Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede  —  A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.  —  The unidentified worker …

Five hostages killed in Jewish center, chaos at hotel  —  MUMBAI, India (CNN) — The siege at a Jewish center in Mumbai is in its final stages, according to reports, but fighting still rages at a hotel in the city two days after terrorists launched a series of deadly attacks.

Wolff: Murdoch ‘absolutely despises’ O'Reilly  —  In Michael Wolff's forthcoming biography of Rupert Murdoch, “The Man Who Owns The News,” the author writes that the media mogul has seemed to turn away lately from his cable news network, and isn't fond its top-rated personality, Bill O'Reilly.

Thanksgiving Cheer From Obama  —  He's assembled a first-rate economic team.  —  When President-elect Barack Obama's economic transition team met this month, everyone was there — inflation fighters, business leaders, union firebrands and leftist economists — creating confusion about where the new administration was headed.

Obama's Bush Doctrine  —  In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.  —  That is the meaning of Obama's apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

A Win-Win Bankruptcy Reform  —  I watched a middle-aged widow lose her home recently.  —  Her story was familiar.  She owned her simple brick residence outright until four years ago, when a mortgage broker stopped by and offered her a loan too good to be true.

Chris Matthews Staffing Up for Probable Senate Run in 2010  —  [EDIT — 8:26 AM.  I am changing the reporting and headline slightly to more cautiously reflect what our sources are telling us.  Matthews, we have strong reason to believe, is hiring staff for a run at the Senate …

77% Say Children Should Say Pledge At School Every Day  —  Seventy-seven percent (77%) of U.S. voters say school children should say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.  —  Just 13% say they should not, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Flipping madness!  Police offer free flip-flops to binge drinkers who keep falling over in heels … Itsh not their fault, you shee.  Itsh the shoesh.  —  Drunk women who stagger about in high heels are to be protected - at public expense - from twisting their ankles.

Who is Christina Romer?  —  When Barack Obama selected Christina Romer to lead his Council of Economic Advisers, the response of many in Washington was “Christina who?”  —  But in economic circles, Romer was an obvious pick.  The University of California at Berkeley professor …

Lest We Forget  —  A few months ago I found myself at a meeting of economists and finance officials, discussing — what else? — the crisis.  There was a lot of soul-searching going on.  One senior policy maker asked, “Why didn't we see this coming?”  —  There was, of course …

Dying of Consumption  —  IT'S game over for the American consumer.  Inflation-adjusted personal consumption expenditures are on track for rare back-to-back quarterly declines in the second half of 2008 at a 3.5 percent average annual rate.  There are only four other instances since 1950 …