Barack Obama furious at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan  —  The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal's comments on strategy for the war.

Obama quietly tries to shore up Senate support for public option  —  The president has backed off from vocally supporting the idea of government-run healthcare, but he's working to build a coalition of supporters.  The challenge: Find a version that can pass.

The Politics of Spite  —  There was what President Obama likes to call a teachable moment last week, when the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago's bid to be host of the 2016 Summer Games.  —  “Cheers erupted” at the headquarters of the conservative Weekly Standard …

Why Rupert Murdoch Will Fire Glenn Beck  —  Rupert Murdoch is a smart man.  In the U.K, Murdoch aligns his newspapers with the popular political party and helps them enact their policies by giving them favorable coverage.  For the past 12 years, he supported the Labour Party.

GOP leaders to Steele: Back off  —  GOP leaders, in a private meeting last month, delivered a blunt and at times heated message to RNC Chairman Michael Steele: quit meddling in policy.  —  The plea was made during what was supposed to be a routine discussion about polling matters …

Sandra Day O'Connor says rulings are being ‘dismantled’  —  WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor says she regrets that some of her decisions “are being dismantled” by the current Supreme Court.  —  O'Connor, who generally has avoided questions on the substance …

Government Watchdog Says Treasury and Fed Knew Bailed-Out Banks Were Not Healthy  —  Senior Officials Had Financial Concerns About Nine Bank Instiutions Receiving TARP Funds  —  The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve lied to the American public last fall when they said that the first nine banks …

FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials  —  Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements  —  The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep …

Obama to Address Gay Rights Organization  —  President Obama will speak to a gathering of gay rights activists this weekend, a day before thousands of people are expected to march on Washington in a demonstration calling for greater legal protections for gays, lesbians and transgendered Americans.

Criminalizing everyone  —  Needed: A ‘clean line’ to determine lawfulness  —  “You don't need to know.  You can't know.”  That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search.

Some thoughts on seeing “Capitalism: A Love Story.”  —  Here's the scene in the lobby at the Sundance Theater as we arrived for the 4:35 showing of Michael Moore's new movie:  —  “Dump ¢apitali$m/Join the Socialists.”  And, indeed, the movie was a big promotion of socialism.

Hard-Core Free-Marketeer  —  A Conversation With Peter Schiff: Investor, Critic, Candidate … About 5,000 people contributed to this Web site that was set up by a few kids in California.  And then I set up my own exploratory site and said: “Well, you know, I'm thinking about running.

Inequality as Usual  —  Not long ago, liberals were insisting that income inequality was America's most serious economic problem.  —  Now there are more immediate crises: A 9.8 percent unemployment rate, a yawning budget deficit.  But the inequality issue hasn't gone away.

Buyout Firms Profited as a Company's Debt Soared  —  For most of the 133 years since its founding in a small city in Wisconsin, the Simmons Bedding Company enjoyed an illustrious history.  —  Presidents have slumbered on its mattresses aboard Air Force One.  Dignitaries have slept on them in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Clunkers in Practice  —  One of Washington's all-time dumb ideas.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Remember “cash for clunkers,” the program that subsidized Americans to the tune of nearly $3 billion to buy a new car and destroy an old one?  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood declared in August that …