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Retail Sales Plummet — Price-slashing failed to rescue a bleak holiday season for beleaguered retailers, as sales plunged across most categories on shrinking consumer spending, according to new data released Thursday. — Despite a flurry of last-minute shoppers lured by the deep discounts …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Riehl World View, Angry Bear, TIME.com, QandO, naked capitalism and Jules Crittenden
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Holiday Sales in U.S. Fell as Much as 4%, SpendingPulse Says
Discussion:
Buck Naked Politics

Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan — The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, theheretik.us, ATTACKERMAN, Hot Air, Fox News, A Blog For All, Outside The Beltway, The Washington Independent, Reason and Don Surber


Poll: Obama is man Americans admire most — WASHINGTON — A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It's the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century.

Barack Be Good — Times have changed. In 1996, President Bill Clinton, under siege from the right, declared that “the era of big government is over.” But President-elect Barack Obama, riding a wave of revulsion over what conservatism has wrought, has said that he wants to “make government cool again.”


Expansion of Clinics Shapes a Bush Legacy — NASHVILLE — Although the number of uninsured and the cost of coverage have ballooned under his watch, President Bush leaves office with a health care legacy in bricks and mortar: he has doubled federal financing for community health centers …
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Study Criticizes Bush Approach to War Funding, Calls for Changes — President-elect Barack Obama's administration needs to monitor war spending much more closely than the current White House has, according to a new study that criticizes President Bush's approach to funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars …

Blagojevich Attorney Asks Illinois Panel to Subpoena Emanuel and Others — An attorney for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has asked the legislative panel considering impeachment of the governor to subpoena more than a dozen witnesses, including President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff.


Chinese Savings Helped Inflate American Bubble — “Usually it's the rich country lending to the poor. This time, it's the poor country lending to the rich.” — WASHINGTON — In March 2005, a low-key Princeton economist who had become a Federal Reserve governor coined a novel theory …
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Naked man fights Harris deputies; dies after Taser shocks — A naked man who was banging on doors and windows at a northside apartment complex died Wednesday after being shocked by Tasers at least three times during a confrontation with Harris County sheriff's deputies, authorities said.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo


White House Press Corps Faces Unique Challenges in Hawaii — It's prime time and CNN's Ed Henry is standing on the white sand of Waikiki Beach, reporting live on President-elect Barack Obama's holiday vacation in Hawaii. With the volcanic mountain Diamond Head in the distance …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blogs

Peace for the Mideast — How Our Plan Could Aid Barack Obama's Efforts — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President-elect Barack Obama is about to inherit not just a nation entrenched in two wars but a world of instability and an entire Middle East that is sick with discord.


Clinton Helping Clinton Retire Debt — Clinton Foundation Business Helps Reduce Hillary Clinton's Remaining Campaign Debt — Sen. Hillary Clinton's in-the-red campaign committee has found an innovative way to pay down a slice of its debt — and is getting help from President Clinton's foundation …
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Obama Follows a Tradition of Testifying for Prosecutors — Every president for more than three decades has had to talk with federal prosecutors at one time or another. President-elect Barack Obama may have set a land-speed record by giving his first interview to investigators even before taking the oath of office.