International:

North Korea Prepping Nuclear Weapons Test

North Korea appears to have made preparations for another nuclear test, according to U.S. defense officials.

"We think they've put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning," a senior U.S. defense official told ABC News. Read the full story here.

National:

Nuclear Agency Head Dismissed for Lapses

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday dismissed the chief of the country's nuclear weapons program because of security breakdowns at the Los Alamos, N.M., laboratory and other facilities. More here

Ellison Uses Thomas Jefferson's Quran

Keith Ellison made history Thursday, becoming the first Muslim member of Congress and punctuating the occasion by taking a ceremonial oath with a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

"Look at that. That's something else," Ellison, D-Minn., said as officials from the

Library of Congress showed him the two-volume Quran, which was published in London in 1764.

Bush plans changes in key advisers for Iraq fresh start

President Bush “intends to nominate Admiral William J. Fallon to replace General John Abizaid at Central Command” and Lieutenant General David Petraeus to replace General George Casey as Baghdad commander. “The president wants a clean sweep” an official told ABC News. “Fallon, who is in the Navy, is currently head of Pacific Command; he will be overseeing two ground wars, so the appointment is highly unusual.” Read it here.

FBI Files: Rehnquist Had Hallucinations

The FBI's file on former Chief Justice William Rehnquist _ made public more than a year after his death _ offers insight into the hallucinations and other symptoms of withdrawal that Rehnquist suffered when he was taken off a prescription painkiller in 1981. A doctor was cited as saying that Rehnquist, an associate justice of the Supreme Court at the time, tried to escape the hospital in his pajamas and imagined that the CIA was plotting against him.

Miers Resigns As White House Counsel

Harriet Miers, President Bush's failed Supreme Court nominee and longtime adviser, on Thursday submitted her resignation as White House counsel effective Jan. 31. Tony Snow said a search for a successor is under way.

Asked why she was leaving, Snow said: "Basically, she has been here six years."

In Other News:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) will propose a plan to offer his state's 763,000 uninsured children "guaranteed medical insurance as part of the health care overhaul he intends to unveil next week."

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) assumes Dick Cheney's office in the Capitol, “and the Harlem heavyweight is moving into the prime digs today,” the New York Post reports. “Gilded letters were freshly painted atop the office door yesterday proclaiming ‘Ways and Means Committee’ - confirming that the office now belongs to Rangel, the House panel’s new chairman.”

Though prominent neoconservatives "have found themselves under attack in Washington policy salons and, more important, within the Bush administration," over the Iraq war, "a small but increasingly influential group of neocons are again helping steer Iraq policy." Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will press for escalation at an event tomorrow at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute.

The "surge" becomes a "bump." A State Department official says that President Bush is considering sending "no more than 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops" to Iraq. "Instead of a surge, it is a bump," said a State Department official.

From The Right:

Ann Coulter: The Democratic Party: A Vast Sleeper Cell
Liberals spent the Vietnam War rooting for the enemy and clamoring for America's defeat, a tradition they have brought back for the Iraq war.

From The Left:

James Gordon Meek: Bush Signing Statement Claims Power to Open Americans' Mail
President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant. The president asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on December 20, followed by a "signing statement."

Quote Of The Day:

"Hi, everybody!"

Former President Clinton cheerfully calling out today as he strolled through the Senate Press Gallery past correspondents for The Associated Press, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

(Sources: LATimes, ABCNews, TownHall, TruthOut, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, DrudgeReport, MyWay, Breitbart, Reuters, WashingtonPost, NYPost, AEI, RealCities, PoliticalCartoons.com)