Citigroup Said to Commit $10 Million for New Executive Suite  —  Citigroup Inc. plans to spend about $10 million on new offices for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and his lieutenants, after the U.S. government injected $45 billion of cash into the bank.

13 firms receiving federal bailout owe back taxes  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday.

AUDIO: Arnold on Obama: ‘Beautiful’  —  LOS ANGELES - “When have you ever seen a president be that out there?”  —  That was a mesmerized Arnold Schwarzenegger after Obama's town hall meeting.  —  “I've never seen that,” Schwarzenegger said to a couple reporters as he and his wife, Maria Shriver, tried to make an exit.

Who Doesn't Love The JournoList?  —  How great is the JournoList, that off-the-record electronic salon where liberal journalists and policy gurus can exchange views, and which is emphatically *not* an echo chamber?  —  Let's see - Matt Yglesias of JL on the AIG furor - it's a distraction:

Dodd's Deep Doo-Doo  —  So Chris Dodd admitted he misled CNN, telling them on Tuesday he had nothing to do with the loophole that mysteriously found its way into legislation and paved the way for AIG's bonuses to be paid.  The following day, Dodd confessed to CNN's Dana Bash that he in fact wrote …

Inside AIG-FP, Feeling the Public's Wrath  —  A solitary flat-screen television hangs on the back wall of the trading floor inside the headquarters of AIG Financial Products here.  Wednesday afternoon, the most-talked-about employees in America huddled around it to find out just how despised they have become.

Gordon Brown is frustrated by ‘Psycho’ in No 10  —  While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies - including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington.  —  Alas, when the PM settled …

Palin rejecting federal stimulus money  —  From Sean Cockerham in Juneau -  —  Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she's accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska.  The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement  —  During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.

Helicopter Ben fires up the engine  —  So as Bernanke once promised/threatened he might, the Fed is turning to on quantitative easing.  The markets don't seem to like it much, and why would they?  It's like when your grammar school started having Fallout Drills.

Duke Coach to Obama: Worry About the Economy, Not NCAA Picks  —  Reacting to news Obama picked North Carolina to win the NCAA Championship, Mike Krzyzewski says, “the economy is something that [the president] should focus on, probably more than the brackets.”

Audio comedy gold: Bozo the Vice President is looking out for you  —  The gaffetastic gift that keeps on giving.  —  In trying times, we can always count on Bozo the Vice President to provide some welcome comic relief.  Joe Biden was The Newshour on PBS last night in full swagger …

Carol Baum: Welfare CEOs are Just Like John Galt  —  Bloomberg columnist Carol Baum puts together a baffling analogy: … Atlas Shrugged is a stupid book, Ayn Rand is a stupid woman, and John Galt's ideas are stupid.  That said, none of them are nearly this stupid.

CNBC's Kudlow lights dollar bill on fire, says “This is the value of our money”  —  Send in the G-Men.  This guy is defacing federal money  —  I was thinking the same thing, isn't it a crime to destroy US currency?  I thought it was just as bad as defacing the US Flag, which we know the republicans would never...

Rice: 'No One Was Arguing That Saddam Hussein Somehow Had Something To Do With 9/11′  —  On PBS's Charlie Rose yesterday — six years after the eve of the Iraq invasion — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice discussed the decision to invade Iraq.

The Grievance Committee  —  Angry.  So very, very angry.  Unable to speak due to mega-anger washing over every pore and fiber of my being.  Anger is in.  (Hope's so ... January.)  —  I am extremely angry at Tim Geithner for being such a baby that he couldn't scare a bunch …

No Return to Normal  —  Why the economic crisis, and its solution,  —  are bigger than you think.  —  B arack Obama's presidency began in hope and goodwill, but its test will be its success or failure on the economics.  Did the president and his team correctly diagnose the problem?

Conservative and moderate Democrats flex muscles  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Conservative and moderate Democrats are flexing their muscles on Capitol Hill, demanding significantly lower spending for domestic programs as well as automatic budget cuts …

Sebelius has trouble in Kansas  —  And it's not a twister, Auntie Em.  Kathleen Sebelius left her job as governor of Kansas to take a Cabinet position as Secretary of Health and Human Services in Barack Obama's administration, but she left unfinished business behind.

Iranian blogger who insulted leader ‘dies in jail’  —  A young Iranian blogger jailed in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for insulting the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died, his lawyer said today.  —  Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said that although there is not yet …

Networks reluctantly shuffle for Obama speech  —  Networks are pulling their shows over to the side of the road to make room for the lights and sirens of president Barack Obama's latest primetime address.  —  Obama will take to the air next Tuesday evening on four broadcast networks and bump …

BIGGER THAN THE BOTH OF US  —  There's no end of puffed up outrage and opportunistic posturing over the on-going revelation of the AIG bonus scandal.  But some line has been crossed.  And it's worth thinking really clearly about just what that line is.  —  What is so damaging …

Obama struggles as communicator  —  Of all the pitfalls Barack Obama might face in the presidency, here is one not many people predicted: He is struggling as a public communicator.  —  The sluggish and unsteady response to the uproar over AIG bonuses highlights a larger problem of his White House …