Justice Official Clears Bush Lawyers in Torture Memo Probe  —  By Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman  —  For weeks, the right has heckled Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for his plans to try the alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City and his handling of the Christmas bombing plot suspect.

Cossack Rahm Works For The Czar  —  Ezra Klein finds Rahm Emanuel's apparent willingness to let health reform slide into the indefinite future very depressing.  So do I. And it's not just health reform that will die under this approach — it's the road to a caretaker presidency.

Deficit of Trust: Most Voters Don't Believe President's Assertions About Economy  —  During his State-of-the-Union address Wednesday night, President Obama spoke about a deficit of trust between the American people and political leaders.  New Rasmussen Reports polling on the president's speech shows …

World hunger and the locavores  —  Every so often at Davos you have a short, startling conversation which completely changes the way you think about a subject — and I just had one of those standing next to Dan Barber, the chef of Blue Hill Farm.  He's a very smart, very funny guy …

Scott Brown: 'People Aren't Stupid'  —  'And leaders should figure out they're better informed now than ever.'  —  When I arrived at his cramped state senate offices, Scott Brown had just opened one of the many packages he's received since his stunning U.S. Senate victory 11 days ago.

Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen  —  The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt.  —  Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel …

WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK.... Congressional Republicans decided quite a while ago to reject compromise at all costs and block the Democratic majority from governing.  Sam Stein reported yesterday that some in the GOP are starting to second guess the strategy. … Well, sort of.

Fox Cuts Away From Obama-GOP Conversation In Order To Get A Head Start On Attacks: He Was ‘Lecturing’  —  President Obama held a candid, face-to-face conversation with House Republicans today at their annual retreat in Baltimore.  After Obama gave his remarks, he had to answer tough questions …

Duncan: Katrina Was The “Best Thing” for New Orleans School System  —  ABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today that Hurricane Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans” because it gave the city a chance to rebuild and improve its failing public schools.

SNOWE ACKNOWLEDGES HEALTH CARE TALKS.... There were reports this week that some Senate Democrats had once again decided to reach out to Maine's Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, about health care reform.  Yesterday, Snowe acknowledged some talks had, in fact, already occurred.

Make me poorer  —  Americans voicing their anger at the healthcare proposals at a “town hall meeting”  —  The Republicans' shock victory in the election for the US Senate seat in Massachusetts meant the Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate.  This makes it even harder …

Off Script, Obama and the G.O.P. Vent Politely  —  BALTIMORE — President Obama denied he was a Bolshevik, the Republicans denied they were obstructionists and both sides denied they were to blame for the toxic atmosphere clouding the nation's political leadership.

Justice Dept.: Obama administration may take action on BCS  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.

From High Jinks to Handcuffs  —  James O'Keefe III, the guerrilla videographer, advised conservative students this month that they needed to start taking more risks.  —  “The more you put yourself out there and you take those calculated risks,” he told the Web site CampusReform.org …

RNC rejects ideological ‘purity test’ resolution to screen candidates  —  Top Republicans have tossed a plan that would have conditioned their funding for new candidates on a so-called ideological “purity test.”  —  Party leaders gathered in Honolulu for the Republican National Committee's winter meeting …

Obama v. the Supremes  —  Alito wins the oral, and factual, argument.  —  In the case of Barack Obama v. Supreme Court of the United States, that was some oral argument on Wednesday night.  With the Justices arrayed a few feet in front of him in the House chamber, President Obama blistered …