On Today's Show: Joan and Melissa Rivers, Dylan Ratigan

Hosts at the table: Barbara, Joy, Sherri, Elisabeth
Whoopi was absent, she's "under the weather".

The first "hot" topic of the day were the Academy Award nominations. Joy said she's seen almost all the movies listed but doesn't believe any deserve an Oscar. Sherri wasn't surprised Octavia Spencer was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in "The Help". She thinks Octavia's nomination is inspiring because she'd never had any major roles in movies before.

Next topic was how Radar Online is saying Jim Carey's daughter, Jane, received special treatment in American Idol audition. They say she did not wait in line and had an appointment to audition, unlike everyone else. Sherri is not surprised and said the bad part would have been if Jane had been sent to Hollywood and could not sing. Joy thinks the contestants should be treated the same. Hasselbeck thinks this will haunt her and she will have to work against the fact that she did not wait in line. Barb seemed to sypathize and said it's difficult being the child of a celebrity

After a break, they talked about Sex and the City's star Cynthia Nixon's assertion that she chooses to be gay. This has caused quite and outrage from some in the gay community, who ask that she change her statement. Joy started talking about maybe Cynthia is bisexual and then told some lame joke. Sherri said she's not for them trying to get what Cynthia was going to say. Barbara explained that the reason gay people find this difficult is for so long there has been this concerted effort to send people to programs to get them to change and homosexuals say it's not a choice.

Next topic was the GOP presidential debate that aired last night. Barbara bought up how Brian Williams set the rule that there would be no applause in the audience and that that is what Newt seems to feed off of. Hasselbeck said that's the worst debate she's ever seen and that the American people deserve better. She seemed to imply that there was some conspiracy for a Republican not to get applause. It's also, interestingly, the same whine Newt is making. Sherri doesn't like to hear when someone said they will not talk about something. They also discussed Mitt's taxes. Joy said it's not about him having money, it's about the tax code not being fair. Hasselbeck was lauding how much Mitt has donated. She also bought up Obama for some reason or another. Sherri wonders if Mitt used loopholes to get around paying what was owed.

After the second break, they discussed Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter. Apparently, she likes to dress like a boy and likes to be called Shax. Should her parents give her the power to make that decision. Joy ttalked about how her daughter would only wear dresses, even on 30 degree weather. She thinks they should be allowed to dress how they want because it allows them to be who they are.Sherri - who won't allow her son to read a book about two male penguines raising a baby penguin - is concerned that you're allowing them to make decisions that will affect them for the rest of their life. Yeah, Wearing jeans and a baseball hat cocked to the side will destroy that girl.

The first guests to appear were mother/daughter Joan and Melissa Rivers. They'd started talking but not talking about some woman in England who has two vaginas bit Barb did not want to discuss it and spent an awful long time talking over anything they were saying about it. Apparently, Melissa's boyfriend Steve Hersch, made some offer to that woman but I don't know what is was. Nor do I really want to know.
But Joan says she likes him. She says she thinks he's great and that he's smart.
Melissa and her exboyfriend lived together for three years before their breakup. She said her son took it very hard and that the split was like a divorce. She also said she found out about her boyfriend's cheating from reading the internet. Joan joked that Cooper (the son) is doing better because he's now dating Demi Moore (that made me laugh)
They then discussed their reality show, "Joan Knows Best". On one episode, Joan allows herself to be filmed having plastic surgery and allows herself to be seen without makeup. She said if you're going to do a reality show, it should be real reality. She thinks that's why theirs work so well.
Melissa reveals she had a near death experience where the car they were in went over a manhole and it exploded.
"Joan Knows Best" airs Tuesday nights on WE TV.

Dylan Ratigan appeared next. Dylan is host of MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, the highest-rated, non-prime time show on the network, aimed at critiquing what Ratigan sees as an unholy alliance between big business and government. He is also a frequent contributor on The Huffington Post. (Source: Wiki ). He was there to promote his book which discusses how the government "bows to bankers and corporate billions". He said his biggest gripe is that we have two sets of rules in this country and cited Jim Carey's daughter on American Idol as a classic example. Dylan thinks both political parties have been participating in creating two sets of rules. He said seeing Mitt's low tax payment is a teachable moment for us to learn. He thinks we've lost sight of the fact that in order to have prosperity, money has to be coming into your country. He said the gates that make that happen is your tax code, your trade policy and your banking policy. Dylan says banks aren't lending and trade policies are not pushing money into America. He said there are indicators that the country is stabelizing which is encouraging and allows us to summon more ruthlessness to solve it and align with one another. Dylan thinks the solution is addressing the housing problem, revamp tax code and change the way we alocate recources.

That concludes today's show. Have a great day.