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The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 (see trends).

State government finances are a wreck. The drop in tax receipts is the worst in a half century. Fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. Only an emergency infusion of printed federal funny money is keeping most state boats afloat right now. Most governors I've talked to are so busy bailing that they haven't checked the long-range forecast. What the radar tells me is that we ain't seen nothin' yet. What we are being hit by isn't a tropical storm that will come and go, with...

Your humble correspondent is a huge fan of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods hosted by Andrew Zimmern. Some episodes I have even watched several times over in repeats. However, I was a bit concerned when I heard that Zimmern would be visiting Cuba in the first episode of his new Bizarre World show. Would he show the brutal truth of the harsh life led by the people on that island or would he gloss over the facts and present a happy face view of reality there such as happened when Lucia Newman was relaying propaganda for the Castro dictatorship for...

“Everyone was convinced that there had to be a change. The DPJ will form the Government but we will not be arrogant and we will lead according to the will of the people.” The DPJ promises free secondary education, free treatment and delivery for expectant mothers, and an annual allowance of 312,000 yen (£2,000) to all children until they leave junior school. There will be a crackdown on the practice known as amakudari — “descent from the heavens” — whereby retiring civil servants secure jobs in the industries that they formerly supervised. “Japan now needs to make a clear shift...

Fiddler on The Roof (If (only) I were a Richman!) Fight Club (Without the soundtrack, the movie would not have gained its “ cult” status) The Falcon and The Snowman ( Pat Metheney Group with an artist named David Jones) The Fountain (Emotional, eerie, fascinating and …well listen) A Fistful of Dollars and For A few Dollars More ( Morricone!) Forest Gump ( In perfect tandem with Tom Hanks at his VERY best) Finding NeverLand ( Jan Kaczmarek!) Fantasia ( A bit of a no brainer) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Possibly the best of the 80’s compilations) Footloose (I’m...

ABC News reports that Barack Obama has returned to Washington, only to step off the plane and "into his next domestic crisis." He "planned to leave the details of health care reform to Congress, but today the White House says he'll play a much stronger role." The Associated Press says Obama is "backing away" from his "'it's-all-on-the-table' approach" and is "prepared to get louder and more involved in the details of a health care overhaul." "This weekend," NBC Nightly News explained in its lead story, "the president signaled an aggressive stance to put his personal stamp on the sweeping legislation."...

A central belief in Washington and most state capitals nowadays is that government should "invest" in certain businesses—"clean tech," say, or manufacturing—to drive job creation. We hope it all turns out better than it has in Michigan. For the past 14 years, Lansing politicians have offered $3.3 billion in tax credits through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and spent another $1.6 billion in outlays to create and retain jobs. The subsidies have ranged from tax breaks for Hollywood, to money for new industrial plants, to millions for TV ads starring Jeff Daniels and Tim Allen talking about business and tourism...

To pen a living as a Hollywood screenwriter has always required fortitude and patience. Given the ratio between number of writers and available work, the odds of success are long. Now it looks like the odds have become a whole lot longer. Thanks to a recession-driven downturn forcing studios to make fewer movies and TV shows, coupled with a screenwriters strike last year that ground production to a halt, the wordsmiths of Hollywood have seen jobs and income evaporate. That's the bleak take-away from the annual financial report of the Writers Guild of America, West, the union that represents about...

The August unemployment numbers came out a couple minutes ago. The economy lost 216,000 jobs however the unemployment rate grew to 9.7% and the market, at least for now, is reacting to the second number. The situation, however, is fluid, and we can expect all sorts of volatility today. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings were up .3% and the average hourly work week was unchanged at 33.1 hours per week. The last three months, the economy has shed 467,000, 276,000, and now 216,000. That's an average of just less than 300,000 jobs for the three months. That's better than almost anyone...

A man watched the launch of the space shuttle Discovery in America from his allotment in England. Donald Lyven, 53, saw the spaceship lift off in Florida on his television just after 5am, then amazingly spotted it in the skies near his home just 20 minutes later. The decorator even captured the Nasa craft on camera as he saw it fly past overhead. The fainter trail from the spacecraft is from the main fuel tank, which is ditched during launch. 'It was an absolutely magnificent sight and I don't think many people would have known about it and seen it,'...

If you asked me who some of my favorite artists are right now, without hesitation I would say Natalie Grant, Nichole Nordeman and Britt Nicole. I know many of my friends haven't heard of them. I love to introduce people to these artists because they just might love their music too. Grant, Nordeman and Nicole are widely known in the mainstream Christian contemporary music world. There is so much talent in and outside of the church. This week, I wanted to share some artists with you who are not LDS but are fellow Christians with a faith-promoting message. In addition,...

All but hidden in the fulsome eulogies for Ted Kennedy lurk a few serious ideas worthy of more than romancing history or waxing sentimental over a death in a famous family. These ideas are about the very nature of liberalism and conservatism, the connections between personal virtue and public morality, and how emotion shapes ideology. The passing of "the last liberal lion" comes amidst a national debate over health care "reform" that grows fiercer by the day. President Obama, who has tried to stand above the messy details of whatever emerges from Congress -- tacking first left, then right, then...

Sorry for the vanity, but I need some help. I teach in an inner city public high school. I have been informed that we will be watching Dear Leader's speech on Tuesday. I have offered my classroom for those students who do not wish to view the speech. I have not heard back from the principal. Some topics I would like to discuss with the students include cult of personality and obama's objective with speaking directly to school children/minors. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." That may be from the Bible's Book of Joshua, but it could be from a book of Barack Obama. Is that hyperbole? Only slightly, unfortunately. In U.S. Department of Education materials surrounding the first national presidential address to public-school students, children were encouraged to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. After some genuine and vociferous backlash, the Obama administration took back some of these recommendations for recruiting students to the cause that is Barack Obama. But the pullback came around the same time that an...

Here is a CNN video report on the soon-to-be published memoir of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and a few quotes from it. In the memoir, Kennedy reportedly says he "always accepted official findings of JFK's assassination," meaning the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin, and that he acted alone. He also reportedly admitted that his actions at Chappaquiddick were "inexcusable." The memoir is to be released on September 14. . . . (Watch Video)

A week after the 9/11 attacks, a young Muslim at South Alabama University told the school's newspaper it was "difficult to believe a Muslim could have done this." Now, eight years later, he is professing to launch attacks himself and calling on others to join the fight, as terror-related charges await him at home in Alabama, FOX News has learned exclusively. Abu Mansour al-Amriki — or "The American" — has become one of the most recognizable and outspoken voices of terrorist propaganda. He has been in war-torn Somalia for several years, fighting the secular government there with a group known...

Dallas, Texas is our 13th stop on the Tea Party Express national bus tour. Date/Time: Friday, September 4th at 11:00am Rally Location: Cape Buffalo Grille 17717 Addison Road Dallas, TX 75287 Resources: Tea Party Express - Dallas Rally Flyer

Pelosi: No public option, no bill By: Alex Isenstadt September 3, 2009 06:53 PM EST As the White House signals that it is willing to move forward on a health reform plan without a public option, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) sent a strong message Thursday evening: not so fast. In her strongest statement yet, Pelosi said that any bill "without a strong public option will not pass the House": “Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs,” Pelosi said. “If a vigorous public option is not included, it would...

If you have a "Liberal Virtual Reality Helmet", trust me when I tell you that what you experience will be REALLY weird! How weird? Read today's "Geeks On Caffeine" and see for yourself! NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thanks much y'all!!

September 4 Morning Verse"I will; be thou clean." Mark 1:41Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightway light was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word effected the entire work on the spot and for ever. The...