Today begins the 112th Congress…   John Boehner will usher in a new era as Speaker Weeper of the House. It should be fun to hear him say this part of his prepared speech

“The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. That includes this gavel, which I accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing I am but its caretaker.”

Shall we take bets on whether or not he’ll be crying when he says “cheerfully?”

I’m afraid we’re in for a really rough two years.  But we’ll keep speaking truth to power!

Much like my first guest this morning. Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of Code Pink.  She wrote a year-end piece for Alternet which is perfect reading on a day like today:  “15 Good Things to Celebrate in a Bad Year.”  She gave us the heads up on what Code Pink will be up to in 2011, and also shared the details of her recent conversation with Attorney General Eric Holder regarding wikileaks.

On the heels of another assassination of a government official in Pakistan, I reached out to Pakistani journalist Kaswar Klasra in Islamabad.

In the second hour of today’s show, I spoke with Wendell Potter about his new book, Deadly Spin: An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans