Too late for Obama to turn it around?  —  Plus: The left's visionaries lost their bearings on drugs — but the GOP is led by losers  —  What a difference a month makes!  When my last controversial column posted on Salon in the second week of August, most Democrats seemed frozen in suspended animation …

Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care  —  The president's proposals would give unelected officials life-and-death rationing powers.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Writing in the New York Times last month, President Barack Obama asked that Americans “talk with one another …

Our One-Party Democracy  —  Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.

'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush  —  Smoke billows up Tuesday after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the military entrance to Kabul's airport, killing at least three.  Read the story.  (Photo by Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times.)

Attacks on Sunstein Frustrate Conservative Fans  —  On January 8, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein would be nominated to run the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  It was a surprising choice for a job, created in 1980 …

Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide  —  Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter held captive by militants in northern Afghanistan, was freed in a military commando raid early Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter was killed during the rescue effort.

Baucus to Move on Health Care in Two Weeks  —  Greg Hitt reports on Congress.  —  Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus intends to bring a health care overhaul bill before his committee the week of Sept. 21st.  —  In a private meeting with Finance Committee Democrats today …

Election 2010: Massachusetts Democratic Senate Primary  —  Coakley Takes Early Lead In Race To Fill Kennedy's Senate Seat  —  State Attorney General Martha Coakley is the early leader in the Democratic race to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of longtime Massachusetts Senator Edward M.

GOP Picks One-Time “Birther” To Rebut Obama's Health Care Speech [UPDATED]  —  UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader points out that Boustany, after espousing his “Birther” views on camera, below, caved and retracted his statement on a Louisiana KPEL radio show.  —  Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany …

‘Doctors told me it was against the rules to save my premature baby’  —  Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy - almost four months early.  —  They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines …

After Thesis Uproar, McDonnell's Strongly Worded Comments on Gays Resurface  —  ‘Homosexual Conduct’ Comments ‘Irrelevant’ to Campaign, He Says  —  In January 2003, then-Del. Robert F. McDonnell helped gavel in one of the most extraordinary judicial reappointment hearings in Virginia history …

Less Spocky, More Rocky  —  As soon as I started covering Barack Obama, I knew he was going to be trouble.  —  Not Global Trouble, like W. and Dick Cheney.  Or Hanky-Panky Trouble, like Bill Clinton and John Edwards.  Or Tedious Trouble, like John Kerry and Michael Dukakis.

With one simple sentence, ABC News confirms the death of Beltway journalism  —  It's from an online report about the Obama school “controversy,” and it's written by Dan Harris.  In his piece, Harris notes that conservatives pre-emptively blasted Obama's stay-in-school speech even though conservatives …

U.S. ‘Unlikely’ to Recoup Auto Outlay, Panel Finds  —  The federal government is unlikely to recoup all of the billions of dollars that it has invested in General Motors and Chrysler, according to a new congressional oversight report assessing the automakers' rescue.

The Murtha Method … For months, a cloud has swirled around Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and the relationship that Murtha and other subcommittee members had with the PMA Group, a lobbying firm filled with former subcommittee aides.

Obama disapproval on health care up to 52 percent  —  WASHINGTON — An Associated Press-GfK poll says that public disapproval of President Barack Obama's handling of health care has jumped to 52 percent.  —  The same survey shows that 49 percent now disapprove of his overall performance as president.

As an Exotic Mortgage Resets, Payments Skyrocket  —  Edward and Maria Moller are worried about losing their house — not now, but in 2013.  —  That is when the suburban San Diego schoolteachers will see their mortgage payments jump, most likely beyond their ability to pay.

The Use of TARP Funds in Support and Reorganization of the Domestic Automotive Industry  —  The Congressional Oversight Panel's September oversight report, “The Use of TARP Funds in Support and Reorganization of the Domestic Automotive Industry,” follows the money and examines how tens …

Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks  —  When Peter Means returned to graduate school after a career as a civil servant, he turned to a debit card to help him spend his money more carefully.  —  So he was stunned when his bank charged him seven $34 fees to cover seven purchases …

Cramdown Is Back: Banks Against Homeowners, Round 2  —  Cramdown is back.  —  House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) tells the Huffington Post he plans to revive the effort to give bankruptcy judges the authority to renegotiate home mortgages …