U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work  —  A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb.

A Non-Story Remakes the Race  —  Last month, Katharine Q. Seelye of the New York Times live-blogged the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.  As the discussion bounced from subject to subject, she marked the topic and the time, then gave her thoughts.

Shocked  —  It took five months and almost 7,000 words, but The New Republic and its editor Franklin Foer have finally retracted the piece "Shock Troops."  —  As most of the blog world knows by now, TNR published "Shock Troops" on July 13 under the byline Scott Thomas …

Imus Is Back!  —  Highlights in bold.  —  6:00 A.M.: Charles McCord opens the program.  "The Imus in the Morning program has returned to the air following a hiatus of nearly 8 months."  Wild applause from the live audience assembled in Times Square's Town Hall.

Subprime Debacle Traps Even Very Credit-Worthy  —  As Housing Boomed,  —  Industry Pushed Loans  —  To a Broader Market  —  One common assumption about the subprime mortgage crisis is that it revolves around borrowers with sketchy credit who couldn't have bought a home without paying punitively high interest rates.

Innovating Our Way to Financial Crisis  —  The financial crisis that began late last summer, then took a brief vacation in September and October, is back with a vengeance.  —  How bad is it?  Well, I've never seen financial insiders this spooked — not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98 …

Democratic Primary Preview: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina  —  Summary of Findings  —  Democrats enter the presidential primary campaign upbeat about their candidates and united in their views on major issues.  Sen. Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner in New Hampshire and South Carolina …

Tax Guru Grover Norquist talks to Brody File About Huckabee  —  Grover Norquist, president of the influential group Americans for Tax Reform told The Brody File today that while he has some reservations about Mike Huckabee's past record on taxes, he also is comfortable with Huckabee's present actions …

Hugo  —  I always find Hugo Chavez to be a somewhat annoying subject because he's neither the Satanic Hitler as reflected universally in our media (and it's really creepy how much he's distorted) nor the Great Savior Of The Left.  He's a left wing populist with an authoritarian streak …

Hillary Camp: Rove Wants Obama To Get Nomination!  —  The Hillary campaign is cranking up their counter-attacks on Barack Obama, and this latest one from their official Hillary Hub site is certainly interesting:  —  The post links to Rove's latest column in the Financial Times …

Lashing Justice  —  Muslims who wonder why non-Muslims are often baffled, angered, even frightened by some governments' interpretation of Islamic law need only look to the cases of two women in Saudi Arabia and Sudan threatened with barbaric lashings.  —  In Saudi Arabia, a woman who was gang-raped was sentenced to 90 lashes.

Sudan's President Pardons British Teacher  —  A British school teacher jailed in Sudan for two weeks after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was freed Monday following a pardon by the Sudanese president.  —  President Omar al-Bahir's pardon of Gillian Gibbons allowed …

Why is HRC stooping So Low?  —  I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the stridency and inaccuracy of charges in Iowa — especially coming from my old friend.  While I'm as hard-boiled as they come about what's said in campaigns, I just don't think Dems should stoop to this.

IRAN....From the New York Times: … What?  —  UPDATE: From CNN: The intelligence community is sending a classified assessment to Congress today saying that "Iran largely halted its nuclear development program back in the fall of 2003."  Turns out that Iran was more susceptible to international pressure than anyone believed.