“General” on The Daily Caller

General David Petraeus will likely step down later this year as commander of Allied forces in Afghanistan, Foreign Policy magazine reports. Lt. Gen. John Allen, an experienced Marine commander, will likely replace him. (more)

When the late, great General George S. Patton slapped an ill soldier he mistakenly believed was malingering, General Eisenhower reprimanded him and relieved him of his command. But Eisenhower kept Patton on as General and later appointed him to command the Third Army. (more)

1.) Your grandmother drives faster than the new Republican majority — Welcome to the Lowered Expectations dating service, where nobody’s profile picture reflects what he looks like in real life. First up: The House’s Republican majority. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor promised $100 billion in spending cuts. Late Tuesday, unnamed GOP aides downgraded that amount to roughly $50 billion, reports the New York Times, “because the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, will be nearly half over before spending cuts could become law.” The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward, after attending Cantor’s press availability on Tuesday, reported that Republicans may be relying on Obama to do their cutting for them: “Once we get to the State of the Union I expect this president to put some action behind the words he’s been about,” Cantor said yesterday afternoon. “When pressed numerous times for whether there will be specific spending cuts proposed and regulations put under the axe prior to the State of the Union,” Ward added, “Cantor mentioned only an already announced five percent reduction to congressional office budgets that will save $35 million.” Hear that noise? That is the sound of the Tea Partiers sharpening their knives. (more)

1.) Washington’s Funniest Celebrity tries new routine on ‘This Week’ — White House economic advisor and stand-up comic Austan Goolsbee told some really bad jokes yesterday on “This Week,” alleges David Frum. “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the…with the debt ceiling.” Goolsbee said yesterday. Also: “If we hit the debt ceiling, that’s…essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history” and that it would “be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.” While the aforementioned superlative is debatable, the rest of Goolsbee’s claim is not. As David Frum points out, Goolsbee is jousting with windmills: Two weeks after the election, Rep. John Boehner said, “Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part.” More likely, writes Frum, is that Obama is playing chicken not with debt, but with Americans’ confidence. That’s not funny at all. (more)

TORREON, Mexico—His grandfather was the cross-eyed cousin of Mexico’s legendary revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Like his famous ancestor, Carlos Villa is a hard-charging general who is charismatic, foulmouthed and not afraid to use his gun. (more)

God bless Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos. Despite incredible pressure from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, and the entire Washington-political-media complex, Amos is courageously standing up for his Marines. The man refuses to buckle and bow to the pressure. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ralph Nader and consumer groups want the Obama administration to suspend General Motors’ initial public stock offering, saying taxpayers could lose billions of dollars in the deal. (more)

NEWPORT, Wales — The look on Colin Montgomerie’s face said at least as much as the words falling out of his mouth. Not that there was much gray area with the latter. (more)

The North Korean leader’s youngest son Kim Jong-un has been appointed as a general, state media announced tonight, in the clearest signal yet that he is Kim Jong-il’s chosen heir. (more)

Former Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin called on the Florida pastor who is planning a Koran burning on Sept. 11 to cancel the event, and compared the book burning to the plan to build a Muslim community center two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks in Lower Manhattan. (more)

(Aug. 23) — Facebook may be the world’s largest social-networking website, but in some ways it still maintains the features of a tiny dorm room startup. Case in point is this story from TechCrunch, which notes that it is impossible to block Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, any user who attempts to block Zuckerberg’s profile will receive a message that reads, “General Block failed error: Block failed.” Surge Desk gave blocking Zuckerberg a shot and got the same response. (more)

The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said in an interview Monday that the international troops he leads in the war have turned the tide on the Taliban’s “momentum” there, but warned tough battles still lay ahead. (more)

Severe weather has hampered the rescue operation for eight people believed to be on board a GCI-owned aircraft that crashed near Dillingham on Monday night with possible fatalities, according to state and federal officials. (more)

A Pentagon strike against Iran would rely heavily on the B-2 bomber and cruise missiles to try to destroy the regime’s ability to make nuclear weapons, analysts say, after the top U.S. military officer said a war plan is in place. (more)

Asked what he considers the major issues in this year’s midterm Congressional elections, Claude Nicolas, 24, paused from munching on a sushi roll and crisply ticked off three: jobs, the economy and immigration. (more)

A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal. (more)

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich had a sobering analysis of the U.S. military’s mission in Afghanistan during a political visit to Iowa Monday. (more)

Nearly a year before his infamous resignation several weeks ago, Gen. Stanley McChrystal tightened the rules of engagement (ROE) for soldiers serving in Afghanistan to restrict troops from firing unless fired upon and prohibiting bombing or launching artillery attacks with civilians nearby. (more)

There’s not a single black Republican in Congress today, but Allen West could change that if he wins his election this November. The Sarah Palin-backed veteran running for Florida’s 22nd House district says, however, that this fact is not very important. (more)

The White House’s official policy of banning the word “Islam” in describing America’s terrorist enemies is in direct conflict with the U.S. military’s war-fighting doctrine now guiding commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. (more)