MORE HOME-STATE BAD PRESS FOR CHRIS DODD: Dodd’s approval numbers dive; he’s vulnerable. “There’s no announced Republican candidate yet to challenge Dodd in next year’s Senate race, but the campaign is in full swing nonetheless. And with good reason. Dodd is vulnerable, and his re-election bid is in trouble.”

LUCIAN BEBCHUK: How to Make TARP II Work. Maybe someone should send a copy to Tim Geithner. (Bumped).

ONE OF THE “Palestinian civilians” killed in Gaza.

UH OH: Japan’s GDP Shrinks 12.7%, Most Since 1974 Oil Shock. That’s actually an annualized rate for one quarter’s decline, which makes it sound scarier than it is. Yet, anyway.

MARK STEYN: Headless Body in Gutless Press. “Just asking, but are beheadings common in western New York? I used to spend a lot of time in that neck of the woods and I don’t remember decapitation as a routine form of murder. Yet the killing of Aasiya Hassan seems to have elicited a very muted response. When poor Mrs Hassan’s husband launched his TV network to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims, he had no difficulty generating column inches. … But, when Muzzammil Hassan kills his wife and ‘the face of Muslim news’ is unveiled rather more literally, detached from her corpse at his TV studios, it’s all he can do to make the local press.” Doesn’t fit the narrative.

OVER AT ABU MUQAWAMA, some reflections after reading Tom Ricks’ The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008.

UPDATE: Various readers point to this: “The guy responsible for getting us into this mess actually comes across as a leader and statesman after the electoral defeats of 2006. Against all advice, he gambles on the surge and Generals Petraeus and Odierno in early 2007. Plus, advisers to Petraeus claim Bush was curious, intelligent, and hands-on during their weekly teleconferences in 2007. What a difference between the Bush they saw and the Bush the rest of the country saw.” What could explain that, I wonder?

RAND SIMBERG visits the Holocaust Museum.

CALLING ON ROLAND BURRIS TO RESIGN: “Freshman Sen. Roland Burris released an affidavit on Saturday that contradicts his statements last month to a House committee investigating Blagojevich’s impeachment.”

FROM NACDL TO HERITAGE: Nobody likes the new Fraud Act.

WELL, IT’S BEEN PRETTY MUTUAL: Obama Embraces the MSM.

ROGER KIMBALL: “Real and tangible progress for the American people.”

REPORTS OF (POSSIBLE) SPACE DEBRIS falling in Texas.

THE FISCAL TRAP of hope.

LIVEBLOGGING THE VOTE IN CARACAS. More here.

VIDEO as a marketing tool.

MICKEY KAUS: The Welfare Issue is Alive:

A reemerging “welfare” issue is a potential killer, in other words, for Obama’s big remaining plans, especially health care. If Dems seem determined to reinstate dependency–or at the least blind to the dangers of dependency–voters aren’t going to trust them to spend trillions on universal health insurance and fortified pensions. It’s hard to believe Obama doesn’t realize this . . . Welfare is a liberal sore spot that, if Republicans play it right, could become a bleeding open wound for the administration. Voters probably thought they’d settled the dole-vs.-work issue back in 1996. Obama will be fulfilling the crude GOP stereotype of his party if he even waffles on reopening it.

Read the whole thing, especially if you work for the Administration.

INDEED: Effusive Political Adoration Does Not Lead to Social Change. At least not good social change.

SALENA ZITO: Unstimulated.

A TAXPAYER PROTEST IN SEATTLE TOMORROW? It’ll be interesting to see if this catches on.

POLITICO: 7 stimulus lessons for the Dems.

VIDEO: The God of War III extended trailer.

CONGRESS LIKELY TO RECONSIDER CARD-CHECK LEGISLATION. Too far left for Al Sharpton and George McGovern, but not for Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

IN TENNESSEE, a lot of new pro-gun legislation.

A VALENTINE: Iraqis open arms to romance as violence fades

WANT TO CONTROL THE DEBATE? Forget developing persuasive ideas and try beheadings instead! Editor Arrested in India for Publishing Essay “Outraging Muslims.”