sfgate:Nancy Pelosi's plan for becoming Speaker again
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
(01-23) 16:28 PST Washington -- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is predicting that Democrats will recapture the House in November, a move that could open the possibility of the San Francisco Democrat regaining the speakership and becoming the first politician to return to that office after a defeat since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn in 1955.
Pelosi, 71, needs a net gain of 25 Democrats nationwide, a goal she calls her "Drive for 25." She has predicted gains as large as 35, produced in part by a Democratic romp through California, where the redrawing of legislative districts by a nonpartisan citizens commission promises the biggest shakeup in the state's congressional delegation in two decades, along with gains in Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida.
Independent analysts said Pelosi is dreaming. Unless, that is, the Republican presidential nominee, whoever it is, implodes.
A disaster at the top of the GOP ticket, analysts said, would hand President Obama down-ballot coattails he doesn't appear to have at the moment
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest
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The OND is published each night around midnight, Eastern Time.
The originator of OND was Magnifico.
Current Contributors are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent who also serves as chief cat herder.
nytimes: ‘Super PAC’ for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion
wealthy backer of Newt Gingrich will inject $5 million into a “super PAC” supporting his presidential bid, two people with knowledge of the contribution said on Monday, providing a major boost to Mr. Gingrich as he seeks to fend off aggressive attacks from Mitt Romney, his main Republican rival.
The supporter, Dr. Miriam Adelson, is the wife of Sheldon Adelson, a longtime Gingrich friend and a patron who this month contributed $5 million to the super PAC, Winning Our Future. Dr. Adelson’s check will bring the couple’s total contributions to Winning Our Future to $10 million, a figure that could substantially neutralize the millions of dollars already being spent in Florida by Mr. Romney and Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting him.
nytimes: In Police Training, a Dark Film on U.S. Muslims
Ominous music plays as images appear on the screen: Muslim terrorists shoot Christians in the head, car bombs explode, executed children lie covered by sheets and a doctored photograph shows an Islamic flag flying over the White House.
“This is the true agenda of much of Islam in America,” a narrator intones. “A strategy to infiltrate and dominate America. ... This is the war you don’t know about.”
This is the feature-length film titled “The Third Jihad,” paid for by a nonprofit group, which was shown to more than a thousand officers as part of training in the New York Police Department.
In January 2011, when news broke that the department had used the film in training, a top police official denied it, then said it had been mistakenly screened “a couple of times” for a few officers.
nytimes: U.S. Faulted Over Pay at Rescued Firms
Federal auditors said that the government failed to rein in executive compensation at the biggest companies it bailed out during the financial crisis because its main concern was simply getting its money back.
Months after the emergency rescues began in the fall of 2008, the Obama administration announced pay caps of $500,000 for executives of seven companies that received major assistance from the taxpayers
nytimes: Justices Say GPS Tracker Violated Privacy Rights
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled unanimously that the police violated the Constitution when they placed a Global Positioning System tracking device on a suspect’s car and monitored its movements for 28 days.
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An overlapping array of justices were divided on the rationale for the decision, with the majority saying the problem was the placement of the device on private property.
But five justices also discussed their discomfort with the government’s use of or access to various modern technologies, including video surveillance in public places, automatic toll collection systems on highways, devices that allow motorists to signal for roadside assistance, location data from cellphone towers and records kept by online merchants.
CNN Health: Organize your mind to organize your life
By Margaret Moore, Special to CNN
Neuroscientists are opening a window into the disorganized minds of those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD,) providing insights into how to train our brains to become more organized.
We know that disorganization is not just a problem of ADHD sufferers. It's an epidemic. I don't know anyone whose mind isn't frenzied, distracted or divided by multitasking a good deal of the time.
The connection between disorganized minds and unhealthy habits is compelling. The National Institute of Aging concluded from a recent study that symptoms of a disorganized mind, namely impulsivity, chronic negativity, high stress and multitasking, all correlate with higher weight. For example, adults in the top 10% rating for impulsivity (most impulsive) weighed an average of 24 pounds more than those in the bottom 10% rating for impulsivity.
Detroit Wins Grant For LED Streetlights
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has awarded the city of Detroit a $400,000 grant to upgrade city streetlights with new, energy-efficient technology.
The money would come from unspent federal funding and allow for the installation of solid-state LED lighting in six areas of the city.
According to the U.S. Deparment of Energy, the LED technology has the potential to conserve 25 percent more energy than conventional lights.
The funds will help purchase about 580 LED lights to be used in place of the city's older mercury vapor lights.
New York Times: A Bridge to Recovery on Campus
IN their undergrad uniforms of fleece and sweats, a clutch of Rutgers students gathered on the worn red couches of their dorm’s common room and told their stories. A good-looking, fun-loving 23-year-old named Greg described arriving at college freshman year with a daily pot-smoking habit and a close relationship with alcohol. He soon followed the lead of his alcoholic father and was binge drinking (five drinks or more in a row). “It was pretty scary,” he said.
For his self-diagnosed anxiety and depression, he secretly began taking Klonopin, which he bought from another student. By sophomore year, he was taking six a day. And when it ran out, he wound up in a hospital to manage withdrawal, followed by nine months of rehab.
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The students live in one of two recovery dorms tucked away in anonymity on the sprawling New Brunswick, N.J., campus. In 1988, Rutgers started what is believed to be the first residential recovery program on a college campus, according to Lisa Laitman, director of its Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program. She helped create the program after seeing students struggle to abstain as dorm-mates partied.
The Atlantic: Irisin: The Muscle Hormone Linked to the Health Benefits of Exercise
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have isolated a muscle hormone which may be responsible for the many health benefits of exercise. The scientists have named the hormone irisin after the Greek messenger Goddess, Iris.
Irisin levels rise when people exercise. One effect of this is to convert white fat, the common type of fat that everyone knows too well, into brown fat. While white fat is used to store energy (calories), brown fat seems to be more involved in burning it. Irisin also improves glucose tolerance and causes insulin levels to rise, suggesting that it may be helpful in treating diabetes.
In the last few years, brown fat has begun to increasingly intrigue scientists. In many ways, it physically resembles muscle more than it does typical fat. While little is known about it, it seems to play a major role in maintaining normal weight. One study found that the more brown fat a person has, the lower their BMI will be. Another study found that mice with a genetic abnormality that eliminated their brown fat became obese even without overeating.
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First Nation News
Editor's Note: In the past I have occasionally included Native American News in the OND. Yesterday, a new series was launched on dkos: First Nations News & Views. The propieters are Meteor Blades and navajo - 2 friends of the OND. So tonight, I will borrow from them:
Tribes Work for a Return of the Bison
"The buffalo are disappearing rapidly, but not faster than I desire. I regard the destruction of such game as Indians subsist upon as facilitating the policy of the Government, of destroying their hunting habits, coercing them on reservations, and compelling them to begin to adopt the habits of civilization."
— Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano, Testimony to Congress, 1874
"We recognize the bison is a symbol of our strength and unity, and that as we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our people back to health."
— Fred DuBray, former president Inter Tribal Buffalo Council, 2005
By 1870, the great herds of buffalo, or American Bison, that had in the 1500s roamed everywhere except present-day New England, were limited to 11 Western states and territories. There were still millions of them, perhaps 40 million. The massive slaughter that began in earnest in 1874 ended nine years later. By 1890, only 500 bison remained, and the devastated, decimated tribes who had depended on them were confined to reservations and a hard-scrabble existence.
Today, however, there are around 500,000 fenced bison in commercial herds, many of them genetically intermixed with cattle breeds and sold for meat domestically and abroad. There are also some 20,000 genetically pure bison in free-roaming herds, like the 3000 in Yellowstone National Park. The biggest fenced herds are in Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the leader, where there are about 40,000 head of bison on private ranches and tribal land.
As NPR reported early last year, the demand for bison meat is rising, and not just for burgers. And the demand in 2011 kept up the pace.
"Five years ago, I spent 90 percent of my time trying to get people to eat bison. Now, I spend 90 percent of my time getting people to raise bison," said Dave Carter, executive director of the Westminster-based National Bison Association.
Among the bison raisers are the 56 tribes of the non-profit Inter Tribal Buffalo Council, which got its start in 1990. Some tribes started as early as 1971 to reintroduce bison and, collectively, they now have herds totaling about 15,000 head in 19 states.
And on the political front:
Susan Allen
Susan Allen (Sicangu-Oglala Lakota) Wins Seat in Minnesota Legislature
Susan Allen of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party won a special election for district 61B seat of the Minnesota House of Representatives on Jan. 10. The race was notable because Allen, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, is the first lesbian American Indian elected to any state legislature. The impoverished district in south-central Minneapolis has many problems with which Allen is familiar. She was born on the Uintah and Ouray Ute reservation in northeastern Utah, moved around to many reservations as a young girl because her Oglala Lakota father was an episcopal priest. She saw much social and economic injustice, which has played a major role in determining her political views.
She says she will focus on investing in jobs, education, tax reform, as well as creating a single-payer health care system, preserving the environment, and saying no to the anti-gay marriage amendment on the state ballot next November. “We’re thrilled for Susan and the remarkable progress her victory represents,” said Tiffany Muller, vice president for political operations for the Victory Fund. ”This is our first win of 2012, and it’s a fantastic way to start off what will be a very exciting year for LGBT candidates.”
Wisconsin Fights Suit Over Law Banning Indian Mascots
The state of Wisconsin wants the courts to dismiss a challenge to the constitutionality of a 2010 law that allows the state school superintendent to ban American Indian mascots and logos. The Department of Public Instruction ordered the Berlin School District to drop its "Indians" nickname and logo by Sept. 16, 2012, because its promotes stereotyping, discrimination and pupil harassment. The state had received a complaint from a district resident regarding the Berlin Indians' nickname. The state also plans to appeal the decision of a judge to overturn his ruling rejecting a previous DPI order that the Mukwonago High School ditch its mascot and the "Indians" name of its athletic teams. That judge called the law, Act 250, "uncommonly silly." It was passed when Democrats controlled the legislature. Republicans are now in charge, and some seek to repeal the law.
Barbara Munson (Oneida) chairs the Wisconsin Indian Education Association's Indian Mascot and Logo Taskforce. She says 33 of the 65 Wisconsin schools with Indian-related team names have dropped them, or changed their logos since 1994. That was the year Marquette University dropped its Warriors team name and mascot and became the Golden Eagles. Wisconsin's 11 tribes, through their Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, are on record opposing the names. "These images are archaic," she says, and "should have left our culture as a whole along with Sambo's restaurants (and) blackface minstrel shows."
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On the lighter side
Scripted or Unscripted? You be the judge: