Lawmakers look dumb for reviving Obama hoax  —  In the Handy Guide for Newspaper Opinion Columnists, this is called shooting fish in a barrel.  Or hitting a slow-pitched softball.  —  Four Tennessee state representatives, all Republicans, have signed up to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit …

White House Backs Off ‘Car Czar’  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will not name a “car czar” to help oversee the auto industry's restructuring and will instead create an inter-agency task force to deal with the issue, according to senior administration officials.

Decade at Bernie's  —  By now everyone knows the sad tale of Bernard Madoff's duped investors.  They looked at their statements and thought they were rich.  But then, one day, they discovered to their horror that their supposed wealth was a figment of someone else's imagination.

In All Fairness  —  SCREENING OBAMA  —  One wouldn't know it from reading the Washington Post or New York Times, but some inside the White House don't think that President Barack Obama hit a home run with his first national press conference last week.  —  “It looked scripted beyond the scripted part …

Clinton warns North Korea during Tokyo visit  —  TOKYO (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Tokyo to begin her first trip abroad as President Barack Obama's chief diplomat, said Washington's alliance with Japan is a cornerstone for the U.S. and warned North Korea to live …

C-SPAN ranks presidents: Abe still on top, new shocker at the bottom  —  On this sacred United States holiday devoted to honoring the birthdays of the two most important presidents in the nation's history by selling bed linens and used automobiles at discount prices, we're publishing …

Former Gitmo Guard Tells All  —  Army Private Brandon Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo in the first years the facility was in operation.  With the Bush Administration, and thus the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step forward and tell his story.

British, French nuclear subs collide in Atlantic  —  LONDON — Nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, authorities acknowledged Monday _ touching off new concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets.

Sam Donaldson, Moving Out of Shouting Distance  —  Forceful Newsman to Retire After Four Decades at ABC  —  Whatever else he accomplished in his 41 years at ABC News, Sam Donaldson knows he'll be remembered mainly for his bellowing voice.  —  “I guess it'll be on my tombstone: ‘He yelled at Ronald Reagan,’ ” Donaldson says.

The Eye of the Storm  —  CHICAGO — Barack Obama senses that he's in the middle of a hurricane whose gale-force winds could blow history his way.  —  He doesn't mind acknowledging that he is learning as he goes, and he is not bitter about how little help he is getting from Republicans.

PARTISANSHIP, BY THE BYE  —  Throughout the fortnight-long Battle of the Stimulus Package—the Capitol Hill confrontation that culminates this week in a signing ceremony for a historically unprecedented piece of legislation that will inject more than three-quarters of a trillion dollars' worth …

Obama Won't End the Culture Wars  —  Will Barack Obama end the culture wars?  He couldn't if he wanted.  In America, the culture war will never die, only wax and wane across multiple battlefields.  When you live in a large, diverse, pluralistic democracy, it comes with the territory.

What does Slim want?  —  Carlos Slim, who pumped $250 million into the NY Times last month, is profiled today in the paper as a Mexican telecom billionaire with a “complex relationship to the news media.”  —  That's because despite several media investments, Slim “sometimes gives the impression …

Hamburgers are the Hummers of food in global warming … When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.  —  Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.

A guide to the 100 best blogs - part I  —  The online world of the bloggers and how you can connect, communicate, publish your thoughts or diaries and ‘spy’ on the famous  —  Blogs — an ugly word, but now unavoidable — were born with the internet.  As soon as people started to use …

The First Three Weeks  —  IF PRESIDENT Obama and his advisers had a magic wand rather than a balky, and balkanized, Congress, the dire recession would still be daunting.  But the presidency does not come with a magic wand; nor, we have learned, is Mr. Obama, however talented, a wizard.

Former astronaut speaks out on global warming  —  SANTA FE, N.M. - Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon and once served New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, doesn't believe that humans are causing global warming.  —  “I don't think the human effect is significant compared …

Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman to join Obama administration, working for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood  —  Jill Zuckman, a Chicago Tribune Washington correspondent and frequent guest on political talk shows such as MSNBC's “Hardball” and Fox Broadcasting's “Fox News Sunday,” …