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 …

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 …

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;

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 …

Mitchell As Envoy Could Split Center … The expected appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could split the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right.  The schism could be particularly deep if …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Obama Will Get His Blackberry  —  President Barack Obama is going to get his blackberry.  —  On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration — but that is probably the National Security Agency — added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package. …

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 …

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.

On Day One, Obama Sets a New Tone  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama moved swiftly on Wednesday to impose new rules on government transparency and ethics, using his first full day in office to freeze the salaries of his senior aides, mandate new limits on lobbyists and demand that the government disclose more information.