An Unnecessary War  —  I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.  —  After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn …

Palin: Media goes easy on Kennedy  —  Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) believes Caroline Kennedy is getting softer press treatment in her pursuit of the New York Senate seat than Palin did as the GOP vice presidential nominee because of Kennedy's social class.  —  “I've been interested …

MO-Senate: Bond to Retire  —  Missouri Sen. Kit Bond (R) will retire in 2010, a decision that hands Democrats a prime pickup opportunity in a state where the party has made strides in recent years.  —  “In 1972, I became Missouri's youngest Governor,” Bond said this morning in an address to the Missouri General Assembly.

Obama serves Reid taste of Chicago Way  —  So the Chicago Way hauled off and slapped the U.S. Senate in the face—one of those backhands with the knuckles to unsuspecting lips—and guess who blinked?  —  It wasn't Chicago.  —  It was the Senate.  —  Get used to it, America.

Obama, Spider-Man on the same comic-book page  —  In a growing world of Barack Obama collectibles, one item soon may be swinging above the rest.  —  On Jan. 14, Marvel Comics is releasing a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama depicted on the cover.

Oakland Turns Violent Over Shooting  —  Protesters angry over a deadly New Year's Day shooting of a young black man by a transit police officer erupted into violence in downtown Oakland on Wednesday night while investigators struggled to determine what prompted the officer to fire his gun into the unarmed man's back.

Barack Obama asks longtime University of Chicago professor Cass Sunstein to join his administration  —  Law scholar will handle regulation issues, transition official says  —  WASHINGTON — Cass Sunstein, a longtime University of Chicago legal scholar and prominent author …

Conyers: Obama Should Not Nominate Sanjay Gupta  —  Rep. John Conyers has written a letter to Democratic colleagues urging them to join him in publicly opposing the nomination of Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General.  —  Conyers, the veteran Judiciary Committee chairman, writes that Gupta …

Panel urges impeachment of Blagojevich  —  The special Illinois House panel investigating Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued a draft report today recommending impeachment, putting lawmakers on a path toward removing the two-term Democrat from office.  —  “The citizens of this state must have confidence …

Toll of conflict strikes home as cameraman finds brother dead  —  (CNN) — At a Gaza hospital, doctors tried to revive a 12-year-old victim of the violence, but their efforts were in vain.  Mahmoud died.  —  Recording the tragedy at the hospital was his brother, freelance cameraman Ashraf Mashharawi.

Updated Senate Phone List Erases Norm Coleman  —  The Democratic Senate leadership is doing everything it can to pretend that Norm Coleman doesn't exist.  It shut down his Capitol Hill office earlier this week, and a Senate source provides Mother Jones with a copy of an updated phone list …

Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has yet to relent, but he conceded that he might be losing the battle to keep his independent lifeline to the outside world.  —  “I'm still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday.  “They're going to pry it out of my hands.”

What Are the Chances of a Depression?  —  The answer to the question in the headline, of course, depends on just who you ask.  —  According to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted last month, 35 percent of Americans think that a “depression” — which the poll defines as “an economic downturn …

Obama's ‘first mistakes’ mount  —  Team Obama has made its first mistake — again.  —  When Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary earlier this week, NBC's Andrea Mitchell declared it “the Obama team's first misstep.”  —  But Mitchell had been scooped.

Americans miffed at Howard bumping Obama  —  John Howard's decision to stay at the luxurious Blair House mansion in Washington DC has sparked a firestorm of protest in the US.  —  Outraged American taxpayers are demanding the former Australian prime minister book a hotel or stay at the Australian embassy.

Paterson On Caroline's ‘Pluses And Minuses,’ Decision Timetable  —  Now that the date has been set for Hillary Clinton's secretary of state confirmation hearing (next Tuesday), the pressure is on for Gov. David Paterson to finally make a decision on who he will tap to replace her in the US Senate.

Hamas executes ‘collaborators’, restricts Fatah movement  —  Since the aerial attack on Gaza began, Hamas has sought to suppress individuals it believes endanger the group's fight against Israel and its hold on power in the Strip, as well as public morale.  Prime targets include Fatah members …

A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM THAT DOESN'T EXIST.... You've got to be kidding. … These guys aren't pushing a bill to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine, because it's already gone.  They're pushing a bill to prevent anyone from trying to bring it back — despite the fact that there is no meaningful effort to do so.

Why Obama Will ‘Own’ the Recession  —  For eight decades, Democrats have successfully blamed Republican Herbert Hoover for the decade-long Great Depression.  That, even though Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal failed to restore prosperity or dramatically lower unemployment, and his tax increases in 1937 snuffed out a nascent recovery.

Rumor of the Week: Anna for Ambassador!  —  There's only one way to top Vogue...  (NEW YORK) If the extremely insider rumors are to be believed, could Anna Wintour, the first lady of American fashion, be in the running for an official post in the Obama administration—like, say, an ambassadorship to England or France?

Ex-FEMA head Brown evacuated in Boulder wildfire  —  Ex-FEMA director Michael Brown.  —  Hurricane Katrina victims take note.  Michael Brown is safe.  —  A series of wind-whipped wildfires north of Boulder, Colo., have forced the evacuation of more than 11,500 residents …

President Bush Tried to Rein In Fan and Fred  —  Democrats and the media have the housing story wrong.  —  Mythmaking is in full swing as the Bush administration prepares to leave town.  Among the more prominent is the assertion that the housing meltdown resulted from unbridled capitalism under a president opposed to all regulation.