Housekeeper and Taxes Are Said to Derail Kennedy's Bid  —  ALBANY — Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday, in an account at odds …

Fred Hiatt and the Washington establishment's bizarre concept of “due process”  —  Barack Obama will have spent his first several days in office issuing a series of executive orders which, some quibbling and important caveats aside, meet or actually exceed even the most optimistic expectations …

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology  —  If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.  —  Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign …

Limbaugh on Hannity: Racism is ‘the exclusive province of the left’  —  Something seems strangely off about Rush Limbaugh in his interview with Sean Hannity yesterday on Fox.  Of course, there's also the crazy things he says, such as his further explanation of why he hopes Barack Obama's presidency fails:

Wounded vets walk out during inaugural ball concert  —  An inaugural ball honoring U.S. military veterans ended in a kerfluffle as several veterans walked out when a musical act's attempt at humor backfired.  —  During the Heroes Red, White & Blue Inaugural Ball honoring the nation's veterans …

John Thain's $87,000 Rug  —  Merrill Shocker: CEO Thain's $87,000 Office Rug by Charlie Gasparino  —  Full Coverage: Obama Inauguration, Bush Farewell  —  Blogs and Stories  —  In a Daily Beast/CNBC exclusive, Charlie Gasparino reveals how Merrill Lynch's CEO spent over $1 million …

Executive Order — Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel  —  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and sections 3301 and 7301 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Chris Matthews' Inaugural Jib-Jabbery  —  The MSNBC motormouth talks a lot, says nothing.  —  Nobody in TV news stir-fries his ideas and serves them to the audience faster than MSNBC's Chris Matthews.  Drawing from a larder filled with old anecdotes, unreliable metaphors, wacky intuition …

Cheney Speaks Out on Libby  —  Former vice president calls prosecution a “serious miscarriage of justice” and disagrees with Bush's decision.  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney disagreed publicly with his boss just four times in the eight years they served together.

Coleman takes a new day job  —  Last session's senior senator from Minnesota Norm Coleman, still battling Al Franken to be seated in the Senate, has taken a paid job as a consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which harshly attacked Obama last fall, its executive director, Matt Brooks, said.

Geithner is approved  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  The Senate Finance Committee approved Timothy Geithner's nomination for Treasury secretary Thursday over the objections of several Republicans.  —  Five Republicans on the committee voted against him …

Obama Orders Secret Prisons and Detention Camps Closed  —  WASHINGTON — Saying that “our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” to combat terrorism, President Obama signed executive orders Thursday effectively ending the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program …

Robert Gibbs's First Briefing: Minute-By-Minute  —  Overall Grade: B+  —  Detail Evasion Technique: 7 out of 10.  —  Telegeniousity: 10/10.  The accent kills.  The suit was nice.  Pointing technique was sharp.  —  Strength of opinion; tenacity; obstinacy: 9 out of 10.  —  Timing: 10 minutes late.

2,688 Days  —  When President Bush left office on Tuesday, America marked 2,688 days without a terrorist attack on its soil.  There are 1,459 days until the next inauguration.  Whether Barack Obama is standing on the Capitol steps to be sworn in a second time depends on whether he succeeds in replicating Bush's achievement.

Local Defense Contractor Raided By FBI, IRS  —  WINDBER, Pa. — Federal agents raided Kuchera Industries, an area defense contractor located in Windber.  —  The entrance of the building was blocked by state and federal authorities.  One by one, Kuchera employees drove off the property.

Video: No stimulus money for white males  —  Wasn't this supposed the era of post-racialism?  Robert Reich apparently didn't get that message.  In his appearance before Congress on structuring the stimulus plan on January 7th, Reich suggested that the package discriminate against white male workers:

Book, TV deal in Sarah Palin's future?  —  Politician enlisting help of superstar D.C. attorney  —  NEW YORK — It looks like Sarah Palin may be ready to tell her remarkable story in print.  —  The former GOP vice presidential candidate has apparently enlisted the help …

This is Just Creepy...: Go to 3:54: “I pledge to be a servant to our president and all mankind.”

Obama CIA choice won't call waterboarding torture  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's choice to head the CIA declined on Thursday to call waterboarding “torture,” only days after his attorney general nominee condemned the interrogation practice as precisely that.

Secretary of State Clinton Arrives at Foggy Bottom  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived for her first day of work at the State Department Thursday, assuming the mantle of the nation's chief diplomat and preparing to name a pair of renowned diplomats to serve as special emissaries to the Middle East and South Asia.

Repudiating Bush legal counsel  —  This, from the executive order on interrogation, is pretty stark: … Today's executive orders are after the jump.

New poll on torture and investigations negates Beltway conventional wisdom  —  (updated below)  —  One of the most common and most corrosive aspects of our political discourse is the endless assertions — based on nothing — about what “Americans believe.”

Anti-Card Check Forces Target Obama Supporters  —  Here's an unusual web ad from the business-backed Workforce Fairness Institute.  They were set up to oppose EFCA, or “card check” legislation making it easier to unionize.  They've been active in states, and are trying to persuade soft Democrats …