'I don't work for Obama'  —  Democrats must be “very, very careful” to avoid overreaching and will not rubber-stamp President-elect Obama's policies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday.  —  In an interview with The Hill, Reid said it is essential for Obama …

City of Cold Shoulders  —  THE scene of Roland W. Burris being escorted from the Senate by the Capitol police on Tuesday could be only the first act of an unpleasant and distracting drama.  But in the days since Mr. Burris's appointment to Illinois's junior Senate seat was announced …

Obama Warns Trillion-Dollar Deficit Potential  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday braced Americans for the unparalleled prospect of “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come,” a stark assessment of the budgetary outlook that he said would force his administration …

Many Cubans Expect Obama to End Bilateral Hostilities  —  Many Islanders Expect Better Relationship With U.S. Under New President  —  HAVANA — Vicente González says that although Barack Obama is no Karl Marx — “he is a capitalist and likely an imperialist” — he has high hopes …

Specter Attacks Choice for Attorney General  —  WASHINGTON — A leading Republican senator issued a broad attack on Tuesday on President-elect Barack Obama's pick as attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., questioning his political independence.  —  The senator, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania …

Boost Private Investment to Boost the Economy  —  Excessive spending is what got us into this mess in the first place.  —  These days it seems like it is our patriotic duty to consume more.  And if we don't choose to spend more money ourselves, the government will do it for us.  —  But wait a minute.

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe  —  The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context.  Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians.

Blair House Mystery Solved: It's John Howard  —  The veil is lifted.  We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Park to the Hay-Adams Hotel.  —  The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse …

Talking Joe: Biden makes news  —  Joe Biden hasn't said much in public since the election, but one of Washington's most prolific talkers is back - and making news whenever he speaks.  —  In fewer than five minutes on Tuesday, Biden criticized his own incoming Obama administration …

The Mideast's Ground Zero  —  The fighting, death and destruction in Gaza is painful to watch.  But it's all too familiar.  It's the latest version of the longest-running play in the modern Middle East, which, if I were to give it a title, would be called: “Who owns this hotel?  Can the Jews have a room?

Synagogue set ablaze and anti-Semitic assaults soar in UK following Israel's invasion of Gaza … The number of anti-Semitic attacks in London has risen sharply following Israel's land assault on Gaza, Jewish community groups said today.  —  Their leaders have compiled a dossier of attacks …

OVERTIME IN THE MINNESOTA SENATE ELECTION  —  The media coverage of the events related to Minnesota's Senate election and subsequent recount has been so poor that it is difficult to determine what happened.  The erosion of Senator Coleman's approximately 700 vote lead over Al Franken …

11 gay bars get letters threatening ricin attacks  —  Eleven gay bars in Seattle were sent letters Tuesday threatening ricin attacks — in what some are describing as a hate crime.  The Seattle Police Department said it takes the threat seriously.  The department has seized the letters …

An economic game plan emerges  —  A closed door-meeting of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday will be an early test of President-elect Barack Obama's economic plan, with Chairman Max Baucus hoping to use the executive session to judge support for the tax cuts and major health provisions at the heart of the $775 billion package.

Kmiec v. Kmiec regarding Heller: Douglas Kmiec has sharply criticized the majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.  E.g., Slate, July 8, 2008 (majority opinion amounts to unjust rule by judicial fiat); Tidings, July 11, 2008 (Heller majority misconstrued the Second Amendment …

Cuomo Aide Is Said to Try to Slow Kennedy Bid  —  Even as Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo insisted he was staying out of the competition for New York's soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat, a top Cuomo aide urged labor leaders and upstate officials to refrain from embracing Caroline Kennedy for the job …

Report: Al-Qaida No. 2 blames Obama for Gaza fight  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center.

Charter 08 worries China  —  Police have detained activists behind the democracy petition, which has drawn diverse support.  —  BEIJING -  —  On Dec. 8, the police took Zhang Zuhua into a room in Beijing and sat him in a chair.  —  For 12 hours, they questioned him.  They brought him water, but no food.