David Drake

"We will consult openly and publicly with outside groups that have thought long and hard about these issues and can help us bring the most far-reaching and imaginative solutions to these problems. All the materials from our meetings, and any report we produce, will be up on our public website."

Smoking opponents who pushed for Minnesota's statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants are now taking their fight to a new level.

Legislation expected to be introduced Thursday would ban smoking in vehicles when children are riding along.

Rep. Nora Slawik, a Maplewood Democrat, is the bill's author in the House. She said versions of it have passed in California, Arkansas, Louisiana and Maine. She says she's concerned about the children.

Wagyu steak was served at a "Stimulus Package" White House cocktail party hosted by President Obama last night, and, as a result, something of an uproar has ensued. Why? Perhaps the fact that Wagyu costs at least $59 a pound has something to do with it, but that's just a guess. It's unclear whether any of the distinguished members of Congress who were in attendance voiced any complaints, but the news has certainly raised eyebrows in the blogosphere.

From what Barack Obama eats for lunch (cheeseburgers!) to the temperature of his office (hot!)

The Illinois Senate voted unanimously to impeach former Governor Rod Blagojevich. The senate also ruled unanimously that Blagojevich not be allowed to hold any future public office in Illinois.

Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn is now set to replace Blagojevich as governor Illinois.

[...]

Senator Matt Murphy said that through Blagojevich’s speech “he reminded us today in real detail that he is an unusually good liar. He came here without any impunity and lied to every member of this chamber.”

“True character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking,” said Murphy. “He failed the test of character... he is no longer worthy to be governor.”

"Let's demand that President Obama fire Rahm Emanuel because Rahm Emanuel was the one who gave me this idea. If you're going to throw me out of office for something like this,then how can those guys stay in the offices that they have?"

Barack Obama might have been in office for less than a week, but the euphoria is beginning to wane.

[...]

...approval ratings have fallen from a stratospheric 83 per cent to a more modest - although still impressive - 68 per cent.

[...]

He still remains vastly more popular than his predecessor George Bush - who left office with around 25 per cent approval.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of that money.

[...]

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said President Obama was retreating from his own ethics rules barring lobbyists from working on the issues they lobbied about during the previous two years. "It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another," she said.

“Unless I get something real good [for Senate candidate], s***, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying?” Blagojevich was taped saying on November 3, the day before Election Day.

Blagojevich added that the Senate seat “is a f***ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”

[...]

As if that weren’t incriminating enough, the complaint asserts that Blagojevich stated his goals even more bluntly in the wiretapped conversations with Tony Rezko, a convicted real estate developer and longtime Obama fund-raiser.

“I want to make money,” the affidavit quotes the governor as saying.

...there was always one call Blagojevich regularly took, say his aides, and that was from Rahm Emanuel _ his congressman, his one-time campaign adviser and, more recently -- and troubling for Emanuel -- one of his contacts with President-elect Barack Obama's transition staff.

The friendly rapport Blagojevich and Emanuel shared over the years has suddenly become a troubling liability for Emanuel and the new president he will serve as chief of staff.

Emanuel and Obama have remained silent about what, if anything, Emanuel knew of the governor's alleged efforts to peddle Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Emanuel did contact the governor's office about the appointment, and left Blagojevich with the impression that he was pushing Valerie Jarrett, a close Obama friend, so he wouldn't have to compete with her in the White House for Obama's attention, said a person close to Blagojevich.

...the Obamas have regularly asked Jarrett for advice and she has been a part of almost all of their major decisions.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama issued executive orders mandating the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp in a year’s time, requiring that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and military personnel follow the Army Field Manual’s prohibitions on torture, and closing secret CIA prisons overseas.

[...]

In cowardly fashion, Obama staged his signing of the orders in a manner aimed at placating the political right and defenders of Guantánamo and torture and underscoring his intention to continue the Bush administration’s “war on terror.”

[...]

On the question of so-called “harsh interrogation techniques,” i.e., torture, Obama’s orders leave room for their continuation. White House Counsel Gregory Craig told reporters the administration was prepared to take into account demands from the CIA that such methods be allowed. Obama announced the creation of a task force that will consider new interrogation methods beyond those sanctioned by the Army Field Manual, which now accepts 19 forms of interrogation, as well as the practice of extraordinary rendition.

We are here today to talk about how we as Americans and how the United States of America as part of the global community should address the dangerous and growing threat of the climate crisis.

We have arrived at a moment of decision. Our home – Earth – is in grave danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, of course, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings.

[...]

Quickly building our capacity to generate clean electricity will lay the groundwork for the next major step needed: placing a price on carbon.

The recession is killing jobs at an alarming pace, with tens of thousands of new layoffs announced Monday by some of the biggest names in American business — Pfizer , Caterpillar and Home Depot.

[...]

We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg — the big firms," said Rebecca Braeu, economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "There's certainly other firms beneath them that will lay off workers as quickly or even quicker."

Looking ahead, economists predicted a net loss of at least 2 million jobs — possibly more — this year even if President Barack Obama's $825 billion package of increased government spending and tax cuts is enacted.

Biden fully supported a military campaign in Afghanistan, having noted that most terrorist breeding grounds were found in countries with weak governments like Kabul's. "Two weeks into the fight in Afghanistan, it was clear that the military campaign was going to be a success," Biden writes.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai critical of U.S. and Pbama in civilian deaths.

Mr Karzai said most of those killed were civilians, adding that such deadly incidents strengthened Taleban rebels and weakened Afghanistan's government.

Women and children were among those killed, Mr Karzai said.

The strike was the first controversy in Afghanistan involving US troops since US President Barack Obama took office.

...a provincial lawmaker and local villagers said that 21 Afghan civilians were killed in the operation.

"When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and assurances, for waiting and for patience, is over. Too many lives have been lost and too many billions of dollars have been spent, for us to trust the president on another tired and failed policy," [ said Obama, January, 2007].

Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton has filed the paperwork to run for Minnesota governor in 2010.

Dayton, a Democrat, will seek statewide office again after serving one term in the Senate. He defeated incumbent Republican Rod Grams in 2000 but decided not to run for re-election in 2006.

Dayton said he won't make a formal public announcement about his campaign until spring. For now, has registered with the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Dayton says Minnesota is headed in the wrong direction and needs new leadership.

"...unidentified sources that Caroline Kennedy was having an affair with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger. Upon hearing that information, Governor Patterson got a bit nervous, as you would imagine, because both Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Sulzberger are married, although Sulzberger is apparently separated from his wife. And around midnight last night, Caroline Kennedy pulled out of the race for "personal reasons."

Missiles fired from suspected US drones killed at least 15 people inside Pakistan today, the first such strikes since Barack Obama became president and a clear sign that the controversial military policy begun by George W Bush has not changed.

Security officials said the strikes, which saw up to five missiles slam into houses in separate villages, killed seven "foreigners" - a term that usually means al-Qaeda - but locals also said that three children lost their lives.

[...]

Eight people died when missiles hit a compound near Mir Ali, an al-Qaeda hub in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. Seven more died when hours later two missiles hit a house in Wana, in South Waziristan. Local officials said the target in Wana was a guest house owned by a pro-Taleban tribesman. One said that as well as three children, the tribesman's relatives were killed in the blast.

Pakistan has objected to such attacks, saying they are a violation of its territory that undermines its efforts to tackle militants.

President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a deputy defense secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter's shoulder and staring him in the eye.

"Alright, come on" he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. "We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys - that's all I was trying to do."

Cops in upstate New York this week broke up a drug ring that allegedly sold heroin under several brand names, including "Obama." As seen in Sullivan County Sheriff's Office photos, the president's surname was stamped in red ink on small glassine wrappers that were peddled by street dealers.

A stem cell has been found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body. It might turn out to be the most important cell ever discovered.

According to a January 23rd breaking story on the New Scientist website (http://www.newscientist.com) the stem cells found in adult bone marrow have passed every test proving that:

* It can form every single tissue in the body
* It can be grown in culture indefinitely, with no signs of aging
* It can be isolated from humans
* It does not form cancerous masses when injected into adults

IPSCs were first produced in 2006 from mouse cells and in 2007 from human cells. This has been cited as an important advancement in stem cell research, as it may allow researchers to obtain pluripotent stem cells, which are important in research and potentially have therapeutic uses, without the controversial use of embryos.

The most dramatic discovery occurred last year, when two research teams produced the poly-jargonically enhanced "induced pluripotent stem" cells. iPS cells have many similarities to ES cells, but because they do not require human eggs or embryos, they evade the political tussle and funding limits that surround ES (i.e. embryonic stem) cell research.

[...]

iPS cells quickly found a role in basic medical research, because it is now possible to take a cell from a patient, convert it into a stem cell, and produce specialized cell carrying genes for the patient's disease.

[...]

iPS cells have so many advantages that they could make ES cells obsolete, but stem-cell pioneer Thomson says it's too soon to be sure. "I personally believe the future is in these iPS cells, but the future isn't quite here today," [said James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison].

TiZA, as the school is known, serves mostly immigrant children, many of them from Muslim countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. And it makes no apologies for catering to Muslims.

Arabic language classes are offered and school leaders note how important parents find it to have time set aside for Muslim prayer - and that time is optional.

But the ACLU claims that lost classroom time is never made up. The federal lawsuit also questions the relationship between the academy and its charter school sponsor, California-based Islamic Relief USA.

It claims a prayer is illegally posted at the school's entrance and it questions the school's dress code, which prohibits girls from wearing short sleeves per Muslim clothing rules. And the suit notes that school buses don't pick up kids until an hour after class ends, with the gap being filled with a Muslim studies program that most kids are enrolled in.

"This is in many respects - almost all respects - a religious school, like a private religious school, except for one key thing: There's state money going in there," according to Chuck Samuelson, the ACLU's executive director.

There would be no lawsuit if TiZA were private, he says. But TiZA gets tax money, $3.8 million this year, which changes the ballgame.

"If they want to be a private school, then that's fine. But then they have to give up state money and if they want the state money, then they have to behave as a public school does."

The lawsuit also asks the school to give back a pro-rated refund to the state.