Rep. Paul Ryan on what real health reform should look like  —  Today, the House Budget Committee is to mark up a “reconciliation” vehicle, initiating the greatest expansion in government and entitlement spending in a generation through a partisan process to push “health-care reform” across the finish line.

Rielle Hunter speaks for the first time in GQ interview about John and Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, and the big-money donors  —  Rielle Hunter at her home in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo by Mark Seliger / Courtesy of GQ)  —  For more than two years after Rielle Hunter emerged at the center …

Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants …

Gitmo's Indefensible Lawyers  —  Legal counsel to some of the detainees went far beyond vigorous representation of their clients.  Doesn't the public have a right to know?  —  On the evening of Jan. 26, 2006, military guards at Guantanamo Bay made an alarming discovery during a routine cell check.

Millions Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care  —  WASHINGTON — The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes …

What will the Supreme Court be like without its liberal leader?  —  Supreme Court Justices are remembered for their opinions, but they are revealed by their questions.  For many years, Sandra Day O'Connor chose to open the questioning in most cases, and thus show the lawyers—and her colleagues …

Democrats, Forever Changed  —  Hungry Beast Giving Beast Women in the World  —  Blogs and Stories  —  By pressing ahead on health care, President Obama is ending a decades-long internal debate within his party—and the Democratic Party will never be the same.

Taking On China  —  Tensions are rising over Chinese economic policy, and rightly so: China's policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, undervalued has become a significant drag on global economic recovery.  Something must be done.  —  To give you a sense of the problem …

March 14: Axelrod, Clyburn, Durbin, Rove, roundtable  —  MR. TOM BROKAW: This Sunday: Critical condition.  President Obama delays his trip overseas to push hard for healthcare reform.  —  PRES. BARACK OBAMA: It's time to vote!  Tired of talking about it.  —  MR. BROKAW: Will he finally succeed on this top priority?

The Beck Factor at Fox: Staffers say comments taint their work  —  In just over a year, Glenn Beck's blinding burst of stardom has often seemed to overshadow the rest of Fox News.  —  And that may not be a good thing for the top-rated cable news channel, as many of its staffers are acutely aware.

Israel envoy: U.S. ties at their worst in 35 years  —  Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of “business as usual.”

Obama's happiness deficit  —  Here's a theory about why President Obama is having a tough political time right now: He doesn't seem all that happy being president.  —  I know, it's the world's hardest job, and between war and the world economy collapsing, he didn't have the first year he might have wished for.

Early races for Congress may give forecast for November  —  Circle May 18 on your calendar.  What happens that day will tell us much about the mood of the electorate heading into the November midterm elections.  —  That third Tuesday in May is the de facto Super Tuesday of the 2010 cycle …