(Yes, I bought a box of Peeps just so I could make that stupid pun.  No Peeps were harmed in the making of this post.)

 Hey, Peeps!  What's shakin'?  Lotsa stuff going down this week:

— The tighty-whitey-righties tried to launch another smear against Al Gore, only to see it debunked before it could get into most of the news sources (aside from NPR, alas) most Americans depend on to be informed (namely drive-time radio and the evening TV news).  We're getting better at Rapid Response, folks — but NPR is getting more assiduous at transmitting right-wing talking points.

— Our current Army Secretary, Francis J. Harvey, was forced to resign in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal.  This makes him the second Secretary of the Army under Bush to leave office under less-than-peaceful circumstances.  (Remember Tom White?)

— Speaking of our armed forces:  Steve Gilliard over at The News Blog (get well, Steve!) has been saying all along that troop morale in Iraq is crumbling to the point where their effectiveness as a fighting force is seriously degraded, and that a troop mutiny will happen if Bush doesn't pull them out of Iraq.  He's just been vindicated.

— From the Do As I Say, Not As I Do Department:  Republican presidential wannabee Mitt Romney stated the week before last that he and the other Republicans running for president would eschew the ''rancor'' that allegedly existed between the Democratic presidential candidates.  But last week, with polls showing him running in a distant third place for the GOP nomination, the former Massachusetts governor dumped a whole boatload of rancor onto John McCain and Rudy Giuliani:  "Romney told New Hampshire voters on Thursday that McCain was devising an immigration policy that was the 'wrong course' for the nation. And Giuliani's positions on abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun control were a losing combination in the GOP primary, he told a television audience replete with Christian conservatives."

— Speaking of Christian conservatives, many of them are becoming less conservative — and more friendly towards the Democratic Party.  Since Christian conservatives are the GOP's bedrock voting bloc, this is a problem for the Republicans.

So what's on your mind this lovely morning, Peeps?