Modern Flourishes at Obamas' State Dinner  —  WASHINGTON — It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city's hottest social event.  But at their first state dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle …

Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan  —  Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.  —  Mr Ainsworth took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising …

Key coordinator of detainee policy quits  —  A key official in the Obama administration's effort to remake detention policy and close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has resigned.  —  Phillip Carter, who was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April …

Obama to Go to Copenhagen With Pledge of Emissions Cuts  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is pledging a provisional target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the first time an American administration offered even a tentative promise to reduce production of climate-altering gases …

How a letter from 1964 shows what's wrong with the Senate today  —  One of the challenges in arguing about the use of the filibuster is that the filibuster has changed drastically in recent decades, but it's done so quietly.  Quietly enough that people don't really understand that it's changed at all.

Dobbs Reaches Out to Latinos  —  Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc.  —  Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week …

The Uncertainty Economy  —  Tim Geithner is not the Democrats' biggest problem.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Preparing to write about yesterday's downward revision in third-quarter GDP, we were tempted to say the Obama Administration has hit a speed-bump on its promised exit out of the recession.

Google won't exclude distorted Michelle Obama image from its site  —  ‘We have, in general, a bias toward free speech,’ a Google spokesman says, explaining that offensiveness alone is not a reason to remove the image from the search index.  —  A crudely altered photograph of Michelle Obama …

The Fed's Perverse Search for an Exit Strategy  —  People who purport to be concerned about the budget deficit really ought to be spending more time worrying about what the Fed is doing.  It's very difficult, after all, to see how we're going to stick to PAYGO rules in the medium-term if we have persistent high unemployment.

Climategate: MSM Writers Try to Ignore Scandal in Global Warming Stories But Readers Bring Them Back to Reality  —  An hilariously bizarre situation is happening in the wake of the growing Climategate scandal.  Many of the mainstream media stories about global warming are simply pretending it doesn't exist.

Palin Suggests Reforming Canada's Universal Health Care System: ‘Let The Private Sector Take Over’  —  Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (playing the character of Marg Delahunty) attended a Sarah Palin book signing in the United States last week and asked the “thrilla from Wasilla, the Alaskan Aphrodite” …

Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required  —  A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report.  It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy.

Approval of Obama on Afghan war dives  —  WASHINGTON — Public approval of President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan has plummeted, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid rising pessimism about the course of the conflict.  —  The nation is divided over what to do next …

The behavioral economics of Thanksgiving  —  This column originally appeared in the Food section.  —  It happens every year.  It's not that you resolve to be virtuous on Thanksgiving, just reasonable.  Two plates of food, and no more.  One piece of pie, and that's enough.

From the Hospital to Bankruptcy Court  —  NASHVILLE — Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city's old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced.  Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means.

Rudy Giuliani, Serial Rumor Monger  —  Rudy Giuliani, the big scoop went, had decided to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year and would announce his candidacy “in the next 48 hours.”  —  120 hours later (and counting), the world is still waiting to hear from Rudy.

U.S. Mulls New Panel to Tackle Deficit  —  Bipartisan Commission Considered as Administration Seeks to Show Resolve on a Problem that Dogs Its Broader Agenda  —  WASHINGTON — The White House is considering a bipartisan commission to tackle the nation's swelling deficit …

The law professor and the pardon power  —  On Wednesday, President Obama will issue the White House's standard hokey pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey.  It goes with the job.  —  That's good news for the lucky turkey, but not much help for the many nonviolent first offenders languishing …

Obama's Approval Slide Finds Whites Down to 39%  —  Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Since the start of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined more among non-Hispanic whites than among nonwhites …

In U.S., More Support for Increasing Troops in Afghanistan  —  Americans now tilt slightly toward sending in new troops as opposed to reducing number  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans over the last two weeks have become slightly more likely to favor sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan …

CRU's Source Code: Climategate Uncovered  —  As the evidence of climate fraud at the University of East Anglia's prestigious Climactic Research Unit (CRU) continues to mount, those who've been caught green-handed continue to parry their due opprobrium and comeuppance, thanks primarily to a dead-silent mainstream media.