Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video  —  WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two men released from the US “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.  —  One of the two former inmates …

Limbaugh Responds to Obama  —  According to an account in the New York Post, President Barack Obama yesterday told Republican leaders, “You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”  With George W. Bush now off the stage, it may be that Obama and some of his fellow Democrats view Limbaugh …

Obama's Partisan, Profane Confidant Reins It In  —  WASHINGTON — Early this month, Barack Obama was meeting with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other lawmakers when Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, began nervously cracking a knuckle.  —  Mr. Obama then turned to complain to Mr. Emanuel about his noisy habit.

Obama Starts With 68% Job Approval  —  One of the better initial ratings of post-World War II presidents  — USA - Gallup Daily - Government and Politics - Leadership - Presidential Job Approval - Americas - Northern America  —  PRINCETON, NJ — In the first Gallup Poll job approval rating …

MS. KENNEDY REGRETS  —  She's unable to be in the Senate today.  —  Last Tuesday, Caroline Kennedy attended the Presidential Inauguration.  The sun was shining on the Capitol, the sky was blue, the Marine Band was playing.  Barack Obama, for whom she had campaigned ardently for nearly a year …

Michelle Obama: ‘Inappropriate’ to use daughters to sell dolls  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - They've been in the White House less than a week, but the first daughters have already been co-opted by marketers — and Michelle Obama isn't happy about it.  —  Ty, the toy company responsible …

Obama Plans Fast Action to Tighten Financial Rules  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to move quickly to tighten the nation's financial regulatory system.  —  Officials say they will make wide-ranging changes, including stricter federal rules for hedge funds …

House Stimulus Bill (FULL TEXT)  —  The 647-page House stimulus package scored the coveted designation of H.R. 1, which the Speaker reserves for her highest legislative or symbolic priority.  The bill is a combination of legislation that moved this week through the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Appropriations Committees.

Reagan wouldn't recognize this GOP  —  The Gipper may be the patron saint of Limbaugh and Coulter, but he'd be amazed at what's been done in his name.  —  In my mind's eye, I can see Ronald Reagan, wearing wings and a Stetson, perched on a cloud and watching all the goings-on down here in his old earthly home.

Price Paid for Merrill Is Rising  —  You could hardly blame Kenneth D. Lewis, the embattled leader of the Bank of America Corporation, for feeling a bit of buyer's remorse.  —  His audacious acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the giant brokerage, looks so disastrous that many on Wall Street wonder if he can keep his job.

There's no new motor to drive the economy  —  Forget all the talk of post-recession rebuilding.  We were living beyond our means and must now reduce our expectations  —  There's a piece of fashionable political nonsense you should be vaccinated against before the virus hits us …

The Worst Pop Singer Ever  —  Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?  —  This may seem an odd moment to bring up the subject of Billy Joel.  But the recent death of the painter Andrew Wyeth revived a long-standing debate over whether his art is respectable or merely sentimental schlock.

Obama raises heart rates, lowers expectations  —  His boring inaugural doesn't diminish his hotness in the eyes of his usual acolytes.  —  Recommend  —  How dazzling is President Obama?  So dazzling that he didn't merely give a dazzling inaugural speech.  Any old timeserving hack could do that.

Blowhards  —  The fabulous debate over wind power on Nantucket Sound.  —  For all the hype about the Bush Administration's oil-and-gas energy bias, one of its last official acts was to give the go-ahead to what could be America's first offshore wind farm — thus enraging more than a few self-deputized environmentalists.

Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Barack Obama opened his presidency by breaking sharply from George W. Bush's unpopular administration, but he mostly avoided divisive partisan and ideological stands.

Obama Presents Further Details on Economic Stimulus  —  President Obama laid out the most detailed benchmarks to date of his massive economic recovery package this morning as he took to the airwaves with urgency, warning in his first weekly presidential address that the economy …

Elections are test for al-Maliki, Iraq  —  BAGHDAD - Iraqis vote Saturday in the first nationwide election in three years, choosing provincial leaders in what amounts to a test of Iraq's stability as the U.S. plans to remove its troops.  —  In contrast to Iraq's three previous ballots since …