Kennedy Withdraws Senate Bid  —  Caroline Kennedy announced early Thursday that she was withdrawing from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York, startling the state's political world after weeks in which she was considered a top contender for the post.

Obama takes presidential oath again after stumble  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office.  Again.  Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama …

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle … Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own ‘clinically depressed’ pet dog.  —  The 76-year-old statesman was savaged by his white Maltese dog …

Clinton Is Approved, but Vote on Holder Is Delayed  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate as President Obama's secretary of state on Wednesday, but the new president will have to wait at least a week for a vote on his choice to lead the Justice Department.

Obama blows off Medal of Honor recipients  —  According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that's 14 Inaugurations).  —  Some background on the ball;

EXCLUSIVE: Obama to close terrorist ‘black sites’  —  President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture …

Obama to Shut Guantánamo Site and C.I.A. Prisons  —  President Obama is expected to sign orders that would rewrite American rules for the detention of terrorism suspects.

TurboTax Doesn't Prompt Users to Pay Self-Employment Taxes?  Or Just Geithner's Copy of the Software?  —  In today's confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner said he used TurboTax to prepare his returns for the years in question where he failed to pay self-employment taxes …

Foxman: George Mitchell is too ‘fair’ and ‘even-handed’ to serve as Middle East envoy.»  —  The media is reporting that former Sen. George Mitchell, who handled the Northern Ireland peace process, is being eyed by the Obama administration to be a top diplomatic envoy to the Middle East.

Obama inauguration got unprecedented news coverage  —  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's inauguration generated an unprecedented 35,000 stories in the world's major newspapers, television and radio broadcasts over the past day — about 35 times more than the last presidential swearing-in …

Murtha Says He'd Take Guantanamo Prisoners in His District  —  Rep. Jack Murtha volunteers to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his Pennsylvania district, as President Obama prepares to order the shut-down of the facility.  —  FOXNews.com  —  Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa. …

In U.S., 60% Tuned In to Inauguration as It Happened  —  Nearly half (46%) rate Obama's speech as excellent  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans tuned in live to the presidential inauguration ceremonies on Tuesday.  Another 20% heard or read news reports of the event while 20% caught none of it.

A major Bush rule gets scrapped by Obama  —  (CNN) — It's the same Oval Office.  The same desk.  Even the same curtains.  But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won't find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.

Intelligence Agencies' Databases Set to Be Linked  —  After Years of Bureaucratic Snags, System Aims to Ease Communications, Give Spies Access to More Data  —  WASHINGTON — U.S. spy agencies' sensitive data should soon be linked by Google-like search systems, nearly five years …

Found - AGAIN - the Poster Source Photo  —  The photographer is MANNIE GARCIA, a Washington DC freelancer for the Associated Press.  —  Driving home from Washington after the inauguration, cruising on adrenalin from covering the historic event and then stopping two or three times for coffee …

Coleman packs, vows to continue Senate seat fight  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Norm Coleman began packing his Capitol Hill office Wednesday, but said he has no intention of giving up his legal fight to serve another term in Congress.  —  Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota, trails Democrat Al Franken by 225 votes.

Maybe We Should Share Our Stories of antisemitism  —  Reading through the comments generated by my two posts (here and here) on antisemitism so far has gotten me thinking about how many of us-Jewish or not, but especially Jewish-ever really talk about our experiences with antisemitism …