HALF THE STORY: Don Surber notes, quoting a correspondent: … Well, that's half the numbers.  Filling in the other half (which, to Surber's credit, is linked from his post), we see that Bush is at 45% job approval and 54% disapproval, while Pelosi is at 43% favorable and 39% unfavorable.

Iraqi Premier Announces Baghdad Security Plan  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that Iraqi forces would launch a new effort — with U.S. troops in a supporting role — to wrest control of Baghdad's neighborhoods from militias and other sectarian killers.

Army asks dead to sign up for another hitch … WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.  —  The letters were sent a few days after Christmas …

Get serious, Democrats  —  DEMOCRATS in Congress plan to restore pay-as-you-go budget rules.  The rules preclude tax cuts, unless paid for by other tax increases or spending cuts.  This is mostly a good idea — but unless Democrats get serious about repealing Bush's tax cuts for the rich …

Late Nite FDL: Spocko vs. The Rat  —  Evenin', fellow firedogs!  Tonight I'm going to attempt to get us all up to speed about a situation that I suspect we're going to be hearing a lot about in the near future.  This story was brought to my attention by ¡El Gato Negro!.  —  Where to begin?

Death in Haditha  —  Eyewitness Accounts in Report Indicate Marines Gunned Down Unarmed Iraqis in the Aftermath of a Roadside Bombing in 2005  —  U.S. Marines gunned down five unarmed Iraqis who stumbled onto the scene of a 2005 roadside bombing in Haditha, Iraq, according to eyewitness accounts …

A Winnable War  —  The argument against the orthodox history of Vietnam.  —  Triumph Forsaken  —  The Vietnam War, 1954-1965  —  by Mark Moyar  —  Cambridge, 542 pp., $32  —  In the late summer of 1963, President John Kennedy dispatched two observers to South Vietnam.

Mr. Ford Gets the Last Laugh  —  IN recent days, I've been bombarded by requests to comment on my relationship with President Gerald Ford.  Until now, I've tried to say nothing — any remarks from me during the Ford family's private time of grief would have been inappropriate.

Somalia's Islamists vow to heed al-Qaida  —  MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement's main force was driven from the Somali capital say they will heed al-Qaida's call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists' defeat.

In Condemnation of One-Equation Economics  —  I really don't like one-equation economics.  —  One-equation economics assumes that certain economic quantities are fixed in stone, examines one equation—usually an accounting identity—and concludes that somebody else's preferred policies will be ineffective and counterproductive.

Images of Hanging Make Hussein a Martyr to Many  —  In the week since Saddam Hussein was hanged in an execution steeped in sectarian overtones, his public image in the Arab world, formerly that of a convicted dictator, has undergone a resurgence of admiration and awe.

Behind Negroponte's Move  —  The Director of National Intelligence resigns to take a job as Condi Rice's deputy.  Is it a loss for intelligence or a gain at State?  —  Will it create more problems than it solves?  That's the question Washington is pondering in the wake of a personnel whipsaw at the top of the Bush Administration.