Romney speaks up for sons' decisions  —  BETTENDORF, Iowa - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decision not to enlist in the military, saying they're showing their support for the country by "helping me get elected."

"To set the ship on a better course, you have to be ready to sink it."  —  The debate over bipartisanship continues.  I wrote a response to the many responses I got, on this blog and others, to my initial article calling for more bipartisanship in the Washington Post.

If You Were a Terrorist, How Would You Attack?  —  The TSA recently announced that most airplane carry-on restrictions will stay in place for at least another year, until new X-ray technology has been fully installed.  Surprisingly, one item that will now be permitted on board is a lighter.

INSTAPUNDIT IS SIX YEARS OLD TODAY: Here's what it looked like that first week.

Iraq Timeline: The Broken Record on "the Next Few Months"  —  The Bush administration as well as supporters and some critics of the Bush Iraq strategy have told Americans time and again during the past four years that the "next few months" in Iraq will be the "decisive, critical period" …

Sources: Republicans will vote Jan. 19  —  S.C. Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson is expected to announce Thursday that the 2008 S.C. presidential primary will be Jan. 19, sources close to the party and campaigns told The State.  —  Dawson will be in Concord, N.H., on Thursday …

Airman Who Alleged Rape Faces Court-Martial  —  She Ties Her Prosecution to Refusal to Testify Against Airmen She Says Attacked Her  —  A female airman says she faces a court-martial next month because she refused to testify against three male airmen she accused of rape.

Ho-Hum: Yet Another False Media-Reported Massacre In Iraq  —  On Sunday, Reuters reported that the scene of a large massacre had been discovered near Baquba: … Why did the police have such a hard time providing an indication of how the 60 people had been killed?  Probably because there were no bodies to examine.

General Blames Clerical Errors In the Case of Missing Arms  —  Bookkeeping deficiencies allowed thousands of weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 to then go missing, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said yesterday.  —  "Some percentage" …

Bedeviled by faith  —  Rudy dodges questions about whether he's a 'good Catholic'  —  Rudy Giuliani may be trying to woo religious conservatives, but the former mayor all but took an oath of silence yesterday when asked if he was a practicing Catholic.  —  "My religious affiliation …

The foreign policy community  —  If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend this memo from Samantha Powers, a Harvard Professor and top foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama.  It is one of the best and potentially most important political documents I have read in some time.

Shuttle launches with teacher aboard  —  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour roared into orbit Wednesday carrying teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who was finally fulfilling the dream of Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the fallen Challenger crew.

Democratic Leaders Move the Goalposts on Iraq  —  It appears that today is a watershed day with regard to US policy in Iraq.  Democratic leaders now acknowledge that the surge is working.  The only catch is, they say it's no surprise, they've known it for a while, and it's nothing significant.