For Obama, Decision to Remove General Came Quickly  —  WASHINGTON — By the time he woke up Wednesday morning, President Obama had made up his mind.  —  During the 36 frenetic hours since he had been handed an article from the coming issue of Rolling Stone ominously headlined “The Runaway General …

Al Gore A “Crazed Sex Poodle?”  —  Masseuse's claims read like R-rated vice presidential fan fiction  —  In a bizarre statement to police, the Oregon woman who claims that Al Gore fondled and groped her during a massage session described the former Vice President as a giggling “crazed sex poodle” …

GOP POISED TO KILL TAX-EXTENDERS BILL.... For weeks, Senate Democrats have tried to pass what's called the “tax-extenders bill” — a key economic package that extends unemployment benefits, maintains popular tax breaks, protects doctors from Medicare cuts, and boosts state aid to prevent massive job layoffs in the states.

Justices Limit Use of ‘Honest Services’ Law Against Fraud  —  WASHINGTON — Ruling for two prominent corporate executives in prison for fraud, the Supreme Court on Thursday dramatically narrowed the scope of a law often used by federal prosecutors in corruption cases.

Confidence Wanes in Obama, U.S. Outlook  —  Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

U.S. isolated on spending at G-20  —  The U.S. will be isolated at the G-20 summit on the subject of stimulus spending.  —  In the days ahead of this weekend's summit, President Barack Obama and his economic team have pressed Europe and Congress alike on the need for more spending to drive economic growth.

Key House Republican: If gaffes were reason to resign, Biden would be gone  —  If gaffes were a legitimate reason to resign, Vice President Joe Biden would already be out of office, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said Thursday.  —  The second-ranking House Republican appeared on MSNBC's …

Liberal Dems' battle to cut defense spending reaches a turning point  —  A growing number of centrist Democrats say they're open to trimming Pentagon spending in the face of record budget deficits and mounting public debt.  —  Liberal Democrats for years have called for cuts to the massive defense budget to no avail.

BP Is Pursuing Alaska Drilling Some Call Risky  —  The future of BP's offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico has been thrown into doubt by the recent drilling disaster and court wrangling over a moratorium.  —  But about three miles off the coast of Alaska, BP is moving ahead …

Democrats, Republicans Spar Over Fannie, Freddie Costs  —  Some of the top bankers in the country went bonkers Wednesday night when they discovered an amendment added by House Republicans to the financial overhaul bill during the conference process.  —  By this morning, it was clear lawmakers had felt the fury.

Harkin hints ‘card-check’ bill could move during lame-duck session of Congress  —  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) suggested Thursday that Democrats might attempt to move “card-check” legislation this year, perhaps during a lame-duck session.  —  Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education …

Senate ready to hang states, the unemployed, the economy out to dry  —  Harry Reid is going to try one more stab at passing the tax extenders/unemployment/aid to states bill.  He filed for cloture last night and the vote will be Friday.  A Democratic Senate aide tells me that “the outlook is grim” …

Harry Reid's son leaves last name out of first campaign ad  —  Nevada gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid (D) is on the air with his first campaign ad and it's missing one thing: his last name.  —  Reid, the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), doesn't say his name at any point during the ad …

General McChrystal's Twitters  —  Get short, timely messages from Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Twitter:  —  DAY 1  —  In Paris with my Kabul posse — Bluto, Otter, Boon, Pinto, Flounder.  Plus some newbie.  Guys call him Scribbles.  —  ∗  —  Suite's getting pretty crowded.

Mandatory Bar Parking  —  I've complained often about the scourge of mandatory parking minimums and the damage they wreak on our economy, our communities, our public health, and our environment.  Jonathan Hiskes raises the particularly absurd example of mandatory parking at bars:

Video-Rep. Kanjorski: ‘Finance bill will help good Americans, not minorities or defective people’  —  Connie Hair at Human Events has posted this shocking video of Rep. Paul Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Democrat, at a Wednesday conference committee hearing to merge the House and Senate versions …

Focus U.S.A. / ‘The U.S. will have to confront Iran or give up the Middle East’  —  Amitai Etzioni, professor of International Relations at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., believes the only option available to contain Iran's atomic ambitions is a series of assaults on its non-nuclear facilities.