WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a “Happy New Year” message to colleagues: be ready for action when the new U.S. Congress convenes next week.
 
“The 111th Congress will hit the ground running … with an ambitious schedule that corresponds with the opportunities and challenges that we face as a country,” Pelosi wrote Wednesday in an open letter to her “Democratic colleagues.”
 
“The opening days of the Congress will be intense,” Pelosi added. “I know that we will be ready.”
 
The House and Senate will convene on Tuesday, Jan. 6 — 14 days before Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president. It will mark the first time in 14 years that Democrats have controlled both Congress and the White House.
 
In the November elections, Democrats expanded their majorities in the House and Senate with a stack of campaign promises.
 
They included ones to: withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and redeploy many of them to Afghanistan; expand health care coverage; move the U.S. toward energy independence; curb global warming and bolster regulation of the troubled financial industry.
 
Among the first measures to be considered will likely be one that could total $775 billion or more in spending and tax cuts to stimulate the economy and stem a deepening recession.
 
In her letter, Pelosi wrote that the Democratic Steering Committee, which helps set party policy, will hold a hearing Wednesday on the need for an economic recovery plan.
 
Pelosi added that by the time Obama takes office in two weeks, she expects the House to consider a number of bills, including one to pump new life into the economy.
 
She ended her “Happy New Year!” letter with a holiday note: “Best wishes to you and your family.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas (Pelosi at a news conference Dec. 2)

CRAWFORD, Texas - President George W. Bush, in the sunset of his presidency, plans to welcome in the New Year with a sunrise stroll accompanied by wife, Laura, at their Texas ranch. 
 
“It’s something they’ve always enjoyed doing and look forward to doing tomorrow,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
 
Some New Year’s Eve revelers might struggle at the prospect of waking up at dawn after partying past midnight, but not Bush since he’s an early-to-bed kinda guy.
 
“I think he’s more likely to be an early riser for the first of the New Year rather than to see the old year out,” Johndroe said.
 
Bush will return to Texas for good after handing over the  White House keys to Barack Obama on Jan. 20. He plans to live in Dallas, but was also expected to spend time at the Crawford ranch on weekends and holidays.
 
In his final New Year’s Day presidential message, Bush said 2009 was an “exciting time for our country” as it prepares for a peaceful transfer of power.
 
“As my time in office comes to a close, I thank the American people for trusting me with the honor of serving our great country. It has been a tremendous privilege, and together we have accomplished a great deal,” Bush said.

“Earlier this year, I promised that I would sprint to the finish of my time as president,” he added. “We are working hard to keep that promise.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (President and Mrs. Bush arrive in Waco Dec. 26)

Happy New Year. It was a great political year. But most folks with a 401K retirement account and a mortgage will be glad to bid farewell to 2008 and ring in 2009 with a feeling of optimism that is natural with the start of a new year. 

 
It would seem investors have gotten a whiff of that optimism.  After registering some of the worst annual losses in history, world stock markets look to close out the year on an up note. Wall street is poised to open higher with oil prices falling and the dollar rising.

  
Still, 2009 promises to bring more political drama. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has been accused of trying to sell the vacant Senate seat, defied calls by his fellow Democrats to resign and appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. 

 Talking heads are still pondering whether Caroline Kennedy is qualified to be appointed to fill Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat.
    
Minnesota is still counting ballots from the Nov. 4 election. Democrat Al Franken now holds a slim 50-vote lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. Both the Illinois and Minnesota disputes are likely to eventually end up in the courts.
    
President George W. Bush celebrates the New Year in Crawford, Texas. While President-elect Barack Obama rings in 2009 from Hawaii.
    
U.S. Jobless data just released show claims for new benefits falling by 94,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 492,000. It unclear how much the weather and Christmas holiday influenced the data.
    
Enjoy a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2009.

Photo credit: Reuters staff photographer (Sale sign in New York on Christmas eve)

KAILUA, Hawaii - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his family will trade their plush Chicago home for a Washington hotel this weekend when they formally move to the capital.
 
The Obamas are still vacationing on the Hawaiian island of Oahu but are due to return to Chicago on Thursday in preparation for the relocation to Washington. Obama’s daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, are set to start classes at Sidwell Friends school on Monday.
 
“They will stay at a Washington hotel through the 15th and then they will move into the Blair House,” a transition aide said, referring to the guest residence across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
 
The Obamas had asked to move into Blair House two weeks before the traditional date of Jan. 15 because of their daughters’ Jan. 5 start at their new school, but the White House said this was not possible because of previously scheduled events.
 
Obama will formally move into the White House on Jan. 20, the day he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.
 
The transition aide said Obama would continue to work on his economic recovery plan to rescue the United States from deep recession in the days leading up to his inauguration.

Photo credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry  U.S. President-elect Barack Obama with daughters Malia and Sasha in Hawaii, Dec. 30, 2008

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Slightly more than half of Americans say Caroline Kennedy has what it takes to serve in the U.S. Senate, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Poll. 

Kennedy, 51, is campaigning to fill the New York senate seat held by Hillary Clinton, who has been nominated for Secretary of State.

The only person who gets a vote is New York Gov. David Paterson, who will appoint any replacement for Clinton. 

Kennedy, a lawyer, has been involved in education issues but has never held office. She has name recognition and membership in an American political dynasty. Her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, is one of the most powerful members of the Senate. 

But is Caroline Kennedy qualified to a senator?

Fifty-two percent of Americans say “yes” and 42 percent say “not” qualified, according to the poll of 1,013 adults published on Monday. 

Which raises the question, what exactly qualifies anyone to be a senator?

The U.S. Constitution lists only three qualifications: 

-you must be at least 30 

-you have to be a U.S. citizen for nine years

-you have live in the state from which you are elected 

That’s it. 
    
For the record there have been 180 senators appointed since 1913 to seats vacated by death, expulsion or resignation.

Some have had family connections — like Muriel Humphrey of Minnesota and Jean Carnahan of Missouri, widows appointed to fill seats to which their husbands were elected.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg at John F. Kennedy Awards ceremony at Harvard in November)

Israel’s military operations in Gaza continue to dominate front pages of major newspapers and morning talk shows. Wall Street is looking for a positive start as oil and gold prices ease back from the price spikes that followed the onset of the Israeli strikes against Hamas.

President George W. Bush remains at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, while President-elect Barack Obama continues his vacation in Hawaii.

GMAC said it will resume financing auto loans following a $5 billion investment from the U.S. Treasury. The latest financial rescue also included a $1 billion loan to General Motors to purchase equity in GMAC.

Extreme weather and the weak economy also taking top spots in holiday week news cycles. A dismal shopping season could take down some malls struggling to service their debt.

Congress will take a closer look at what went wrong on Wall Street beginning next week with a hearing on financier Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion fraud. Meanwhile, the Washington Post takes a close look at why insurance giant AIG needed so much government bailout money.

And for you history buffs - scientists have found out why the 1918 flu virus was so deadly. Three genes allowed it to invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.

Photo credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (President-elect Obama carries a little girl at Mid Pacific Country Club in Kailua)

Chip Saltsman is under fire from his rivals in the race to lead the Republican Party after sending supporters a disc with a controversial musical parody entitled “Barack the Magic Negro.”
 
Saltsman, who ran Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, sent the CD to members of the Republican National Committee as part of a Christmas greeting.

 
Rivals are expressing outrage.
 
“The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party,” said RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, who is seeking re-election and is Saltsman’s chief rival. “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”
 
“In my opinion, this isn’t funny and it’s in bad taste,” Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis, who also is seeking the RNC chairmanship, told The Hill.
 
The song, by conservative humorist Paul Shanklin and sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” has been around since 2007 and made waves when it was aired that year by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
 
In announcing his candidacy for the party leadership in early December, Saltsman said he wanted to make sure all U.S. voters knew “there is a home for them” in the Republican Party.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Mike Duncan at Republican convention in September)

WASHINGTON - Israeli air attacks in Gaza dominate morning talk shows and front pages of major U.S. newspapers. The attacks pushed up oil prices by more than $3 a barrel to over $40. Gold prices also moved higher. Nevertheless, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street in what is expected to be a light trading.

President-elect Barack Obama remains in Hawaii and President George W. Bush is at his ranch in Texas.

Winter weather extremes and dismal holiday shopping season featured on morning talk shows.

Those who really enjoyed 2008 — there must be a few of you out there — will be glad to hear that the year will last a little bit longer.  The world’s timkeepers are preparing to add a special “leap second” on Wednesday just before the clock strikes midnight to take into account the slowing of the earth’s rotation.

REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (Israeli tanks move just outside the northern Gaza Strip)

The video of an agile U.S. President George W. Bush ducking two shoes thrown at him during a news conference in Baghdad has been fodder for jokes on late-night television and a big hit on the Internet.

Even Bush laughed off the Dec. 14 incident. But his wife was not amused by an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush, narrowly missing the president.

“It was an assault,” Laura Bush said in a Fox news interview broadcast on Sunday. “And I think it should be treated that way.”

Iraqi TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi was tackled to the floor and arrested, and his lawyer said he was severely beaten in detention. He is to stand trial on Dec. 31 on charges of “assaulting a foreign head of state visiting Iraq,” a spokesman for Iraq’s High Judicial Council said.

But Zaidi has become a hero to Sunnis and Shi’ites alike, and clerics on both sides are demanding that he be freed.

Asked about demands for the reporter’s release, Laura Bush said that whatever happens with Zaidi is up to the Iraqis.

“But I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn’t have been released. And he probably … you know, would have been executed,” she said. “As bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves.”

Many Iraqis blame Bush personally for the tens of thousands who have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam.

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrive in San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 6, 2008.

KAILUA, HI - Barack Obama may be the first U.S. president who can successfully pull off the shaka, a Hawaiian greeting Hawaiians say has various meanings, from “hang loose” and “cool” to “thanks.”
    
The hand gesture, also a common greeting in surfer culture, consists of curling the three middle fingers and extending the thumb and little finger.
    
The president-elect, looking uber-cool with his White Sox baseball cap on backwards, flipped the shaka to a crowd of about 30 people as he left a gym on a Marine Corps base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where he is vacationing.
    
Obama, born and largely raised on Oahu, then walked over to greet the crowd, which had waited through a brief cloudburst to see him. Righting his baseball cap as he walked, he shook hands before posing with four babies.

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