Enhanced Interrogations Worked  —  In releasing highly classified documents on the CIA interrogation program last week, President Obama declared that the techniques used to question captured terrorists “did not make us safer.”  This is patently false.  The proof is in the memos Obama made public …

White House Cheat Sheet: Cheney Keeps on Swinging  —  Former vice president Dick Cheney continued his one-man assault on President Obama, issuing a broad condemnation of the White House — from its handling of the CIA interrogation memos to the handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez …

America's Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire  —  In America today, there are almost as many people making their living as bloggers as there are lawyers.  Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers, firefighters or even bartenders.

Crimes suspected in 20 bailout cases — for starters  —  The special inspector general says TARP is ‘inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.’ The risk grows as the plan becomes more complex, he says.  —  Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — In the first major disclosure …

Obama's Outrageous Sin Against Our Kids  —  As I watch Washington politics I am not easily given to rage.  —  Washington politics is a game and selfishness, out-sized egos and corruption are predictable.  —  But over the last week I find myself in a fury.

The OLC “torture memos”: thoughts from a dissenter  —  I first gained access to the OLC memos and learned details about CIA's program for high-value detainees shortly after the set of opinions were issued in May 2005.  I did so as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's policy representative …

Why Republicans are devouring one book  —  There aren't any sex scenes or vampires, and it won't help you lose weight.  —  But House Republicans are tearing through the pages of Amity Shlaes' “The Forgotten Man” like soccer moms before book club night.  —  Shlaes' 2007 take on the Great …

EXCLUSIVE: Senator's husband cashes in on crisis  —  Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse  —  On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency …

Health-Care Dialogue Alarms Obama's Allies  —  As Congress returns to begin an intense debate over reshaping the nation's $2.2 trillion health-care system, prominent left-leaning organizations and liberal House members are issuing a warning to their Democratic allies: Don't cave on us.

Computer Spies Breach Fighter-Jet Project  —  WASHINGTON — Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project — the Defense Department's costliest weapons program ever — according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks.

Big-Spending Conservative  —  We've all heard liberal speeches on the economy.  The central concern is inequality.  Power and wealth tend to concentrate at the top of society, so government must stand as a countervailing power.  It must defend the people against the powerful to ensure fairness and opportunity for all.

Obama picks Nike veep to run service agency  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is picking a Nike vice president to lead the federal agency that oversees the country's national service programs.

President Beefcake?  D.C. magazine to feature shirtless Obama on cover  —  ABC News' Karen Travers and Jake Tapper report:  —  In the throes of an economic crisis and two wars, does the nation want more headlines about a “Pec-tacular” “Buff Bam”?  —  President Obama appears shirtless …

The Republicans' Paranoid Style  —  In 1964, historian Richard Hofstadter described “the paranoid style” as a periodic recurrence in American national life, characterized by “the use of paranoid modes of expressions by more or less normal people . . . heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy.”

Up, Up and Out  —  ROBERT GATES, the secretary of defense, has proposed a budget overhaul that will go a long way toward improving our national security, but more can be done to meet his long-term goal: creating the right military for the 21st century.  —  Not since Henry Stimson's tenure …

Netanyahu won't attend AIPAC summit, asks Peres to represent Israel  —  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday canceled his plans to attend the upcoming AIPAC summit, after it became clear that US President Barack Obama would not meet him during the conference.

Clinton, Bush booked for joint Toronto appearance  —  Event next month billed as a ‘conversation’ between the two most recent U.S. presidents  —  WASHINGTON — Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will appear together in Toronto next month on a public stage for the first time since …

A Timid Advocate of Freedom  —  At last week's Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.  His response to Ortega's denunciation of our effort to free Cuba …

The Republic Strikes Back PDF  —  Digg Stumble Upon Newsvine Slashdot Mixx Diigo Google Delicious Reddit Facebook  —  American political discourse, defined as it is by Arthur Schlesinger's ghost and Bill Bennett's ghostwriter, has contracted to such a pinpoint …

Caterpillar Says Obama Stimulus Plan ‘Missed an Opportunity’  —  Caterpillar Inc., the bulldozer manufacturer President Barack Obama used to help push his $787 billion stimulus plan, called the program disappointing and less effective than measures approved by China.

Dem Rep Harman Did Urge Times Not To Publish Wiretapping Expose!  —  Whoa.  Dem Rep Jane Harman did in fact urge The New York Times not to publish its big expose of Bush-era warrantless wiretapping, apparently before the 2004 election, potentially changing the election's outcome and the course of history …

Online Entries Shut Out in Pulitzers: Why?  —  For the first time, the venerable Pulitzer Prize board this year allowed entries from “online-only” news sites for its 14 journalism awards (there was no separate category).  At my magazine, Editor & Publisher, we have charted the response ever since …