HOW OBAMA is choking off U.S. oil production.

MICHIGAN: Judge Tries to Pressure Ex-Husband to Give Ex-Wife an Islamic Divorce; Court of Appeals Reverses.

TIN EAR: Joe K3 defends dad on Venezuela oil. Then again, it’s Massachusetts.

AGITPROP FAIL: A Sex Strike For Contraception. Somehow I don’t think many Santorum supporters will be suffering.

UPDATE: Reader Robert Bleck writes: “Aren’t they just employing the aspirin joke?” Heh. Pretty much.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

ASPARAGIRL’S MIND IS in the gutter again. I’m sure that Islamists would be horrified at this exemplar of American womanhood. Heh.

Indeed.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction.

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE:

If Obama could say “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking painkillers” to an elderly woman with a bad heart…

… then, in parallel fashion, why shouldn’t the government tell young women who want birth control that they are better off using condoms rather than more expensive methods? Condoms, after all, give protection against STDs as well as pregnancy. It would control costs: no doctor visits needed, no calamitous side-effects to treat. Make free condoms plentifully available everywhere.

Remember, Obama took some heat for standing up to the woman who talked about the “spirit” of her 100-year-old mother. If old people are going to get pills instead of surgery, why shouldn’t young people have to accept condoms? And shouldn’t the government be promoting condoms for disease control anyway?

If it saves just one man’s life, it’s worth it.

But, from the comments: “Unless you actually make a Catholic bishop hand condoms out, you won’t satisfy the urge behind the mandate.”

PUSHBACK: “Occupy Jesus”: Evangelicals give OWS a taste of its own medicine.

DOG BITES MAN: Chris Matthews, Getting it Wrong and Staying There.

JIM TREACHER: #DJBreitbart.

AVIK S.A. ROY: Why Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Will Reduce Health Care Access.

TRYING TO MAKE AIRLINE FOOD TASTIER. For those few, elite passengers who still get fed.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRLS IN LEROY? “A common thread emerged among the five girls I interviewed extensively: none had stable relationships with their biological fathers.”

HEH: “Alan Grayson: The first Democrat to throw himself under the bus.”

MOVING CLOSER TO THE UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR:

Researchers at Microsoft have made software that can learn the sound of your voice, and then use it to speak a language that you don’t. The system could be used to make language tutoring software more personal, or to make tools for travelers.

In a demonstration at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus on Tuesday, Microsoft research scientist Frank Soong showed how his software could read out text in Spanish using the voice of his boss, Rick Rashid, who leads Microsoft’s research efforts. In a second demonstration, Soong used his software to grant Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, the ability to speak Mandarin.

Faster, please.

IN TENNESSEE, a legislative battle over civil rights.

MARK LEVIN IS STILL OUT PROMOTING AMERITOPIA, and the people are still showing up: “Reagan library officials estimated more than a 2,000 people came to the library on Friday to either get a copy of the book signed or listen to Levin speak inside the library’s Presidential Learning Center. Several hundred more watched a live webcast that was shown inside the Air Force One Pavilion and online.”

POLL: 56% of Voters Think America Is Overtaxed.

UPDATE: Reader Rob James writes: “You have to wonder if that is the same approximately 56% of Americans that actually pay taxes.”

AT AMAZON, it’s the Home Audio Clearance.

Also, since several people have been asking about this kind of thing over the past couple of weeks, here’s a reminder: Today only: Over 50% Off Select H&R Block Tax Preparation Software.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Beyond Blue Part 7: From Levittown to Superburb?

Via Meadia thinks that the future for the Millennials is much brighter than the doomsters would have us believe — and housing is an example. At the end of the day, the nation’s housing stock will have to be priced at a level the American people can afford (unless foreigners suddenly develop a massive hunger for residential property in the suburbs of Peoria), and if the only people aging Boomers can sell their homes to are debt-burdened, overtaxed and under-served Millennials, the geezers are going to have to mark down their selling price. It’s called arithmetic, and it works.

Meanwhile, many Millennials are thrown for a loop by misleading new urbanist buzz. As Joel Kotkin writes in a recent op-ed, too often an odd couple of property developers and élites in the legacy media promote values about housing to young Americans that are totally out of step with the emerging – and optimistic – reality.

As always, read the whole thing.