FIRST THOUGHTS: STIMULUS WINNERS, LOSERS  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Stimulus winners and losers: For the fourth-consecutive day, President Obama hits the road to sell his stimulus — this time visiting Caterpillar in Peoria, IL, before heading to Springfield …

No Mandate for Criminal Probes of Bush Administration  —  Most favor investigations into controversial terror techniques, possible abuse of Justice Dept.  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Earlier this week, Sen. Patrick Leahy called for a special commission to investigate possible government wrongdoing …

WSJ Editorial Page: Can a newspaper be more misleading than this?  —  Wall St. Journal Editorial Page, today: … Ari Fleischer, Tuesday night, The Bill O'Reilly Show: … Eric Boehlert, Lapdogs: … Michael Crowley, The New York Observer: … Deliberate deceit or complete editorial recklessness …

Juan Williams, NPR and Fox News  —  Juan Williams.  —  NPR has more than 400 reporters, editors, producers and analysts on its news team, and none is more of a lightning rod than Juan Williams.  But it's usually not for anything he says on NPR.  —  Williams joined NPR in 2000 …

John DiStaso's Granite Status: Nashua man's two cents worth $100,000  —  A GRASSROOTS EFFORT.  Fred Tausch of Nashua is a frustrated, well-to-do businessman who got tired of watching politicians of both parties spending taxpayers' money.  And so, spending $100,000 of his own money, he's trying to do something about it.

Judges will hear which absentee ballots should count today  —  In a reverse from the recount, DFLer Al Franken wants to restrict the number, while Republican Norm Coleman wants more counted.  —  In what could prove to be the most important day of the U.S. Senate election trial so far …

Dutch MP refused entry to Britain  —  A Dutch MP who called the Koran a “fascist book” has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK.  —  Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders had been invited to show his controversial film - which links the Islamic holy book …

True Cost of Stimulus: $3.27 Trillion  —  All of the major news outlets are reporting that the stimulus bill voted out of conference committee last night has a meager $789 billion price tag.  This number is pure fantasy.  No one believes that the increased funding for programs the left loves …

More Employers Fight Unemployment Benefits  —  In Record Numbers, Employers Move to Block Unemployment Payouts  —  It's hard enough to lose a job.  But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.

Bush to give speech at private event in Canada  —  lstahl@dallasnews.com  —  Former President George W. Bush's first confirmed speaking engagement since leaving office will take him from Crawford to Canada.  —  Invitations to the event, billed as “a conversation with George W. Bush,” …

Pelosi's mouse slated for $30M slice of cheese  —  UPDATED:  —  Talk about a pet project.  A tiny mouse with the longtime backing of a political giant may soon reap the benefits of the economic-stimulus package.  —  Lawmakers and administration officials divulged Wednesday …

Bill Ayers has an idea for Palin  —  (CNN) - Sarah Palin once accused Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” a catchphrase intended to highlight Obama's connection to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers.  —  Now that the campaign rhetoric has subsided, Ayers has an idea for a new show starring his Alaskan nemesis.

Rahm's fingerprints all over package, tactics  —  Rahm Emanuel may have moved his office down Pennsylvania Avenue, but to stand in the hallways of the Capitol lately, it seems he never left.  —  And if anyone's fingerprints are on the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package being sorted …

Hoyer: GOP can't write half of every bill  —  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Thursday dismissed Republican complaints about not being able to “write exactly half of every bill” as a “deeply elitist idea.”  —  Speaking at a forum sponsored by Georgetown University and Politico …

Runaway Stimulus  —  The president, convinced that the only thing America has to fear is an insufficiency of fear, has warned that “disaster” and “catastrophe” are the certain alternatives to swift passage of the stimulus legislation.  One marvels at his certitude more than one envies his custody of this adventure.

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai's fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

Obama Misreads His Mandate  —  Reagan didn't assume his landslide was a license for whatever he wanted.  —  President Barack Obama's honeymoon period seems to have ended quickly.  That's because Mr. Obama doesn't grasp the essentials of presidential leadership.

The Loyalists  —  So far, the experiences of Obama and Clinton are similar in one respect.  Not a single House or Senate Republican voted for Clinton's economic agenda in 1993, either on initial passage or when it returned to each chamber from a House-Senate conference committee.

Biden in The House  —  When Joe and Jill Biden moved to Washington on Jan. 20 as he took up his duties as vice president, they brought their bed down from the family home in Wilmington, Del. But unlike their predecessors, the Gores and the Cheneys, who already lived in the Washington suburbs …

Details of a Trimmer Stimulus Emerge  —  WASHINGTON — The new stimulus package seemed to defy Washington's peculiar laws of physics, where numbers that go up don't often come back down.  —  But by producing a compromise with a sticker price of about $789 billion — less than the amount approved …

Greenspan Says He Was Mystified by Subprime Market  —  Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, told CNBC in a documentary to be shown Thursday night that he did not fully understand the scope of the subprime mortgage market until well into 2005 and could not make sense …

The new D.C.: Same as it ever was  —  So much for post-partisanship.  —  Not a single House Republican crossed the aisle to vote for the stimulus package, and just three GOP senators made the leap.  Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off calls for a bipartisan consensus as mere …

Breaking News: Late-night comedy shows make fun of Pres. Obama  —  Of course, one night does not a trend make.  —  But — Jumpin' Jon Stewart, Batboy — was that seven minutes of jokes about Barack Obama on late-night TV?  The Barack Obama.  The One who's president right now?

Builders Groups Decry Obama's Order on Projects  —  Two of the biggest construction industry trade groups are denouncing a move by President Obama that they say could limit the number of workers hired on new federal jobs to build roads, bridges and buildings, at a time when construction employment is plummeting.

Bill Richardson tarnished by scandal  —  Over the span of just three months, Bill Richardson has gone from being on the shortlist for secretary of state to late-night punch line, a breathtaking descent that has tarnished his once-sparkling career.  —  Since withdrawing as the nominee …

Obama Campaigning Builds Support for Stimulus Program  —  President Obama's prime-time press conference and his campaign-style events this week have boosted support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …

CNAS Continues its Occupation of the Obama Administration  —  In November, I pointed out that the irregular warfare-heavy think tank known as the Center for a New American Security was basically President Obama's shadow Pentagon.  Well, it's pretty much entirely out of the shadows.

Source: Collins Strips Stim Bill Of Whistleblower Protections  —  Another great coup for the centrists!  —  Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine GOP dealmaker who's been in the limelight this week for helping to pass a watered down stimulus, has been talking a good game about the need to avoid wasting taxpayer money.