Ted Kennedy survived years in Washington, but, sadly, he couldn't survive brain cancer. The long-serving Senator succumbed to the disease this evening, thus ending an illustrious, at times scandalous and always headline-grabbing life.

Sonia Sotomayor has just become our first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court. Senator Al Franken called for a voice vote, and, as predicted, Sotomayor was easily confirmed by the Senate.

Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald posted a scathing column about the armistice between GE and News Corp meant to end Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann's fueding. It's a chilling read, and brings in a tangentially related player: Richard Wolffe.

What's that? A car chase, in Houston? Studio B With Shep Smith was on the case! It is, as always, delightful. Though it wasn't as exciting as last week's, you wouldn't know it from listening to Shep.

Michael Wolff, internet shouty guy and writer-for-magazines, was supposed to write a juicy tell-all for Vanity Fair about his scandalous affair with an intern! Instead he's apparently been working on a piece about fucking Politico?

Well, CBS news, when a husband and wife and a mistress and an unknown number of unidentified other women love each other very much...

Wait, this can't be right.

Remember when Bill O'Reilly and Barney Frank almost killed each other on national television? It was, without question, one of the greatest moments in world history, if only because it inspired this Lil' O'Reilly skit. Tonight they met again.

Helpful scientists have found that binge drinking increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers "regardless of how many cigarettes a day they smoked." There's very little hope for you, now. [Science Daily]

Earlier today at the Rayburn House Office building, a "mob of reporters" surrounded this man and began peppering him with questions, thinking he was this guy.

Michael Jackson has just made a landmark announcement. He's broke, so he needs to go on tour. The press conference he staged was very odd—audio problems, mumbling, eerie Hitler-like gestures. News people were befuddled.

Breaking: Val Kilmer is wandering around a US Congressional office building by himself, for some reason. [Politico]

Great news: former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's publicist just sent out his client's media schedule for tomorrow! He will be everywhere!

We always thought of NBC's Andrea Mitchell as a prime example of the utter failure of television news departments to police glaring conflicts of interest, but apparently she is a gay icon!

Ted Kennedy's OK: "He's awake and answering questions from the doctors," the hospital says.

Medical emergency at the luncheon. Looks like Senator Ted Kennedy suffered a seizure or "convulsion" of some kind and was wheeled out. Obama is speaking: his prayers are with Ted's family. Yeesh.

The Inauguration of Barack Obama is on every channel in the world, but there is a problem: nothing will "happen" for another hour or so! So which channel should you watch to kill time until change comes?

Is it smart for Israel to blow the hell out of Palestinian civilians past all boundaries of good sense? No. But has Israel timed this war brilliantly, from a PR perspective? No doubt.

This is it! January 5, 2009: the beginning of the Obama presidency. He is on TV fixing the economy, making tough decisions, being presidential, and the inauguration is just a formality now.