Transition Team Releases Review of Contacts  —  Today the Obama Transition Team released the review of Obama Transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office.  Download a PDF of the memo.

Exclusive: Cheney's admissions to the CIA leak prosecutor and FBI  —  Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a still-highly confidential FBI report, admitted to federal investigators that he rewrote talking points for the press in July 2003 that made it much more likely that the role …

When a Woman Isnt in the Mood: Part I  —  Given our preoccupation with politics and economics, it is easy to forget that for most of us micro issues still play a greater role in our lives.  So here are some thoughts that, as heretical as they might sound, have been found extremely helpful …

Seattle refuses to use salt; roads “snow packed” by design  —  To hear the city's spin, Seattle's road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets.  —  But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

Why Obama Really Might Decriminalize Marijuana  —  The stoner community is clamoring to say it: “Yes we cannabis!”  Turns out, with several drug-war veterans close to the president-elect's ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama's second term — or sooner.

Rev. Pat Robertson: 'I am remarkably pleased with Obama...he's picked a middle-of-the-road Cabinet.'  —  In an interview with CNN's The Situation Room, conservative televangelist Pat Robertson ripped the Bush administration for its failures in mishandling and mismanaging the economic bailout …

THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT.  —  Over at BoingBoing, Clay Shirky engages in a bit of self-congratulatory schadenfreude for predicting the collapse of the newspaper business model back in 1993.  And no doubt: He was prescient.  But like a lot of folks (many of them named Jeff Jarvis) …

Joe the Plumber Laughs at CNN Anchor Who Insists He's Fair, He's Not Pro-Obama  —  Just before 8 am Eastern time on the Tuesday edition of CNN's American Morning, anchor John Roberts interview Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, and something unusual happened.  After a battery of questions …

Bush pardons man who helped Israel during wartime  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - In a gesture of forgiveness for a decades-old offense, President George W. Bush on Tuesday granted a pardon posthumously to a man who broke the law to supply aircraft …

Massive Coal Ash Spill in Tennessee puts the lie to Clean Coal  —  When it comes to PR spindoctoring there is always one surefire cure - reality.  —  If you were fooled by the multimillion dollar “clean coal” PR marketing campaign take a look at this video footage of a massive flood …

Rick Warren — Out of the Closet!  —  Rick Warren, the pastor who will deliver the invocation next month for Barack Obama, apparently is doing a little image-adjusting in West Hollywood.  —  We got this pic, taken yesterday at Out of the Closet thrift store.

Coleman speaks!  —  For the first time since the Minnesota Senate recount began, Sen. Norm Coleman briefly talked to a Minneapolis TV station about the recount, where he finds himself trailing Al Franken for the first time.  —  “I feel fairly confident.  In the end, the good Lord's going to decide …

Wolfson to Bloomberg  —  Hillary Clinton's former chief strategist, Howard Wolfson, is heading halfway across the aisle to work for the reelection campaign of New York's formerly Republican, now independent, Mayor Mike Bloomberg.  —  “As a New Yorker, I am very excited at the prospect …

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Calls for Independent Counsel to Investigate Cheney and Rumsfeld for Violating Torture Laws  —  Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York has urged Attorney General Michael Mukasey to appoint an independent counsel to investigate Vice President Dick Cheney …

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wants Bush war team to stay  —  Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is asking many of the Bush administration's 250 Pentagon political appointees to remain on the job until the incoming Obama administration finds replacements — a move designed to prevent a leadership vacuum …