From the White House Briefing Room, a Swan Song  —  President Bush's last press conference opened with cordial words for the reporters who have covered his remarkable eight years in office.  —  Acknowledging that relations have been strained at times - that some had “misunderestimated me …

Continuity We Can Believe In  —  Barack Obama made news Sunday on ABC's “This Week”: The White House dog will likely be a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water dog.  —  I've got to say I'm a little disappointed.  These are nice, friendly, generally obedient breeds (or in the case of the Labradoodle, a crossbreed).

Joe the Plumber is here, and he ain't happy  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher of Ohio, aka Joe the Plumber, arrived in Sderot at noon Sunday to show local and foreign reporters how to do it right.  —  “You should be ashamed of yourself,” he told foreign reporters.  —  “You should be patriotic …

Iran warns Hamas not to accept Egyptian truce proposal  —  Iran is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, an Egyptian government official said on Sunday.  —  The official told The Jerusalem Post by phone that two senior Iranian officials …

Golden Globes glow with language like that &*%$#@ Blagojevich  —  Usually it's pop culture rubbing off on politics.  —  But Sunday night it sounded like the other %#$&+* way around.  —  As our LATimes.com colleagues Rachel Abramovitz and Tom O'Neil note elsewhere on this site and elsewhere here …

Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax  —  Democrats Want to Freeze Levy at Current Levels Instead of Letting It Expire Next Year  —  President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the …

Let's Invent an iTunes for News  —  Last Tuesday, iTunes, Apple's ubiquitous online music store that sold more than 2.4 billion tracks last year alone, changed its own tune, announcing that songs would no longer be sold with copying restrictions and that they would be available at various prices.

Ideas for Obama  —  Last week President-elect Barack Obama was asked to respond to critics who say that his stimulus plan won't do enough to help the economy.  Mr. Obama answered that he wants to hear ideas about “how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy.”

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.

If Not Ken Blackwell, Keep Mike Duncan  —  RedState endorses Ken Blackwell for Chairman of the Republican National Committee.  —  While RedState's endorsement in the race for Chairman of the Republican National Committee does not set us apart from many of our colleagues in the online right movement, our second choice does.

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 …

Former top Bush officials back Holder  —  Two more former top Bush Justice Department officials have endorsed the nomination of Eric Holder for attorney general, the latest in a growing list of GOP backers for Holder.  —  In letters obtained by Politico and expected to be released shortly …

Blagojevich to swear in Senate, then members start his trial  —  A surreal scenario is expected to play out Wednesday in the Illinois Senate: Against a ceremonial backdrop of pomp and circumstance, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich will preside over the swearing-in of the very same lawmakers whose …

Burris may breeze into Senate  —  Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) suggested Sunday evening that Democratic leaders may not require that a Senate panel review the appointment of Roland Burris before he is sworn in as the next senator from Illinois.  —  “This thing changes by the day,” Durbin said.

Obama, Top Aides Lobby for Rest of Bailout Funds  —  Top Aide Heads to Hill to Press Senators  —  President-elect Barack Obama and his team stepped up efforts yesterday to get Congress to approve spending the remaining $350 billion of the controversial $700 billion financial rescue package that was passed last year.