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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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:

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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:

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

Is Bank Nationalization Really the Way To Go?  —  Matt Yglesias puts forward some of the current arguments for nationalizing insolvent banks; Paul Krugman and Felix Salmon are pushing a similar approach.  Maybe, but I'm not yet convinced.  —  It's easy enough to argue that any single bank yields …

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 …