Too late for Obama to turn it around?  —  Plus: The left's visionaries lost their bearings on drugs — but the GOP is led by losers  —  What a difference a month makes!  When my last controversial column posted on Salon in the second week of August, most Democrats seemed frozen in suspended animation …

Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care  —  The president's proposals would give unelected officials life-and-death rationing powers.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Writing in the New York Times last month, President Barack Obama asked that Americans “talk with one another …

'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush  —  Smoke billows up Tuesday after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the military entrance to Kabul's airport, killing at least three.  Read the story.  (Photo by Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times.)

Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide  —  Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter held captive by militants in northern Afghanistan, was freed in a military commando raid early Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter was killed during the rescue effort.

Attacks on Sunstein Frustrate Conservative Fans  —  On January 8, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein would be nominated to run the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  It was a surprising choice for a job, created in 1980 …

After Thesis Uproar, McDonnell's Strongly Worded Comments on Gays Resurface  —  ‘Homosexual Conduct’ Comments ‘Irrelevant’ to Campaign, He Says  —  In January 2003, then-Del. Robert F. McDonnell helped gavel in one of the most extraordinary judicial reappointment hearings in Virginia history …

High Court to Start Term With Near Decade-High Approval  —  More consider the high court “about right” than “too liberal” or “too conservative”  —  PRINCETON, NJ — As the U.S. Supreme Court convenes Wednesday with recently sworn-in Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the bench …

‘Doctors told me it was against the rules to save my premature baby’  —  Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy - almost four months early.  —  They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines …

As an Exotic Mortgage Resets, Payments Skyrocket  —  Edward and Maria Moller are worried about losing their house — not now, but in 2013.  —  That is when the suburban San Diego schoolteachers will see their mortgage payments jump, most likely beyond their ability to pay.

Our One-Party Democracy  —  Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.

Chambliss: Obama must express ‘humility’ in Wed. speech  —  Voters' reaction to the idea of a public option means the president must express “humility” in his health care address Wednesday night, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said Tuesday.  —  “I think what you're looking at is folks …

EXCLUSIVE: Obama - ‘We Intend to Get Something Done’ on Health Reform  —  President to Provide a More Detailed Health Care Plan in Speech Before Congress  —  In his highly anticipated address to Congress today, President Obama told ABC News that he would provide a much more detailed health care plan …

Obama Speech Aims To Reenergize Effort  —  Senate Finance Chair Holds Out Hope That Bipartisan Accord Can Be Reached  —  President Obama will seek to rally Congress to pass health-care reform in a prime-time address Wednesday, even as lawmakers continue struggling to reach broad consensus on some of the toughest issues in the debate.

U.S. ‘Unlikely’ to Recoup Auto Outlay, Panel Finds  —  The federal government is unlikely to recoup all of the billions of dollars that it has invested in General Motors and Chrysler, according to a new congressional oversight report assessing the automakers' rescue.