IT’S A PALINPALOOZA over at Stacy McCain’s.

ANOTHER CHALLENGER FOR CHRIS DODD: “Poll results released today show Libertarian businessman Peter Schiff has a realistic shot at unseating corrupt Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd as his numbers stack up well against Dodd as well as potential GOP challenger Rob Simmons.”

WINDOWS XP: “Dead,” but still going strong.

ERIC SCHEIE: If there’s one thing worse than a GOP sex scandal, it’s a Southern GOP sex scandal!

JUICE: After Call From Senator’s Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid.

THERE WILL BE A taxpayer Tea Party rally in Times Square tonight at 6:30. If you attend, send me pics and reports!

THE LATEST CONSUMER REPORTS compares the Asus 1000HE and the Sony 8″ Vaio P Series. As they note, the tradeoffs are different, and they don’t offer a firm recommendation, but as an owner of the Asus I’d pick it over the Sony. It’s less than half the price, it’s still pretty small, it offers very good performance (and probably better than the Sony, since the Asus comes with XP and the Sony has Vista), and longer battery life. On the other hand, the Sony will impress women at bars more.

FREE SPEECH TODAY: ATM Vendor Halts Researcher’s Talk on Vulnerability.

RON BAILEY ON “Energy Leninism.”

ANOTHER ONE: Hundreds attend Warner Robins “tea party”.

ROGER SIMON: Iran, Honduras: Is Obama “objectively pro-fascist”?

UPDATE: A response from Eugene Volokh.

HOW MCDONALD’S CONQUERED FRANCE.

OBAMA: Troop pullout from Iraqi towns a milestone.

“There will be difficult days ahead,” Obama said. “We see that already in the senseless bombing in Kirkuk earlier today. And there are those who will test Iraqi security forces and the resolve of the Iraqi people through more sectarian bombings. … But I’m confident that those forces will fail.”

Eyesight to the blind. Or perhaps the view is just surreal: “In which the guy who was against the war every step of the way, including the surge, pays tribute to Iraqi independence in the aftermath of Saddam.”

IT’S CROWDED DOWN THERE: Honduras under the bus.

JOSHUA MURAVCHIK: If democracy and human rights are high values, then all societies are not morally equal. This thought cuts sharply against Obama’s multicultural sensibilities. A while back, I talked with Muravchik about his new book, The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East, on PJTV. You can see the interview here.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Attorney attacks charges against UT student in Palin e-mail case.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT. I remember when protest was patriotic! Seems like it was just a little while ago . . . .

WHAT WOULD JOHN GALT DO? Calling for a consumption strike. I suspect the economy will take care of that on its own . . . .

OHIO POLITICS: Finger-Pointing in Cuyahoga County: “Which makes sense if you think about it. Because Cuyuhoga County doesn’t have a history of political corruption or anything.”

GALLUP: More Americans See Democratic Party as “Too Liberal”. Hmm. Why would that be?

FARHAD MANJOO likes Firefox 3.5.

FROM THE “GET A LIFE” DEPARTMENT: When Envy Is On The Menu.

As she and her husband continued on the progression of their Tour menu, she observed something happening at a nearby table that upset her.

A gray mat was delivered; the guest unrolled it, and Alinea’s chef de cuisine walked into the small dining room with trays of mise en place. He plated the same soft shell crab dish she had eaten two courses before on the table surface while the diners he was chatting with smiled and took photos of the event. He finished and returned to the bustling kitchen. She began to cry, got up from the table, and briskly walked to the bathroom. They cut their meal short and left soon thereafter.

Plus this: “Alinea’s food by nature is tedious, experimental and exploratory, and I mean that from the side of the guest and the staff that prepares and serves it.” Like I said. . . .

GREEN ROMANCE.

WHAT WAS YOUR WORST JOB EVER? Mine was probably working daytime shifts in the ticket office at the Smoky Mountain Passion Play in high school. I had been in the cast the year before — playing an apostle and understudying Simon of Cyrene and the “thief on the left” — but went to the ticket office because I literally made more money than Jesus, they presumably being influenced by the admonition about the kine that tread the grain. It wasn’t really that bad, just very dull, and you had to clean the restrooms to get ready for the evening’s show.

UPDATE: You don’t know how lucky you are, boys. “These people have no conception of what bad jobs are. And the frightening thing is that they may find out before the reign of The One, who many of them voted for, is over, because he seems to think that state planning, as occurs in the extreme there, should reign over the market.”

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Pelosi, a vision in white — but not green.