Biden and Cheney spar over anti-terrorism policies

WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney says his successor, Joe Biden, is "dead wrong" about terrorist threats facing the United States. Biden says Cheney is "misinformed."

And the feud goes on.

Highly partisan public skirmishes between President Barack Obama's White House and Cheney have become standard fare. And the back-and-forth on the Sunday morning talk shows did not disappoint.

Biden struck first, declaring that Cheney's attacks on Obama's commitment to fighting al-Qaida ignored the facts.

"We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates," said Biden. "They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?"

Cheney insisted Biden was "dead wrong" to assert that a fresh Sept. 11-style strike was unlikely, calling a nuclear or biological attack by al-Qaida "the biggest strategic threat the United States faces today."

Cheney then again took on Obama's decision to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In doing so, the former vice president acknowledged he had been at odds with the majority of Bush administration officials on the decision to release prisoners from the military lockup to their home countries when cases against them were determined to be legally untenable.

Obama to deliver commencement at University of Michigan

President Obama last year at the Notre Dame commencement.

Yes, it's cold now, but soon comes the warmth of spring with fresh flowers, thoughts of love, and college commencements -- and presidential college commencement speeches as well.

President Obama will address graduates of the University of Michigan on May 1, school president Mary Sue Coleman announced.

"President Obama has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of many students with his inspiring words of hope and change," Obama said.

In addition to being a fine school, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has seen its fair share of presidential history.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his vision of "the Great Society" at a Michigan commencement. Four years before that, candidate John F. Kennedy proposed creation of the Peace Corps from the steps of the Michigan Union.

President Gerald Ford, an alumnus who played football for the Wolverines in the 1930s, launched his 1976 election bid at a commencement address in Ann Arbor.

Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush have also delivered Michigan commencements.

Senate banking chief hopeful for financial reform bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd voiced optimism on Thursday that his committee could craft a bipartisan financial reform bill.

Dodd said he would negotiate the financial regulation legislation with Republican Senator Bob Corker, six days after saying bipartisan efforts had failed.

"I am more optimistic than I have been in several weeks that we can develop a consensus bill to bring about the reforms the financial sector so desperately needs to prevent another economic crisis," Dodd said in a statement.

Last Friday, Dodd said he was at an impasse with the top Republican on the banking committee Richard Shelby.

Dodd said he asked Corker to negotiate the bill with him. "We met in my office on Wednesday and given the importance of these issues he agreed," Dodd said.

Dodd, the chief architect on financial regulation in the Senate, introduced a draft reform bill in November. But that bill was met with stiff opposition from Republicans. Dodd then formed bipartisan groups to work on the most controversial parts of the bill, such as oversight of the $450 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, corporate governance and banking regulation.

Corker had been working with Democratic Senator Mark Warner on new banking rules and a way to resolve large troubled financial firms.

Obama softens stance on Wall Street bonuses

President Barack Obama has praised the bosses of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as "very savvy" and insisted he does not "begrudge" them their success and wealth, in a significant softening of the White House's attitude towards multimillion-dollar Wall Street bonuses.

Once a staunch critic of outsized pay packets, Obama adopted a strikingly consensual tone when asked this week about a $9m (£5.8m) bonus awarded to Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein and a $17m (£11m) payday granted to JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon.

"I know both those guys, they are very savvy businessmen," Obama said in a interview with Bloomberg's BusinessWeek magazine. "I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system."

Equating the banking bosses with top sports stars, Obama agreed that Dimon's $17m pay packet was "an extraordinary amount of money" in high-street terms, but added: "There are some baseball players who are making more than that and don't get to the World Series either, so I'm shocked by that as well."

Speaking more broadly about Wall Street rewards, Obama said: "I do think that the compensation packages that we've seen over the last decade at least have not matched up always to performance."

But he praised the fact that Goldman and JP Morgan were using long-term share awards, rather than cash, to pay bonuses to their senior executives. He said this "requires proven performance over a certain period of time as opposed to quarterly earnings", adding that it was a "fairer way of measuring CEO success and ultimately will make the performance of American businesses better".

Although the White House denied any changed in direction on the issue of bonuses, Obama's comments were far less strident than his past condemnations of rewards on Wall Street. Shortly after taking office last year, he described bonus payouts by banks as "the height of irresponsibility" and said it was "shameful" that banks were paying "lavish" compensation in the middle of an economic crisis.

Obama sets up task force on childhood obesity

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed a memorandum Tuesday establishing a new federal task force to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity.

The task force, according to the memorandum, will have 90 days to craft a plan encouraging "optimal coordination" between the federal government and both the private and non-profit sectors, according to Obama.

Several Cabinet members, including the secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, will serve on the task force. Its work will complement an aggressive public relations effort led by first lady Michelle Obama to raise public awareness of the issue.

Childhood obesity is "one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country," the president said at the White House.

"We think that this has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that oftentimes are very difficult."

The administration, according to the memo, "is committed to redoubling our efforts to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, engages families and communities, and mobilizes both public and private sector resources."

The memo notes that almost one-third of American children are overweight or obese -- a rate that has tripled among adolescents and more than doubled in younger children since 1980.

About one-third of Americans born in the year 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime, according to the memo.

Michelle Obama will launch a national campaign against childhood obesity at noon at the White House.

Mayors, doctors and leaders in sports, entertainment and business will join the first lady as she kicks off the campaign. Members of President Obama's Cabinet will also be there.

As part of the campaign the first lady is urging families to turn off the television, drink more water and serve smaller portions.

During a speech last month at a Virginia YMCA, the first lady spoke about health issues caused by childhood obesity.

"We've seen the surge in obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis, and it's threatening our children, it's threatening our families, and more importantly it's threatening the future of this nation," she said. "Higher rates of obesity are directly linked, as you've heard, to higher rates of chronic illnesses like heart disease and cancer and diabetes."

During her speech at the YMCA, Michelle Obama shared strategies she has used with her own children.

She helped her daughters stay active by limiting television watching, she said. The first lady also cut back on meal sizes and sugary drinks, and added more fruits, vegetables and water to their diet.

"It was really very minor stuff. But these small changes resulted in some really significant improvements," Obama said.

US Envoy Describes N. Korean Rights Situation as 'Appalling'

U.S. envoy said Monday that North Korean human rights issues can be discussed at the six-party denuclearization talks, describing the rights situation in the secretive state as ``appalling.''

Robert King, special envoy on North Korean human rights, who arrived in Seoul, Sunday, also expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang.

``The six-party talks include a subgroup of the United States and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). We will hold bilateral discussions within the context of the six-party talks,'' he said after meeting with Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan at the ministry in Seoul.

He continued, ``As we have said on many occasions, the relationship with the United States and North Korea will have to involve human rights.''

Asked about his assessment of the current human rights situation in North Korea, the envoy said, ``It's one of the worst places in terms of lack of human rights. ``The State Department annually reports on human rights conditions, and the status of human rights in North Korea is considered poor.''

With an updated report set to be released in a few weeks, King said it is expected to include few changes from what has been seen in the past. The envoy also called for the improvement of human rights in the reclusive state, saying the issue is an obstacle to normalizing Washington-Pyongyang relations.

``Improved relations between the United States and North Korea will have to involve greater respect for human rights by North Korea. That's one of the important conditions,'' he said. King said he would be ``happy to go'' to Pyongyang if North Korea invites him.

He assumed the position of special envoy last November ― prior to his appointment, he worked for 24 years as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Lantos. Heavily involved in the planning and conducting of Lantos' human rights agenda, he played a key role in the passage of the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act.

He is scheduled to meet with South Korean officials, North Korean defectors and family members of abductees before leaving for Japan, Friday.

Revelations From The Campaign

(CBS) Asked by Barack Obama if she would be his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton - after initially turning him down - was concerned that her husband's penchant for causing controversy would interfere with her new role. Sarah Palin was so overwhelmed by the amount of information she needed to learn to debate Joe Biden that campaign staffers thought the debate might be a "debacle of historic and epic proportions."

Those are some of the revelations in "Game Change," a new book about the presidential campaigns by political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who say they interviewed 200 Democrats and Republicans with inside knowledge.

Both men, along with Steve Schmidt, John McCain's former chief campaign strategist, are interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper for a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Lawmakers Want More Security Changes Out of Terror Plot Review

President Obama's push to revamp the terror watch list, improve airport screening and hold the intelligence community more accountable for tracking suspects does not go far enough, some lawmakers say, arguing that more specific steps need to be taken to avoid a repeat of the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

After National Security Adviser James Jones warned that President Obama's preliminary review of the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing would "shock" Americans, the most startling aspect of it may have been that the administration was pledging to do what seemed obvious to many -- at least in hindsight.

The president's push to revamp the terror watch list, improve airport screening and hold the intelligence community more accountable for tracking suspects had some lawmakers saying on Friday that the administration must offer more specific steps if it hopes to avoid a repeat of the alleged plot to blow up an international flight heading to Detroit.

President Barack Obama meets with his national security team

WASHINGTON --As the White House portrays the dramatic scene, President Barack Obama summoned his national security team to the Situation Room for a lecture about accountability after the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.

"This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," the commander in chief said.

The White House took the uncommon step of releasing that this-will-not-stand quote from a room where the secrecy usually is fiercely protected. Obama went on to say, according to the distributed account: "We dodged a bullet, but just barely. ... While there will be a tendency for finger-pointing, I will not tolerate it."Tough language, but where will it lead?

Words are not enough. What people want is action.

Five times now since a man linked to al-Qaida allegedly tried to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, Obama has updated the nation. His message is one of a president determined for people to see he is in charge, demanding results and willing to call out his own government's flaws.

All this comes after some grumbles about a slow initial response on the part of Obama, who was in Hawaii on vacation and first spoke about the incident three days after it happened.

Obama sets $250 million partnership for education

President Barack Obama will announce a $250 million public-private partnership on Wednesday expanding a program to improve U.S. math and science education, the White House said.

The fund, which nearly doubles a $260 million initiative announced in November, involves universities, large corporations, foundations, non-profits and government agencies. It is intended to attract, develop and reward outstanding teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

One company, Intel Corp. and the Intel Foundation, said it would launch a 10-year, $200 million cash and in-kind campaign to support math and science teaching.

The United States is the world's biggest economy and its universities are considered world leaders, but it trails some Asian and European nations in educating children in math and science, fields considered essential for the U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.

Iceland blocks repayment deal, sparks global outrage

Iceland President Olafur Grimsson has angered Britain and the Dutch

Until Tuesday, Olafur Grimsson's role as president of Iceland was largely ceremonial. Suddenly, it's worth billions.

In a twist to the island nation's much-watched struggle to cope with its massive debt, Mr. Grimsson blocked a $5-billion (U.S.) deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands for losses suffered by depositors in one of Iceland's banks.

The move drew outrage around the world, and handed the country's people a tough choice to make in a referendum – agree to repay the money, or say no and risk cementing the country's status as an international deadbeat.

Icelanders, resentful at paying for their banks' failings amid a crumbling economy, are widely expected to deliver a resounding “No.” One recent opinion poll suggests 70 per cent of the country's 320,000 people would oppose the settlement.

Obama unveils changes to address bomb attempt

Emerging from a meeting with his national security team, Obama singled out the intelligence community for criticism, saying they had information that could have averted the December 25 bomb attempt but failed to connect the dots.

He promised changes in particular in the government's terrorist "watchlist" system, which came under fire for failing to identify the threat of the Christmas Day attack.

"I want our additional reviews completed this week," Obama said at the White House. "I want specific recommendations for corrective actions to fix what went wrong. I want those reforms implemented immediately so that this doesn't happen again and so that we can prevent future attacks."

On Obama's first full day back from his Hawaii vacation, he faced the challenge of spotlighting national security -- suddenly pushed to the top of his agenda -- while not looking distracted from other pressing public concerns like reducing double-digit unemployment.

The administration was on the defensive after intelligence failures allowed a Nigerian with alleged links to Yemen-based al Qaeda operatives to board a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam. The man is accused of trying to blow up the Detroit-bound plane with explosives hidden in his underwear.

U.S. spy agencies and the State Department had information about the suspect, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, but never collated the information to put him on a no-fly list.

Obama, who returned on Monday from 11 days in his home state, has been lambasted by Republicans who accuse his Democratic administration of being weak on terrorism and unable to fix intelligence gaps that have lingered since the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks.

Republicans hope to score points for November elections to help challenge the Democrats' control of Congress.

"We have to do better and we will do better," Obama said as he sought to counter critics of his counterterrorism policy and grab control of the debate.

Barack Obama effigy found hanging in Jimmy Carter's home town

The effigy, with a rope around its neck, was placed in front of a red, white and blue sign that said: "Plains, Georgia. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th President" in the town's Main Street on Friday night.

It was removed by police on Saturday morning and local media said few people saw it before it was taken down.The incident has caused disquiet in the small rural town. Local business owners feared it would give the town a bad name and affect tourism.

"We wish it hadn't happened," said Jan Williams, who manages the Plains Historic Inn on Main Street."It's not the kind of publicity the town of Plains likes," Ms Williams said of the city of about 600.

"Plains is a nice quiet town."However, some residents were not surprised."It's wrong with what they did to Obama but I'm not shocked by it. It's a nice place to live but some people still out there don't like it," Trevor Sims said.

In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirmed the agency was investigating the case. Mr Donovan said the doll was removed on Saturday. He declined further comment.

Census Working Overtime With Advertising

The first year of a new decade brings, for Americans, the decennial census. The census for 2010 will be the subject of what is being called the most elaborate advertising and marketing effort to date from the Commerce Department.

The campaign got under way on Monday with an appearance on “Today” on NBC along with a news conference in Times Square featuring Gary Locke, secretary of commerce, and Robert Groves, director of the census, who appeared with Michael R. Bloomberg, the New York City mayor.

The first phase of the campaign is centered on a “road tour” of vehicles, sponsored by the census, that will travel across the country to encourage participation in Census Day on April 1. The behemoth of the lot is a 46-foot trailer that made its debut on “Today.”

The tour — officially, the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour — can be followed online at 2010census.gov and will be promoted with numerous elements of the new media that were not around for the 2000 census, among them Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.

The Commerce Department will spend an estimated $340 million on the campaign, which also includes television commercials, print and outdoor ads, online advertising, events like the road tour and public relations initiatives. The commercials will include a spot during Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 on CBS.

The ads will appear in 28 languages, the most ever, according to the census executives. By comparison, ads ran in 17 languages a decade ago to encourage citizens to take part in the 2000 census.

The campaign is being handled by a batch of agencies owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, among them Draft FCB, GlobalHue, Jack Morton Worldwide (for the road tour and other events) and Weber Shandwick.

New-look US Olympic hockey roster picked

Not since NHL players started going to the Olympics 12 years ago has the U.S. team featured so many fresh faces.

Of the 23 players chosen Friday for next month's games, only New York Rangers captain Chris Drury, New Jersey counterpart Jamie Langenbrunner and Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski have Olympic experience.

Aging stalwarts such as Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, Keith Tkachuk and Scott Gomez will all be able to rest during the long break in February because they were left off the team that will head to Vancouver.

The infusion of up-and-coming players is hardly a surprise. Team USA general manager Brian Burke made it clear last summer is was time to turn the page on those who represented the United States time and time again.

"We're going there to win," said Burke, the Toronto Maple Leafs' GM.

He thanked those "warriors" when most veterans weren't invited to the team's orientation camp in August. Modano, the longtime Dallas Stars forward, and Montreal's Gomez were in attendance, but didn't do enough during the first half of the NHL season to earn a spot on the team.