The Runaway General  —  Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House  —  'How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner?" demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?  —  When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.  —  Such people were a valuable addition …

Why Won't Obama Waive the Jones Act?  —  Five years ago, in the midst of another crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bush administration waived the Jones Act, easing the way for foreign vessels to move in U.S. waters and between ports.  The decision came with the administration under duress for its handling of Hurricane Katrina.

Dems won't pass budget in 2010  —  House Democrats will not pass a budget blueprint in 2010, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will confirm in a speech on Tuesday.  —  But Hoyer will vow to crack down on government spending, saying Democrats will enforce spending limits that are lower than what President Barack Obama has called for.

Amid crises, Obama declares war — on Arizona  —  The Obama administration has a lot of fights on its hands.  Putting aside real wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there's the battle against leaking oil in the Gulf, the struggle against 9.7 percent unemployment across the country, and clashes over the president's agenda on Capitol Hill.

‘I SAID NO CAP-AND-TRADE’.... There aren't enough votes in the Senate to pass an ambitious cap-and-trade proposal, and Republicans won't let the Senate vote on a more scaled-back version, put together with tri-partisan backing, called the American Power Act.  The new compromise offer is a …

As Law Takes Effect, Obama Gives Insurers a Warning  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama, whose vilification of insurers helped push a landmark health care overhaul through Congress, plans to sternly warn industry executives at a White House meeting on Tuesday against imposing hefty rate increases …

Pondering Orszag's Legacy  —  The news that Peter Orszag will leave the OMB in July is not surprising; he was set to leave in April but was persuaded to stay on a bit longer.  Orszag will be remembered chiefly for two things: his key role in designing the stimulus and the new health care law …

In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That  —  One day next month every student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles will awake to a higher grade point average.  —  But it's not because they are all working harder.  —  The school is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years.

A GOP chorus of Joe Bartons on the BP oil spill  —  Joe Barton is not alone.  The Texas congressman's lavish sympathy for BP — which he sees not as perpetrator of a preventable disaster but as victim of a White House “shakedown” — is actually what passes for mainstream opinion among conservative Republicans today.

OFFICIALLY OUR BEST-EVER CEASE AND DESIST  —  Recently we got the best-ever cease and desist letter.  We're no stranger to the genre, so what could possibly make this one stand out from the rest?  —  First, it's 12 pages long and very well-researched (except on one point); …

Voters Say Hillary More Qualified To Be President Than Obama, Romney, Gingrich, Palin  —  U.S. voters think Hillary Clinton is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama, but most believe that both Democrats are more fit for the White House than three top Republicans interested in the job.