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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

If Europe does get a president it definitely won't be Tony Blair  —  Boris Johnson wagers - a fiver - that the former PM will not be granted his dream of ruling 500m people.  —  A spectre is haunting Europe , my friends.  That spectre has a famously toothy grin and an eye of glistering sincerity …

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?

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.

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 …

Obama's Meeting With the Dalai Lama Is Delayed  —  In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama's summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month …