Rice likely to back Iraq pullout

Only Nixon could go to China -- only Rice could pull the troops out...

50 Peeps. 60 Minutes.

This was hilarious. He also has some other "experiments"- I'm sure you've heard of microwaving peeps.

Walk by my side a while, as I relate to you my sad, painful story. After reading my article on microwaving Peeps, one of my beloved regular readers managed to turn the table of torture straight on me. "Seriously, those peeps are almost as bad as black licorice. But it's funn seeing some try to eat a bunch at once. There's your next article. I'll bet you that you can't eat 50 all in an hour."

Pentagon begins to see Iraq momentum shift

Rowan Scarborough writes today in the WashTimes:

In the privacy of their E-ring offices, senior Pentagon officials have begun to entertain thoughts that were unimaginable a year ago: Iraq is turning the corner.
Military officials and analysts say the clearing out of enemy-infested Fallujah in November, the Jan. 30 elections and the increasing willingness of Iraqis to fight and die for a democratic country are contributing to the momentum.
"This is still a tough fight. We don't want anyone to think that it is not," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a military analyst who strongly supports Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "But the momentum is in our direction."
...
The favorable trends do not mean that insurgents cannot pull off spectacularly deadly attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
On Thursday, 11 Iraqi policemen were killed by a single suicide bomber, most likely a terrorist in the employ of Jordanian-born Abu Musab Zarqawi.
But Iraqis continue to sign up. After an even bloodier attack in January against Iraqis in line to apply for police jobs, a still-longer line formed the next day at the same spot, said a U.S. Army officer in Iraq.

Arthur Chrenkoff has been doing his "Good news from Iraq" news roundups for a long time now -- he's up to Part 24 [via Powerline].

Life in The Sleeze Belt

I read this yesterday in the Richmond-Times Dispatch. It gives a good explanation as to why we get the type of winter weather we do.