Monday evening must-reads

A lesson in NOT taking other people's money

Irony alert: NPR correspondent warns of government-media complex

Young voters pay the price for voting Obama in 2008

Panetta links Iraq mission with war against al-Qaeda

Iran is testing the civilized world

Washington Post finally recognizes growing terrorist threat

Surprise: Americans still want ObamaCare repealed

No budget deal? Blame Obama, not Boehner

Report: Western states show amazing (untapped) potential for energy production

WSJ: Obama wants taxes upon taxes

Obama declares war on Brad Thor

Petraeus bids farewell to Afghanistan

Michigan taxpayers pay for new "Transformers" flick

"Green" subsidymobiles

Michelle Obama: Eat as I say, not as I eat

"Let them eat cake peas!"

Bonus points go to America's pea growers who didn't miss a beat today:

Speaking at a White House news conference about the need for a politically painful deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit, Obama said that it's time to "pull off the Band-Aid" and "eat our peas."

Pea growers agreed. The USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council chose to take the president's comments as an endorsement of their product. The group's director of marketing, Pete Klaiber, said eating peas "will contribute to a balanced diet, if not a balanced budget."

Klaiber also said that peas would close nutritional loopholes — and that it couldn't hurt to eat more lentils, too.