reduction in card on emissions.

these are the upper level sirius clouds. we have rain up on the north coast as the warm front is already stretching across the pacific. you can see the system it it gets its act together for tomorrow. it's going to continue filling in the clouds over the bay area and during the day tomorrow, that rain is going to turn heavy. winds will pick up. the heaviest rain will come in the second half of the day. another interesting thing about the system is the cold air to follow adding into wednesday. that should shut down the rain. what's left of the showers could drop snow as low as 3,000 feet. on the timing of our future cast, as we head towards the evening, by 11:00, the santa cruz mountains getting a good soaking. again, the other part, the rain totals. at least two to three inches in those higher elevations. and out towards the sierra, the rain means more snow. probably two to four feet. tuesday into wednesday. winter storm warnings already up. in terms of the totals, up and down from lake tahoe, mammoth mountain has been getti

i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com or do what jumping joe ratzinger and text the word awake followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this thursday, december 16th. ray lot going on today including new nbc polls that show how the president is doing today and how he would do matched against sarah palin in a couple of years. >>> plus, michael vick says he is ready to own a dog again. in other news john wayne gacy is ready to adopt a couple of kid.. no, he is not around anymore. >>> first the news. the house will vote today on the tax plan negotiated by the white house and republican leaders after easily cleared the senate yesterday. in an overwhelming 81-19 vote, both democrats and republicans agreed to extend the bush era tax rates for all americans and to pass an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. $858 billion plan would be financed entirely by adding to the d

. >>> a sirius/xm radio official hinted howard stern will have to cut his $1 million a year salary totay at the network when his deal expires later this month. he also hinted stern may have an offer from apple to do a show on i-tunes. >>> finally, an oregon man inspired by the nick name of the character on the nbc show "chuck" has legally changed his name to capital awesome. the unemployed cabinet installer found it funny that the show's devin wouldcome got the name from his father, because a poor nickname builds good character. only acceptable if you're a cartoon character. >> yeah, but a cabinetmaker and awesome, your business cards are pretty cool. >> true. good point, bill. >>> this comes to us from miami, florida, where depending on who you ask, the outcome of one college bowl game is already in the bag. miami sea square yum's flipper dubbed the clairvoyant dolphin predicts that stanford will take virginia tech in miami's upcoming orange bowl. he used a less than conventional method to make the call, booting the stanford cardinal ball out of the water. trainers say he's a real de

glad you're watching on msnbc or listening on sirius xm radio. let me know why you're awake or do what that various jackson and e-mail the word awake followed by your response to 622639. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for tuesday, december 14th. big baseball news as highly coveted pitcher cliff lee joins a new team and not the one that plays in the bronx. >>> plus, will ferrell and john c. rielly in a shot-for-shot remake of the greatest and most so real holiday special ever committed to film. a tribute to bing and bowie later. >>> 5:30 a.m., final senate passage is expected today on the tax proposal that president obama brokered with republicans after it cleared a key hurdle last night. republicans and democrats joined forces voting 83-15, well surpassing the 60 votes it needed to advance the $900 billion package that would extend tax cuts for virtually every american. >>> the bill sails through the senate as expected. it would then go, of course to the house where progressive democrats remain strongly opposed to continuing tax br

i'm glad you're up with us watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@m waytooearly waytooearly@msnbc.com. we'll read the best ones later. >>> the next 30 minutes will be your cram session. a lot going on including the latest on the suicide over the weekend of bernie madoff's son. plus a move you would not see in a jv high school game, a new york jets coach actually trips a miami dolphins player while he's running down the field and that was one of the highlights yesterday for the suddenly hapless jets. the day in football a little bit later but first to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. >>> the senate will hold a key test vote on the tax cut package. president obama negotiated with republicans. the deal would extend all the bush era tax cuts for two years and continue long-term unemployment benefits for 13 months. despite lingering reservations from some democrats, the senate's number two democrat, majority whip dick durbin says the compromise should clear the chamber with relative ease. >>>

i'm glad you're up with us watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com and let me know why you're awake or do what ed does and text the word awake, followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for wednesday, december 15th. a lot going on include a bleak new intel report about our prose pengtss in afghanistan. >>> plus, a bison riding shotgun in an old convertible. we'll offer some kind of explanation later. >>> news at 5:30 at 30 rock in new york city. >>> a school board meeting in florida turned deadly after a gunman who apparently said he was angry about his wife losing her job opened fire before eventually killing himself. the it terrifying scene was streamed live by school board cameras and captured by nbc affiliate wjhg. some of the footage you're going to see is a little graphic. the ordeal began shortly after the meeting was opened up for public comment. at that point the man identified as 56-year-old clay duke, took t

glad you're up watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio, shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com, let me know what you're doing up at this hour on a friday. or you can do what larry king himself often does and text awake followed by 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. >>> the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this friday, december 17th. lot to tell you about including a glimmer of hope for the passage of a repeal of don't ask, don't tell. we'll tell you which republicans are getting on board. >>> plus, larry king, president clinton, have an innuendo laden back and forth about the zipper club. the zipper club. we'll learn about that exclusive body together. >>> but first let's get to the news. live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. >>> millions of americans will be spared a tax hike next month after the house voted overnight to approve a compromised deal hammered out between the white house and republicans. the bill passed by a vote of 277 to 148. after progressive democrats failed in their attempt to strip the legislation of

applause ] >> jimmy: our next guest this evening is the executive producer of "the howard stern show" on siriusapplause ] >> i like that. that's good. >> jimmy: welcome to the show, thanks for coming on. i appreciate it. we are big fans of you over here at "late night" and the show. >> thanks for having me. >> jimmy: doing a great job over there. >> having a lot of fun. >> jimmy: you are on this book tour? >> yes, i am. it's been going on forever. >> jimmy: yeah, howard's giving you grief about this? >> he said it's enough already. he said i'm doing it too long, embarrassing myself. a book tour should be two weeks, i'm in week number six. >> jimmy: he said nobody cares about you. >> right. this is the last thing i'm doing except for a cable show in cleveland, that's it. >> jimmy: which cable show in cleveland, we will give them a plug. >> i have no idea. >> jimmy: okay, good. [ light laughter ] a funny story about this, you were on the "today" show this morning was it? >> no, no, about a month ago, i was at the "today" show and it was right before the marathon, new york city marathon. so, i'm n

just hoursing a howard stern announced he signed a new deal with siriu s xm radio. terms have not been disclosed. he left broadcast media five years ago to sign up with the satellite radio network. at that time his deal was worth reported $500 million. >>> time now 6:34. let's see what's happening on the roads now. >>> the latest is it's still wet out there. it's not as bad as it was yesterday when we had a lot of crashes at this point. right now we're doing okay. we have some fog issues on the bridge if you've been driving across the bridge or going to drive across the bridge soon you'll know that it's somewhat hard to see especially on the lower deck but also on the upper deck as well and back up at the toll plaza. metering lights have been on for about 20 minutes now. moving along and taking a look at 680 southbound. not too bad. a lot of our pictures are foggy. steve will give us an update on the fog and how it's moving around. we've had a couple stalled vehicles out there. nothing major when it comes to accidents. highway 101 looks good if you're on the peninsu

just hoursing a howard stern announced he has signed a new deal with sirius xm radio. terms have not been disclosed. but he left five years ago to sign up with the satellite radio network. at that time his deal was for a reported $500 million. >>> the san jose police department changing its policy for towing the cars of unlicensed drivers. right now cars impounded for 30 days when an unlicensed driver is pulled over for a minor traffic violation. but the police will soon have the option to allow somebody else who is licensed to pick up the car and thereby avoid some pretty expensive fines. san jose's acting police chief says that change will free up resources. >>> safety issues have prompted san francisco's airport to make changes to the way taxi cabs do business. sfo started a short trip program to compensate cab drivers who make local trips. under the program drivers are allowed to return within 30 minutes and jump to the front of the line. but sfo officials wanted to eliminate the plan because they say some cab drivers cheat the system by speeding back. >> we've had

howard stern and other programs designed for adults are on sirius. volume and limit max speed a car is able to travel. it would be nice if you couldn't text while you're driving. >> very tempting. >>> 6:52 now. we'll tell you about the life giving performance of two marin county firefighters. >>> and it's bigger than it's ever been. why you might give some thought to taking part in a game played in 41 states. >>> two firefighters did something they rarely ever do on the job, deliver a baby. they got a call monday night and arrived at a home on magnolia avenue. within five minutes of their arrival and before an ambulance could arrive, the two firefighters had delivered a healthy baby girl. one of the firefighters says the last time he delivered a baby on the job was about 20 years ago. >>> starting july 1st, a new law will require all high school and middle school aged kids in california to be vaccinated against whooping cough or they can't attend school. it was the state's worst health crisis this year. more than 7,000 cases were diagnosed and at lea

the automaker will announce a new system that will let parents block 16 channels on sirius satelliteprograms that could be blocked would include howard stern, playboy, hip-hop nation and raw dawg comedy. the feature will be added next year. it also lets parents limit the car's top speed and the volume of the audio. allstate says it's not really in good hands and is filing a lawsuit against country wide financial. the insurance company said it bought more than $700 million worth of toxic backed mortgage securities only to see those values drop rapidly. the suit targets country wide and bank of america, which bought the mortgage giant back in 2008. >>> techies are abuzz with news that apple's second generation ipad could be available in three separate versions. according to the "l.a. times" each version would offer a different internet connection option. in the meantime a report out pie the website digitimes speculates apple's next tablet may go into production as early as next month sglmp month. >>> the city of pittsburg is gearing up for new year's day hockey. heinz field has been tr

sirius, radio. >>> the ball will drop in new york on new year's eve and it will have a little something extra inside. yes, snookki from the jersey shore will crawl into the ball. the celebration will be separate from the traditional balldrop, the one that's hosted by dig clark and ryan seacrest. but that one will be memorable. >> it certainly will be. >>> let's check in with sal. still slow in the south bay? >> yes, it is very slow in the south bay. northbound 280, slow traffic as you get up to highway 17. it's a little foggy all over the bay area if you are heading out. sanmateo bridge, fog and also a lot of fog in san mateo county. and the toll plaza, still a big backup but the fog is beginning to lift. let's go to steve. >>> mostly cloudy, a lot of fog, low clouds. maybe a little mist, light rain, drizzle. we're about done with the rain. but a lot of clouds hanging out. then tomorrow morning will be extremely foggy but then sunny and warmer weather especially on the coast near 70. 49er game could be warmer near than north bay/east bay locations where it will be f oggy. >>> thank you

howard decided to stay on board at sirius. he's employed for five more years. >> he's employed.e years. >> good. >> good thing. >> i have my mornings free for the next five years. >> you can do whatever you want and probably work out and save some animals. so go to foxandfriends.com and find out more about how to get these dogs. you have an unbelievable record of getting dogs homes especially during the holidays. i think it will be 5-5. meanwhile, tomorrow, on paws for a cause, we continue our series another shelter organization will be here with more adorable dogs that need your help and you can make a difference. beth, always great to see you. have a great holiday. thank you, north shore animal league for coming down and steve and gretch, take it away. >> you know what? i think we may have gotten one of those dogs adopted. >> get out of here! >> mr. mayor, rudy giuliani loves the guy right over there. >> that little beagle one. >> beagle one over there. >> there you go. >> we got to bring his partner, though. >> two for -- >> he comes with another one. >> there you go. >> oh,

sirius put on at the apollo. it was a followup, just a followup. you asked me, how was his voice. because "snl," it wasn't good. >> huh-uh. >> but it was a mixing or the monitors or something because i got to tell you, i've seen mccartney half a dozen times. and last night his voice was the best it's ever been. >> and he looked amazing. >> it was incredible. >> yeah. we'll talk about that later. maybe in "news you can't use." >> it sounds like one of those beatlemania commercials. no, it was great. >> did you throw your underwear at him? >> when i go to a mccartney concert, i never wear it. >> oh, gosh. >> you know? a shoe. i threw the shoes. >>> coming up, former british prime minister gordon brown, virginia governor bob mcdonnell, republican senator john ensign, and former white house chief of staff andy card. >> by the way, ensign voted against the bill and said it would blow a trillion dollar hole in the deficit. >> there you go. coming up, business on the go headlines. >>> who's quietly urging senator joe lieberman to run for a fifth term? >>> first, we'll go to bill karins w

parents can block 16 channels on sirius satellite radio.he feature will be added to my key system which limits the top speed and the audio volume. thanks for joining us this morning. the "today" show continues next. see you back here tomorrow morning. have a great day. >>> we're back with more of today on this wines day, and it's time to play who knew? we're testing your new year's eve knowledge. kathie lee is across the street and ready to hand out 100 bucks to those that answer correctly and to those who don't, they get kathie lee's cd. >> that's right, hoda. >> laura is here to help me out. a lot of interesting questions people will enjoy wrestling with. >> we're going to stump them today. >> let's see if we can. it they are from maryland. which city celebrates new year's eve before the rest of the world? who does it first? it's an hour show, i'd appreciate an answer. >> it's in australia. >> there you go. sydney, australia. >> she got it right without hearing the options. >> sydney is one of my favorite places in the world. what better

. >>> howard stern's a one-man stimulus for sirius, after the king of all media sign ad new five-he'lleal to stay with the network. shares jumped more than 6% and the company reported a huge surge in subscriptions. terms of his deal were not released but his previous contract was for $500 million over five years, much of it in stock. >>> and "health" magazine out with its list of the most depressing jobs. the top ten, nursing home and child care workers, food service personnel, social and health care workers, a surprising one here, artists, entertainers and writers, teachers, administrative staff, maintenance and groundworkers, financial advisers and accountant sz and sales people. still nice to have a job at all. 13 percent of unemployed people report suffering from major bouts of depression. betty? >> yep, no complaints here. ashley morrison joining us live in new york. thank you. >>> just ahead on the morning news a scientific breakthrough baby mice produced from two males. >>> plus, burn notice. authorities set fire to a house filled with explosives. you're watching the cbs morning