As much of America is taking off for the holidays, some of us are lucky to be working, filling in for the vacationers.  That’s the category I fall in to.

I’m thrilled that, once again, Randi Rhodes has given me the honor of talking with her listeners while she enjoys some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

In addition to being thankful for the work (and the paycheck!), I’m glad that I can continue my tradition of listening back to some of the highlights -and lowlights- of the year that’s ending… It’s our Rear End Year in Review (or something like that)…  For the next couple of weeks, we’ll recap some of the big news stories of the year, month by month.

Each day, I’ll be joined by guests who’ll fill us in on the progress made, or lack thereof, in their areas of expertise.

For example, today on the show, I’ll be joined by Leo Gerard, International President of United Steel Workers.  (What ever happened to the Employee Free Choice Act, you ask? So will I.)  Mr. Gerard is quite outspoken about the direction this country is headed.  He even penned new lyrics to an old Christmas class… but renamed it: “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Oligarchy!”

We’ll find out what’s going on with Net Neutrality.  Believe it or not, tomorrow the FCC will meet to discuss the issue that Senator Al Franken today calls ” The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time” in a piece on Huffington Post.  Tim Karr, campaign director of freepress.net and savetheinternet.com, will be with us both today, to tell us about tomorrow’s meeting, and tomorrow to let us know what happened!

By now, I hope you’ve realized that this lame duck session is not quite so lame!  FireDogLake’s David Dayen will join us near the top of the show to tell us what the Senate did this weekend, what they didn’t do this weekend, and what they still might do before the 111th Congress is one for the history books.

And we will begin our year-end look in the rear view mirror by listening back to some of the news from January of 2010.  Sorry, but it started off really badly, with the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United v FEC, and the end of Air America radio.

Of course, there’s plenty of time for your calls too… 866-87-RANDI.  And I’ll be doing the regular ustream thing, and hanging in the chat room too…

Listen live here, or on the air at any of Randi’s affiliates, or on XM channel 165 from 3-6pm ET.