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(CNN) — The Obama administration’s rush to sweep the recent Russian spy scandal off the table as quickly as possible with this swap is a bad move on several counts.

It is understandable and correct that President Barack Obama values the overall U.S.-Russian relationship above the question of whether a few Russian spies spend years in jail.

The “reset” campaign was an excellent idea; too bad no one in our Department of State knew how to correctly spell the word in Russian when Secretary Hillary Clinton presented the “button” to the Russian Foreign Minister.

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Washington (CNN) — The most recent independent tests of airport checkpoints showed screener performance “falling off the charts,” according to the top Republican on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Results of the tests, in which plainclothes agents tried to sneak bomb components past screeners, are classified, but Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, said they went “from poor to worse.”

The tests were conducted at U.S. airports in late 2008 and early 2009 by the Government Accountability Office, the independent investigative arm of Congress.

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Washington (CNN) — The Obama administration invoked the state secrets privilege on Friday in a lawsuit pertaining to government eavesdropping intended to intercept terrorist communications, and one privacy advocacy group called the decision “incredibly disappointing.”

Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement saying the government was making the move “to protect against a disclosure of highly sensitive, classified information that would irrevocably harm the national security of this country.”

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“I think it has proven more complicated than anticipated,” Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Noting he had pushed for a firm deadline of January 2010 for closing the controversial facility, Gates said: “If you have to extend that date, if at least you have a strong plan showing you’re making progress in that direction, then this — it shouldn’t be a problem to extend it and we’ll just see whether that has to happen or not.”

In a separate interview on the ABC program “This Week,” Gates said closing the military prison on schedule would be “tough.”

Also on ABC, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he attended briefings in which he was told the Guantanamo facility was unlikely to close on schedule.

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Clinton also strongly defended the Obama administration’s decision to scrap Bush-era plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, calling it a move that ultimately will leave the United States and its allies better positioned to defend against a potential threat from Iran.

“Our agenda is ambitious,” she told an audience at the Brookings Institution about the highly anticipated U.N. session, saying it stems from President Obama’s belief the United Nations is “a critical, central institution.”

The United Nations “does not have to be just a diplomatic talk shop,” she said. “At its best, it can be an institution that brings the world’s nations together to solve global problems.”

Full Story At  msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – The last time Congress passed major environmental laws, acid rain was destroying lakes and forests, polluted rivers were on fire and smog was choking people in some cities.

The fallout from global warming, while subtle now, could eventually be even more dire. That prospect has Democrats pushing legislation that rivals in scope the nation’s landmark anti-pollution laws.

Full Story At  news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON – Every few months, the Food and Drug Administration goes into fire-brigade mode, rushing to get control over another safety crisis.

Tainted peanuts. Unsterilized syringes. Salmonella in Mexican chili peppers. A contaminated blood thinner from China that sent patients into life-threatening shock.

Some say the FDA is broken.

“Bet yourself a new hat or a fine dinner that you are going to have a scandal a month,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. “