Sad News: Tanta Passes Away  —  My dear friend and co-blogger Doris “Tanta” Dungey passed away early this morning.  I would like to express my deepest condolences to her family and friends.  —  Photo: Tanta in 2004 (from her sister Cathy).  —  From David Streitfeld at the NY Times …

A Handpicked Obama Team for a Shift in Foreign Policy  —  WASHINGTON — When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it will include two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who will face them in the White House Situation Room.

‘We thought we were safe... then CNN stepped in!’  —  A SOUTH Wales couple caught in the Mumbai terror attacks claimed last night that CNN put their lives at risk by broadcasting where they were.  —  Lynne and Kenneth Shaw, of Penarth, warned that terrorists were listening in to the media to pinpoint Western victims.

Deficits and the Future  —  Right now there's intense debate about how aggressive the United States government should be in its attempts to turn the economy around.  Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall.

Jihad's True Face  —  Much of the reporting from Mumbai the last few days has been informative, gripping and often moving.  Some of the commentary, on the other hand, has been not just uninformative but counterinformative — if that's a term, and if it's not, I say it should be.

Six degrees of Imran Khan  —  ANALYSIS/OPINION:  —  On the evening of Nov. 26, the biggest names in Bollywood walked the red carpet at the Bombay premiere of “The President Is Coming,” a comedy about six 20-somethings vying to win the right to shake hands with President Bush.

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security  —  The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

NPR Journalists Narrowly Escape Car Bombing  —  Listen: Ivan Watson reports on the neighborhood and bombing on ‘Morning Edition’  —  Listen: Ivan Watson Discusses The Attack On ‘All Things Considered’  —  · An NPR correspondent and three members of NPR's Iraqi staff narrowly escaped …

A Generation of Local TV Anchors Is Signing Off  —  One of the most familiar voices in Denver is about to sign off for the last time.  —  In October, three weeks after Ernie Bjorkman, an institution in Colorado television, signed a new annual contract worth close to a quarter of a million dollars …

Obama's inaugural oath  —  When Obama takes the oath of office, there's no reason not to include his middle name.  —  When George W. Bush was sworn in for his second term in 2005, he began his oath of office with the words: “I, George Walker Bush.”  Never mind that Bush isn't in the habit …

Dick Durbin misses the point about Ryan  —  Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) moistened his finger and, as he has done so many times in his career, held the digit aloft to check the prevailing winds.  —  This time, when he figured the winds were just right …

The Chris Matthews Show: Obama's Problems Will Come From The Angry Left, Not Republicans  —  John Amato has blogged about this and this clip from this week's The Chris Matthews Show is proof positive that the progressive blogosphere must be smart about picking battles in pushing a liberal agenda for America.

Latinos unhappy with Obama picks  —  If there is one message President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has broadcast about Cabinet picks, it is that ethnicity and gender will not be the first considerations when filling the slots.  —  Credentials over tokenism, after all …

Threat of ACLU lawsuit means no cross in Pontchatula  —  The huge cross near Ponchatoula's downtown locomotive won't be covered with blazing white bulbs for this year's Christmas Lights Festival.  —  Instead, a second bar has been added to display banners advertising citywide events.