CONSUMER CHOICE saves “Dora the Explorer.” But I’m still in favor of it . . . .

ANNOUNCING THE automotive Darwin Awards.

OKAY, CHRISTMAS IS OVER, and so is after-Christmas, but here’s a one-day-only toy sale in case anyone’s still interested.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: If You Dropped a Corn Kernel From Space, Would it Pop During Re-Entry?

THE PELOSI DOCTRINE: What’s good for her is good for America!

FORBES: Clinton’s Iranian Connection. Surely the vetters will have looked at this . . . oh, wait—-

UH OH: New bird flu cases revive fears of human pandemic.

BAILOUT FEVER reaches the University of Virginia.

MAN POWERS HOME DURING ICE STORM using his Prius.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Sorry, Climate Change Wouldn’t Hurt America’s Economy.

Plus, how to turn the E.U. President into a “figurehead.” EU’s new figurehead believes climate change is a myth. Apparently, the Times hasn’t gotten the word about the new message discipline.

BUT DON’T CALL THEM “BARBARIANS,” because that would be rude. Comparing Hamas to the Nazis. “The Hamas founding covenant explicitly calls for the extermination of all Jews. Hitler never made total extermination an official plank of the the Nazi party platform.”

UPDATE: Rand Simberg wonders why so many on the left are indifferent to Hamas’s intentions. “What are the Israeli intentions? To live in peace, without a threat to their lives and nation, and to minimize casualties, on both sides, in any war waged against them. What are Hamas’ intentions? Their intentions (and not secret ones, but stated openly and proudly, as Ron Rosenbaum points out) are the most evil imaginable (other than the extinction of the human race itself). Their explicit goal is the extinction of all Jews in creation.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts here: “I have never seen these two or many of the Guardian writers go after Hamas or Hezbollah like they do Israel. . . . When your advice for peace is to give up, don’t be surprised when others look down at you.”

ETHANOL-POWERED MUSTANG reaches 252 mph.

ELENA KAGAN to be Solicitor General. Seems like a very good choice.

OBAMA’S NEW DEAL is sounding kinda familiar: “The Obama tax-cut proposals, if enacted, could pack more punch in two years than either of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts did in their first two years.” Meet the new boss, yada yada. But Jim Lindgren thinks it’s “smart policy.”

IN MINNESOTA: More ballots than voters?

MICHELLE MALKIN: Who says conservative bloggers don’t do reporting?

Meanwhile, Michael Silence explodes another base calumny.

UPDATE: Related thoughts from Katie Granju. Nice to have so many folks from my local paper respond to charges that I’m a newspaper-hater.

RON COLEMAN, TWITTER GOD: “The fact is, I’m too good at social networking for my own good.”

IN THE MAIL: From Bruce Schneier, Schneier on Security. I’ve said repeatedly that homeland security is a joke, but Schneier does a better job of explaining why.

IS BILL FRIST HEADED FOR a job at the Gates Foundation?

INSTA-POLL: Rate the scandals!

KENNETH ANDERSON on battlefield robots and war crimes.

MICHAEL YON: The Department of Homeland Security in Action. It’s not pretty. But, then, when has it been? Jeez.

SURPRISE! IT’S NOT ACTUALLY TERRIBLE! Hands-on with the Windows 7 beta.

UPDATE: Okay, I don’t know why that link’s not working now. But you can also go here and scroll down.

HARRY REID: “In sync with the Bush Administration” on Israel.