ORWELL ALERT: They’re not tax increases, they’re “spending reductions in the tax code.”

UPDATE: “Hey, at least he’s not calling them ‘kinetic spending action.'”

JAY COST: Obama Is Just Plain Bad At Politics.

AN EASTER SALE: Up to 30% off on videogames.

PARAPHRASING PAUL KRUGMAN’S DEFENSE OF OBAMACARE: “The law, in its majestic equality, permits rich and poor alike to pay for surgeries, medicine, and hospital stays.”

JEFF CARTER: Do we have inflation, or not?

SUDDENLY, TYPEWRITERS ARE COOL AGAIN.

THROW GRANDMA FROM THE TRAIN: Jake Tapper notes an Obama flipflop. It smells of meanness, and desperation.

UPDATE: Mickey Kaus: Obama Is No Salesman.

AT AMAZON, top deals in electronics.

IPADS FOR SENIORS UPDATE: Reader Howard Roerig emails: “Just a quick note of thanks for your recent comments concerning iPad use by seniors. I just gave my 88 year old Dad an iPad (original, WIFI only) for his birthday, in an effort to replace his aging & very limited WebTV. Success beyond all expectations! He very quickly mastered the basics of email, browsing, and YouTube videos, and now has the ability to take it with him to his thrice-weekly dialysis sessions! I can more easily stay in touch with him, sending links, videos, and photos. And he is pursuing so many new areas of interest to him. Thanks!”

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Personal Protection Is “Good and Sufficient Reason” for Carrying Gun to Church.

DANIEL BLATT: A Case For Abolishing The Drinking Age.

SHOCKER: ABC News: Bullied By The IRS.

POSERS: ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Ask to Be Taxed More. Actually, they’re asking for other people to be taxed more, since they can always make a voluntary contribution to the Treasury. And there’s nothing patriotic about asking others to pay more when you haven’t done so yourself. Hacks.

But if it’s patriotic to ask for others to pay more, then my proposal for a 50% surtax on government officials’ post-government employment is super-duper-patriotic! So where’s my puff piece from the National Journal? Hello? Terris? Anyone?

5 THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU when America goes bankrupt.

AMY ALKON is not impressed with the apologies.

MICKEY KAUS: Why Is Obama’s Support Slipping Among Blacks, Latinos? “Gallup seems dumbfounded. Fernandez says inflation is beginning to bite. Malcolm suspects a general case of scales-falling-from-eyes. I nominate … [unions?-ed] … comprehensive immigration reform. When Obama pushes for it he alienates blacks. When he fails to achieve it he alienates Latinos. He’s done both.”

DAN MITCHELL ON OBAMA’S SPEECH: Obama’s Tax Increase Trigger: Punishing Taxpayers with Automatic Tax Hikes When Politicians Overspend.

UPDATE: A more subtle criticism.

IS THE WHITE HOUSE prejudiced against boys? “Two years ago President Obama created a committee by executive order to advise and focus exclusively on the needs and welfare of the American woman. Feminists cheered the creation of a White House Council on Women and Girls but others questioned, why – when women and girls are outperforming men by nearly every empirical measurement – create a council for women but not for men?”

MOM ANGRY AFTER OFFICER WHO SHOT HER SON IS NAMED “COP OF THE YEAR.”

BRYAN PRESTON: Did CNN do an unethical number on Gov. Pawlenty?

SUSANNAH BRESLIN: How To Get A Job Interview.

INCREASING THE DEBT CEILING: Obama And Hoyer Were Against It Before They Were For It. “House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer has joined President Obama in conceding that he blundered by voting against an increase to the government’s debt ceiling.”

BRINK LINDSEY ON how to keep economic growth going when the low-hanging fruit has been picked.

GOVERNMENT-SHUTDOWN SPECIAL: Capitol Hill Staffers Line Up For Free Botox.

WHY COLLEGE STUDENTS DRINK: Repeated Ethanol Exposure Enhances Synaptic Plasticity in Key Brain Area, Study Finds. “Drinking alcohol primes certain areas of our brain to learn and remember better, says a new study from the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin.”