Obama preparing order to close Gitmo  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.  —  That executive order is expected during Obama's first week on the job …

Press Conference by the President  —  James S. Brady Press Briefing Room  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.  Tapper.  We have been through a lot together.  As I look through the room, I see Jake, Mike, Herman, Ann Compton.  Just seemed like yesterday that — that I was on the campaign trail …

Dem senators to swear in Burris  —  The Roland Burris saga is over, as Democratic Senate leaders have accepted his credentials and will swear him in as the junior senator from Illinois by the end of this week.  —  The decision ends an embarrassing chapter in Democratic politics and allows …

RNC Chair Candidate: “Homosexuality is a compulsion that can be contained, repressed or changed.”  —  Yes, that's what Ken Blackwell, the sketchy former Ohio Secretary of State who now has a good shot at running the Republican National Committee, told me a few months back, among some other very interesting and kooky things.

Israel bans Arab parties from running in upcoming elections  —  The Central Elections Committee on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who said he would challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court.

Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.

Student auctions off virginity for offers of more than £2.5 million  —  A student who is auctioning her virginity to pay for a masters degree in Family and Marriage therapy has seen bidding hit £2.5million ($3.7m).  —  Natalie Dylan, 22, claims her offer of a one-night stand …

NYT reporter warns of one-term Obama  —  White House reporters for The New York Times predict that the market collapse will force President-elect Barack Obama to abandon for now many of his campaign promises.  —  If his stimulus plan “doesn't work out, he may very well be a one-term president …

Joe the Plumber: Ban media from war  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, is in Israel.  (Getty Images/Israeli GPO)  —  (CNN) - ‘Joe the Plumber’ Wurzelbacher told a group of journalists covering the conflict in Israel and Gaza that he didn't think the media should be allowed to report on war.

A COUPLE IN CHICAGO … MICHELLE OBAMA: There is a strong possibility that Barack will pursue a political career, although it's unclear.  There is a little tension with that.  I'm very wary of politics.  I think he's too much of a good guy for the kind of brutality, the skepticism.

On Analogies  —  I did a post the other day that used an anecdote from my real life to illustrate a point about the concept of self-defense.  Since the point was relevant to the debate over the fighting in Gaza, I tried to explicitly say that I didn't want the story to be read as an analogy since …

THE BEAST 50 MOST LOATHSOME PEOPLE IN AMERICA, 2008  —  50. Barack Obama  —  Charges: Beyond a few token acts of bipartisan marketing, Barry's major duty in the Senate was to avoid legislating, so he could pretend Washington-outsider status and nullify attacks on his non-existent policy positions.

Voinovich Announces Retirement, GOP Problems Mount  —  Ohio Sen. George Voinovich is retiring in 2010, the fourth Republican to announce he is stepping aside at the end of his term.  —  Voinovich announced his retirement this morning after a weekend filled with speculation that he was planning to step aside.

Obama climate czar has socialist ties  —  Group sees ‘global governance’ as solution  —  Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society …

Gay bishop will open inaugural weekend  —  The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop in 2003, will deliver the invocation for Sunday's kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Presidential Inaugural Committee said.

Scarborough: 'That's the silliest thing I've ever heard' that torture doesn't work.»  —  Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough waged an ardent, six-minute defense of torture, arguing with the Financial Times' Krystia Freeland that torture is always effective …

The Founders' Great Mistake  —  FOR THE PAST eight years, George W. Bush has treated the White House much as Kenneth Grahame's Mr. Toad treated a new automobile—like a shiny toy to be wrecked by racing the motor, spinning smoke from the tires, and smashing through farmyards until the wheels come off.