Obama Rules Out Large Reduction in Afghan Force  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama told Congressional leaders on Tuesday that he would not substantially reduce American forces in Afghanistan or shift the mission to just hunting terrorists there, but he indicated that he remained undecided …

Bill Ayers No Dream  —  There I was, sitting in Reagan National Monday morning, sipping a Starbucks by the United counter before going through security.  I had a little time, so I was browsing through the news.  Some military guys had borrowed a chair from my table.

White House Gets Republican Backing for Bipartisan Reform  —  Urged by the White House, Republicans Speak Up for Bipartisan Health Fix  —  Seeking to provide fresh evidence of bipartisan support for health-care reform, the White House is orchestrating a series of endorsements from GOP heavyweights around the country.

Approval of U.S. Congress Falls to 21%, Driven by Democrats  —  Lowest rating for Congress since January  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' approval of the job Congress is doing is at 21% this month, down significantly from last month's 31% and from the recent high of 39% in March.

State-Run Health Plans Garner Support  —  WASHINGTON — Some influential centrist Democrats in the Senate are warming to a compromise that envisions health-insurance plans run by state governments, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger added his voice Tuesday to a small group …

Fed Frets Over Commercial Real Estate  —  With Banks Slow to Take Losses, Fears of a Residential-Bust Repeat; ‘More Pain Likely Lies Ahead’  —  Banks in the U.S. “are slow” to take losses on their commercial real-estate loans being battered by slumping property values and rental payments …

Deeds points finger at Washington  —  Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds said in an interview that he was lagging in the polls entering the final weeks of the campaign in part because of voter concerns over his national party's agenda.  —  “Frankly, a lot of what's …

First on the Ticker: Obama enlists Hollywood in new ad  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama is turning to a handful of Hollywood stars to judge a contest that asks grassroots supporters to create a television commercial promoting health care reform.  —  Musician Will.I.Am, actor John Cho …

The Beauty of Artificial Virginity  —  If you're a woman in a conservative Muslim country, you had better bleed on your wedding night.  If you don't, your husband or his family will know you aren't a virgin.  For that, you could be beaten or killed.  —  If you're a man, on the other hand …

Chicago Violence Haunts Obama as Gun-Control Backers Left Cold  —  Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — At least 47 school-age children in Chicago have been killed in homicides, mostly by guns, since the month President Barack Obama took office.  —  The latest youth homicide in his adopted hometown …

Support Builds for Tax Credit to Encourage Hiring  —  The idea of a tax credit for companies that create new jobs, something the federal government has not tried since the 1970s, is gaining support among economists and Washington officials grappling with the highest unemployment in a generation.

Deep Denial  —  Toughened by their frontier ethos, steeled by serial wars, Israelis are not prone to flattery.  Most, in fact, eschew using the closest equivalent to the Hebrew word for flattery—chanupa— in favor of the derisive Yiddish-derivative, firgun.

Durbin's office blacklists STARadio stations  —  A spokesman for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) says the senator's office will no longer send media information to Quincy's oldest radio station because the station decided to let the public know he was coming to town.

Weak himself, Obama draws strength from Bush  —  Senior Political Analyst  —  In trying to understand what is happening in the nation and world, we all employ narratives — story lines that indicate where things are going and what is likely to happen next.

The criticism that Ralph Lauren doesn't want you to see!  —  Last month, Xeni blogged about the photoshop disaster that is this Ralph Lauren advertisement, in which a model's proportions appear to have been altered to give her an impossibly skinny body ("Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis").

Dem: House GOP is “80 percent male, 100 percent white”  —  The National Republican Congressional Committee is urging Gen. Stanley McChrystal to put House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “in her place” for weighing in on Afghanistan — prompting one female Pelosi ally to blast the House GOP as …

Inconvenient Censorship: Stanford U. Bans Skeptical Climate Film from Airing Interview with Global Warming Prof. Stephen Schneider — ‘You are prohibited!’  —  ‘Prof. Schneider has withdrawn any permission for you to use his name, likeness or interview’  —  Climate Depot Exclusive

Partisan Economics in Action  —  Successful economic ideas usually end up being taken too far.  —  Democrats dominated the middle part of the 20th century, thanks in part to their vigorous response to the Great Depression.  They used the government to soften the effects of the Depression and to build the modern safety net.

Should America Copy the Dutch?  —  I wrote this a few months back for the Outlook section, but because of various scheduling issues, it never got published.  But with Jon Cohn talking about the Dutch health-care system, and with risk adjustment and failed exchanges in the news, it seems worth posting.