WHAT BARBARA BOXER could learn from Gomer Pyle.

FIRING A WATCHDOG: Thoughts on Dan Froomkin and Gerald Walpin.

CLEAN DIESEL Comes Of Age. “A new study shows that diesel trucks and buses are spewing far less soot and smog into the air than they did just a few years ago.”

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: The Web vs. Iran: Twitter gives Iranians a voice, but the government still controls the Internet.

THE GROWING DEMAND for goat meat. Goats are yummy, but it’s hard to get a good eatin’ goat in my area, though I’ve noticed that some people are starting to fill the void.

BRUCE SCHNEIER: How Science Fiction Writers Can Help, or Hurt, Homeland Security.

IRAN UPDATE: “Tehran residents are climbing to their roofs and crying “God is Great!” in open defiance of Iran’s supreme leader.” I like the “Death to the Dictator!” chants, too.

Plus, House Approves Iran Bill 405-1. “Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was the only lawmaker opposed to the resolution. Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and David Loebsack (D-Iowa) voted present.”

MARK TAPSCOTT: Why not just fix Medicare first? “President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors issued a report earlier this month estimating that as much as 30 percent of Medicare spending is unnecessary for improving health outcomes. Given such opportunities for easy savings within government, and Medicare’s weighty influence in the broader system (many private insurers set payments by adding a percentage to Medicare’s rates), it would make sense to reform Medicare first, see what works and what doesn’t, and then apply the lessons of that process later to any system-wide fix. Unfortunately, Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are hell bent on turning the system upside down with radical reforms that are sure to have vast and unexpected consequences.” I’m pretty sure that the drive for a national healthcare program doesn’t have much to do with saving money or improving health.

JOHN TIERNEY: U.S. Climate Report Assailed: “The new federal report on climate change gets a withering critique from Roger Pielke Jr., who says that it misrepresents his own research and that it wrongly concludes that climate change is already responsible for an increase in damages from natural disasters.”

MUDVILLE GAZETTE: The New Sound of Silence: “We’ve got three different answers now from the White House on the central question ‘did the President make a statement’? I suspect the correct answer would be a fourth one: ‘no’.”

RANDALL PARKER ON OUR ENERGY FUTURE: “I’m starting to think that the transition away from oil does not totally depend on fuel efficiency and electric cars. The dramatic increase in accessible shale natural gas reserves makes cars converted to natural gas another way people can adjust to declines in oil production. While the converted cars have downsides (e.g. conversion costs, shorter range, and less trunk space) conversion of a car to run on natural gas is far cheaper than conversion to run on electric power.”

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH OFFERS a quick path to “Jeffersonian democracy” in Iran. Not seeing it as likely, though . . . .

POLL: Less urgency on healthcare than under Clinton: “In early 1993 the sense of a health care crisis was far more widespread than it is today – a 55% majority in 1993 said they felt the health care system needed to be ‘completely rebuilt’ compared with 41% today. Health care costs were also a broader problem in 1993 – 63% of Americans said paying for the cost of a major illness was a ‘major problem’ for them, compared with 48% currently.”

R.S. MCCAIN: The ‘Domino Theory’ in the IG Scandal.

JIM MEIGS: Four Things I Learned From My Dad.

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME: Modular nuclear reactors at “WalMart prices.”

BATTLEFIELD ROBOTS WHO CARE: Ethics training for deadly drones. “Ron Arkin, a robotics engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has begun writing computer programs that could help robots follow an ethical code in the heat of battle. And although his military-funded project is not designed to produce ethics software for actual future robots, it has generated interesting results nonetheless.”

I just finished P.W. Singer’s Wired for War, which discusses this topic at considerable length. But everybody invokes the Terminator robots — why isn’t there more discussion of the far-more-ethical Bolos?

DOES HOPE FOR THE ELECTRIC CAR rest on China’s shoulders?

IN THE MAIL: From Wen Spencer, Endless Blue.

AFTERBURNER: Bill Whittle on Socialized Medicine.

TRYING TO STOP “Enviro-crony Capitalism.”

TWO WAYS TO LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS: “I have two different suggestions to reduce healthcare costs that I have not heard discussed very much: get more doctors and malpractice tort reform.”

GOOD GRIEF: ANOTHER OBAMA APPOINTEE WITH TAX ISSUES. Pick for Protocol Post Corrects Failure to File Taxes in 2 Years.

I don’t even want to hear anyone in this Administration talk about tax increases, when they can’t seem to staff it with people who have actually, you know, paid their taxes on time. (Via JWF, who’s not buying the excuse for not filing).

UPDATE: “Isn’t it a little remarkable that the IRS didn’t penalize the Marshalls for late returns?” Yes, the way various political bigshots are getting by without penalties that ordinary taxpayers face bears some investigation. It suggests that the IRS is running a two-tier tax system.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Matt Ohzourk writes that, unlike the Tim Geithner situation, this isn’t so remarkable: “Glenn, as much fun as it is to make fun of one more Obama appointee with tax problems, the lack of late filing penalties makes sense. Under IRC 6651(a), your major penalty for filing a late return is based on a percentage of the tax due, i.e. if you’re due a refund, the 5% per month of tax due penalty doesn’t apply. According to the original link to jammiewearingfool, the Marshalls were due a refund and so had no tax due (and yes, their excuses are lame) Instead, you’re left on the hook for a measly $135 flat penalty for late filing a return with no tax due (and that’s a penalty that the IRS is quick to grant relief for if you can come with a reasonable cause defense).”

MORE: On the other hand, there’s this story:

I divorced in 1985. Confused and depressed, I didn’t file a return in ’85 for ’84. When ’86 rolled around, I was afraid to file as I knew the IRS would pounce on me for not filing the previous year. Ditto ’87. Finally I came to my senses and began filing again in 1988. In ’89 the IRS came calling. Even though I had all this time continued to have taxes withheld from my paychecks, there was still tax due along with a goodly amount of penalties and interest. I was taken to court where a federal prosecutor asked that I be ordered to pay the back taxes plus accrued penalties and interest. The judge so ordered….and for good measure tacked on 90 days jail time. The jail sentence cost me my job, a new spouse and, owing to shame and depression, most of the 90s. I grit my teeth whenever I read an article about well-connected people who have committed greater transgressions than those I committed getting off scot free while I had to serve jail time.

Should you choose to print this, please withhold my name.

Which experience is more common, I wonder?

HARD TIMES, BUT NOT FOR CONGRESS: “While businesses across the country are cutting back, members of the House saw their own office budgets increase by an average of 7 percent between 2008 and 2009. House officials say the increase is because of — not in spite of — the nation’s economic woes.”

As Tim Noah put it, “On Wall Street, financial crisis destroys jobs. Here in Washington, it creates them. The rest is just details.” Kind of an incentive problem there, if you’re hoping for Washington to fix the economy. . . .

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Why Obama’s Big Economic Gamble Is Failing.