Richardson to withdraw as Commerce secretary  —  New Mexico governor cites pending investigation of business dealings  —  New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position …

Burris puts Senate Dems in tough spot  —  The defiant move by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to name a Senate successor to Barack Obama has triggered a political and legal mess that could drag on for months and is already prompting uncomfortable racial questions for Democrats.

Israel splits Gaza in three as soldiers battle Hamas  —  James Hider on the Gaza border and Azmi Keshawi in Gaza City  —  Israeli troops fought heavy battles with Hamas fighters in two densely populated Gaza towns today as the Army sought to split the strip into three sections to cut off the Islamist group's supply lines.

Charity homes built by Hollywood start to crumble  —  RESIDENTS of a model housing estate bankrolled by Hollywood celebrities and hand-built by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, are complaining that it is falling apart.  —  Fairway Oaks was built on northern Florida wasteland by 10,000 volunteers …

Orwell, blinding tribalism, selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza  —  (updated below)  —  Former McCain-Palin campaign spokesman and current Weekly Standard editor Michael Goldfarb notes that Israel, a couple of days ago, dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a Gazan home which killed a top Hamas leader …

The End of the Financial World as We Know It  —  AMERICANS enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics.  We've been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing.

SURVEILLANCE STATE RUN AMOK.... In July, the Washington Post reported on undercover Maryland State Police officers conducting surveillance on war protesters and death penalty opponents.  Today, we learn that the monitoring was worse, and more pervasive, than first believed.

George H. W. Bush: I'd like to see Jeb elected president.»  —  This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked former President George H.W. Bush about the possibility of his son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, running for Senate.  The former president expressed his hope …

Attacks Further Split Arab Rulers, People  —  “War on Gaza” was the description the satellite channel al-Jazeera gave for the Israeli ground invasion that began Saturday, a culmination of eight days of bombing that have killed hundreds of Palestinians in the crowded seaside strip.

Fears over earthquake ‘swarm’ at Yellowstone National Park  —  Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, raising fears of a more powerful volcanic eruption.  —  The earthquake swarm, the biggest in more than 20 years, is being closely monitored by scientists and emergency authorities.

The Bailout Bowl: Big-Game Sponsors Scored Billions  —  Financial Firms That Got Government Aid Draw Fire for Spending Millions on Marketing; ‘A Fantastic Investment’  —  Football fans watching this year's college bowl games may have noticed that some of the biggest sponsors were also recipients …

A President Forgotten but Not Gone  —  WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella.  So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down.  Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43.

Cheney: ‘I would absolutely do it again’  —  Vice President Cheney on Sunday defended the Bush administration's actions over the past eight years, saying that they have kept the country safe without violating anybody's civil liberties.  —  “I would absolutely do it again,” Cheney said on CBS's …