To the Point

'Tis the season for electronic readers to be part of holiday shopping at Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart. What will that mean for bookstores, the publishing business and the evolution of reading itself? We hear some surprising answers.  Also, new census data and the political landscape, and the FCC and "net neutrality."

The lame-duck session of Congress has gotten some things done, but it's not likely to go out of business with a burst of bipartisanship. We review what's happened and what to expect, and ask why just 13 percent of Americans like what they see.  Also, an about Face by North Korea on the South’s military drills, and the Pentagon's implementing repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

As the lame-duck Congress lurches along, what are the signals for next year when Republicans will take over the House?  Is President Obama changing his strategy to deal with new political realities and prepare his campaign for re-election? Also, a $7 billion settlement for Bernard Madoff's victims, and an ATM machine that dispenses gold.

With Secretaries Clinton and Gates at his side, President Obama today said that gains in Afghanistan are “fragile” but real. While he still hopes to begin a so-called “conditions-based” withdrawal in July of next year, US combat forces will remain until December of 2014. Also, more trouble for BP -- in the US and in Azerbaijian.

Congress passed healthcare reform and the states are putting it into effect, but the battle continues in the political arena and in the courts. Are President Bush's judicial appointees changing constitutional law? Will Republican challenges backfire in favor of the Democrats? Also, the US Senate passes the tax deal, and Chinese consumers are changing the luxury markets — and everything else.

President Obama's hope that direct talks would bring Middle East peace in a year seems less likely than ever.  The US failed to persuade Israel to freeze settlements in East Jerusalem, and no talks are occurring at all.  We ask what might happen next. Also, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes bail, and a remembrance of Richard Holbrooke.

Eric Holder has become the first Attorney General to address a national Muslim group at a time when Muslim-Americans are divided over the anti-terrorist tactics of the FBI. Are agents over-zealous? Are Muslim-Americans themselves doing enough to combat radicalization? Also, a Virginia Judge rules Obama's healthcare bill "unconstitutional," and the US knows which dealers sell guns to Mexican drug gangs. We hear why prosecution is so rare.

The Internet is now essential to the global economy, the military and politics. But users are vulnerable to attacks from the inside as well as the outside. We talk with one of America's most notorious cyber criminals, now a security consultant, and others about cyber security. Also, what's left of the UN conference on climate change.

House Democrats say they won't let President Obama make what they call "another mistake," and they've voted to hold up his deal with Republicans.  Where does that leave tax cuts, unemployment benefits and the President's leadership? Also, cyber-protestors step up attacks in support of WikiLeaks, and China and the Nobel Peace Prize.

As the world copes with online document dumps by WikiLeaks, Julian Assange has been jailed in England. Has he made the work of US diplomats harder than ever, or created a new standard of openness and accountability? Has he violated the law? Also, President Obama defends his tax-cut compromise, and the corruption charges that led the Senate today to remove a federal judge from office.