RAND SIMBERG: I hope he freezes in the dark.

TEST-DRIVING THE 2009 Porsche Boxster S.

HEH: Obama To Drop Shield If Russia Helps With Limbaugh.

MICHAEL BELFIORE: International Space Dominance: 7 Nations Launching the Next Space Race.

YUM, YUM: Aunt Jemima’s Bacon Strip Pancakes.

SEVEN YEARS OF LAW SCHOOL, DOWN THE DRAIN? Bluto Blutarsky, J.D.

CHAS FREEMAN UPDATE: Schumer Privately Tells White House He’s Concerned About Freeman On Israel. Looks like another bad appointment . . . .

I WONDER IF YOU CAN: Imagine a reactor that can burn very abundant Uranium-238 and not need refueling for a couple of centuries.

A POLL: How Low Do You Think The Dow Will Go?

EVOLUTION: Your tribe is more likely to live if you are willing to die.

ANSWERING Charlemagne’s puzzles.

BOSTON GLOBE: Will Obama be like Bush on executive power?

BOOKS AND MUSIC that make you dumb. Best quote: “‘Of course there is the whole correlation is not causation thing, but, I mean, duh,’ he added.”

SOME IMPORTANT REPORTING from the Geneva Auto Show.

IN THE MAIL: From Jacqueline Novogratz, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.

TAX HYPOCRITES: The New York Post editorializes on Geithner, Rangel, and Ron Kirk:

There was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, boldly testifying Tuesday before Rep. Charlie Rangel’s Ways & Means Committee – promising that the Obama administration intends to propose “a series of legislative and enforcement measures to reduce . . . tax evasion and avoidance.”

Did he look Chairman Rangel in the eye when he said this?

Can he look himself in the eye at the shaving mirror each morning?

A crackdown on “tax evasion and avoidance”? Oh, the irony.

Only after he was nominated to Treasury did Geithner pay some $40,000 in taxes he blew off while working for the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004.

And Rangel’s famous tax troubles are even now the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation – laggard though it may be.

Probity for thee, but not for me?

Damned straight.

Read the whole thing. Plus, from the comments: “This is like Rosie O’Donnell and Oprah Winfrey lecturing us on how to stay slim.”

CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY: In a Shift, House Republicans Take On Obama.

MICKEY KAUS: Obama blinks on vouchers?

MORE SWEETHEART LOANS? Lawmaker goes after ex-Fannie CEO over loan deal.

A Republican lawmaker is accusing the former chief executive of mortgage finance company Fannie Mae of being dishonest in testimony before Congress about discounts he received on his home loan.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California released documents Wednesday that he said showed former Fannie CEO Franklin Raines received special treatment in 2003 when he refinanced with Countrywide Financial Corp. . . . Raines, a prominent Washington figure who was President Clinton’s budget director, resigned from Fannie Mae in 2004 after an accounting scandal. Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac were seized by federal regulators last fall.

The disclosure about Raines comes after Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said last month he would refinance two personal home mortgages from Countrywide.

Dodd has acknowledged participating in a VIP program at Countrywide, which he said he thought referred to upgraded customer service and not reduced rates. He has said he was wrongfully labeled a friend of Countrywide’s former CEO Angelo Mozilo.

He wasn’t a friend. He just got benefits!

MORE ON THE HOBOKEN TAX PROTESTS: Hoboken Homowners Protest Steep Tax Hike. Also, Video.