International:
Chinese Successfully Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports on its web site Aviationnow.com.
If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military capability.

Neither the Office of the U. S. Secretary of Defense nor Air Force Space Command would comment on the attack, which followed by several months the alleged illumination of a U. S. military spacecraft by a Chinese ground based laser. Read more here.

Darfur On The Brink Of Collase
Yesterday, fourteen U.N. aid agencies working in Darfur "warned that their relief operations will collapse unless security improves." "With repeated military attacks and shifting front lines, December was the worst month in Darfur in over two years," and it "followed six months of escalating violence, during which 30 U.N. and other aid compounds were attacked, forcing some 400 U.N. and other aid workers to relocate. During the same period, 12 aid workers were killed in zones controlled by rebels and government forces." "Security fears led to the distribution of double food rations in some areas in the month of December, and also prevented some 47,000 people in need being reached," the World Food Programme said. "Villages have been burned, looted and arbitrarily bombed, and crops and livestock destroyed. Sexual violence against women is occurring at alarming rates. This situation is unacceptable," a statement from the aid groups said.

Snow: Things Were ‘Going Okay’ In Iraq A Year Ago, No One Anticipated ‘Eruption Of Sectarian Violence’
In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow argued that the “picture” in Iraq “constantly changes,” and that while the future looks bleak now, a year ago “Democrats and Republicans both coming back from the region saying, you know, we think things are going okay.” He added that no one anticipated the “eruption of sectarian violence.” Watch it here

National:
Senate plans vote against troop surge
Senators introduced a resolution yesterday disapproving of President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, setting up a confrontation with the White House, which warned that those who vote for it will face charges that they don't support the troops.

Democrats' 'First 100 Hours' Winds Down With Plenty of Time to Spare
House Democrats raced Thursday to the finish line of their "first 100 hours" agenda well before their 100 hours clock ran out.

With more than 57 hours to spare, early Thursday evening, Democrats passed the last of their "Six for '06" plan — a renewable energy measure that adds $15 billion in new fees, royalties and taxes for the oil industry — 264-123, and prepared to turn off the clock.

“In the November election, the American people signaled their wish for change, a wish for our country to go in a new direction," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who celebrated reaching the goals outlined in the agenda while other lawmakers continued debate on the energy bill on the House floor. Read the whole story.

McCain Flip-Flops On lobbying
In Dec. 2005, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced that he was introducing The Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act of 2005. Section 105 of his bill called for “disclosure of grassroots activities by paid lobbyists.” McCain said of the proposal, "It requires greater disclosure of the activities of lobbyists, including for the first time, grassroots lobbying firms." The religious right sprang into action, assembling a coalition to help "bring down" the McCain provision. While grassroots groups on both sides of the political spectrum oppose the proposal, “social conservative leaders such as Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, who broadcasts a radio program to hundreds of thousands of evangelical Christians, have been its most vehement critics.” After months of pushing back against the influence-peddling operations of grassroots lobbyists, McCain has decided to give in. According to The Hill, "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has told conservative activists that he will vote to strip a key provision on grassroots lobbying from the reform package he previously supported." McCain has engaged in a pattern of flip-flopping on lobbying reform. He has been soliciting contributions from K Street lobbying firms while talking tough against lobbyists, and he has been trying to scuttle the lobbying reform effort by adding a “poison pill” to the bill.

In Other News…
Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki took "a page out of the Bush administration playbook," saying yesterday that criticism of his administration from President Bush and other U.S. officials "give morale boosts for the terrorists and push them toward making an extra effort."

The Senate's high-profile ethics and lobbying reform bill was sidetracked yesterday after conservatives voted against further consideration of the bill because it didn't include an amendment giving President Bush line-item veto power, the ability "to single out individual spending items in legislation for elimination."

The Justice Department's shift on warrantless surveillance yesterday "doesn't mean the government can't still gather personal information about Americans without a court order," a USA Today editorial states. "How? Through something called a National Security Letter. Unlike the warrantless wiretapping program, these letters don't violate any laws, though perhaps they should."

Schwarzenegger calls for redeployment...and escalation. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) yesterday said the U.S. "should withdraw its military forces from Iraq by the end of this year." He also gave support to Bush's escalation "plan to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq."

"The federal government's biggest program to help people rebuild after natural disasters is on the verge of running out of operating money because of budgeting problems at the agency that runs it, the Small Business Administration," the New York Times reports.

In a speech at the [neoconservative] American Enterprise Institute, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said federal judges are not "equipped to make decisions about" national security. "I try to imagine myself being a judge," Gonzales said. "What do I know about what is going on in Afghanistan or Guantanamo?"

And finally: Two titans of journalism square off tonight. Stephen Colbert will appear on the "O'Reilly Factor" at 8 pm, while Bill O'Reilly appears on the "Colbert Report" at 11:30 pm. "I think it's fine," O'Reilly said of Colbert's shtick. "I'm a prominent person in the media. I think satire is very, very entertaining for any society to have. I have never had a problem with it as long as it's not mean-spirited, and I don't think he is."

From The Right:
Donald Lambro: Hillary Hits A Speed Bump The most-talked-about subject among Democratic strategists is Sen. Hillary Clinton's decline in the 2008 presidential-preference polls in the face of growing support for her two chief rivals.

From The Left:
Briggs and Briggs: Bush and the Psychology of Incompetent Decisions According to John P. Briggs, MD, and J.P. Briggs II, PhD, President George W. Bush prides himself on "making tough decisions." But many are sensing something seriously troubling, even psychologically unbalanced, about the president as a decision-maker.

Quote Of The Day:
"White House press secretary Tony Snow says that when President Bush was told he was recorded saying a four-letter word, he rolled his eyes and laughed it off, which is ironic. Bush is now reacting to himself the way everybody else does." -Jay Leno

(Sources: LibraryOfCongress, AP, FOXNews, CenterForAmericanProgress, USSenate, DrudgeReport, ThinkProgress, NYT, WashingtonTimes, Slate, MercuryNews, WashingtonPost, USAToday, SpaceRef.com)