Obama's Afghan policy speech at West Point  —  Following is the transcript of President Obama's speech Tuesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (The Post's report on the president's address is here.)  —  Thank you.  Please be seated.  —  Good evening.

Tanner To Retire  —  Rep. John Tanner (D-TN), a leading Blue Dog Dem, will retire at the end of his current term, Dem sources tell Hotline OnCall.  —  [UPDATE: Tanner released a statement late tonight confirming the news.  “Betty Ann and I had considered retiring in 2007 at the end of the 110th Congress …

Obama lunches with top political writers  —  On the day of his major Afghanistan speech, President Obama had lunch with a group of top political writers at the White House, according to a source familiar with the lunch.  —  There were some attendees today who write extensively on foreign policy …

Matthews Calls West Point, Site of Obama Speech ‘The Enemy Camp,’ ‘Strange Venue’  —  Either MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews let one slip tonight, or it was an extremely poor choice of words.  —  Following President Barack Obama's Dec. 1 speech, which he announced his intentions …

8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight  —  Disclaimer: The information presented here has been gathered and analyzed in my capacity as a graduate student at Indiana University.  This data was gathered and analyzed on my own time, without using federal government resources.

UK climate scientist to temporarily step down  —  LONDON — Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change.

ClimateGate III: The Mystery of the Missing Data  —  Over the weekend, I came in for some probably deserved criticism from Clive Crook over my initial, somewhat airy, reaction to ClimateGate.  In my defense, he quotes my first post on the topic, not the follow up.

Fed Debates New Role: Bubble Fighter  —  Not so long ago, Federal Reserve officials were confident they knew what to do when they saw bubbles building in prices of stocks, houses or other assets: Nothing.  —  Now, as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke faces a confirmation hearing Thursday on a second four-year term …

In praise of George W. Bush  —  Since the results of the 2008 election became clear, the 43rd President of the United States has behaved in a way that brings honor to him, his family, his office, and his country.  By all reports he did what he could to smooth the transition to his successor …

November 30, 2009  —  There are news reports that on Decembers 1st, Obama will be at West Point to announce that he is sending tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan, this despite our rallies, vigils, petitions, phone calls and e-mails saying NO to MORE WAR.

Grassley: 'I've lived off the public tit' as a congressman.  —  On C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked if he thought the health care reform bill before the Senate amounted to socialism.  “No,” Grassley said, but he then attacked the public option aspect of the bill, calling it “socialism.”

New public option plan to be unveiled  —  A new measure on the public option will be unveiled next week, which Senate Democratic leaders hope will break the logjam on healthcare reform.  —  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who has been tapped by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) …

FTC to Examine Possible Support of News Organizations  —  WASHINGTON -The head of the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday the agency will study whether government should aid struggling news organizations, which are suffering from a collapse in advertising revenues as the internet upends their centuries-old business model.