A-ha! It was the sprouts after all.

Syrian troops moved against a restive northern border town Friday in what the government said was a military operation to restore order though most residents have reportedly fled.

Tanks were on the outer edges of the town of Jisr al-Shughour on Friday, preparing to enter, an AP reporter accompanying Syrian troops on a government-organized trip said. He said the army announced the start of operations at around 5 a.m. Friday. Witnesses contacted by telephone said most residents had abandoned the town of up to 45,000.

Saying that NATO faces a "dim, if not dismal future," outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates told U.S. allies in Europe today that the alliance now has two tiers:

"Those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership, be they security guarantees or headquarters billets, but don't want to share the risks and the costs."

Cynthia Gordy is The Root's Washington reporter.

Leslie Savan blogs for The Nation about media and politics.

Whether or not you think Anthony Weiner should resign, remember this: Republicans have kindly provided the frame in which to argue the question. For some reason, the following query isn't allowed into that frame: Why aren't members of Congress and the media demanding that Senator David Vitter resign?

There's some good news to pass along about the huge wildfire in eastern Arizona.

The main headline on The Arizona Republic's webpage this hour is "Fire Crews Slowly Containing Raging Wallow."

And the newspaper adds that "progress was finally made Thursday, as officials put containment at 5 percent, the first time they have been able to declare any of the fire under control."

Children born in 2010 will cost Kentucky families between $130,000 and $150,000 to raise. That's well below the national average. The USDA publishes a report on child-rearing costs each year. This year, costs went up two percent from 2009. On average families in the lowest income group spend $206,000 dollars on a child in before they graduate high school. But that number drops in rural regions. Terry Brooks is Director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. Brooks says for everyone housing takes up nearly a third of expenses.

Portia Walker is a freelance journalist based in the Middle East

In the center of Misrata, a small girl clambers on top of an abandoned tank. It's part of a makeshift exhibit in a public square of this battered, besieged city, one of many scattered throughout. Beside a row of tanks, spent bullet cartridges and blasted rocket cases are carefully placed alongside boots and uniforms discarded by Muammar al-Gadhafi's fleeing soldiers, all arranged as neatly as fossils in a museum display cabinet.

Good morning.

John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary, is The Weekly Standard's movie critic.

From roughly 1982 to 2007, the motion-picture industry was transformed financially by the advent of the VCR and the DVD — new technologies that created gigantic new markets for renting and owning Hollywood's wares. Previously, Hollywood could only make its money on theater tickets and sales to television (and later, cable). The new machines gave the movie industry two more opportunities to sell the same product. Revenues nearly doubled.