Egyptians open fire on Palestinians  —  Egyptian border guards have opened fire on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  —  An Egyptian security official said there were at least five breaches along the nine-mile border and hundreds of Palestinian residents were pouring in.

Obama bristles as the bubble closes in on him  —  HONOLULU - The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone - it's been closing in on Barack Obama for some time.  —  Now the president-elect appears …

Goodwin: Say goodnight, Caroline  —  In the beginning, just three long weeks ago, the idea of Caroline Kennedy being a United States senator had a certain ring to it.  The Camelot myth still has shelf life and a merger with the historic Obama presidency provided an intriguing story line.

Condoleezza Rice: “I'm Not A Type A”  —  Outgoing Secretary Of State Shares Thoughts With Sunday Morning … She's been called the administration's “warrior princess,” the true believer who's visited scores of countries, traveling a million miles to implement, explain, and defend, president George W. Bush's foreign policy.

The Year in Review  —  How weird a year was it?  Here's how weird:  — O.J. actually got convicted of something.  — Gasoline hit $4 a gallon — and those were the good times.  — On several occasions, “Saturday Night Live” was funny.  — There were a few days there in October …

Cars leaving lots without drivers  —  A half-dozen trailers rolled up to Eckenhoff Cadillac Buick Pontiac GMC in Jenkintown bright and early and wiped the lot clean of $8.4 million in inventory - Hummers, Cadillacs and all.  —  “Load up, leave.  Load up, leave. . . .” …

Win, Win, Win, Win, Win ...  How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way?  —  Which play?  The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes …

Bernie's funda-mental defense  —  If you thought Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi.  Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.  —  “Bernie's family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line …

2008 was the year manmade global warming was disproved  —  Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph.  —  The first, on May 21, headed “Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts” …

Immigration hypocrisy: Because it's so much easier to just harass Latinos  —  Last year, Arizona enacted one of those anti-immigration laws that actually tried to address the employer side of the equation, ostensibly cracking down on the businesses that hire illegal immigrants.