What I Saw at the Afghan Election  —  Before firing me last week from my post as his deputy special representative in Afghanistan, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon conveyed one last instruction: Do not talk to the press.  In effect, I was being told to remain a team player after being thrown off the team.

National Security Adviser: Obama won't lift gay ban until Iraq and Afghan wars finished - and even then, if there are more wars...  Apparently, General Jones would have us believe that President Obama wasn't aware that we were fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he promised to lift …

Associate Producer of Polanski Documentary Spams This Blog With Multiple Anonymous Comments Attacking Me?  —  That's certainly what the evidence suggests to me.  Looks like I touched a nerve, huh?  —  Tonight the following comment started to appear on every single post I have written about Roman Polanski.

Will it be America's first failed state?  —  Los Angeles, 2009: California may be the eighth largest economy in the world, but its state staff are being paid in IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years, and teachers are on hunger strike.  So what has gone so catastrophically wrong?

Nobody is applauding as Hollywood premieres Polanski defense  —  Roman Polanski anally raped a 13-year old girl.  After plying her with Quaaludes and champagne wasn't enough to make her succumb to his charms, he ignored her protests and did what he wanted.  —  This was not a consensual affair, or a misunderstood romance.

The case against Charlie Rangel  —  Forty years of tax evasion, misdeeds and contempt  —  On April 9, 1965, a 34-year-old lawyer named Charles Rangel took out a low-interest mortgage to renovate his childhood home — a row house on West 132nd Street that he had just inherited from his grandfather.

Wanted: Leadership on Jobs  —  By every meaningful measure, the weak job market deteriorated further in September.  Federal stimulus spending has prevented an even worse decline.  But that is cold comfort for the tens of millions of working men and women for whom conditions are bleak and getting bleaker …

E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection  —  Stephanie Smith, a children's dance instructor, thought she had a stomach virus.  The aches and cramping were tolerable that first day, and she finished her classes.  —  Then her diarrhea turned bloody.  Her kidneys shut down.  Seizures knocked her unconscious.

‘Meet the Press’ transcript for October 4, 2009  —  MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, the challenges weighing on the White House at home and abroad.  In Afghanistan, will the president commit to more troops for the war as his commander on the ground wants?  Iran, will talks push that country to give up its nuclear weapons program?

Kristol Compares Obama's Olympics Pitch To ‘George W. Bush-Like’ Bullying  —  Conservatives have been bashing President Obama for the past week over his decision to personally go to Copenhagen to boost America's pitch for the 2016 Olympics.  When the International Olympics Committee eliminated Chicago …

Would Jesus Like Today's GOP?  —  William K. Wolfrum wrote a piece last year that was picked up just now by TPM, called “Jesus Christ Quite Christianity After Viewing Republican Platform.”  When I Tweeted this earlier, I received nasty comments from some conservatives.