Obama's Order Is Likely to Tighten Auto Standards  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday.

Republicans Are Resistant to Obama's Stimulus Plan  —  Republicans plan to test President Obama's commitment to bipartisanship as his $825 billion stimulus package heads to the floor of the House of Representatives this week, with the House Republican leader saying Sunday morning …

KENNEDYS LIVID AS GOV ASKED CAROLINE TO ‘LIE’  —  An “apoplectic” Kennedy family is seething over the rough treatment that heiress apparent Caroline got from Gov. Paterson's office and is spoiling for revenge, several sources close to the clan have told The Post.

Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look  —  WASHINGTON — Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout …

Will Obama Save Liberalism?  —  All good things must come to an end.  Jan. 20, 2009, marked the end of a conservative era.  —  Since Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, conservatives of various sorts, and conservatisms of various stripes, have generally been in the ascendancy.  And a good thing, too!

Fed May Gain More Financial Oversight  —  Some Worry Plan Would Give Bank Too Much Power  —  Congress is moving to create strong new oversight of the financial sector that would likely give the Federal Reserve authority to examine the workings of a wide range of companies in an attempt …

Top Dem: No comprehensive health reform this year  —  A prominent House Democrat said he doesn't expect a comprehensive healthcare reform bill to pass Congress in 2009, saying an incremental approach to covering the uninsured would be better “than to go out and just bite something you can't chew.”

PELOSI SAYS BIRTH CONTROL WILL HELP ECONOMY  —  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic “stimulus” package, claiming “contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.”

Blagojevich in NBC interview compares himself to Gandhi, King and Mandela  —  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy  —  Impeached Gov. Blagojevich, on the first leg of his media blitz timed to the start of his impeachment trial, in an NBC interview broadcast …

Time Running Out For A Two-State Solution?  —  60 Minutes: Growing Number Of Israelis, Palestinians Say Two-State Solution Is No Longer Possible  —  (CBS) Getting a peace deal in the Middle East is such a priority to President Obama that his first foreign calls on his first day in office were to Arab and Israeli leaders.

Swedish Police Chief Allows Antisemitic Stonethrowing Mob To Attack Demonstrators  —  Update:  —  The Twingly-service, that lists blogs that link to an article in a newspaper, at first showed my blog posts about the demo.  Now, all Twingly-links to the newspaper Sydsvenskan have been removed.

Economy in free fall in fourth quarter  —  Worst quarter since early 1980s, and more to come  —  WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy contracted violently in the fourth quarter, with gross domestic product falling at its fastest pace in more than 25 years, economists said ahead …

Lending Drops at Big U.S. Banks  —  Top Beneficiaries of Federal Cash Saw Outstanding Loans Decline 1.4% Last Quarter  —  Lending at many of the nation's largest banks fell in recent months, even after they received $148 billion in taxpayer capital that was intended to help the economy by making loans more readily available.

Drug Lawyer Turns Informant, Stings Clients  —  Share This: Digg!  —  This is an amazing story.  Frank Pignatelli was a criminal defense attorney representing drug defendants in Akron Ohio.  He got busted for helping his clients buy stash houses and faced a criminal indictment.