WELL, DANG: Sarah Connor Chronicles terminated.

THAT USED TO SOUND BETTER: Obama turning America into California.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Brazil and China eye plan to axe dollar. “Brazil and China will work towards using their own currencies in trade transactions rather than the US dollar, according to Brazil’s central bank and aides to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president. The move follows recent Chinese challenges to the status of the dollar as the world’s leading international currency.” Quite an accomplishment — Obama has been president for just four months, and his legacy already seems secure. . . .

MARK SANFORD TO REPUBLICANS: “Libertarian” isn’t a dirty word. I hope not.

SOAK THE RICH? Lose the rich.

WILL NANCY PELOSI be flying commercial again soon? “In one sense, this is exactly the sort of event that the word ‘schadenfreude’ was invented to describe. But into every silver lining a cloud must come. For although it would be nice to welcome a former Madam Speaker Pelosi back into the airport security lines with the rest of us slobs, one feels a bit like St. Augustine contemplating his embrace of chastity: Give us Pelosi, Oh Lord, but not yet.”

NEWSWEEEK AS SPINAL TAP: Heh. I thought the same thing.

ECONOMY TANKS, blue-collar males hardest-hit. “Men also incurred about 80 percent of the job losses in the 1990-91 recession, but Sum said by his calculations the numbers this time were dramatically different. In the 1990-91 recession, men lost 1.037 million jobs. They have lost 4.5 million to date in this one.”

PHOTOS AND A REPORT, from yesterday’s L.A. Tea Party protest in Westwood.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Politicians in Glass Houses, Hurling Stones.

COMPUTER GAMES: From cheap to free.

CHRYSLER: Take Our Cash: Please! “With an estimated 44k vehicles sitting on the lots of the 789 lame-duck Chrysler dealers, Mother Pentastar is going all-out to move metal. Although record incentives have already failed to make rain, the DetN reports that ChryCo will be sending ‘millions’ of $1K vouchers to previous customers. Chrysler marketing seems not to have heard of the ‘fool me once’ adage.”

STATE OF SURVEILLANCE: Ross Clark’s The Road to Big Brother gets a very positive review in the Wall Street Journal. I wrote the introduction, and I think it’s an important book.

REPORT: Toyota already has 75,000 orders for 2010 Prius.

A COLLECTION OF interesting food links.

POLITICS: Silicon Valley reaps what it sows.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: At Geithner’s Treasury, Key Decisions on Hold. At the rate they’ve been going, I see this as a feature, not a bug . . .

GAY PATRIOT: Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell Repeal and the Limits of Political Labels.

MEGAN MCARDLE on debt and a writer’s life.

FABIUS MAXIMUS: James Bond is not just our hero, but the model for our geopolitical strategy.

POPULAR MECHANICS: The Ultimate Guide for Summer Grilling.

ROBERT SAMUELSON: Obama’s Dangerous Debt. “The final version of his 2010 budget, released last week, is a case study in political expediency and economic gambling.” In a healthier political system, economic gambling wouldn’t be expedient.

ARTISTIC IMAGES found while doing science.

IN THE MAIL: From Jeff Rubin, Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization.

TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Obama Must Stop Ignoring India.