Blagojevich Left Legal Bills Unpaid  —  CHICAGO — The criminal complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich alleges that he complained about financial troubles.  Those problems include more than $500,000 in unpaid legal bills, according to people familiar with the matter.

Republicans Float Auto Bailout Alternative  —  WASHINGTON — In a last-ditch effort to revive a government rescue for the American auto industry, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, was trying late Thursday to persuade Senate Democrats to back an alternate plan that would require steep concessions …

Obama's atomic umbrella: U.S. nuclear strike if Iran nukes Israel  —  U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a “nuclear umbrella” against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week.

Bipartisan Report: Rumsfeld Responsible for Detainee Abuse  —  Senate Committee Finds Officials Made Decisions That Led to Offenses Against Prisoners  —  A bipartisan Senate report released today says that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials …

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Does It Again  —  Recently, the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal repeated unsupported and flat out wrong conservative talking points about me and the root causes of the subprime mortgage crisis.  I sought to counter their accusations in a letter to the editor …

Malkin: Democrats Will ‘Turn On A Dime’ Against Patrick Fitzgerald  —  This morning on Fox and Friends, right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin took up the conservative mantra of linking President-elect Obama to disgraced governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL).  (In fact, Obama may have “indirectly contributed to the downfall” of Blagojevich.)

The Unreal Bill Ayers  —  Three Decades After the Weather Underground's End, He's Still Justifying Its Means  —  I never thought Barack Obama's acquaintance with former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers disqualified him for the White House.  And now that Obama has been elected …

Oil Demand Down; 1st Time Since '83  —  Global oil consumption will drop this year for the first time since 1983, as an economic downturn in the West and slower growth in China cuts fuel demand, according to the world's main energy forecaster.  —  The International Energy Agency …

FIRST THOUGHTS: NO ORDINARY HONEYMOON  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann  —  *** No ordinary honeymoon: While the political world continues to focus on the Blagojevich scandal, which at this point has been only a headache for the incoming Obama administration …

Nosedive  —  Another day, another terrifying economic report, this time on unemployment claims.  —  So are we now losing jobs at the rate of 600,000 a month?  700,000?  If fiscal expansion takes, say, 8 months to kick in (and that's optimistic), where will that leave us?

DEMINT WARNS OF BAILOUT ‘RIOTS’.... In general, those who warn of dire consequences for the automotive industry tend to support a rescue package.  As the argument goes, the auto manufacturers are the backbone of U.S. manufacturing, and the collapse of the industry could have devastating ripple effects in the midst of a financial crisis.

A box unchecked  —  An Ambinder reader notices a gap in the diversity of the otherwise extraordinarily, thoroughly diverse Obama cabinet: Southerners.  —  John Edwards probably would have filled that slot, had he not fallen from grace.  Sam Nunn and Max Cleland have been mentioned, but faded.

Killer Chic  —  Gisele Bundchen wears him on the runway, Johnny Depp wears him around his neck, and Benicio Del Toro becomes him in the new, highly acclaimed, two-part epic film from Steven Soderbergh, Che.  Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the revolutionary who helped found communist Cuba, is the celebrity that celebrities adore.

In Senate recount, wrongly rejected votes seem more numerous than first thought  —  At least 358 Minnesotans did everything right on their absentee ballots — they sent them in on time, signed them where they should have and were properly registered — but their votes were not counted.

Asking questions, and flagging them  —  A couple of analysts whose opinions I respect, including John Cole, criticized my item yesterday on what I see as an abuse of the “flagging” function on Obama's “Open for Questions” site.  —  I wrote about the ability of some readers to take a highly rated …

Glenn Beck  —  Glenn Beck is not known for his compassion.  As host of the third highest rated radio talk show and a new program soon to debut on Fox News, Beck courts controversy regularly.  His caustic and often conservative commentary has offended Mexicans, Jews and Muslims …

NASA has become a transition problem for Obama  —  CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified” to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.

Starbucks won't slug it out in ad wars  —  McDonald's has erected a billboard in sight of Starbucks headquarters declaring, “four bucks is dumb.”  —  If Dunkin' Donuts' taste test commercials were the schoolyard equivalent of blowing spitballs at the coffee giant from afar, then the latest from McDonald's is like pulling a wedgie.

The Aimless War: Why Are We in Afghanistan?  —  “Things have gotten a bit hairy,” admitted British Lieut. Colonel Graeme Armour as we sat in a dusty, bunkered NATO fortress just outside the city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, a deadly piece of turf along Afghanistan's southern border with Pakistan.