THE WORLD’S FIRST fuel cell tractor.

THERE’S AN Action Figure Museum?

Plus, Han Solo in guacamole instead of carbonite.

TIGERHAWK: Now they tell us: Iran is pursuing a bomb. Well, you know, the election is over.

Plus, from the comments: “We have zombie intelligence agencies to go along with out zombie banks. They’re open for business. There are plenty of gadgets and computers on everyone’s desks. There are lots of people scurrying about. But, it’s all an illusion to keep from admitting the truth: that Iran is an enemy (and that our largest banks are insolvent).”

SHOCK ABSORBERS that generate electricity.

GET READY FOR THE ROBERT REICH WORKFARE STATE? “We’re going to pay poor people to inflate our tires and tell us how to save energy. Yes, really.” Sounds like a gas.

IS THE STIMULUS BILL the Obama Administration’s Patriot Act? Yes, except that the Patriot Act passed with overwhelming support from both parties.

Plus, from David Boaz, Obama’s Shock Doctrine.

STIMULUS PASSES HOUSE, 246-183 with no Republican help. Seven Democrats voted against.

UPDATE: Barack Obama’s gift to conservatives.

DOING THE WELFARE-REFORM TIMEWARP, with Harry Reid.

DEREK LOWE: Small pharma startups running dry. “How many ideas that might have taken off are we going to miss, and how many therapies that could have worked out, if the money had held out a bit longer? The Citis and Caterpillers of the world are getting the headlines with their massive layoffs, understandably. But there are a lot of outfits that you’ve never heard of that are in the process of losing everything.” But new businesses don’t have enough clout to get bailouts, or to avoid taxation, meaning that the political system tends to reward failure and punish success.

MORE RESEARCH ON the health benefits of Vitamin D. I’m quite pleased that sitting in the sun drinking red wine is so good for you. I intend to do more of that this summer.

JUST WORDS? CHANGE.GOV PROMISES:

End the Practice of Writing Legislation Behind Closed Doors: As president, Barack Obama will restore the American people’s trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be conducted in public. By making these practices public, the American people will be able to hold their leaders accountable for wasteful spending and lawmakers won’t be able to slip favors for lobbyists into bills at the last minute.

Instead we got a bill that the lobbyists got before the Congressmen, which will pass without being read. Hope and change?

ZERO TO SIXTY IN 3.8 SECONDS: Test-driving the Audi R8.

THE BIDDING IS OPEN for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. “I thought the small government conservatives were supposed to be the rich ones.” As if.

GOOD NEWS: Chemical drink breathes life into damaged hearts . “After drinking a chemical dissolved in water, mice with damaged hearts turn from couch potatoes into treadmill tearaways, researchers say. The finding raises hopes that the same substance can invigorate patients weakened from heart attacks by increasing the supply of oxygen to damaged cardiac muscle.”

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE SINGULARITY, from J. Storrs Hall.

IN THE MAIL: From Joel Comm, Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time.

BETTER ALL THE TIME: A roundup of good news you may have missed, at The Speculist. We could use some of that about now.

IN POPULAR MECHANICS, I look at space collision law. Plus, satellite crash video.

SOME THOUGHTS FROM MATT WELCH:

I have a vested interest in national politicians embracing limited-government principles, and so tend to be more happy than not on the rare occasions when I hear these ideas cited, but I hold out zero hope that either of the major parties would ever take them seriously once in power. In my blinkered view, libertarianism as an outlook is all at once oppositional, constructive, and optimistic. Oppositional to whatever 19th century political party is in power, because chances are near 100 percent that their overriding M.O. will be anathema to limited-government principles. Constructive because, hey, libertarians actually have some pretty helpful ideas about how to make tax dollars more effectively accomplish such tasks as building roads, educating poor people, and (to cite an Obama favorite) creating jobs. When the politicians run out of money (and they always do), we’ll have some plausible suggestions. Optimistic because a large subset of l-worders don’t take their mood cues from government, but rather the very tangible and even thrilling progress that humanity and liberalism are making across any number of fronts, even if domestic inter-bank lending is down 11 percent this quarter.

Read the whole thing. Plus, his thoughts on bailing out the Washington Post.

NEXT, A TRAGIC GARDENING ACCIDENT, OR CHOKING ON SOMEONE ELSE’S VOMIT: Is Obama’s Secretary of Commerce the New Drummer for Spinal Tap Position?

And the deficit goes to 11. Trillion, that is . . . .

HOPE AND CHANGE: Commerce Department Waives Syria Sanctions. “The dream scenario is that with the Bush presidency out of the way and Obama flashing a smile, Syria’s President Bashar Assad will break off his romance with Tehran and partner with Washington in bringing peace to the region. The realistic scenario is that Obama, hand extended to Damascus, is setting himself up for a sucker punch–potentially at great cost not only to America and Israel but to other democratic states and any democratic dissidents inside Syria who have not yet vanished into the care of Assad’s secret police.” I guess it all depends on whether Obama can charm the barbarians or not.

REIHAN SALAM: Listen to Amar Bhidé.

MAKES SENSE TO ME! We should use more nuclear, wind, solar, and geothermal power now so we can save fossil fuels to use later to delay the next ice age.

MEN AND MONEY: It’s a new Ask Dr. Helen column.

BYRON YORK: Why Gregg Bailed: “After he looked into it more, he said, ‘Whoa, this was a mistake.'” Plus this: “At the very least, the Census issue would have made for a very uncomfortable confirmation hearing. Gregg’s fellow Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would certainly have asked him what he thought of a plan that would move control of the Census from professionals in the Commerce Department to Rahm Emanuel, the hyper-partisan White House chief of staff. What would Gregg have said? It was the stimulus problem all over again; Gregg couldn’t have said what he believed, but he probably couldn’t have brought himself to support the president, either.”