Obama plans to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called “a war of necessity” in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.

Even Monbiot says the science now needs “reanalyising”  —  Even George Monbiot, one of the fiercest media propagandists of the warming faith, admits he should have been more sceptical and says the science now needs to be rechecked: … Sure, Monbiot claims the fudging of what he extremely optimistically puts …

1 in 4 Borrowers Under Water  —  The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery.  —  Nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter …

Lieberman Digs In on Public Option  —  Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: “I'm going to be stubborn on this.”  —  Stubborn, he means, in opposing any health-care overhaul that includes a …

RNC loses communications director, Castellanos signs on  —  Update 6:03 p.m.: Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant, will take over as a senior communications adviser to RNC Chairman Michael Steele, according to a source familiar with the move.  The announcement of Castellanos' role comes hours …

Yes, she can: Palin has a shot at the presidency  —  How Sarah Palin might win the White House  —  President Sarah Palin.  To many pundits and late-night comedians, this sounds like a punch line, and to many die-hard Democrats it sounds like a reason to leave the country.

Dobbs mulls White House bid  —  Former CNN host Lou Dobbs fueled already rampant speculation about his political future Monday, sending the clearest signals yet that he's mulling a bid for president—and leaving third-party political operatives salivating over the possibility of a celebrity recruit for the 2012 campaign.

Katie Couric's Forbidden Dance of Gin  —  When CBS News anchor Katie Couric isn't asking Sarah Palin gotcha questions, she's doin' Da Butt, or the Lambada, or whatever white ladies do when the Black Eyed Peas are on the sound system.  More unbelievable images after the jump.

Larson, Rangel, Murtha, Frank Join Obey's War Tax Bloc  —  I wondered yesterday how serious David Obey was about the idea of paying for the Afghanistan war with higher taxes.  Today the answer seems to be that he's pretty darn serious, with Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel …

Beware the Result of Outrage  —  The biggest news story of last week?  —  O.K., maybe it was Oprah Winfrey announcing she was going to call it quits with her daytime show in 2011.  —  But it's a close call.  Though Oprah sucked up a lot of the media oxygen, last Thursday was an important …

Right and Left Join to Take On U.S. Over Criminal Justice  —  WASHINGTON — In the next several months, the Supreme Court will decide at least a half-dozen cases about the rights of people accused of crimes involving drugs, sex and corruption.  Civil liberties groups and associations …

The Values Question  —  It's easy to get lost in the weeds when talking about health care reform.  But, like all great public issues, the health care debate is fundamentally a debate about values.  It's a debate about what kind of country we want America to be.

Jennifer Hudson to sing at White House state dinner  —  Soul singer and Chicago native Jennifer Hudson has been confirmed to perform at the White House state dinner Tuesday evening, according to a representative at the singer's label, Arista Records.  —  Amid the glitz and glamour …

Democrats Damned If They Do; Damnder If They Don't  —  Public Policy Polling has an interesting survey out today in which they ask about the generic Congressional ballot in the context of the Democrats' actions on health care reform.  —  What they find is that Democrats initially lead the generic ballot 46-38.