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 …

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.

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.

Obama Starts Reversing Bush Policies  —  Guantanamo Order Readied; Lobbying Rules Tightened  —  President Obama moved swiftly yesterday to begin rolling back eight years of his predecessor's policies, ordering tough new ethics rules and preparing to issue an order closing the detention facility …

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

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.

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 …

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 …

Robert Reich: Keep stimulus money away from skilled workers and “white male contractors”  —  I missed Clintonite moldy oldie-turned-Obama economic adviser Robert Reich's testimony a few weeks ago on how the government should spend federal stimulus money.  The Berkeley professor engaged …

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.”

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 …

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 …

Obama Issues Directive to Shut Guantánamo  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama signed executive orders Thursday directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year, government officials said.

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 …

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

Levin: I've Suggested To Eric Holder That He Should Appoint An Independent Investigator On Torture  —  Responding to a question earlier this month, President Obama didn't rule out the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor to “independently investigate” the “greatest crimes” committed by the Bush administration.

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

A word about Timothy Geithner  —  I recognize that dealing with the world financial/economic crisis is the most important next thing the Obama Administration has to do.  Without detailed knowledge, I am willing to accept that Geithner is a crucially well-prepared member of the team that will help …

Government Spending Is No Free Lunch  —  Now the Democrats are peddling voodoo economics.  —  Back in the 1980s, many commentators ridiculed as voodoo economics the extreme supply-side view that across-the-board cuts in income-tax rates might raise overall tax revenues.

White House may put hold on offshore drilling plan  —  U.S. President Barack Obama may order a hold on a proposal issued in the final days of the Bush administration to expand offshore drilling in previously banned areas, an Interior Department official told Reuters on Wednesday.

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.

Obama lobbying ban hits DC reality  —  When is a ban on lobbyists in an administration not a ban on lobbyists in an administration?  When you need a lobbyist who knows how the Pentagon works to help run the defense establishment.  —  That's the situation the new Obama Administration finds itself in.

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.”