Cheney slams Obama for projecting ‘weakness’  —  MCLEAN, Va. — On the eve of the unveiling of the nation's new Afghanistan policy, former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed President Barack Obama for projecting “weakness” to adversaries and warned that more workaday Afghans will side …

Just In: Key Obama speech excerpts released  —  (CNN) - The White House just released excerpts of President Obama's prime-time televised speech where he will outline his strategy on Afghanistan.

Why I Parted Ways With The Right  —  1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)  —  2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

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.

State dinner crashers exchanged e-mails with Pentagon official  —  The special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, who was appointed by Obama, said she clearly stated in correspondence with the couple that she could not extend any kind of invitation.  —  Reporting from Washington …

Job Cuts Loom as Stimulus Fades  —  WASHINGTON—Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground, an ominous sign for the nation's weak employment picture.

Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder  —  Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol.

The Worst Kind Of Scheduling Conflict.  —  President Barack Obama ...  ... is slated to deliver a prime-time address on Tuesday night in which he'll lay out his plans for the American war in Afghanistan.  —  The address before the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night …

Lakewood police shooting suspect killed by officer in South Seattle early today  —  Maurice Clemmons, the suspect wanted in the slaying of four Lakewood police officers, was shot and killed in South Seattle early this morning by a Seattle police officer making a routine check of a stolen car.

Gutsy progressive congressman Alan Grayson leads a double life  —  Since defeating an incumbent in Florida's Republican-heavy 8th congressional district last year, Rep. Alan Grayson has emerged as one of the progressive movement's most vocal champions.  His attacks on Republican obstruction …

The Climate Science Isn't Settled  —  Confident predictions of catastrophe are unwarranted.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Is there a reason to be alarmed by the prospect of global warming?  Consider that the measurement used, the globally averaged temperature anomaly (GATA), is always changing.

Climategate and Scientific Conduct  —  Everyone has heard about the “Climategate” scandal by now.  Someone leaked hundreds of megabytes of information from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, and the material (which appears to be authentic) is most interesting.

Threat of reconciliation hovers over centrist Democrats on healthcare  —  Talk about using budget reconciliation to pass healthcare reform in the Senate has faded from public view, but Democratic leaders continue to hang the threat over centrists in private.

Huck: Political attacks ‘disgusting’  —  Under fire for commuting the sentence of suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called some of the criticisms “disgusting” and suggested they were attempts to score political points.

MoveOn Mobilizes Against Obama on Afghanistan  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports: The liberal drumbeat against President Obama's new Afghanistan policy is about to get a whole lot louder.  —  MoveOn.org, the liberal advocacy group that claims 5 million members, today sent an e-mail blast urging members …

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.”

Some toy drives check immigration status  —  They don't claim to know who's been naughty or nice, but some Houston charities are asking whether children are in the country legally before giving them toys.  —  In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs …

Journalism 2009: Desperate Metaphors, Desperate Revenue Models, And The Desperate Need For Better Journalism  —  I was asked to give a speech this morning at a journalism conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission.  The topic, as it so often seems to be these days, is what can be done to save journalism?

Palin blasts media for bus tour stories  —  Sarah Palin fired back at the media today for a series of stories on her travel arrangements.  —  Over the last few days, several outlets have picked up on the story that Palin actually flew to some of the stops on her “bus tour.”  (Here, here, and here, for example.)

Dept. Of Bad Timing: Obama And Tiger On The Cover Of Golf Digest  —  What timing: President Obama and Tiger Woods will appear together on the cover of the January issue of Golf Digest.  —  It could be the most politically charged Golf Digest cover ever.  Woods is dealing with a swirl …