TAXPROF: Tax Court Rejects NYU Prof’s Request to “Just Google It.”

PHOTO: The ugliest purebred dog in the universe. But not the worst-dressed.

HOW TO GET YOUR NAME in Michael Totten’s new book.

L.A. TIMES: How a president (Obama) and a governor (Calif.) appear to prepare for the H1N1 flu season.

INSTANT PORTABLE SHELTERS:

A defense contractor said Tuesday it will start building portable shelters for natural disasters and war zones that quickly unfold like a Transformer toy.

The shelters come with an onboard diesel generator to power heating, ventilation and air conditioning and unfold with the push of a button. They can also have showers and toilets.

Keith Buckner, Adaptive Methods vice president of manufacturing, said the Centreville, Va.-based company bought the rights to build and market the hard-walled shelter system, which was developed by researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge.

Sounds cool. But, as the commenters point out, a bit pricey.

PEW RESEARCH POLL: Congressional favorability at a 24-year low. I’m guessing that it hasn’t hit bottom just yet . . . .

JAPAN PLANS $21 billion orbital solar power plant.

IN THE MAIL: From David Bosco, Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World.

KEITH HENNESSEY: Understanding the President’s legislative options for health care reform.

OBAMA RETREATS from fight on public option. I heard Bob Corker on Hallerin Hill’s radio show this morning, and Corker seemed to think we’d wind up with a pro-free-market health bill at the end of this. Reading (er, listening?) between the lines, I think he meant that Obama will be desperate to get something that he can call “health care reform,” and, now that he’s given up on public option, not too particular about what that is. That might allow some things that actually help — or maybe it’s a clever Axelrodian trap. . . .

MICHAEL BARONE: New Facts Undercut Old Positions On Immigration.

BRITAIN’S Supermayor.

TAXES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE (CONT’D): “A Massachusetts Democratic state rep who voted to raise alcohol taxes and slap the increased state sales tax on hootch on top of that is caught buying bottles across the border in New Hampshire. . . . It’s a thing of beauty.”

The hypocrisy is not playing well: “These same turds would probably be at border liquor stores photographing license plates of Masschusetts residents and sending them a tax bill if they could get away with it, and believe me, I’m sure they’ve given it some thought.”

HARVEY SILVERGLATE: The Justice Department Wages War on Pain Relief.

Hey, wait, I thought painkillers were now politically correct!

KERRY PICKET: Official dishonesty from the National Endowment for the Arts.

PETER SUDERMAN: TV Medical Dramas Not On Board With Health Reform. “Next thing you know, court-watchers will complain that CSI and Law & Order don’t portray criminal investigations realistically, and archeologists will fret that Indiana Jones has given all those impressionable young historical adventure lovers a false impression about relic-hunting. Erm, oh wait. Sigh. . . . More to the point: Do we really need busybodies fretting over whether or not a fun scripted TV show bolsters the prospects of their political project?”

It’s all part of the Narrative Control Project.

NEW YORK POST: Fire Rangel.

Among other things, Rangel’s bill would even prohibit the IRS from forgiving taxpayers who erred in good faith — though that would be a very generous interpretation of his own tax troubles.

In just the last year, Rangel has been forced to file late-disclosure reports involving millions in income from land transfers and unreported business deals.

Such transgressions should preclude Rangel from even voting on tax legislation, let alone writing any.

Indeed. But taxes are for the little people. Though do Rangel’s problems really add up to millions? I didn’t realize that, but it’s hard to keep track of all the scandals that have been dribbling out . . . .

UPDATE: Reader David Kolbe writes:

Rangel’s most recent “million dollar problem” is not technically with taxes or reporting income to the IRS, but with his congressional financial disclosure. The Congressional disclosure problems add up, potentially, to over a million dollars. The tax issues we know about for him are the failure to report about $75,000 in income from his Caribbean retreat and his claim of property tax reductions on his DC house when he was also claiming one or more homes in NY as his principal residence. He hasn’t, as far as I’m aware, released his tax records, so we don’t really know how much he’s cheated on inadvertently underpaid his taxes, only that he cheated forgot to disclose at least some income. He’s screwing up so many different ways it’s hard to keep them all straight.

Did his failure to report assets and transactions on his Congressional disclosure carry over to his taxes? With the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct running interference for him the world may never know.

It is hard to keep it all straight, even if you’ve been paying attention. And I get the feeling that that’s the way he likes it . . .

MICHAEL BARONE: Is the Washington Post trying to ‘Macaca’ Bob McDonnell? But doesn’t this make Michelle Obama’s college thesis a proper subject for debate too? And weren’t we told that was silly?

ED DRISCOLL: 21st Century Schizoid Mad Men. I like this take: “Wow! Sounds like the Earth is the real terrorist. I propose choking it to death with carbon dioxide! If we implement cap-and-trade, the really brutal terrorist wins.”

THE HILL: Pelosi will let Rangel hold post despite latest allegations. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will let Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) keep his chairmanship despite his failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms, according to Democratic aides.” Of course she will. This makes him vulnerable, and thus easier to control.

RASMUSSEN: Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Still Out Of Touch. Indeed.

On the other hand, there’s this bit of good news for the GOP: Republicans Widen Lead on Generic Congressional Ballot.

And this is amusing: 42% Say People Randomly Selected From Phone Book Would Be Better Than Current Congress.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Obama Advisor Van Jones: Republicans “are assholes.” What’s interesting is that this isn’t from now, when they’re understandably frustrated with their lack of success, but from back in February, when they were doing very well.

MEGAN MCARDLE ON HEALTHCARE: “Is that a tradeoff you would make? Save the few thousand who might be kept alive by healthcare they now can’t afford, and take the possibility of new treatments from the millions who might be cured, or at least have their conditions improved? It’s no good dismissing it on the grounds that it’s unlikely, because you can’t think it any more unlikely than I think the notion of a healthcare reform that is all upside, no downside.”

Alas, I don’t think the outcome that Megan fears is unlikely at all.

L.A. TIMES: Guest list for Obama’s White House Ramadan dinner.

LYNN WOOLSEY GETS A SURPRISE: Crowd Erupts In Boos When Congresswoman Announces Support For Single Payer Health Care.