NO UAW BAILOUT  —  Jim Manzi has done some of the best analysis of the proposed bailout of GM, Ford and Chrysler—or, one should more properly say, bailout of the United Auto Workers, otherwise slated for extinction.  Here, he addresses the theory that the Big Three are in the midst of a turnaround …

George W. Hoover?  —  Last week, assembled at Miami's InterContinental Hotel for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, the governors seemed cheerful.  The G.O.P. had lost only one statehouse on Election Day.  The prospects for a Republican pickup in Virginia in 2009 were decent …

A Giddy Sense of Boosterism  —  Perhaps it was the announcement that NBC News is coming out with a DVD titled “Yes We Can: The Barack Obama Story.”  Or that ABC and USA Today are rushing out a book on the election.  Or that HBO has snapped up a documentary on Obama's campaign.

Rather's Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry  —  When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago — claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush's National Guard service …

Road to GOP redemption: Roll back the bailouts, draw a line in the sand  —  While Republican strategists and Beltway blowhards convene VIP retreats and meetings and save-the-party parties, the road to GOP redemption starts right now.  There is opportunity to be seized right now.

Huckabee Finally Settles His Campaign Scores  —  The former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee  —  Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is not the sort of politician who likes to bite his tongue.  But that's just what he has found himself doing over eight months since he ended his surprising and colorful presidential campaign.

Obama Courted Federal Employees With Letters Before Election  —  Workers at Seven Agencies Got Detailed Letters Before Election  —  In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed descriptions of how he intends …

Republicans ask: Just how bad is it?  —  Party leaders agree that the GOP has had a rough go of it at the polls in recent years.  —  How could they not?  —  Since 2004, they've gone from 55 Senate seats to no more than 43 once this year's last winners are determined …

Clinton Vetting Includes Look at Mr. Clinton  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's advisers have begun reviewing former President Bill Clinton's finances and activities to see whether they would preclude the appointment of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary of state, Democrats close to the situation said Sunday.

First Pictures of Extrasolar Planets Taken  —  Beautiful new images reveal our first visual glimpse that other solar systems share planets just like ours does  —  One of the central themes both to science fiction and to real-life space progress was the drive to find and eventually travel to extrasolar plants.

Bailing Out in the Real World  —  I feel like some of the commentary on the prospect of an auto industry bailout is starting to remind me of some of the stuff I fell for before we invaded Iraq.  The kind of thing where someone yes, “yes this sounds like a bad idea, but if we do it like this …

Scoop: Palin book deal could rake in $7 million  —  Plus: Kanye West defends himself, stars don't help ‘30 Rock’ ratings  —  One McCain-Palin ad tried to paint Barack Obama as a celebrity, but it's Palin who's on the verge of a celeb-sized book deal.  —  The Scoop  —  msnbc.com

For Obama, a Scouting Report on Athletic Heads of State  —  Barack Obama still moves with the ease of an athlete and has the left-handed jump shot to prove it, along with a state high school basketball championship to his credit, as a senior at Punahou School in Hawaii in 1979.

IRANIAN SUPPLIED ARMS?  NOT SO MUCH.  —  In the worst days of the Iraq War, the Pentagon launched a media campaign designed to convince the world that Iran was smuggling arms to Iraqi insurgents.  Some of the claims strained credulity, such as the idea that Iran would supply Sunni insurgents fighting against its Shia allies.

Pardon Me?  Don't Bet On It.  —  From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008  —  The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office.

U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqi Interpreters  —  BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed.

Don't Believe Spending Cut Rumors  —  Before the presidential election, reports began to circulate that the Pentagon was planning to propose a defense spending increase of roughly $450 billion over five years.  That's in addition to the increases in the base budget already laid out in the 2009 Future Years Defense Plan.

Deregulator Looks Back, Unswayed  —  WASHINGTON — Back in 1950 in Columbus, Ga., a young nurse working double shifts to support her three children and disabled husband managed to buy a modest bungalow on a street called Dogwood Avenue.  —  Phil Gramm, the former United States senator …

Mormon Church feels the heat over Proposition 8  —  SALT LAKE CITY: A Proposition 8 protest outside Mormon headquarters.  The church said demonstrators were trying to intimidate not just Mormons but all religious people who voted their conscience by backing the California initiative.

Obama On Economic Crisis, Transition  —  Also Discusses National Security, Iraq, And His Cabinet In 60 Minutes Interview  —  (CBS) The full video version of tonight's broadcast will be made available online at 11 p.m. EST.  —  Since Barack Obama was elected the 44th president …