ENDING “HARSH INTERROGATIONS,” BUT WITH AN ASTERISK: “However, Obama’s changes may not be absolute. His advisers are considering adding a classified loophole to the rules that could allow the CIA to use some interrogation methods not specifically authorized by the Pentagon, the officials said, although the intent is not to use that as an opening for possible use of waterboarding.” Plus this: “There are some coercive techniques that he might employ on a ticking time bomb scenario, but he’ll distinguish himself by making it clear that the presumption under the law is that there is no torture.”

This is sounding kind of Dorwinesque.

NPR: “The moral issues related to torture are not a slam-dunk.” They’re not?

CALIFORNIA UPDATE: “California’s controller says he will begin a 30-day delay on tax refunds and other payments starting Feb. 1 because the state is running out of money.”

IS THE OBAMA HONEYMOON STARTING TO FADE?

We’re not there yet, but there are early signs. In the current dust-up over Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s tax problems, even the left-wing Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial page has admitted there is a double standard. . . . The honeymoon isn’t over yet, and it certainly won’t end before the Inaugural. But starting next Tuesday (ok maybe Wednesday), when President Obama doesn’t bring the troops home, doesn’t close Guantanamo, doesn’t end the recession, doesn’t deliver national health insurance, doesn’t roll back global warming and make the oceans recede — or at least doesn’t do any of these things as fast as the Left would like — then things like the peccadillos of Tim Geithner will start to get more coverage.

Plus, teaching Ann Coulter a lesson she won’t forget.

QUESTIONING OBAMA on the Hamas Charter.

PARSING THE STIMULUS BILL at ReadTheStimulus.org. “$850 Billion, 334 pages, and counting… somebody needs to read it!” They’re looking for volunteers if you’ve got a free hour or two this weekend.

A RADICALLY EXTENDED LIFESPAN, via nanotechnology? Faster, please.

BARACK OBAMA as Lord Dorwin.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Everybody’s cashing in!

PUBLIC HEALTH AND AFRICA: Bush saved 10 million lives.

NEW EVIDENCE points to life on Mars.

Here’s why I hope they’re wrong.

CO-OPTING JOHN MCCAIN? Nothing new about that. Not that McCain’s the only one being co-opted here . . . .

FUNDRAISING for aging and longevity research.

MORE ON TIM GEITHNER AND CONGRESS:

Senators who will vote to confirm his Cabinet appointment do not appear overly concerned by either of these “honest mistakes,” even though one of his larger responsibilities at Treasury will be oversight of the Internal Revenue Service.

Neither do they seem likely to do more than gently slap the wrist of one of their own, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee.

Dodd, readers may recall, received a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide, as one of that financial firm’s more prominent “Friends of Angelo.” Countrywide, incidentally, has since been acquired by Bank of America.

Meanwhile, over on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who took up the gavel two years ago with a promise to “drain the swamp” and clear up ethical abuses ignored by her Republican predecessor, has a festering problem of her own — what to do with New York Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. That’s the panel that writes the tax laws all the rest of us are required to follow.

Hope and change!

OUCH: Perino Mocks Obama: ‘Gosh It’s So Complicated To Close Guantanamo Bay’ .

UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer: “Truman’s rehabilitation took decades. Bush’s will come sooner. Indeed, it has already begun. The chief revisionist? Barack Obama.”

YOUR MONEY IS BEING SPENT behind Nancy Pelosi’s closed door. “As congressional Democrats take the lead in responding to the sinking economy, subcommittee and even some full-committee chairmen — who normally wield significant influence in writing legislation — have been forced to wait on the sidelines as monumental bills are written in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office.”

UPDATE: Photographic evidence of how the bailout is going . . .

VIDEO: Star Wars: Battlefront 3.

Plus, Microsoft Game Studios is Stingy with the “Halo” themed Wedding Couple.

NAILING THE MYTH of unregulated global capitalism. Yeah, we should be so lucky.

D.C. EXAMINER: Obama’s secret telecom advisor pushing his company’s interest.

A WELL-DESERVED HONOR: Outdoor Wire Names Obama “Gun Salesman of the Year.”