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.

How the GOP Should Prepare for a Comeback  —  Organization and ideas are what matters.  —  What a difference a month makes.  Since November's election, the GOP is three wins, no losses.  —  The first win came in Georgia, where Sen. Saxby Chambliss crushed his Democratic opponent by 15 points in a run-off election on Dec. 2.

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 …

Pentagon Hoping for More Brigades in Afghanistan by Summer  —  Gates Details Troop Deployments on Unannounced Trip to the Country  —  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Pentagon hopes to deploy two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan by next summer, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday …

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.

Newsweek to Cut Back Staff, Slim Magazine in Makeover  —  Newsweek magazine is planning staff cuts as part of a major makeover that is likely to result in a slimmer publication with fewer subscribers and more photos and opinion inside its pages, according to people close to the magazine.

UN Blowback: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims  —  Study: Half of warming due to Sun!  -Sea Levels Fail to Rise?  - Warming Fears in ‘Dustbin of History’  —  POZNAN, Poland - The UN global warming conference currently underway in Poland …

Featured Website: Fiscal.wa.gov  —  This week's featured website is Washington State's new spending transparency site which launched on December 3, 2008.  Fiscal.wa.gov is the result of Senate Bill 6818, sponsored by Sen. Eric Oemig (D-Kirkland) and passed unanimously during the 2008 legislative session.

Trickledown Downsizing  —  IN September, Cathy DeVore, a real estate agent in Larchmont, N.Y., whose business has been at a standstill lately, began taking gradual steps to lay off her longtime nanny and housekeeper.  Aware that the woman supports a son, a mother, and a niece in Dominica …

Europe OK's ‘Torture’  —  Writing in Policy Review, John Rosenthal tells a tale of police abuse from 21st-century Germany: … Gäfgen broke and told police where he had buried Jakob's body.  That was October 2002: … Also in October 2002, interrogators at Guantanamo Bay asked …

House Decidedly Passes Autos Bailout BIll  —  The House just passed the $14 billion Detroit Big Three autos bailout bill by a vote of 237-170, sending it to a Senate where approval is no slam-dunk, thanks to the promised opposition of leading Republicans.  —  The bill was overwhelmingly endorsed …

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 …

Rod Blagojevich shows foulmouthed side  —  Etiquette experts say such language still unprofessional  —  If the wiretapped dialogue in the criminal complaint against Rod Blagojevich reveals anything, it's that the governor can deftly hold his own in the pantheon of political profanity.

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.

Cleaning Service Used by Chertoff Calls Immigration Laws Unfair  —  Every few weeks for nearly four years, the Secret Service screened the IDs of employees for a Maryland cleaning company before they entered the house of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the nation's top immigration official.