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 …

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 …

Coleman takes a 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.

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.

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 …

Gazan doctor says death toll inflated  —  Physician at Gaza's Shifa Hospital tells Italian newspaper number of dead in Israeli offensive ‘stands at no more than 500 or 600, most of them youths recruited to Hamas’ ranks'.  Senior Palestinian Health Ministry official denies claims …

Oaf of Office  —  IN 1969, Neil Armstrong appeared to have omitted an indefinite article as he stepped onto the moon and left earthlings puzzled over the difference between “man” and “mankind.”  In 1980, Jimmy Carter, accepting his party's nomination, paid homage to a former vice president he called Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

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:

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:

Aide: Caroline “became aware of a personal situation”  —  The Daily News' Ken Lovett reports:  —  Caroline Kennedy's aides this morning are saying her decision to withdraw from consideration for the U.S. Senate seat had nothing to do with the health of her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy.

MSNBC Wants to Add a 3rd Prime-Time Show  —  WASHINGTON — Building on the momentum of its prime-time hours, MSNBC is developing a 10 p.m. program that would complement its left-leaning evening lineup, the cable news channel's president said this week.  —  A new program could increase …

Merrill delivered bonuses before BofA deal  —  Merrill Lynch took the unusual step of accelerating bonus payments by a month last year, doling out billions of dollars to employees just three days before the closing of its sale to Bank of America.  —  The timing is notable because the money …

Limbaugh Claims He's Being Told ‘To Bend Over, Grab The Ankles’ Because Obama's ‘Father Was Black’  —  Last night on Fox News, host Sean Hannity sat down with right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh to discuss Limbaugh's “general thoughts” of President Obama and his new administration.

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 …

Kennedy Drops Senate Bid For ‘Personal Reasons’  —  WATCH: Live Video Outside Kennedy's Apartment  —  Despite Conflicting Reports, Princess Of Camelot Informs Gov. Paterson She Is Withdrawing From Consideration  —  Cuomo, Suozzi, Maloney, Israel Catapulted To Head Of Pack

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

The One-State Solution  —  THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which ended with this weekend's cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important.  It is vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice …

Decline in PC Orders Leads to Microsoft Layoffs  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Spooked by a rapid decline in orders for personal computers, Microsoft, the world's largest software company, initiated the first broad layoffs in the company's history on Thursday and warned of waning technology spending in the months and even years to come.

Countdown: NSA Surveillance Far Vaster Than Admitted; Targeted Regular Citizens and Journalists  —  It didn't take twenty four hours after the end of the Bush presidency for the latest scandal to come out—hopefully, it will not go down the memory hole of those eager to “look forward.”

President Obama's first call ‘was to President Abbas’  —  President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”.  —  In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office …

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.”

And the Nominees Are:  —  BEST PICTURE  —  * “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)  —  * “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)  —  * “Milk” (Focus Features)  —  * “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)  —  * “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight)  —  BEST ACTOR

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 …

TurboTax denies responsibility for Geithner's mistakes  —  If you're an executive at Intuit, which makes a substantial chunk of change filing people's tax returns, you probably don't want to anger the future head of the Treasury—which, of course, contains the Internal Revenue Service, the ultimate consumer of your output.