Obama rides rails to capital, as onlookers cheer  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama, cheered by onlookers along the train route Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half earlier, undertook the final leg …

BLOCK THE STIMULUS, HELP THE GOP.... Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, now seeking the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, has a new reason to oppose an economic rescue package: it might help Democrats. … Now, from a policy perspective, most of this is incoherent.

Barnicle Man, Barnicle Man, Doing The Things That Barnicles Can  —  Matthew Yglesias at Think Progress catches this Mike Barnicle/Mika Brezenski exchange on “Morning Joe”: … http://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=1MEjX6ITLqY  —  Yup, sure is a disgrace to journalism when you're anonymous ...

Obama may not lift stem cell limits  —  PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama signaled Friday that he might not use his executive authority to reverse Bush-era limits on stem cell research, but instead might wait for Congress to change the policy.  —  Obama pledged during the campaign …

The Only Thing We Have to Fear . . .  is Obama.  —  Barack Obama is the apostle of hope.  But he also arouses the flipside of hope—fear.  And while the fear he stirs may turn out to be unfounded, it's not irrational.  People don't know who Obama really is or where his ideological center of gravity rests …

The Growing Foreclosure Crisis  —  One oft-repeated assertion no longer holds true.  Those in trouble are not, primarily, lower-income borrowers.  The foreclosure crisis has become a wave, afflicting neighborhoods of every stripe — but particularly communities created by the boom itself.

By Request: Missing the Trees  —  John Bedell writes: … I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan and didn't actually realize how much I like to have a little greenery around until I moved to a rowhouse neighborhood in DC and got my hands on a small backyard.

Obama For America Becomes Organizing For America  —  PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Obama political machine is merging with the Democratic National Committee.  —  The President-elect launched Obama 2.0, or Organizing for America, this morning with a YouTube video.

Inaugural Panel Sells Exclusive TV Rights  —  Barack Obama's inaugural organizing committee has struck deals with three television networks to the tune of more than $5 million, giving the networks exclusive access to inaugural events.  But the arrangement is prompting questions …

Obama tries to seduce Republicans  —  It's no secret Barack Obama is trying to seduce Republicans these days.  But his conservative courting runs much deeper and wider than is publicly known.  —  Obama has had meetings with his former opponent John McCain, GOP congressional leaders …

Israel plans ceasefire, Hamas vows to fight on  —  GAZA (Reuters) - Israel plans to halt its Gaza offensive without any deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said on Saturday, in an apparent effort to deny the Islamist group any gains from the three-week-old conflict.

Hamas and Hezbollah supporters return to Calgary's Jewish neighbourhood  —  I don't get it.  Glenmore Landing is private property; with a word RioCan, the landlord, could demand that the pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah goons, who now gather there weekly, leave.  That's what mall security does when teens loiter on skateboards.