Progressive complaints about Obama's appointments  —  (updated below)  —  I've been genuinely mystified by the disappointment and surprise being expressed by many liberals over the fact that Obama's most significant appointments thus far are composed of pure Beltway establishment figures drawn …

We Found the W.M.D.  —  So, I have a confession and a suggestion.  The confession: I go into restaurants these days, look around at the tables often still crowded with young people, and I have this urge to go from table to table and say: “You don't know me, but I have to tell you that you shouldn't be here.

Obama may delay tax-cut rollback for wealthy  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama may consider delaying a campaign promise - to roll back tax cuts on high-income Americans - as part of his economic recovery strategy, two aides said on Sunday.

Ah!  Joy Of A Large Airplane Seat...  I feel uncomfortable/cramped in the economy class seats while travelling by air.  I have always wondered how those who enjoy a larger girth than mine manage to squeeze into the narrow seats.  —  So it is heartening to hear that the Supreme Court of Canada …

Sunday Reflection: Have We Changed Yet?  —  I spent several years of the Clinton administration writing about one scandal or controversy after another.  —  There was, of course, the Whitewater affair and the fight over the independent counsel, Kenneth Starr.  There was the Lewinsky matter.

RANGEL DOUBLE-DEAL$  —  REAPED DC HOME PERK WHILE BENDING APPLE RENTAL RULES  —  Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel took a “homestead” tax break on a Washington, DC, house for years while simultaneously occupying multiple rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, possibly violating laws and regulations in both cases.

Banking Regulator Played Advocate Over Enforcer  —  Agency Let Lenders Grow Out of Control, Then Fail  —  When Countrywide Financial felt pressured by federal agencies charged with overseeing it, executives at the giant mortgage lender simply switched regulators in the spring of 2007.

Why all those Great Depression analogies are wrong.  —  It's difficult to avoid the comparisons between the current sad state of financial affairs and the Great Depression.  “This is not like 1987 or 1998 or 2001,” Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain said at a conference on Nov. 11.

Green Obama's official limo is a gas guzzler  —  On the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to get a million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015.  His own new presidential limousine will be far from green, however.  —  The Obamobile being prepared for the president-elect …

Richardson at Commerce, Summers as economic adviser  —  Democratic sources report two major decisions by President-elect Obama: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) will be named secretary of Commerce, subject to final vetting.  And Lawrence Summers, Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, will be White House economic adviser.

Jim Lehrer: Journalism is still about the story  —  Norman, Oklahoma - Jim Lehrer has two words of advice for mainstream journalists who worry that they're headed for extinction in the brave new world of the Internet.  —  The words are “Calm down.”  —  Lehrer, the executive editor and anchor …

Obama's election spurs hate surge  —  Many people have worried about President-elect Barack Obama's safety since he would be the first African-American president.  —  While this is obviously a non-trivial concern, modern presidents are hardened targets.  The Secret Service is second to none …