Obama meets with liberal columnists  —  Obama held a meeting with several columnists and liberal commentators this morning, following up on last night's dinner with conservative writers, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting.  Some of the writers there today are clearly on the liberal side, while others more moderate.

Tim Geithner!  Why Are Rich People So Cheap?  —  Smart is the new cool.  —  So said Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools' chief, at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday to be Barack Obama's education secretary.  —  Obama's brainy ways and political posse of “hot nerds,” …

Why Israel Can't Make Peace With Hamas  —  IN the summer of 2006, at a moment when Hezbollah rockets were falling virtually without pause on northern Israel, Nizar Rayyan, husband of four, father of 12, scholar of Islam and unblushing executioner, confessed to me one of his frustrations.

Kennedy Fades As New Yorkers Back Cuomo For Senate, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; More Voters Don't Think Kennedy Is Qualified  —  New York State voters have cooled on Caroline Kennedy and more voters now prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 31 - 24 percent for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat …

U.S. military report warns ‘sudden collapse’ of Mexico is possible  —  President-elect Barack Obama listens as Mexico's President Felipe Calderon makes a statement to reporters in Washington, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009.  Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse …

WARREN COUNTY, N.J. NEWS  —  Real-time news for Belvidere, Phillipsburg and more  —  Boy named Adolf Hitler, his sisters removed from parents' home by New Jersey authorities … State authorities have removed Adolf Hilter Campbell and his two sisters from their parents' home in Holland Township …

Inauguration declared ‘emergency’  —  Unprecedented action helps D.C. cover costs  —  Dan Leaderman and Jon Ward THE WASHINGTON TIMES  —  President Bush on Tuesday declared the District a federal emergency area, clearing the way for the city to receive federal money to help cover …

Afghan Schoolgirls Undeterred by Attack  —  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — One morning two months ago, Shamsia Husseini and her sister were walking through the muddy streets to the local girls school when a man pulled alongside them on a motorcycle and posed what seemed like an ordinary question.

Bush Presidency Closes With 34% Approval, 61% Disapproval  —  Three-quarters of Republicans approve of Bush, up slightly from recent months  — USA - Democrats - Government and Politics - Independents - Presidential Job Approval - Republicans - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America

BART officer arrested on murder warrant in NY Day shooting  —  (01-14) 00:13 PST Oakland — The BART police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform and then refused to explain his actions to investigators was arrested Tuesday in Nevada on suspicion of murder, authorities said.

Bin Laden Challenges Obama in New Audio Message  —  “Is America Capable of Fighting Us After Bush?”  Osama Asks.  —  In a direct challenge to President-elect Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden questions whether America “is capable to keep fighting us for more years” in a new audio message attributed …

Gibbs: Ending 'don't ask, don't tell' must wait  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — In an overlooked YouTube video posted on Friday, a spokesman for Barack Obama said the president-elect is committed to ending the policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

GOP could win 3 key Senate seats  —  Despite the shock of three recent Senate retirements in battleground states, Republicans find themselves unusually well-positioned to weather the loss and compete for those open seats in 2010 — a stark contrast from the dismal early recruiting environment in 2008.

4G war, conflicts of interest loom behind possible DTV delay  —  Last week, President-elect Barack Obama's call for a delay in the Digital TV transition, long scheduled for February, sent tech and telecom firms into a tizzy.  Both Verizon and the Consumer Electronics Association have been pushing …

Joe the Plumber—Out of His Depth  —  Previously in this space I remarked that PJTV's sending Joe The Plumber to Israel felt like a shark-jumping publicity stunt and it was a risk that could put PJTV's credibility at risk.  —  After watching a few reports , I felt Joe was fine, when he related things as the average Joe that he is.

Current, Future Justice Officials Clash Over OLC Proposal  —  In a revealing conflict of views between outgoing and incoming Justice Department officials, Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently told Congress that a proposal that was conceived by Prof. Dawn Johnsen to require expanded reporting …

Barack Obama's money machine: Now he's selling orange juice!  —  We've written here before about the compulsion of Barack Obama's campaign and transition team and inauguration team to send out e-mails seemingly every day pleading for more money and more money, even weeks after he won the whole national election.

Unfairly Rewarding Greedy Bankers, and Why It Works  —  There's been a lot of grousing lately about the Treasury's $700 billion bailout program, which, according to its many critics, has accomplished nothing other than line the pockets of undeserving bankers and their shareholders.

Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official  —  Trial Overseer Cites ‘Abusive’ Methods Against 9/11 Suspect  —  The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned …

Race and The Israel Lobby  —  Freddie deBoer emails: … It's a fair issue to raise.  To be clear, I don't think that Walt and Mearsheimer are mimicking anti-Semitic tropes intentionally; I think they're doing so obtusely, in the course of a tendentious and simplistic argument about the roots of U.S. foreign policy.

The House Republicans Propose A Stimulus Alternative  —  There is no pride of authorship, President-elect Barack Obama said last week.  His economic team is open to and all ideas, regardless of progenitor.  —  So — the Republican Study Committee in the House has come out with an all-tax, no spending variant.

A Call to the New President for Responsible U.S. Global Engagement Released  —  Over 145 signatories reflect unprecedented and unusual collaboration across issue areas.  —  Today, the Connect U.S. Fund released A Call to the New President for Responsible U.S. Global Engagement …

Obama Should Act Like He Won  —  As we anxiously await the debut of the Obama administration, we hear more and more about the incoming president's “post-partisan” instincts.  He has filled his cabinet with relics of the centrist Clinton years.  He has engaged the evangelical pastor Rick Warren …