To the Rescue: Bush to Give Low-Interest Loans to Carmakers  —  Obama Team Agrees to Bush's Strategy  —  The White House has decided to come to the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler by providing them with $17.4 billion in low-interest loans to keep them afloat, ABC News has learned.

Obama's Inaugural Mistake  —  It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation.  And the Obama campaign's response to the anger about this decision?

W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Dies at 95  —  W. Mark Felt, who was the No. 2 official at the F.B.I. when he helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon by resisting the Watergate cover-up and becoming Deep Throat, the most famous anonymous source in American history, died Thursday.

The Madoff Economy  —  The revelation that Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought), philanthropist, pillar of the community — was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably so.  The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend.

Advocates for Action on Global Warming Chosen as Obama's Top Science Advisers  —  President-elect Barack Obama has selected two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration's top ranks, according to sources …

Coleman leads Franken by just 2 votes  —  Two votes is all that stands between Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, according to the Associated Press tally in the state's still-unresolved Senate race.  —  Coleman's shrinking lead, combined with a state Supreme Court decision handed …

The Employee Free Choice Act Is Unconstitutional  —  Free speech and the takings clause are at stake.  —  A top priority of the incoming Democratic Congress and Obama administration is the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.  The EFCA, as is well known, introduces a card-check procedure …

CNN Meteorologist: Manmade Global Warming Theory ‘Arrogant’  —  Network's second meteorologist to challenge notion man can alter climate.  —  Business & Media Institute  —  Unprecedented snow in Las Vegas has some scratching their heads - how can there be global warming with this unusual cold and snowy weather?

Democrats Are the New Ethics Story  —  Blagojevich is just the tip of the iceberg.  —  A note to all those visitors who will soon flood Washington for the inauguration: Be careful of the “swamp.”  —  That would be the swamp Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to drain when she led her party to victory in 2006.

Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl  —  It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston.  She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.

Medical ‘Conscience Rule’ Is Issued  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, as expected, announced new protections on Thursday for health care providers who oppose abortion and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.  —  “Doctors and other health care providers …