California passes new auto emission rules (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Seeking to influence other states and Washington, California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards Friday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025.

The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the new rules that require that one in seven of the new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle.

The plan also mandates a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025, and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from today's standards.

Automakers worked with the board and federal regulators on the greenhouse gas mandates in an effort to create one national standard for those pollutants.

"Today's vote ... represents a new chapter for clean cars in California and in the nation as a whole," said Mary Nichols, the board's chairman. "Californians have always loved their cars. We buy a lot of them and drive them. Now we will have cleaner and more efficient cars to love."

California's auto emissions standards are influential and often more strict than federal rules. The state began passing regulations for cleaner cars in the 1960s to help ease some of the world's worst smog, and has since helped spur the auto industry's innovations in emissions-control technology.

Currently 14 other states ? including New York, Washington and Massachusetts ? have adopted California's smog emissions rules as their own.

California has also previously set zero-emissions vehicle mandates, which 10 other states have also currently adopted.

Companies including Ford Motor Corp., Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and others submitted testimony Thursday supportive of the new standards.

Some of the companies protested the inclusion of a system that will give some automakers credit toward their zero-emission vehicle mandate for exceeding federal greenhouse gas emissions standards in other cars. These credits, which can be used to reduce the number of clean vehicles made, can be used from 2018-2021.

Some called it a loophole that will take hundreds of thousands of clean cars off the road, hurting the emerging market for these vehicles.

"This is a temporary way station," Nichols said about the credits. "But by 2021 all companies will be producing the full complement of zero-emission vehicles."

Trade groups representing auto dealers worried that the new regulations would increase the costs of vehicles for consumers and stifle the industry's growth.

The California New Car Dealers Association and other industry groups representing those who sell cars said the board is overestimating consumer demand for electric vehicles and other so-called "zero-emission vehicles."

Dealers are concerned that the regulations will lead to higher costs in all cars, and say consumers have been slow to warm to electric and other zero-emission vehicles.

Board member Sandra Berg, who said she drives the all-electric Nissan Leaf, said before the vote that regulators need to take consumer behavior and choice seriously in this equation.

She said a lot of work must be done to educate dealers to sell the new generation of cars.

"Early adopters (of electric cars) are willing to go without heat to save the miles they need to get to their destination, but that is not going to help grow the consumer base," Berg said, referring to the range issues with some current electric vehicles.

The board's research staff disputes the argument from dealers that the mandates for new technology will increase costs for cars. They point to steady increases in hybrid and other sales and argue that fuel cost savings will make up for any vehicle price increase.

"Our research shows a $1,400 to $1,900 car price increase. But over the life of the vehicles, the owners save $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance costs," board spokesman David Clegern said.

One of the nation's foremost consumer groups, the Consumers' Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports, supported the changes.

The rules will "protect consumers by encouraging the development of cleaner, more efficient cars that save families money, help reduce the American economy's vulnerability to oil price shocks and reduce harmful air pollution," according to a letter from the group.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_us/us_california_clean_car_standards

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Romney, Gingrich focus on Hispanic voters in Fla. (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney urged conservatives to back off aggressive anti-immigration policies as the Republican presidential candidates vied for Hispanic votes Friday, a day marked by heightened tensions entering the final weekend before Florida's primary.

"I'm very concerned about those who are already here illegally and how we deal with those 11 million or so," Romney said. "My heart goes out to that group of people. ... We're not going to go around and round people up in buses and ship them home."

The compassionate approach, like Gingrich's calls for politically practical reform, was aimed at improving the Republican Party's tarnished reputation among Hispanics. Both men delivered speeches Friday to the same group of Hispanic leaders gathered in Miami but avoided ? at least briefly ? criticizing each other in what now looks like a two-man race for the nomination.

Any calls for temperance on immigration didn't apply to personal attacks elsewhere.

The former House speaker released a new television ad in Florida using former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to question Romney's integrity. "If a man's dishonest to get a job, he'll be dishonest on the job," Huckabee says in the ad.

However, Huckabee said he didn't approve of his appearance in the ad and had been quoted out of context. Reiterating his stand against making a primary endorsement, he wrote on his PAC website: "My hope is to defeat Barack Obama and win majorities in both the House and Senate, not to attack any of the presidential candidates who might be our nominee."

Romney flashed a newfound confidence as he campaigned the day after delivering a strong debate performance. "I've had the fun of two debates where I had to stand up and battle, and battling was fun and battling was won," he told cheering supporters gathered at Cape Canaveral.

He later likened Gingrich's complaints to "Goldilocks," the fairy tale character who complained of the temperature of her porridge.

Tensions boiled over between the Gingrich and Romney representatives at a stop in Delray Beach. Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond confronted Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is among several high-profile Romney surrogates tailing the former House speaker.

Surrounded by reporters and cameras, Hammond goaded Chaffetz for employing a tactic that even 2008 presidential nominee John McCain has called into question. McCain is a Romney backer who on Friday said he would discourage that type of infiltration.

"What you're saying is you're disregarding the advice of one your top endorsers?" Hammond asked Chaffetz.

"Speaker Gingrich has routinely said he would follow the president from place to place. We think it's a good idea," Chaffetz responded, referring to Gingrich's threat, if he wins the GOP nomination, to follow President Barack Obama from city to city to get the last word.

The outburst overshadowed a detailed discussion about immigration, in which the rivals called for democracy in Cuba and across Latin America, touching a theme that caused clashes between the GOP front-runners at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.

Immigration is a flashpoint issue in Florida for the GOP candidates, who are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate toward immigrants and firm about stemming the tide of illegal workers. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters.

Gingrich pushed for a measured approach to revising the nation's immigration laws, "because any bill you write that is comprehensive has too many enemies." The former House speaker says he wants stricter border control, faster deportation proceedings and a guest-worker program for certain immigrants.

If elected, Gingrich said he would bring to bear "the moral force of an American president who is serious about intending to free the people of Cuba and willingness to intimidate those who are the oppressors and say to them, `You will be held accountable.'"

Romney said the United States needs to work harder to promote democracy across Latin America and elsewhere. He compared it to selling soda: "We convince people around the world to buy a brown, caramel-colored water called Coca-Cola and to pay like a half day's wage for it. And they'll buy it. It's unbelievable. We're able to convince people of things that sometimes you scratch your head. ... And yet democracy, we don't sell that so well."

Military dictatorships allied with the United States ruled much of South America in the 1970s, but most nations returned to democracy in the 1980s.

Romney also pledged to appoint a Latin American envoy and to create a task force to focus on drug trafficking and other issues.

Hours after the speech, Romney also won the coveted endorsement of Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno, who joined Romney at an Orlando campaign stop late in the day. Romney and Gingrich said earlier that Puerto Rico should be granted statehood if local voters approve a looming referendum.

Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney. Two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, were far behind.

Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller states that cost less to campaign in. On Friday, he began a two-day visit to snowy Maine.

Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off at home, sitting at his kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.

Outside advisers were urging him to pack up completely and not spend another minute in Florida, where he is cruising toward a third straight loss.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Grammy-winning composer Clare Fischer dead at 83 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Clare Fischer, a Grammy-winning composer who wrote scores for television and movies and worked with legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, has died. He was 83.

Fischer died Thursday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a heart attack two weeks ago, family spokeswoman Claris Sayadian-Dodge said.

An uncommonly versatile musician, Fischer worked as a composer, arranger, conductor and pianist for more than 60 years.

He is best known for his arrangements for Prince, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Branford Marsalis, Raphael Saadiq, Usher and Brandy.

Nominated for a Grammy 11 times in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category, Fischer won in 1986 for his album "Free Fall" and in 1981 for "Salsa Picante plus 2+2."

Born in Durand, Mich., Fischer got his start playing piano and writing jazz-inspired arrangements for the group The Hi-Lo's, an a capella quartet popular in the 1950s.

He worked as the arranger on Gillespie's "Jazz Portrait of Duke Ellington."

Fischer recorded 51 albums over his lifetime with his son Brent Fischer. The music ranges in style from jazz to salsa to symphonies.

"Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept," Herbie Hancock is quoted as saying on Fischer's website.

"(Fischer) and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were," Hancock said.

Clare Fischer is survived by his wife, Donna; sons Lee and Brent; daughter Tahlia; and three grandchildren.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_mu/us_obit_fischer

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Chris Weigant: Friday Talking Points -- SOTU Review

Well, that was an eventful week in politics, wasn't it?

On the Republican side, we've endured two more of a seemingly-unending series of televised debates between the candidates. Newt Gingrich did not physically attack either Mitt Romney or a member of the media, for which we can all be thankful. The deep and pressing issue-of-the-day seriously discussed was putting a manned base on the moon -- which will come as a relief to the legions of voters who have been clamoring for this crucially-important subject to be adequately debated in public.

Sigh. Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up, folks. I guess it's an improvement over arguing over ex-wives. I guess.

To the amusement of Democrats everywhere, the Republican establishment woke up last week and realized Newt Gingrich is now a serious contender for their party's nomination. This led to a blistering broadside from all parts of the conservative media and political universe, who are collectively shuddering in fear of Newt at the top of the ticket this fall. This onslaught has seemed to be effective, so far, as Romney's poll numbers have risen in Florida while Newt's surge seems to have crested. But it's still too close to call, and people vote next Tuesday, so next week will be just as eventful, one assumes.

Over on the Democratic side, we had our annual State of the Union message from the president, and a successful raid on some thugs in Somalia who had taken two people hostage.

That's quite a contrast, isn't it? No wonder Obama's poll numbers have been going up, of late. But let's get on with the column, because we'll be spotlighting excerpts from Obama's State of the Union later, in the talking points.

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Most Impressive Democrat of the Week

While it doesn't perfectly fit into this category, we'd first like to extend our warm congratulations to Representative Barney Frank, who just announced his engagement to his partner. We wish these two men every happiness in their married life together.

Barack Obama is worthy of at least an Honorable Mention this week, for giving a great speech Tuesday night, for following it up in swing states across the country, and for giving the green light to the hostage raid. Obama seemed calmly competent throughout all of it, which is quite a welcome change after watching so many Republican candidate debates.

But the real Most Impressive Democrat of the Week this week was none other than Gabby Giffords, who left the House of Representatives this week to work on her rehabilitation after being savagely shot in the head last year. Giffords' appearance at the State of the Union and her bipartisan farewell from the House were sad moments in a lot of ways, but also inspiring moments. For a short time, there weren't political enemies in the House intent only on bickering with each other, but instead there were just human beings wishing one of their own well in the future. You don't get moments like that in Washington very often these days, which is why it was so impressive.

Giffords is stepping down now to open up the field for her seat and give a boost to Democrats who are qualified to replace her. If she had waited, it would have been almost impossible for anyone to run against her from her own party, due to her circumstances. By both stepping down and by announcing her husband won't be running for her seat, Giffords has cleared the way for others to follow in her footsteps. This is the mark of a selfless politician, it must be said.

Giffords left with class, and with her head held high. Her journey back from such a grievous wound has been a long one, and we wish her well on her road to recovery. As she is leaving public life, we likely won't be giving her any future awards, so we decided she needed one last Most Impressive Democrat of the Week award as she exits.

[Congratulate Representative Gabby Giffords on her House contact page (while it still exists), to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]

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Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week

We thought we had a good candidate for MDDOTW, but when we looked into the story, two facts precluded the award. First, the guy just survived a recall bid, and second, he is a "non-partisan" politician, because that's the way the town's elections are set up.

We speak of Bob Ryan, mayor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. His drunken antics made the national news this week right before the recall election, and the details (with photos!) are pretty spectacular -- and not in a good way.

But the award isn't the "MDNPOTW," after all, so we're reluctantly declaring Bob Ryan ineligible. Which, happily, leaves us with no other candidate for the MDDOTW award, as Democrats have been pretty quiet this week (preferring to watch the Republican circus from the sidelines, for the most part).

As always, if we've forgotten someone you feel richly deserves a Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week award this week, please let us know in the comments.

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Friday Talking Points

Volume 195 (1/27/12)

President Obama's State of the Union address, many have pointed out, will likely form the core of his re-election message. This is entirely normal, for any first-term president.

What struck me upon hearing the president's speech, and upon reading it over later, was how thematically cohesive the whole thing was. For years now, I (and many others) have been all but begging the Obama speechwriters to develop this theme -- what might be called "What Democrats stand for." Because while laundry lists of policy proposals do indeed have their place, if you don't have an overall vision for the future, they tend to fall flat.

Another way to put this is: A lot of people vote based on emotion, and not cold logic. This is the heart of what lots of people deride as "spin" and "talking points," but that doesn't make it any less true. Emotion is an important part of politics, but Democrats have always struggled to come to terms with this. Democrats are weak on presenting themselves thematically, in many cases.

Barack Obama did a great job campaigning in 2008. After he took office, however, the inspiring oratory seemed to all but vanish from his speeches. He has been doing better on this front -- a fact that many have missed over the past half-year or so -- and in his State of the Union he proved he's just about ready to take this message to the American people on the campaign trail this year.

The speech was remarkable in the theme it struck, which I would sum up as: "We're all in this together." I have two fairly long excerpts from the speech, the very beginning and the very end, where Obama really hit is stride rhetorically. While touting his own record on several issues, he always managed to weave them back into the overall message.

What is possibly the most striking thing about Obama's message is that he's going to run as a strong foreign policy president -- something that I can't for the life of me remember happening in the past 30 or 40 years. This has, during this period, been seen as a huge weak spot for Democrats, so it is astonishing to see one make it such a core part of his campaign message.

Here is how the president began his speech Tuesday night (or you can read the full transcript, if interested):

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought -- and several thousand gave their lives.

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness and teamwork of America's Armed Forces. At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They're not consumed with personal ambition. They don't obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

We can do this. I know we can, because we've done it before. At the end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known. My grandfather, a veteran of Patton's Army, got the chance to go to college on the G.I. Bill. My grandmother, who worked on a bomber assembly line, was part of a workforce that turned out the best products on Earth.

The two of them shared the optimism of a nation that had triumphed over a depression and fascism. They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share -- the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.

The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What's at stake aren't Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. And we have to reclaim them.

Let's remember how we got here. Long before the recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Technology made businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete. Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren't, and personal debt that kept piling up.

In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had been sold to people who couldn't afford or understand them. Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people's money. Regulators had looked the other way, or didn't have the authority to stop the bad behavior.

It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hardworking Americans holding the bag. In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. And we lost another 4 million before our policies were in full effect.

Those are the facts. But so are these: In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs.

Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like this never happens again.

The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last -- an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

Now, this blueprint begins with American manufacturing.

On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's number-one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.

We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.

What followed was the "meat" of the speech -- the usual laundry list of proposals and ideas. Throughout it all, Obama kept hammering on the same broad themes: Fairness is an American value. We can do this together, if we only try. Things are getting better.

This, as I said, will be the centerpiece of his re-election strategy. Of course, realistically, few of his policy ideas are going to make it through Congress, which could get interesting as the other theme Obama kept returning to was: If Congress doesn't act, then I will do whatever's in my power to change things on my own. This "Do-Nothing Congress" theme has been growing for the past few months, and it is a real winner for the president, seeing how Congress' approval ratings have stayed consistently around 10 percent or so for the past year. The public isn't fond of the bickering in Washington, which leaves a big opening for Obama.

Getting back to the State of the Union speech, after Obama finished itemizing his biggest priorities for the future, he built to a rousing finish. Once again, the examples he used were from the military, and once again he used them as a metaphor for how America can work together if we only get our priorities straight.

Obama laid out his theme. He laid out how his vision for the future is a better one than his opponents. He defined the Democratic narrative in a clear and resounding way. Democrats running for office next year would do well to follow Obama's lead, and incorporate some of this language into their own campaign messages:

Which brings me back to where I began. Those of us who've been sent here to serve can learn a thing or two from the service of our troops. When you put on that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; Asian, Latino, Native American; conservative, liberal; rich, poor; gay, straight. When you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind.

One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn't matter. Just like it didn't matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates -- a man who was George Bush's defense secretary -- and Hillary Clinton -- a woman who ran against me for president.

All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn't deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job -- the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other -- because you can't charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there's somebody behind you, watching your back.

So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I'm reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes. No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This nation is great because we worked as a team. This nation is great because we get each other's backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

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Chris Weigant blogs at:
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In State of the Union, Obama Says American Dream in Peril (Time.com)

(WASHINGTON) -- Declaring the American dream under siege, President Barack Obama called Tuesday night for a flurry of help for a hurting middle class and higher taxes on millionaires, delivering a State of the Union address packed with re-election themes. Restoring a fair shot for all, Obama said, is "the defining issue of our time."

Obama outlined a vastly different vision for fixing the country than the one pressed by the Republicans challenging him in Congress and fighting to take his job in the November election. He pleaded for an active government that ensures economic fairness for everyone, just as his opponents demand that the government back off and let the free market rule.

Obama offered steps to help students afford college, a plan for more struggling homeowners to refinance their homes and tax cuts for manufacturers. He threw in politically appealing references to accountability, including warning universities they will lose federal aid if they don't stop tuition from soaring. (More on what the government could do to help housing.)

Standing in front of a divided Congress, with bleak hope this election year for much of his legislative agenda, Obama spoke with voters in mind.

"We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said. "Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."

A rare wave of unity splashed over the House chamber at the start. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, survivor of an assassination attempt one year ago, received sustained applause from her peers and cheers of "Gabby, Gabby, Gabby." She blew a kiss to the podium. Obama embraced her.

Lawmakers leapt to their feet when Obama said near the start of his speech that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, killed by a raid authorized by the president, will no longer threaten America.

At the core of Obama's address was the improving but deeply wounded economy -- the matter still driving Americans' anxiety and the one likely to determine the next presidency.

"The state of our union is getting stronger," Obama said, calibrating his words as millions remain unemployed. Implicit in his declaration that the American dream is "within our reach" was the recognition that, after three years of an Obama presidency, the country is not there yet. (More on Obama's refinance program.)

He spoke of restoring basic goals: owning a home, earning enough to raise a family, putting a little money away for retirement.

"We can do this," Obama said. "I know we can." He said Americans are convinced that "Washington is broken," but he also said it wasn't too late to cooperate on important matters.

Republicans were not impressed. They applauded infrequently, though they did cheer when the president quoted "Republican Abraham Lincoln" as saying: "That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves -- and no more."

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, offering the formal GOP response, called Obama's policies "pro-poverty" and his tactics divisive.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said in excerpts released before the address.

In a signature swipe at the nation's growing income gap, Obama called for a new minimum tax rate of at least 30 percent on anyone making over $1 million. Many millionaires -- including one of his chief rivals, Republican Mitt Romney -- pay a rate less than that because they get most of their income from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate.

"Now you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said, responding to a frequent criticism from the GOP presidential field. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

Obama calls this the "Buffett rule," named for billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it's unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does. Emphasizing the point, Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, attended the address in first lady Michelle Obama's box.

Obama underlined every proposal with the idea that hard work and responsibility still count. He was targeting independent voters who helped seal his election in 2008 and the frustrated masses in a nation pessimistic about its course.

In a flag-waving defense of American power and influence abroad, Obama said the U.S. will safeguard its own security "against those who threaten our citizens, our friends and our interests." On Iran, he said that while all options are on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon -- an implied threat to use military force -- "a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible."

With Congress almost universally held in low regard, Obama went after an easy target in calling for reforms to keep legislators from engaging in insider trading and holding them to the same conflict-of-interest standards as those that apply to the executive branch.

With the foreclosure crisis on ongoing sore spot despite a number of administration housing initiatives over the past three years, Obama proposed a new program to allow homeowners with privately held mortgages to refinance at lower interest rates. Administration officials offered few details but estimated savings at $3,000 a year for average borrowers.

Obama proposed steps to crack down on fraud in the financial sector and mortgage industry, with a Financial Crimes Unit to monitor bankers and financial service professionals, and a separate special unit of federal prosecutors and state attorneys general to expand investigations into abusive lending that led to the housing crisis.

At a time of tight federal budgets and heavy national debt, Obama found a ready source of money to finance his ideas: He proposed to devote half of the money no longer being spent on the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan to "do some nation-building right here at home," to help create more jobs and increase competitiveness. The other half, he said, would go to help pay down the national debt.

Obama also offered a defense of regulations that protect the American consumer -- regulations often criticized by Republicans as job-killing obstacles.

"Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same," Obama said. "It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."

Obama will follow up Tuesday night's address with a three-day tour of five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy, and in Michigan on Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training.

Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The speech Tuesday night comes just one week before the Florida Republican primary that could help set the trajectory for the rest of the race.

Romney, caught up in a tight contest with a resurgent Newt Gingrich, commented in advance to Obama's speech.

"Tonight will mark another chapter in the misguided policies of the last three years -- and the failed leadership of one man," Romney said from Florida.

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Rescued Missionary Sold Everything for Africa

CBN News has more information about Jessica Buchanan, the missionary who was rescued from Somali kidnappers last weekend by the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6.

Those who know Buchanan describe her as a woman with a strong Christian faith and a big heart for Africa.

The 32-year-old missionary was working with a Danish aid group. She sold nearly all her possessions to become a missionary in Somalia.

She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 2007 she attended Valley Forge University, a Christian college in Phoenixville, Pa.

While student teaching in Nairobi, she felt the call to help spread the gospel to Africa.

"She absolutely fell in love with Africa, said Dr. Don Meyers, the university's president.

"Africa grew around her heart or her heart grew around Africa. She could hardly talk about Africa without getting tears in her eyes," Meyers said.

Her brother, Stephen Buchanan, said she understood the risks of working in that part of the world.

"Someone from their own team turned against them and divulged information that made them susceptible to being kidnapped," he explained.

Somali pirates kidnapped Buchanan and her Danish co-worker, Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, in Galkayo, Somalia, on Oct. 25, 2011. The two worked together for the Danish Demining Group, a division of the Danish Regugee Council.

Her family and friends began praying and after nearly three months, those prayers were answered when SEAL Team 6 swooped in and rescued the pair in a surprise raid.

"They are just so overwhelmed with gratitude and so overwhelmed that she is all right," Meyers said.

"To know that she's safe is such a weight off our shoulders, an answer to our prayers," her brother, Stephen, said.

Buchanan has been described by her friends as a compassionate woman with a strong desire to serve the Lord and help others.

"Jessica is the kind of (person who) would continue to pray for them and try to bring them to Lord rather than just leave. And I'm sure if anything, her faith sustained her," said Roy Merrill, Buchanan's former high school teacher.

"She loves kid's and she loves to help people and that's the reason she was over there -- just to help," said Dave Buchanan, Jessica's uncle.

Buchanan is now preparing to begin the journey home from a U.S. military base in Africa. While her family waits, they're expressing gratitude to the men who risked their lives to save Jessica.

"So thankful for the courage those men and women have, willing to sacrifice their lives for my sister," her brother said.

"The men who risked their lives, I just can't thank them enough. I really really appreciate it," her father, John Buchanan, said.

President Obama ordered the mission after U.S. intelligence sources revealed Buchanan's health was declining. He called John Buchanan right after giving the State of the Union address Tuesday night to tell him that his daughter was safe.

Source: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/January/Friends-Rescued-Missionary-Has-Love-for-Africa-/

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The Next Xbox Could Be Six Times As Powerful [Gaming]

According to IGN, sources close to the next Xbox project have told them the new console will have six times the graphics processing power of the Xbox 360, and will have 20 percent more performance than Nintendo's Will U. More »


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Man jailed for false claim against X factor's Walsh (Reuters)

DUBLIN (Reuters) ? An Irish man who falsely accused television star and pop impresario Louis Walsh of groping him in a Dublin night club was jailed for six months on Wednesday.

Walsh, who manages boy band Westlife and stars on the popular UK television talent show "X Factor," was accused in June last year of the assault by Leonard Watters, 24, who later retracted the allegations.

"The public must be protected from this type of untrue, unfounded allegations, he put the injured party through a lot of pain and anguish," said District Court Judge Dermot Dempsey.

Watters said he would appeal against the sentence.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Frack responsibly and risks ? and quakes ? are small

If fracking operations are managed properly the risk of accidents will be small

Read more: "Fracking health risks: Drilling into the unknown"

THE US has led the world in extracting gas from shale but interest is now spreading elsewhere. The British Geological Survey (BGS) recently estimated that the UK has 150 billion cubic metres of shale gas, about half of its more conventional reserves. World shale gas reserves are 450,000 billion cubic metres.

Shale gas has been a success story in the US. But fracking has had some bad press, with the main concerns being earthquakes and the contamination of groundwater with gas and chemicals. In the documentary film Gasland, for example, a man is shown igniting water from his kitchen tap.

Some of the worries are justified. Badly managed fracking has recently been shown to have contaminated water wells in Wyoming, though this involved a shallow sandstone reservoir rather than much deeper shale. But with so many vested interests, getting reliable information is difficult. So peer-reviewed science must play a big role in deciding what the risks are.

Most geologists see contamination of aquifers as unlikely because of the great difference between the depths at which fracking is carried out and the shallow aquifers from which we get our water. Put simply, there is a lot of hard, impermeable rock between the two.

However, there is little peer-reviewed research. A US study from 2011 showed high levels of methane in water wells close to shale gas wells, but has been criticised for lacking data on levels of background natural methane in the water. In fact there are very few such baseline studies.

It is a little known fact that many aquifers naturally contain methane. So its presence in tap water is not proof of contamination.

How can we tell if fracking has contaminated an aquifer? Shale gas is generally thermogenic - generated by heat acting on organic matter - while methane in water is usually biogenic, or generated by bacteria. Showing that methane in a water well is thermogenic might be a clue that a fracking operation is leaking, although thermogenic methane is sometimes found naturally in aquifers so you have to know the baseline levels. This is why the BGS is working on a baseline survey.

Meanwhile, there is no peer-reviewed evidence that frack fluid can leak into groundwater.

As for earthquakes, it is undeniable that fracking causes them because they are used by geologists to track the progress of fracking operations. The quakes are usually infinitesimally small, but not always.

On 1 April 2011, Blackpool, UK, was struck by a magnitude 2.3 earthquake that was clearly the result of fracking. Some areas of the UK are used to quakes of this size but it came as a surprise to the people of Blackpool, as well as the gas company Cuadrilla. Even so, the energy released was inconsistent with the claimed damage, including a crack in a road and a toppled traffic signal.

One suggestion to guard against future quakes is to implement a traffic light system. Operators would have to monitor tremors and if they started to get bigger fracking would have to stop. They would also have to avoid fracking near known active faults.

If fracking operations are managed properly the risk of accidents will be small. Diligent monitoring should ensure that companies are doing their job properly and allow us to safely tap a useful source of energy.

Mike Stephenson, head of energy science at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth

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Bloomberg blasts use of movie during NYPD training (AP)

NEW YORK ? Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that New York police used "terrible judgment" in showing counterterrorism trainees a documentary-style film that says Muslim extremists are masquerading as moderates to destroy America from within.

Bloomberg said police have stopped showing officers "The Third Jihad," a 72-minute movie that has been branded inflammatory by some Muslim organizations and was produced by a conservative group called the Clarion Fund.

"Somebody exercised some terrible judgment," he said in Albany. "As soon as they found out about it, they stopped it."

The criticism was unusual for Bloomberg, who in recent months has vigorously defended the police department's counterterrorism efforts after an Associated Press investigation exposed a secret program to gather intelligence on Muslim neighborhoods.

Bloomberg said neither he nor Police Commissioner Ray Kelly knew about the film being shown.

"The Third Jihad" contains TV images of Hezbollah rocket attacks, children being held hostage by Muslim militants and a woman it says was arrested in Iran for wearing immodest clothing. It shows pictures it says were taken from Islamic videos and websites, including a doctored image of an Islamic flag flying over the White House.

It accuses Muslim extremists of posing as moderates and charges several Muslim organizations with being soft on terrorism. Speakers interviewed in the film say "Islamism is like cancer" and urge a "battle for our civilization."

The film is narrated by M. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Foundation for Democracy, based in Phoenix. Jasser rejected Bloomberg's criticism.

"I could not disagree more," Jasser said. "For him to say that without contradicting any of the facts that are presented in the movie is, I think, careless."

The film features interviews with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other experts. Kelly himself appears on camera, talking about Muslim converts in prison and the danger of terrorists using nuclear weapons.

But Kelly found the video objectionable and regretted consenting to the interview five years ago, said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne, a department spokesman.

The New York-based Clarion Fund did not return calls for comment. Its website, Radicalislam.org, says Clarion was founded in 2006 by Raphael Shore. Shore is a former leader of Aish HaTorah, a chain of Jewish educational centers.

The movie was shown on a continuous loop while officers were signing in for counterterrorism training sessions from October to December 2010, according to police documents obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice, a think tank at New York University. As many as 1,489 officers who underwent training, including 68 lieutenants, may have seen it, the documents say.

Browne said that the police brass did not approve the use of the movie and that the decision to play it was made by a sergeant, who has since been reprimanded.

"This was never used in training, period. It was never authorized for use in training, period," Browne said.

The screening of the film inside the 36,000-member police department has been known for months, but police previously said only a few officers had seen it. They stopped showing it after a trainee complained.

The film was used as "intermission filler" and to "provide information for students during breaks to keep their attention focused on counterterrorism issues," Assistant Chief George W. Anderson wrote in one of the documents obtained by the Brennan Center.

Anderson wrote that he believed the video was given to police by someone in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security said it didn't authorize the distribution of the movie.

This is not the first time a law enforcement agency has come under fire over its counterterrorism training materials. The FBI was criticized last year for presentations used in a training session that painted a negative picture of Islam. The FBI and other federal agencies pledged to review all their training materials.

Muslim activists said films like "The Third Jihad" are one-sided and teach police cadets that all Muslims are suspect.

"It's clearly a propaganda, anti-Muslim film," said Linda Sarsour, a member of the Muslim-American Civil Liberties Coalition. "It's overly dramatic, piecing together things out of context and threading it together to make this very false narrative about Muslim Americans."

A recent AP series detailed efforts by the New York Police Department to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer. Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover officers known as "rakers" visited businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to gauge their views. They also played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic clubs.

The surveillance efforts have been credited with enabling police to thwart a 2004 plot to bomb the Herald Square subway station.

Critics said the efforts amount to ethnic profiling and violate court guidelines on intelligence-gathering.

___

Read AP's previous stories and documents about the NYPD at: http://www.ap.org/nypd

___

Associated Press Writers Michael Gormley, Eileen Sullivan, Tom Hays and Deepti Hajela contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_nypd_intelligence

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