Obama's Talking Points On Rick Warren  —  At his press conference on Thursday, Barack Obama for the first time addressed the flurry of protest that has erupted over the choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation.  —  Stressing his own advocacy of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans …

Conservative Leader Paul Weyrich Dies; First to Lead Heritage  —  Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old.  Weyrich was a good friend to many of us at Heritage, a true leader and a man of unbending principle.

The Torture Report  —  Most Americans have long known that the horrors of Abu Ghraib were not the work of a few low-ranking sociopaths.  All but President Bush's most unquestioning supporters recognized the chain of unprincipled decisions that led to the abuse, torture and death in prisons run …

Emanuel's deeper involvement in pressing for Jarrett Senate appointment  —  My Sun-Times colleagues Natasha Korecki and Fran Spielman in a story in the Thusday paper report Rahm Emanuel's involvement in pushing Gov. Blagojevich to appoint Valerie Jarrett to replace President elect Barack Obama was deeper than previously known.

Hold Your Horses, Minnesota  —  The State of Minnesota's Canvassing Board has finished adjudicating challenges brought to the Board by Al Franken.  They will begin evaluating challenges brought by Norm Coleman's campaign tomorrow.  —  The Star Tribune has logged 391 challenges made by the Franken campaign.

Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $46 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Mayor's Aide Pushes Hard for Kennedy  —  When a powerful labor leader picked up the phone this week, he was surprised to hear the voice of a top aide to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.  —  The aide, Kevin Sheekey, a deputy mayor, made it clear: Caroline Kennedy is going to be the next senator …

With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise  —  A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.  —  Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase …

Gay man backed for Navy secretary  —  Foes cite 'Don't ask, don't tell'  —  Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy - a move that would put …

Big News in Washington, but Far Fewer Cover It  —  WASHINGTON — A new president arrived from a new party.  The balance of power shifted in Congress.  Legions of fresh new faces showed up in the nation's capital with new ideas, eager to upend the way the country does business.

Obama's Chief Speechwriter, 27, Works on Inaugural Address While Making His Own Transition  —  The job requires him to work unnoticed, even in plain view, so Jon Favreau settles into a wooden chair at a busy Starbucks in the center of Penn Quarter.  Deadline looms, and he needs to write at least half a page by the end of the day.

Questions That Are Too Hard for Me  —  Kevin Drum raises the specter of the trade deficit: … This goes back to the fraught issue of global savings imbalances.  For reasons that I don't think people understand very well, we not only have a number of high-savings perpetual-surplus countries …

Forget the economy: Killer asteroids could pose real danger  —  WASHINGTON — A blue-ribbon panel of scientists is trying to determine the best way to detect and ward off any wandering space rocks that might be on a collision course with Earth.  —  “We're looking for the killer asteroid,” …

The Denouement of Howard Dean?  —  Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the man regarded by many sharp political operatives as the progenitor of President-elect Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign, finds himself without an obvious next job as his tenure at the head of the Democratic National Committee comes to an end.