Glenn Greenwald  —  Twice in the past month, my private communications have been splashed about the internet.  That such a thing would happen is unfortunate, and dishonorable, but sadly inevitable, I suppose.  I ignored the first case, in which a rather pathetic woman acolyte of Greenwald's published …

Time for the U.S. to Get Out of Afghanistan  —  “Yesterday,” reads the e-mail from Allen, a Marine in Afghanistan, “I gave blood because a Marine, while out on patrol, stepped on a [mine's] pressure plate and lost both legs.”  Then “another Marine with a bullet wound to the head was brought in.

Justice Dept. to Recharge Enforcement of Civil Rights  —  WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life …

51 Vote Rules May Force a Public Option Too Liberal for Some Dems  —  As Senate leaders begin work on a Democrat-only health care bill, they're finding themselves confronted with an unexpected irony: Though the caucus has reached an uneasy consensus around a public option that's modeled …

Thesis Thrusts Va. Gubernatorial Candidate's Past Views Into Spotlight  —  The Virginia governor's race ignited Monday over Republican Robert F. McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis: Democrats assailed him in e-mail blasts and interviews for what he wrote about working women, homosexuals and …

YOU CAN'T KEEP A BAD MAN DOWN  —  SPITZER IS EYEING A COMEBACK  —  Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been privately talking with friends about a possible comeback, and is considering a run for statewide office next year, several sources told The Post.

The Obama Slide  —  Two tides swept over American politics last winter.  The first was the Obama tide.  Barack Obama came into office with an impressive 70 percent approval rating.  The second was the independent tide.  Over the first months of this year, the number of people …

CAUGHT ON TAPE: Obama HCAN Organizer Instructs Supporters How to Shout Down Opponents & Take Over Meetings  —  More Hope and Change—  A Health Care for America Now (HCAN) organizer is caught on tape outside the meeting instructing supporters on how to shout down opponents who get up to ask …

Torture's Ugly Dialogue  —  Call him Ishmael.  —  Call him a terrorist or a suicide bomber or anything else you want, but understand that he is willing — no, anxious — to give his life for his cause.  Call him also a captive, and know that he works with others as part of a team …

Obama Takes Realistic Approach on Health Care  —  His Flexible Tactics Match Reform to Political Reality  —  The conventional wisdom is that President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are on the run, that we seem to be heading for a replay of 1994, when the Clinton health-care plan went down in flames.

Bachmann: ‘Slit our wrists, be blood brothers’ to beat health care reform  —  U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, chats with a supporter at an Independence Institute fundraiser in Denver on Aug. 31.  (Photo/Ernest Luning)  —  DENVER — In a fiery speech …

Coakley makes the first move in race for Kennedy seat  —  Attorney General Martha Coakley this morning picked up nomination papers to run for the Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy, becoming the first candidate to throw a hat in the ring for what promises to be a fierce five-month-long race.

Something New On Health Care: Deal-Breakers From The President  —  This time, the President is going to be specific.  Next week, President Obama is going to give Democrats a health care plan they can begin to sell.  —  He plans to list specific goals that any health insurance reform plan …

The Gestapo Precedent for “EITs”  —  Marc Ambinder addresses the subject of torture today.  Ambers poses the following analogy: … But that is the wrong analogy.  The sadism and murder of Jews and gypsies in Nazi Germany do not fall under a torture category.

Why Does Nancy Pelosi Have a Problem With Patriotic Music?  —  If you've ever been stuck on hold with a congressional office in the past, at least you've been able to enjoy some good patriotic music, as opposed to the lilting tones of generic smooth jazz that have been driving elevator users insane for decades.

Simply Extraordinary  —  Three Duke University students were the victims of the highest-profile fraudulent rape claim in modern American history.  That fact alone should make the University particularly sensitive to the dangers of false rape allegations, and the need for a firm commitment …

BREAKING: FL Rifqa investigators were led around by CAIR's Islamist Homeland Security mole **Bumped**  —  Two weeks ago Florida Judge Daniel Lawson directed the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement to investigate the Columbus, Ohio Islamic community to provide him sufficient information …

Analysis: Health debate done for Kansas delegation  —  OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins stood just a few feet away as a young mother expressed frustration at not being able to afford a doctor for her son, but Jenkins was not swayed from her opposition to a new government-run insurance plan.

The Guns of August, and Why the Republican Right Was So Adept at Using Them on Health Care  —  What we learned in August is something we've long known but keep forgetting: The most important difference between America's Democratic left and Republican right is that the left has ideas and the right has discipline.

‘This Week’: Talk Without The Discourse  —  Tom Shales On TV is a new weekly column by the Pulitzer-winning critic.  He'll write not only on all things television but also about our culture and the forces that shape it.  Look for him on Tuesdays.  —  As philosopher and pianist Chico Marx might …