Paterson Picks Gillibrand for Senate Seat  —  ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has selected Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, a 42-year-old congresswoman from upstate who is known for bold political moves and centrist policy positions, to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Officials: Obama to reverse abortion policy  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions …

The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media  —  Edited by Tunku Varadarajan, Elisabeth Eaves and Hana R. Alberts, 01.22.09, 04:02 PM EST  —  Listen for their voices during the Obama era.  —  Barack Obama's inauguration was the formal point at which the reigning ideology in Washington changed from “conservative” to “liberal.”

The Jack Bauer Exception  —  Obama's executive order wants it both ways on interrogation.  —  Most politicians would rather do anything than make a difficult choice, and it seems President Obama hasn't abandoned this Senatorial habit.  To wit, yesterday's executive order on interrogation …

Obama flashes irritation in press room  —  President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question.  —  Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration …

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

Bush's ‘War’ On Terror Comes to a Sudden End  —  President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects.  With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the “war on terror,” as President George W. Bush had defined it …

Obama's Inaugural Surprise  —  Fascinating speech.  It was so rhetorically flat, so lacking in rhythm and cadence, one almost has to believe he did it on purpose.  Best not to dazzle on Opening Day.  Otherwise, they'll expect magic all the time.  —  The most striking characteristic …

Stimulus Plan Meets More GOP Resistance  —  Obama to Reiterate Appeal for Bipartisanship  —  Just days after taking office vowing to end the political era of “petty grievances,” President Obama ran into mounting GOP opposition yesterday to an economic stimulus plan that he had hoped would receive broad bipartisan support.

Ill. gov tells AP that strain is like Pearl Harbor  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois' embattled but defiant governor turned to the history books to describe the emotional strain on him and his family, comparing his arrest last month to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

Dumping on Robert Barro  —  Matt Yglesias has a very good post on Robert Barro's latest.  Brad DeLong seems to agree with Matt.  Paul Krugman uses the word “boneheaded” to describe the Barro piece.  —  This exchange is a good micro-cosm of how the stimulus debate has proceeded.

The Frigid Fingers Were Live, but the Music Wasn't  —  It was not precisely lip-synching, but pretty close.  —  The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama's oath of office at the inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues.

ACLU Lays Off A Tenth Of Workforce  —  The American Civil Liberties Union, impacted by the unfolding economic crisis, laid off ten percent of its national workforce this week.  Thirty-six staffers lost their jobs, including five in the Washington, D.C. legislative office, a source familiar with the firings told the Huffington Post.

Fair-Wage Bill Clears The Senate  —  High Court Decision Would Be Overturned  —  A wage-discrimination bill that narrowly failed less than a year ago moved closer to becoming law last night, when the Senate passed the legislation and sent it back to the House for final consideration.

Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide  —  A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack.  The world's leading computer security experts do not yet know who programmed the infection, or what the next stage will be.

Submission in the Netherlands  —  “The Freedom Party (PVV),” read yesterday's press release, “is shocked by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal's decision to prosecute Geert Wilders for his statements and opinions.  Geert Wilders considers this ruling an all-out assault on freedom of speech.”

First Stem-Cell Trial Is Approved  —  In a watershed moment for one of the most contentious areas of science and American politics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for the first-ever human trial of a medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cells.

White House Cheat Sheet: Obama's Best Friend in the Senate?  —  President Obama's executive order that ensures Guantanamo Bay prison will be shuttered within the year brought praise from many within the Democratic party who viewed the move as long overdue.  —  It also drew plaudits from a …