"Vengeance is mine," say the steadfast supporters of President Barack Obama, and they shall sek to eject U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from the Congressional seat that she has held since 1994. Why? Apparently, Rep. Lee committed the grave sin of endorsing the then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential pimary presidential campaign of 2008.

Ms. Lee earned notoriety on the Fox News Channel last summer for sending text messages on her cell phone while she was supposedly answering questions from constituents about ObamaCare at a town hall meeting.

Across the planet, an arctic freeze and snow create havoc. Today, the northern hemisphere has been gripped by Arcic air and record snow falls, which is inflicting hardship and havoc from China, across Russia to Western Europe and over the U.S. plains.

According to the Times of London, "there were few precedents for the global sweep of extreme cold and ice that killed dozens in India, paralyzed life in Beijing and threatened Florida orange crops. Chicagoans sheltered from a potentially killer freeze. Paris endured sunny Siberian cold, italy dug itelf out of snow drifts and Poland counted at least 13 deaths in record low temperatures of about minus 25C (13F)."

Robert F. Bernstock earns a whopping $232,500 in salary from the financially-troubled U.S. Postal Service to oversee its shipping and mailing division. Yet, a little-recognized hiring provision permits the executive to earn even more cash from outside corporate sources.

The Washington times reports that, "Mr. Bernstock took home more than $270,000 in cash and other compensation combined in fiscal 2008 by serving on the corporate boards for weight-loss giant Nutrisystems Inc., and Pantry Inc., which runs the Kangaroo Express convenience store chain, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings."

Just as the Republican Party is on the cusp of major gains in the House next year - and with the goal of retaking the House seeming to be a real if improbable possibility - one significant obstacle remains: tightfisted incumbents of the Republican Party.

According to Politico, "the National Republican Congressional committee, the key cog in helping to finance GOP campaigns, has tracked less than a third as much money as its Democratic counterpart and is ending the year with barely enough money to fully finance a single House race no less the dozens that will be in play come 2010.

First, President Barack Obama sent stimulus funds to phantom Congressional districts. As if that wasn't enough, now he's sending taxpayers' hard-earned cash to phantom zip codes.

"Last month," the New Mexico Watchdog, "reported on federal stimulus money credited with creating jobs in non-existent New Mexico Congressional districts. Further examination of the most recent report on the recipients and uses of New Mexico's share of the $787 billion stimulus shows jobs created and money going to zip codes that do not exist."

Malaysia is on the brink of religious revolt over a hard-scrabble linguistic battle after the government pledged to challenge a court ruling permitting Roman Catholics to refer to God as Allah.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, "the legal tussle is raising tensions between Malaysia's ethnic Malay Muslim majority, who comprise around 60% of this resource-rich nation's population, and its large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities. Muslim groups already are preparing demonstrations against a High Court ruling on New Year's Eve to overturn a three-year-old government ban on the Catholic Church using the Arabic word Allah as a translation for God in its Malay-language newspaper."

Heavy snow has blanketed Beijing, the Chinese capital city, shutting down major roads and stranding air travellers.

According to the BBC News, "several centimeters of snow covered the city center early on Sunday and forecasters warned of temperatures down to -14C (6.8F) on the next few days."

The alleged drug lord Carlos Beltran Leyva has been captured by Mexican police, just two eeks after his even more powerful brother was killed in a shootout with the Mexican marines, which represents back-to-back victories in Prsident Felipe Calderon's drug war.

The Washington Times reports that, "the Public Safety Department said in a statement Sunday night that Carlos Beltran Leyva was arrested in Culiacan, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, where he and several of his brothers were born and allegedly started their gang."

Foreign nations including Norway and Oman donated to former U.S. President Bill Clinton's charity along with the PGA Tour to multinational soft drink corporation Coca-Cola to singer Elton John's foundation also gave funds while his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, served her first year as secretary of state.

The Washington Times reports that, "a donor list released on New Year's Day by the William J. Clinton Foundation shows that in all, Norway has given $10 million to $25 million to the charity since its founding roughly a decade ago. Oman gave $1 million to $5 million over the years. The list gave cumulative donation totals and didn't say how much each contributor gave last year."

The 2009 Dallas Cowboys are heading to the playoffs, hoping to create their own glory days. In the meantime, on Tuesday, January 5, CBS will be in Dallas to tape a TV pilot called "Glory Days'' that is scheduled to feature Roger Staubach, Mike Ditka, Rayfield Wright, Bob Lilly, Randy White, Drew Pearson and Tony Dorsett ... all taking the stage at Dallas' Winspear Opera House ... and I'm representing the Cowboys news outlet Blogging The Boys at the event, playing a tiny role that is a big honor for us.