Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong  —  HONG KONG — Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers.  —  A number of people who heard the speech in a packed a hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media …

Conservatives Turn Their Sights On Health Care Reform's Most Obvious Provision  —  Democrats are bracing themselves for a new line of conservative attack against a provision in the health care legislation once considered so non-controversial that it was endorsed by several major Republican officials.

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak  —  It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits Barack Obama when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, writes Nile Gardiner.  —  Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage …

Triggering a Democratic Civil War  —  Media reports and insider buzz make it increasingly clear that key people at the White House have become obsessed with Olympia Snowe on health care, and are willing to do pretty much whatever she demands in order to get her on board.

Worst foreign policy ever  —  Obama is tripping all over the world stage  —  Tomorrow, President Obama will chair a special nuclear-disarmament meeting by the United Nations Security Council.  The White House bills this as a historic first, but it is typical of Mr. Obama's emphasis on style over substance.

Glenn Beck, Post-Modern Conservative  —  Buried in the cross-tabs of the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is a question that takes a temperature reading of Glenn Beck.  Beck actually makes out pretty well.  While just 24 percent of Americans have a favorable view of him (13 percent strongly so) …

Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons.  The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate …

Up to 24 More People Sought as NYC Tightens Security in Terror Probe  —  NEW YORK — Police in New York City stepped up their patrols and increased their random searches on subways and buses Wednesday following reports that as many as 24 more people are being sought in a suspected cross-country terror plot.

Election 2010: Missouri Senate  —  2010 Missouri Senate: Blunt 46%, Carnahan 46%  —  Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Roy Blunt are dead even in the first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of the hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate in Missouri.

Senator Is the Centerfold  —  Long before he was a politician, the Republican candidate vying for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat posed nude for the centerfold of Cosmo.  Scott Brown won our “America's Sexiest Man” contest and appeared in the June 1982 issue.

Carper Publicly Defends Secret PhRMA Pact; Deal Made in Exchange for Support Ads  —  In a stunning moment during the Senate Finance Committee markup Sen. Tom Carper defended a secret deal that the White House, Baucus, and PhRMA had reached.  The White House has long denied the deal.

Our $2 Trillion Bridge to Nowhere  —  Americans believe Washington squanders half of every tax dollar.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  If you want to know why Americans are so fearful of a government takeover of the health-care system, take a look at the results of a new Gallup poll on government waste released Sept. 15.

Sanford says he still has work to do  —  Visiting Seneca, the governor says his focus is finding consensus to reform state government.  —  SENECA — Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday he is more interested in fulfilling the mandate of voters that elected him to reform South Carolina government …

Cap-and-trade will depress home prices  —  Cap and trade is back in the news.  By the end of this month, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is expected to unveil new legislation along the lines of the Waxman-Markey bill, which passed the House on June 26.