Hunting Slugs  —  I know I'm not supposed to, but I pity Michelle Malkin.  Really, I do.  Punditry is a game of incentives, encouragement, luck.  You write a hundred articles before striking paydirt with one.  That zeitgeisty dispatch activates an eruption of applause and adulation, so you try to repeat it.

Two arrests made in Duke lacrosse case  —  Duke University lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty were charged today with first degree forcible rape, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping in connection with a reported rape at a Duke University lacrosse party, according to George Naylor, director of the jail.

Washington Post Wins Four Pulitzers  —  The Washington Post won four Pulitzer Prizes today, including awards for breaking open the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and disclosing the existence of secret CIA prisons overseas, while two newspapers whose regions were devastated by Hurricane Katrina shared the prize for public service.

Clueless Joe Wilson  —  How did the CIA's special envoy miss Zahawie's trip to Niger?  —  Nobody appears to dispute what I wrote in last week's Slate to the effect that in February 1999, Saddam Hussein dispatched his former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency …

Changes to Bush Staff Expected Soon  —  Are heads rolling at the White House?  Or just Easter eggs on the South Lawn?  —  President Bush's new chief of staff told White House aides this morning to expect a shakeup and asked anyone who was thinking of leaving to quit now, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

TERROR IN TEL AVIV  —  Don't turn away:  —  Source: Yahoo! News  —  Getty Images caption: Tel Aviv, ISRAEL: An Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Zaka volunteer picks out pieces of flesh from the scene where a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, in the southern Neveh Sha'anan district …

Ex-governor guilty of racketeering  —  Verdict ends Illinois' biggest corruption case in decades  —  CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — Former Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday …

State Department Memo: '16 Words' Were False  —  Eleven days before President Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union address in which he said that the US learned from British intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from Africa - an explosive claim that helped pave the way to war …

Ruined Treasures in Babylon Await an Iraq Without Fighting  —  A Polish helicopter flies over excavated parts of Babylon.  Over the years, colonial powers took artifacts and Saddam Hussein built on Nebuchadnezzar's palace.  Then, the occupation.  —  BABYLON, Iraq — In this ancient city …

Three Reasons Not to Bomb Iran—Yet  —  I know of no reputable expert in the United States or in Europe who trusts the constantly repeated promise of Iran's rulers that their nuclear program will be entirely peaceful and is meant only to produce electricity.  The question is what to do about this.