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Charles Krauthammer has disgorged a magnum opussy sort of rant on the cover of the week’s Weekly Standard, based on a lecture he gave to the Manhattan Institute, a neoconservative think tank that has actually done some creative thinking about urban issues over the years. Nothing creative about Krauthammer’s thinking, though, which stands …

A little fun reading on this Columbus Day courtesy of the New Republic‘s Noam Scheiber (aka, my husband), who reports on the Obama economics team’s shared passion for tennis. When they’re not busy trying to save the global economy, Geithner, Summers et al like to blow off steam by heading down to Nick Bollettieri’s famous academy in …

I was wrong in last week’s print column–wishful thinking on the part of my sources, I think–about the actual options that General Stanley McChrystal has presented the President for ramping up the US military presence. The real numbers appear to be: 10,000…40,000…or 80,000. I say “appear” because I’ve heard those numbers, but can’t …

The Obama family attended services at St. John’s Episcopal this morning, and the Secret Service even let them walk the two blocks across Lafayette Park on this gorgeous October day. It marked the first time the family has gone to church in Washington since Easter, when they also visited St. John’s, although the Obamas have been …

The Vatican Press Office released a statement this morning congratulating Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize (translation courtesy of the National Catholic Reporter):

The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace to President Obama is greeted with appreciation in the Vatican, in light of the commitment demonstrated by the

…

Classy. Rush Limbaugh isn’t easily rendered speechless, but the conservative radio host took a few tries to get going this afternoon on his radio show. “Folks, there aren’t words for this,” said Limbaugh before pausing for a long moment. “Can you imagine, folks, how big Obama’s head is today?” he tried again. “I think it’s getting so big …

Unlike Joe, I did think that rejecting the prize could have been an option for Obama. But the President announced in the Rose Garden a few minutes ago that he will accept the award “as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21^st century.” And following Joe’s advice, he said of the Nobel …

There is a slight whiff of condescension attending the announcement that Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. There is the sense that he has won simply by not being George W. Bush. Effete Europe is congratulating rowdy America for cleaning up its act and not bringing guns to the dinner table.

Well, I’m as relieved as anybody …

Just…wow. I honestly don’t know what’s more shocking–that France’s culture minister, the same fellow who vociferously defended Roman Polanski and complained the director was being “thrown to the lions,” has a history of paying for sex with “young boys” in Thailand or that HE WROTE ABOUT IT IN A BOOK FOUR YEARS AGO.

And not that …

Cutting through the smoke and baloney on Afghanistan.

Note: There was an error–soon to be corrected, I hope–in communication between me and the fact-checker. I actually believe that the President’s final decision will be a bit more robust than the plan advocated by Les Gelb: 20,000 troops, equally divided between troops sent to …

Yochi Dreazen in the Wall Street Journal has encouraging word that the military is bolstering its intelligence efforts–in both sense of the word–on Afghanistan and Pakistan on two fronts. At the Pentagon, Brigadier General John Nicholson has been put in charge of a new Af/Pak coordination office, which is very good news as Nicholson …

Last week the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to U.S. Senators about current health reform legislation. The USCCB has supported the goal of universal health coverage for decades, but the letter made clear that they do not yet support the Senate Finance Committee’s bill because of concerns about affordability, coverage …