A bipartisan Cabinet. It was one of President Obama's campaign promises.

And he kept his word when he announced President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, would stay on the job at the Pentagon.

In part three of our series, "The Presidential Brain Trust," Barbara Starr has a look at Gates' relationship with the commander-in-chief.

Excerpted from It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor by Joel Osteen. Copyright © 2009 by Joel Osteen. Excerpted with permission by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

From It's Your Time
By Joel Osteen

Chapter 1

You’re Closer Than You Think!

While on vacation in Colorado, I woke up early for a hike. The three-mile trail ran to the peak of Beaver Creek Mountain. At the
base a sign said it should take about three hours to reach the top.

Looking up to my destination, I was intimidated. The trail was extremely steep. The altitude at the base was 8,000 feet above sea level. The peak stood at more than 11,000 feet.

Just walking up the first set of stairs, I began breathing heavier than normal. I had to remind myself to take it easy. At home in Houston,
I run several miles a few times a week and play a lot of basketball. But the elevation there is only fifty feet above sea level. The thinner
air in the Colorado mountains had me doubting whether I could make it to the top.

I started out with just my cell phone and a bottle of water. Determined, I set a pretty good pace. The first fifteen minutes seemed fairly easy. The next fifteen minutes were increasingly difficult. I felt as though I were carrying an extra load. I had to stop every so often to catch my breath.

About forty-five minutes into my hike, the trail got extremely steep—almost like I was climbing straight up. My pathway snaked skyward through thick stands of aspen and ponderosa pine. The view was both beautiful and daunting. Despite the fact I am in shape from running and playing basketball, my legs were burning
and my chest was pounding.

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By Dan Lothian, CNN White House Correspondent

Washington (CNN) – In the tight circle that surrounds President Obama, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is in the inner bubble.

He's the 3 a.m. wake-up call when North Korea fires a test missile, or when the Nobel committee picks the president for the top award.

"Trust me, it is a job I would gladly give to anybody who would volunteer," Gibbs said.

Or would he?

After all, he's an adviser, a friend and a mouthpiece for the administration with more access than recent press secretaries.

"I can walk in and ask him a question at any given time, pick up the phone and talk to him about anything at any given time. I think [that] makes my job easier," Gibbs said in an exclusive interview with CNN.

The president and the press secretary first connected in 2004 when Obama was a virtual unknown outside of Chicago, Illinois, and was campaigning for the U.S. Senate. They clicked and grew close, leading Obama to tell the Wall Street Journal in a 2008 interview, "Robert is the guy I want in the foxhole with me during incoming fire. If I'm wrong, he challenges me. He's not intimidated by me."

Gibbs chuckled while recalling the comment and quipped, "That is when we called him 'Senator' or by his first name."

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By Jim and Karen Irwin
From familiesunitedmission.com

We are ready for answers, because we’re ready to serve. We are Blue Star parents and as our son fights on the front line in Afghanistan, we are afraid that further delays in Washington’s decision-making will let lives and victory slip away. The recommendations of our commanders have been sitting on the President’s desk since August 30th and families like ours are growing impatient. Since General McChrystal’s report was delivered, the President has flown to Copenhagen to pitch the Olympics and accepted the Nobel Prize while we have sat and waited for a decision. As a family we have invested in Afghanistan and decisions are urgently needed.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were like most any other American family. We both worked hard to provide for our two boys and give them a chance to succeed. Like millions of other American families, September 11, 2001 added a new sense of purpose and new dimension to our lives. Not long after the attacks, unbeknownst to us, our son Mike began talking to Army Recruiters at the same time he was looking into college. He earned a scholarship to college but throughout his first two years of school the need to serve his nation kept coming back to him.

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Editor's Note: Lisa Leitz is an assistant professor of Sociology at Hendrix College and the wife of a U.S. Naval aviator currently deployed in support of the war in Afghanistan. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Lisa Leitz.

By Lisa Leitz, PhD
Military Families Speak Out Board of Directors

As President Obama weighs the strategy in Afghanistan, I along with the members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) ask him to consider the burden he is asking military families to bear. While most Americans go about their daily lives, military families, who make up less than 1% of the total U.S. population, are being crushed by the weight of the current wars.

In the eight years of America’s war in Afghanistan, 911 military families lost their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters (and an additional 4,357 lost loved ones in Iraq). October 2009 was in fact the deadliest month of the war in all eight years. Tens of thousands of military families battle with the daily difficulties of war injuries. Friends of mine have had to quit jobs or school in order to care for loved ones, and they continue to struggle to secure the care these veterans deserve. An estimated 500,000 veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq wrestle with PTSD, and their loved ones fight daily battles with an overburdened Veterans’ Administration and to hold their families together.

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Editor's Note: With the announcement that Afghanistan’s run-off elections were canceled, Monday’s American Morning audience strongly urged President Obama to bring the troops home from the country. Those supporting troop withdrawal had various reasons, including the “waste of taxpayer money on war,” and the need for President Obama to ignore “advice from Republican war-hawks, and those in his own party who are terrified of appearing ‘weak.’”

• Linda R: It must be obvious to anyone with half a brain, that we have a history of propping up corrupt governments. Why would we be spending blood and treasure, precious resources that we desperately need here at home, on a hopeless situation?? Karzai is about as legitimate and honest as Bush/Cheney. Maybe worse, if possible. Karzai is being supported by the very people we are fighting against. If the Taliban were not supporting him, they would not be "involved" in trying to stop a legitimate election. President Obama would be both wise and courageous if he would bring our troops home. All of them. Now. There are other ways he could deal with the "bad guys". Special forces, targeted drones, etc. It does not take a military genius to see that our troops are in harms way for naught. We also need to get completely out of Iraq. Pakistan is probably our biggest worry. They have nukes, the other guys do not. Please stop talking about the current "wars" as if President Obama would be wrong to pull our troops out. He has enough wrong-headed advice from Republican war-hawks, and those in his own party who are terrified of appearing "weak". No more war.
• Francis T.: I have repeated myself to you so many times that it's ridiculous. "stay away from Afghanistan, period.” Let the people kill themselves. How many American and Canadian soldiers have died without even firing a shot. The suicide bombers are selfish "Bastards" who have been brain washed and are prepared to kill themselves and innocent individuals. This is the 21st century and is worse than past centuries. Stop wasting taxpayers money to go to war. Has the U.S. not learnt from past mistakes. It failed in the Vietnam War, the Korean War and even the Iraq War. Deal with all the major internal problems at hand, health care reforms, financial institutions problems, auto industry and so on. Tell the Democrats and Republicans to stop bitching at each other. Remember, their salaries come from taxpayers. Finally, do away with the Space program. So much money have been wasted. Who cares what is outside of our world. How many billions have already been spent. I wish President Obama could see what I have written. He will learn much from me.

What do you think of the war in Afghanistan now that Hamid Karzai has been officially declared the president?

Editor's Note: These are new developments to a story American Morning first brought you over the summer.

In June, police found a 16-year-old Boston runaway working as a dancer at Cheaters, a Providence strip club.

By Beth Rotatori
CNN

A legal loophole that allowed minors to perform at strip clubs in Rhode Island has been closed, according to a Rhode Island state lawmaker.

State Representative Joanne Giannini (D-Providence) tells CNN that legislation she introduced to bar anyone under 18 from working in adult entertainment establishments in any capacity was approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly Thursday.

The bill, which takes effect upon passage, is now headed to the desk of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri (R), she said.

“Children should not be publicly performing in any sexual way, ever,” said Rep. Giannini. “It’s called ‘adult entertainment’ for a reason. Minors aren’t supposed to be admitted to those clubs, so they certainly shouldn’t be working in them.”

Before this new legislation, teenagers could perform at strip clubs as long as they were 16, had a work permit and were home by 11:30 p.m. on school nights.

“Having underage girls or boys performing in this way is child exploitation and corruption,” Giannini went on to say. “We’re fixing this law to make it clear that it’s not allowed.”

Watch State Rep. Joanne Giannini discuss the loophole in July

The loophole came to light in June when Providence police found a 16-year-old Boston runaway, who had been working as a dancer at Cheaters, a Providence strip club. When police investigated her employment at the club, they found there was no law under which they could charge anyone for employing a minor as a stripper, Giannini explained.

Rhode Island lawmakers also passed a bill banning indoor prostitution, which, until Friday, had been legal in the state. Before passage of the ban, another loophole on the state’s books permitted prostitution, as long as solicitation didn’t occur outdoors (ie: as long as prostitutes were not walking the street trying to strike up business).

Giannini said the two issues are closely intertwined, because the indoor prostitution loophole allowed exotic dancers – including any minors who may have legally been working in strip clubs – to engage in prostitution without breaking the law.

Editor's Note: PolitiFact.com is a project of the St. Petersburg Times that aims to help you find the truth in politics. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, etc. They research their statements and then rate the accuracy on their Truth-O-Meter.

Bono claims U.S. gives about half the aid as European countries, percentage-wise

Bono mixes up foreign aid statistics, according to PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter.

With all due respect to the musical prowess of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee, we think this is the first time we've checked a bona fide rock icon with our Truth-O-Meter.

But U2's Bono is no ordinary rock star. He's also a political activist, using his pop status to advocate for African aid and AIDS relief.

Which is how Bono came to be asked by an Associated Press music writer what he thought about President Barack Obama with regard to funding the fight against AIDS in Africa.

"The Obama administration is just getting going," Bono said. "(He) has promised to double aid over the next years, because even though (President George W.) Bush tripled it ... the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage, and I think he knows that's not right."

We decided to check whether Bono was right that "the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage."

This turned into a tricky fact-check because Bono appears to have interchanged two different funding issues in his comment: global HIV/AIDS relief and foreign aid.

The Truth-O-Meter says: HALF TRUE

Read more: Let's call this the remix version

Watch American Morning all this week for more of our special series, The Presidential Brain Trust.

President Obama values Joe Biden's advice as truth teller, officials say.

By Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

Washington (CNN) – Apparently you can take the vice president out of the Senate, but you just can't take the Senate out of the vice president, and that might be the secret to Joe Biden's influence in President Obama's inner circle.

As I waited Friday in the ornate rooms of the old Department of War near Biden's office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, I kept wondering which Biden was going to show up for our exclusive interview.

Would it be the old Joe that I used to cover as the Senate correspondent for Roll Call newspaper many years ago, who would throw an arm around me in a Capitol hallway and be happy to give a - let's face it - fairly long answer about any subject I'd throw at him?

Biden had this habit of dropping flattery as well as a reporter's name into the answers for familiarity in his gosh-darn-it manner: "Look Ed, I'm literally not just blowing smoke, but you know as much about the Bush tax cuts as I do. ..."

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They are everywhere... And they are growing.

They are the "gotcha" fees – the hidden fees, the ones that you don't know about that come to your attention after you've received the service or product, and they hurt the most.