Obama’s way is the highways, it seems: President Obama named road construction as key to stemming unemployment in a speech on Tuesday. He promoted three main ideas: helping small businesses to add staff and grow; updating transportation infrastructure like highway and bridges; and refitting homes to be energy-efficient. The White House did not offer a price tag, but is planning on using the soon-to-be-returned $200 billion in TARP funds to pay for its program.

Tuesday evening, The New York Times reported that Senate leaders had " reached a broad agreement" to drop a government-run insurance plan from the pending health-care reform legislation and that the Congressional Budget Office would score the impact that cutting the measure would have on the budget. The Times then updated that Reid said the public option was not off the table, and then further updated that the plan was to "alter" it. The Associated Press also reported that the public option was dropped. Then Talking Points Memo reported that people on the Hill were "for whatever reasons, shying away from the word 'deal.'" TPM's Brian Beutler reported that the senators refused to comment on the compromise. And Reuters said Reid had denied reports that the public option was gone. After all these months of wrangling, the measure appears doomed to be killed and revived in an endless cycle, forever.

The U.S. is taking a tough-love approach to Afghanistan to ensure that President Hamid Karzai makes good on his promise to reform the Afghan government. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Karzai in Kabul Tuesday to emphasize that Afghan security forces need to be strengthened, but assured the leader that the U.S. would stand behind the country for the long haul. Karzai will announce his new cabinet in the next week, and it will be the first test of his alleged commitment to rid the government of corruption. Though lawmakers have asked Karzai to submit a full list of ministers for approval, he has conceded to only 40 percent of his cabinet list. Gates also vowed to Karzai that the U.S. will not repeat its mistake of abandoning Afghanistan, like it did in 1989 when the country was battling the Soviets.

If it’s possible, Tiger Woods’ week just got worse. PepsiCo announced today that it will discontinue Tiger Focus, a Gatorade beverage inspired by the now-scandal-plagued athlete, though the company claims the cut is part of a larger series of changes to the brand and a response to a 34 percent drop in the drink’s sales, rather than a reaction to his recent transgressions. "We decided several months ago to discontinue Gatorade Tiger Focus along with some other products to make room for our planned series of innovative products in 2010," said a spokesperson for the company. Tiger Focus was the first kind of Gatorade to be named after a specific athlete, which meant that Woods received royalties for sales of the drink. Woods has issued no comment on the cancellation.

ArmorGroup’s five-year, $189 million contract to guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul will not be renewed, the State Department has announced. The decision comes in the wake of this fall’s surfacing of pictures of the private contractors having too much fun in Afghanistan—they featured male guards drinking booze poured through each others’ backsides, prancing naked with weapons in a war zone, and urinating in coconut bikinis. The photos (which are above all an excellent unintentional advertisement for sobriety) were not ArmorGroup’s first brush with scandal. Almost as soon as the company took over security at the embassy in 2007, the State Department began fielding serious complaints about its performance, to the extent that “the security of the U.S. embassy in Kabul is in jeopardy.”

Elton John first met 14-month-old Ukrainian toddler Lev in September, but was refused permission to adopt the boy due to his age (he is 62) and marriage status (though Britain recognizes his gay union, the Ukraine does not). Partner David Furnish says the "massively gutted" musician has, however, channeled some energy into productive action: The pair are working to ensure that Lev and his brother "have the best health care, education, and family options available to them." Furnish noted that the pair intend to campaign for a change to Ukrainian law.

The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing John Yoo, the Bush administration attorney, of authorizing the torture of Jose Padilla, the American citizen arrested in 2002 and accused of planning to detonate a dirty bomb. Yoo authored a 2002 White House memo that said rough treatment of detainees did not count as torture unless it caused "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." Padilla says Yoo provided legal cover for what he terms mistreatment. Justice Department lawyers told the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the lawsuit risks "deterring full and frank advice” regarding enemies. Besides, the department noted, the Office of Professional Responsibility has been investigating the advice Yoo gave Bush since 2004, and can recommend punishment. Yoo is now being represented by a private attorney, Miguel Estrada, who was nominated by Bush for an appeals court position and was the first such nominee ever blocked by filibuster.

When the camera lens is all you know, what happens when it goes away? Now that Jon & Kate Plus 8 is over, the Gosselin kids are reportedly having a difficult time adjusting. Speaking to Barbara Walters for her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 special, Kate explained: “They cried in the van on the way home from school the other day. I finally admitted to them, they kept asking, ‘Where’s the camera crew? Where’s the camera crew? We miss them.’ And I said, ‘Our show is over.’ ... Eight sobbing kids driving home from school.” Jon Gosselin has apparently put a stop to the filming of Kate Plus Eight, Mrs. Gosselin’s single-parent spin-off, which has gone on hiatus since the Gosselins' public divorce. "Unless you live in my house and, and see how everything that we have done with the show has been such a great experience, you can't speak," the mother of eight said.

By a narrow margin, the Senate rejected an amendment to the health-care bill that would have restricted abortion coverage for people who would get subsidies to buy insurance. The result, which was 54-45, was expected, but it could cost Majority Leader Harry Reid the support of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who threatened to filibuster the bill if it did not tighten abortion restrictions. Reid is looking to finish debate on amendments and get started on a procedural battle with Republicans that could last 10 days before the bill gets its final vote before Christmas.

Is the Copenhagen conference on climate change in trouble already? The Guardian reports that developing nations “reacted furiously” to the leak of an agreement that world leaders will be asked to sign onto next week. The so-called Danish Text, drawn up by a group of countries believed to include the U.S., U.K., and Denmark, would force developing countries to agree to specific emissions cuts; abandon the Kyoto Protocol; vest control of climate-change finance in the World Bank; and not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tons of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tons per person. Essentially, developing nations see it as an attempt by rich countries to wrest control of climate-change issues away from the United Nations.

Is the “pay czar” a pushover? Kenneth Feinberg, the government official in charge of reeling in executive compensation, has decided to exempt five executives at AIG from a $500,000 salary cap after they threatened to quit, according to Bloomberg. Feinberg could issue an official ruling on the matter as early as next week.

The talk these days may be about Afghanistan, but tragedy struck Iraq on Tuesday when at least 121 people were killed and 197 wounded in a series of five coordinated car bomb attacks around Baghdad, according to Reuters. The blasts went off across the city over the course of nearly an hour, including at the Labor Ministry, a court complex, and the new Finance Ministry. The old Finance Ministry building was leveled by a bomb in August. Southern Baghdad also saw a suicide bomb attack on a police patrol earlier.

Listen for yourself to see if Eminem is gay bashing in his new single. "Sorry, Lance, Mr. Lambert and Aiken ain’t gonna make it/They get so mad, when I call them both fake/It's all these f--ing voices in my head," go Eminem's lyrics for his new song "Elevator," which hit the Internet last Thursday. The rapper's "fake/it's" combo sounds "a lot like a common anti-gay slur," says MTV.com, and seems to be targeted at out singers Lance Bass, Adam Lambert, and Clay Aiken. Eminem has been the target of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation before for his use of derogatory words in his other songs "Criminal" and "Kill You."

Jenny Sanford says she wouldn't have stood by her man even if he had asked her to. In an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters, as part of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 special, the wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford opens up about her husband's public affair with an Argentinian woman. "Certainly his actions hurt me, and they caused consequences for me, but they don't in any way take away from my own self-esteem. They reflect poorly on him," she said. Since the affair became public, Sanford has packed her and her four children's suitcases and moved out of the South Carolina's governor's mansion.

Is NASCAR ready for a woman superstar? It appears so: IndyCar racer Danica Patrick has reached a deal with JR Motorsports to enter NASCAR, according to the Associated Press. Patrick will announce the deal at a news conference in Phoenix on Tuesday. Her sponsor will be GoDaddy.com. In 2008, Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race.

Rachel Uchitel is famous now for being Tigers Woods’ purported mistress No. 1, but might she have been much more than that to the golf star? A VIP concierge who has worked with Uchitel says “Rachel Uchitel works for Tiger the minute he gets off the plane wherever he is: from dinner, to photos, to nightclubs, to drugs, to girls—whatever he wants.” Deadspin writes, “Uchitel’s main job was to provide women for Tiger during his globetrotting excursions.” The concierge estimates that Tiger kept her on retainer for about $10,000-15,000 per month to handle his dirty business, and that Uchitel would fly girls in from Los Angeles to parties in Vegas for men like Tiger. Apparently, another purported mistress—Kalika Moquin—played a similar role. The lesson, Deadspin says, is “Athletes have utilized the VIP service to engage in their affairs (and meet possible mistresses) for the sake of (supposed) privacy, philandering without the hassle of having to do any work themselves to land these women.”

Daytime soap opera As the World Turns won't have an axis to rotate on anymore. CBS announced Tuesday that the network is ending the drama in September, after 54 years of overwrought plotlines. Just three months ago, CBS pulled Guiding Light off the air, and it appears ABC's One Life to Live may also be in jeopardy. The end of ATWT leaves a paltry six soaps to fill up the humdrum daytime television hours.

Barbro Holmberg, Tiger Woods' mother-in-law, was hospitalized on Tuesday with stomach pains, according to the Associated Press. A hospital spokesman said that her condition was not serious, but did not elaborate. Apparently Holmberg is in a private room and her family has hired security to keep the media away. She was visiting the United States from Sweden to be with her daughter after news broke of Woods' cheating. 

Kenneth Biros, a convicted killer, was the first inmate to be executed in the U.S. by a new method of lethal injection, which uses a single drug instead of the traditional three. The new process, which uses a drug common in pet euthanasia, is longer but supposedly less painful, and was instituted by Ohio after a botched lethal injection in September; other states still use the three-drug method. Biros was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m. EST today, around 43 minutes after entering the death house.

In the face of questioning from lawmakers and pundits, General Stanley McChrystal is standing behind the president on his decision last week to send 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan. McChrystal testified that Obama's strategy is achievable and that troops can realistically start pulling out in July 2011, despite Republican concerns that the early deadline could lead to a strong Taliban insurgency. Obama's decision "recognizes that the next 18 months will likely be decisive, and ultimately, enables success," McChrystal said. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who had previously expressed doubts about the plan, also expressed support for Obama's strategy.

In a brilliant editorial drawn from his remarks in front of the FTC's workshop on journalism and the Internet, Rupert Murdoch writes that despite gloomy forecasts, journalism's future is "limited only by editors and producers unwilling to fight for their readers and viewers." Murdoch—who as chairman of News Corp controls The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and the New York Post—sees three basic dangers that could befall journalism. The first is a loss of trust between an outlet and its readers, when a news organization stops giving people "the news they want" and starts "producing news for themselves," news that's irrelevant to their consumers. Second, Murdoch writes that the future of any news organization relies on its ability to "attract customers by providing news and information they are willing to pay for," since "the old business model based mainly on advertising is dead." Finally, Murdoch warns against both the "outdated thinking" that characterizes governmental attempts to regulate media and the "chilling" prospect of governmental aid. "What is most important," writes Murdoch, "is that the news industry remains free, independent—and competitive."

Despite signs of a possible economic recovery, many older workers are saying that the recent recession has pushed them toward early retirement—oftentimes against their own wishes. Since the start of the recession, the number of unemployed workers between ages 55 and 64 has almost tripled, to a November high of 15.4 million. A pair of Wellesley economists have estimated that some 378,000 workers will be forced into retirement thanks to the difficult labor market, and nearly 50 percent will have to work longer due to hits to financial portfolios. The situation is particularly dire for those who need to draw on Social Security, since most people need to be 65 years old to get full benefits—and therefore the earlier workers begin to draw on Social Security, the less money they get for living expenses.

In a surprise announcement Tuesday morning, Bryant Gumbel revealed that he recently had surgery to remove a malignant tumor on his lung. Gumbel kept the operation, which happened two months ago and removed a portion of his lung, private, and told viewers of Live! With Regis and Kelly—which he is guest-hosting while Regis Philbin recovers from a hip replacement—that he and his doctor hope that the treatment is over. The host of HBO's Real Sports is going to see his surgeon next week. "I'm hoping they greenlight me to play golf," said Gumbel.

Christmas is saved! After a brief controversy over possibly unsafe levels of antimony in this holiday season's hot item, the Zhu Zhu hamster toy, GoodGuide.com acknowledged that its methodology, which tested the product's surface, differed from that of federal regulators, who test chemical solubility, and that it should not have compared its results against federal standards. The Consumer Product Safety Commission also weighed in, saying that it was "taking a serious look at this product," but that the antimony standard "has not been exceeded in the case of this toy." According to a Wall Street Journal source, there will not be a Zhu Zhu recall based on its antimony levels.

Give it up for Levi Johnston: The teenager from Wasilla who had “never seen a gay guy” growing up is happy to be a gay icon, he told Joy Behar on Monday night. “Once I started doing all these tours and everything” Johnston said, “I just... You know, they're people, too. It doesn't matter to me, more fans, it's great." When asked about a gay porno starring a lookalike, Johnston said, “Let 'em do what they're going to do.”

Some show their disdain for politicians by throwing shoes, but a Minnesota man went the way of old-school theater heckling by throwing tomatoes at Sarah Palin. During a book-signing event at the Mall of America in Minnesota, the man threw two tomatoes at the former Alaska governor and missed; he may, however, face charges for assaulting the police officer whom he hit. Palin supporters were said to have lined up for the event Black Friday-style, waiting outside in freezing temperatures several hours before the event began. The former 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee showed up wearing her signature red to promote Going Rogue, and luckily didn't end up with a stained blouse, or stained ego.

Is the public option no longer an option? Politico reports that senators are nearing a deal that would remove the public-insurance plan from the health-care bill. Instead, the Office of Personnel Management would negotiate with private insurers on a plan, similar to what it already does for federal employees, including members of Congress. To appease liberals, senators would also allow people 55 and older to buy in to Medicare. Howard Dean suggested the Medicare buy-in two weeks ago.

Google is developing new weapons in its fight with Microsoft's search engine, Bing, and other, more talked-about rivals. In an attempt to win back users from Bing and reclaim its place on the cutting edge of Web innovation, Google introduced several new advances Monday, including real-time search results that can appear without a need to refresh the page. Hoping to counteract Bing's initiative to include Twitter posts and Facebook content in its search results, Google plans on pulling information from the same services—and having the relevant tweets and status updates become visible automatically. The company also showed off its Google Goggles technology, which allows users to "search with their eyes," by performing searches based on pictures taken with smartphones using Google's Android software.

Cover your eyes, kids: Daniel Radcliffe will go nude in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, director David Yates told The Telegraph Monday. Harry’s naked image will appear when a monster uses magic to evoke jealously from best friend Ron Weasley by showing images of Potter with Hermione Granger, Ron’s crush and both boys’ best friend. “We'll create something that feels very sexy and very intriguing," says Yates. While many Harry Potter fans are children, the movie also attracts an older crowd, and Yates has been pushing the envelope in each film. (He showcased a romantic relationship in The Half-Blood Prince.) Harry nude may be shocking for the audience, but for Radcliffe, it’s nothing new: He also appeared nude on stage in Equus.

The Justice Department has charged an American citizen with helping to plot last year's Mumbai attack, saying that the suspect used his American passport to visit the city and scout the sites of the two-day massacre. David Headley, a U.S. citizen already under investigation for his role in an alleged plot to attack the Danish newspaper that published a controversial 2005 cartoon spread with depictions of the prophet Muhammad, is said to have conspired with notorious Pakistani militant Ilyas Kashmiri, and is now cooperating with authorities. Headley—born Daood Gilani—is the son of a Pakistani diplomat and a Philadelphia socialite, and has been arrested before for smuggling heroin into the U.S.; he avoided a long jail sentence by cooperating.

Who better to accompany ugly-duckling hero Susan Boyle's mellifluous tones than bulletproof-vest enthusiast 50 Cent? The rapper has indicated a desire to work with the Scottish singer, saying, "Susan Boyle is hot right now. I got to get her on a track, for real." 50, known for hits like "In da Club" and "P.I.M.P.," also said that he'd like to get to know the Britain's Got Talent contestant outside the studio, too: "I'd love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She'd have a great time." But is it about the artistry, or the sales? Boyle's debut album sold more than 700,000 copies last week—the bestselling debut by a woman of all time—while 50's newest LP, released in early November, hasn't yet sold 300,000.

The plot thickens: TMZ reports that, contrary to earlier reports, Tiger Woods was hospitalized for a drug overdose after his accident the day after Thanksgiving. Sources say his admissions chart lists “OD,” and that he was given a breathing tube. Apparently, the fifth floor of the hospital was put on lockdown, and Tiger was admitted under the alias “William Smith.” The hospital changed his name after a few hours because they feared people finding out he was there. His wife, Elin, was with him at the time, but she won't be anymore: Radar reports that Elin has moved out, while the Daily News says she's bought a $2-million mansion in Sweden. Most ominously, a blonde woman was sent to the hospital from Tiger's home at 2:36 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Ten was, apparently, too much: Radaronline.com reports that Tiger Woods’ wife, Elin, has moved out after he was connected to a 10th woman. The Daily News has discovered, meanwhile, that Elin has purchased a $2 million mansion. A source says she bought the place with her twin sister, not with Tiger.