Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans  —  Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

G.O.P. Dog Days?  —  Just before midnight on Nov. 4, I wasn't that worried.  —  Sure, the election results had been bad — but they weren't devastating.  Obama wasn't winning the popular vote by double-digit margins, as some polls had suggested he might.  Republican losses in the Senate …

A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks  —  With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy  —  The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry.

Who would serve as attorney general?  —  The big money on who becomes the next attorney general is split between two distinct camps: consummate Washington insiders with serious policy credentials and prominent political backers of President-elect Barack Obama, according to leading insiders from both parties.

Franklin Delano Obama?  —  Suddenly, everything old is New Deal again.  Reagan is out; F.D.R. is in.  Still, how much guidance does the Roosevelt era really offer for today's world?  —  The answer is, a lot.  But Barack Obama should learn from F.D.R.'s failures as well as from his achievements …

Right-wing media feeds its post-election anger  —  Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity dive shamelessly in, talking about the ‘Obama recession’ and other partisan lines.  —  You have to give Rush Limbaugh a perverse kind of credit.  At least when he is demonizing Barack Obama, fabricating Obama policies …

Biden's new role: Good cop  —  A few days before the election, a Democratic strategist privately worried that a Vice-President Joe Biden was destined for a White House career of dissatisfaction and idle-hands mischief.  —  “You can't just have a guy like him at loose ends, he'd go crazy,” …

Under Obama, Web Would Be the Way  —  CHICAGO — Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly “wired” presidency.

MORE SHARE THE WEALTH ...  From the usual suspects.  In this case, specifically, Jim Moran, Democrat, Virginia: … No comment necessary.  —  [HT: Pundit Review]

Race in 4th is over, but not ill will  —  After a bitter campaign, the GOP's Marilyn Musgrave has yet to congratulate Democrat Betsy Markey or concede.  —  Bitterness generated by the bruising battle between Betsy Markey and Marilyn Musgrave apparently lingers days after voters decided the winner of the 4th Congressional District.

Obama's new best friend  —  Yes, voters want change—and not just in Washington.  Decade upon decade, the Illinois culture of political sleaze has cheated citizens of this state.  Public corruption has distorted governance, thieved from innocents and alienated voters who now distrust many of the officials whose salaries they pay.

The myth of poor Democratic performance in House races in the 2008 election  —  There's an idea going around that the Democrats turned in a disappointing performance in Congressional races this year.  For example, a politically-minded friend of mine of the liberal persuasion wrote …

Schwarzenegger tells backers of gay marriage: Don't give up  —  The governor expresses hope that Proposition 8 would be overturned as protesters continued to march outside churches across California.  —  Reporting from Sacramento and Lake Forest — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday expressed hope …

The return of the real  —  Sarah Baxter in today's Sunday Times: … In saying this, Sarah reprises the theme of the opening words of Obama's victory speech in Chicago.  For a substantial part of the last eight years it has been impossible to escape the voices of all those who have been telling us …