Obama Aides Signal a Boost in Stimulus Spending  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has signaled that he will pursue a far more ambitious plan of spending and tax cuts than anything he outlined on the campaign trail — a plan “big enough to deal with the huge problem we face,” …

Progressive complaints about Obama's appointments  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  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 …

“Screw it.  Ah'm off the wagon an' lovin' it.”  —  While attending APEC in Lima, Bush partakes of a traditional Peruvian drink known as a “Pisco Sour” (leave your puns in comments).  The ingredients? … And it shows:  —  “You Orientals tickle!”  —  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Rahm Emanuel: Saturday Night Live  —  They don't have Sarah Palin to kick around any more.  —  So the good-humored folks at Saturday Night Live, who rode a wave of Palinoia to record ratings this fall, have turned their lens on the White House-in-waiting.  —  That's Rahm Emanuel …

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.

George Will: 'The First New Deal Didn't Work'  —  Economists on both the left and right broadly agree that the need for stimulative government spending is necessary to prevent a further collapse of the global economic system — just as the New Deal and the deficit spending of World War II restored …

Obama names communications staff  —  President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday announced that Robert Gibbs would be his White House press secretary and Ellen Moran would serve as director of communications.  —  Gibbs, a long-time aide, was long believed to become the public face of the Obama White House.

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.

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 …

Irony Is Dead.  Again.  Yeah, Right.  —  CAN THIS NATION BE SAVED?  —  PITY poor irony.  Declared dead after 9/11, it staged a strong rally beneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner, only to find itself in mortal danger once again.  —  Its ill health was noted by, among others …

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.

Obama Favors Republicans With Scowcroft Ties  —  WASHINGTON — Many of the Republicans emerging as potential members of the Obama administration have professional and ideological ties to Brent Scowcroft, a former national-security adviser turned public critic of the Bush White House.

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.

Citigroup seeks ‘emergency cash’  —  Executives of Citigroup, one of the biggest banks in the US, are in emergency talks with the US Treasury to gain much-needed funding, reports say.  —  The bank is also said to have contacted certain shareholders to assess their interest in increasing their stakes as as it faces an uncertain future.