The Night Beat: What the Heck Was McChrystal Thinking?  —  Good evening.  —  ROLLING STAN: What in the heck was Gen. Stanley McChrystal thinking?  I mean, I know what he was thinking: he was tired of being the victim of what he believes is a concerted effort on behalf of Ambassador …

Orszag Leaving as Budget Director  —  Peter R. Orszag will leave his job as the White House budget director in July, according to someone familiar with his plans, making him perhaps the first official to leave the Obama Cabinet and removing a major player from President Obama's economic team.

Bork to publicly oppose Kagan for Supreme Court  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Failed conservative Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork is joining anti-abortion activists to publicly oppose confirming Elena Kagan as a justice.  —  Bork plans to detail his criticisms of Kagan during …

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.

Hayworth pitched ‘free money’ seminars in 2007 infomercial  —  Republican Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth appeared in a 2007 television infomercial in which he helped convince viewers that they could rake in big bucks by attending seminars that would teach them how to apply for federal grants that they wouldn't have to pay back.

NYC Car Bomb Suspect Pleads Guilty, Calls It ‘War’  —  Times Square car bomb suspect pleads guilty in NYC, says ‘we will be attacking US’  —  Calling himself a Muslim soldier, a defiant Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing …

Feinberg Says Faster Claim Payment Is Needed  —  BP said on Monday that it had so far spent about $2 billion in its response to the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, including containment efforts, economic and environmental claims and state and federal costs.

W.H. bends truth on Joe Barton  —  The pitch: BP-apologist Joe Barton would head the Energy and Commerce Committee if Republicans win the House.  —  The salesmen: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.  —  The truth: Not so much.

Emanuel defended Blagojevich, then sought grant  —  SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — President Barack Obama's chief of staff, then a congressman in Illinois, apparently attempted to trade favors with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich while he was in office, according to newly disclosed e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

Deep in the Heart of Texas  —  A number of responses to my column about the education I received at Classical High (a public school in Providence, RI) rehearsed a story of late-flowering gratitude after an earlier period of frustration and resentment.  “I had a high school (or a college) …

Swipe Fee Deal: Merchants Beat Wall Street  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Wall Street reform negotiators struck a deal Monday to regulate the swipe fees that major banks and credit card companies can charge to merchants — costs that are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Amsterdam mayor considers using ‘decoy Jews’ to combat anti-semitism  —  Acting Amsterdam mayor Lodewijk Asscher is considering using police offcers posing as Jews in an attempt to stamp out anti-semitic violence, the Parool reports on Monday.  —  A spokesman said the suggestion …

Link Between Grayson, Tea Party Questioned  —  One of Rep. Alan Grayson's pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.

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.

Saudi Arabia Beheads and Nails Murderer's Body to Cross  —  Saudi Arabia executed two murderers including a Yemeni whose body was nailed to a cross after he was convicted of killing a fellow countryman and his daughter, the interior ministry said on Monday.  —  Shaaban al-Nasheri was beheaded …

Mystery deepens around alleged Bush poisoning incident  —  Did former First Lady Laura Bush hype a stomach flu, or some other viral disorder, into a mythical assassination attempt in order to sell books?  When Bush's memoir, Spoken From the Heart, was released last month …

Pelosi: Climate Change Legislation is a ‘Moral Issue’—'We Have a Moral Responsibility' to Preserve 'God's Beautiful Creation'  —  (CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that passing energy and climate change legislation is a “moral issue”—although, at the same time …