Blagojevich questions censored on Transition site  —  President-elect Barack Obama's Transition today launched “Open for Questions,” a Digg-style feature allowing citizens to submit questions, and to vote on one another's questions, bringing favored inquiries to the top of the list.

Nobel Physicist Chosen To Be Energy Secretary  —  Browner, Two Others to Get Climate Posts  —  President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to be the next energy secretary, and he has picked veteran regulators …

House Democrat urges Obama to keep Bush's intelligence chiefs  —  The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat said Tuesday he has recommended that President-elect Barack Obama keep the country's current national intelligence director and CIA chief in place for some time to ensure continuity …

Fem-bot's my love machine  —  Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features.  —  She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks.  —  “Fem-bot” Aiko, who has cost £14,000 …

The President Participates in a Ceremony for 2008 Recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal  —  BACKGROUND  —  The Presidential Citizens Medal was established in November 13, 1969, to recognize U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.

Poll Shows Obama Gains Support  —  Public Roots for His Success in Face of Economic Crisis but Is Wary of Big Spending  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is entering the White House with an enormous reservoir of goodwill from an American public that is rooting for his success …

GOODBYE TO NEWSWEEK  —  Much attention has been paid to the decline of print newspapers, less to the similar decline of news magazines.  The cases are not identical: most obviously, the news weeklies never depended on classified advertising, as newspapers did.

Kerrey Gets Vote of No-Confidence at New School  —  Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and senator known for his acerbic tongue and iconoclastic tendencies, earned an overwhelming vote of no-confidence on Wednesday afternoon from the senior faculty at the New School, the Greenwich Village university he has run since 2001.

Hit by Recession, NPR to Lay Off Seven Percent of Staff  —  Faced with a sharp decline in revenue, National Public Radio said today it will pare back its once-flourishing operations, and institute its first organization-wide layoffs in 25 years.  —  Washington-based NPR said it would lay off …

GOP may seek Bill Clinton's testimony  —  Senate Republicans are considering asking Bill Clinton to testify at his wife's confirmation hearing about potential conflicts of interest involving his worldwide charitable enterprises.  —  “There are concerns about his international work across the board …

Jindal says no  —  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, seen by many Republicans as the most promising standard-bearer for a remade party, said at a Richmond, Va press conference that he isn't running for president in 2012.  —  At a news conference Wednesday with Bob McDonnell …

Specter calls for delay in Holder hearings  —  Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has just thrown a wrench into the Eric Holder hearings planned for early January, saying Holder's involvement in the Marc Rich pardon is a “red flag” and a “very serious matter.”

Joe the traitor now flushing good friend John McCain  —  Maybe you remember Joe the Wurzelbacher, an Ohio plumber who so sincerely quizzed a campaigning Barack Obama on a Toledo cul-de-sac that his videotaped answers about the Democrat's damaging “tax cuts” attracted the opportunistic eye of Republican John McCain's aides.

Chrysler's Hidden Coffers  —  Why is Cerberus, one of the world's richest private equity firms, begging for a bailout?  —  When I wrote about the bailout blunders of the auto industry two weeks ago, I thought the Big Three had most likely topped out on the political outrage meter.

Liberal Legal Group Is Following New Administration's Path to Power  —  WASHINGTON — When Eric H. Holder Jr. addressed a convention of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in June, he urged young lawyers to get involved in the liberal legal network, saying America would soon be “run by progressives.”

What do the Clintons have on Obama?  —  Meanwhile, Sarah Palin's rehabilitation has been well launched.  Step by step over the past five weeks since the election, headlines about Palin in the mainstream media and some Web news sites have become more neutral and even laudatory, signifying that a shift toward reality is already at hand.