Editorials & Opinion

Congress opened a shiny, new visitor's center on Dec. 2. The $621 million underground complex opened four years behind schedule and $400 million over budget -- hardly extraordinary in Washington, D.C.

In general, I would rather have a root canal than play a board game.
Easiest way to get rid of me at a dinner party? Bring out the Trivial Pursuit.
And a board game ... with my kids? Ouch. Maybe that is partly because I have no memories of my mother playing board games with me (except Candy Land -- once I think).

Coming unconsciously close to doing so on the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition Friday, the Washington, D.C., city council voted the night before to let the capital's bars, restaurants and night clubs stay open 24 hours and serve alcohol up to 5 a.m. the four days of Barack Obama's inauguration.

Have you noticed that everyone is giving Barack Obama advice? OK, here is mine.
Get enough sleep, Mr. President-Elect.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning.

Inside every recession there's a silver lining and in this one it's falling oil prices, down from $147 a barrel in July to $48 this week and maybe headed toward $40.

Three weeks after their public relations debacle before Congress, Detroit's Big Three were back -- this time by hybrid cars instead of corporate jets -- and, as the lawmakers had asked, ready with detailed plans on how they would spend a taxpayer bailout.

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has come around to the view that the U.S. should spend more on foreign aid, scholarships for foreign students and "soft power," basically making friends in the world.

On the way out the door, presidents have been known to inflict a mountain of damage on the American public with the pardon power. Since President Bush has funneled more garbage into the American political system than just about any president in history, why should we be surprised when he leaves a trail of garbage as he waltzes out the door?

On the face of it, the rising concern about whether the Obama transition team will deliver just looks like pre-inaugural jitters. But there might be more to it than that.