SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:43 P.M. ET:

RETURN MATCH – Linda McMahon, defeated by Democrat Richard Blumenthal in last year's Senate race in Connecticut, will announce her candidacy this week for the Senate seat being vacated by Joe Lieberman next year.  McMahon is a former CEO of WWE, the wrestling folks, an organization she ran with her husband Vince.  Her wrestling background proved more than controversial in her 2010 bid for the Senate, as professional wrestling is not seen as a pristine sport.  Figure skating it ain't.   But McMahon could finance her own campaign, which sold her to the party.  Her primary opponent this time will probably be former Republican Congressman Chris Shays.  We don't know who the Democratic candidate will be, but he (or she) will be heavily favored in Connecticut.

FORGET SATURDAY MAIL – President Obama has endorsed a Postal Service idea to end Saturday mail deliveries to help close the service's massive deficit.  The USPS lost 8.5 billion last year.  That's dollars, not letters.  The service is losing out to e-mail, a decline in advertising mail due to the recession, and competition from faster package carriers.  It is also burdened by an excess number of post offices, kept open at the insistence of members of Congress.  It is the only business forced by law to keep unprofitable stores open.  Right now the USPS does not get any tax dollars.  It's hard to see how it can function without subsidies.  There just isn't enough business, and even that is likely to decline.

THE PHONINESS OF IT ALL – Saudi Arabia is contributing $10-million for a new counterterrorism center at the UN in New York.  That's like a society of sex offenders building a new headquarters for the Girl Scouts.  I suspect, and I think with good reason, that this "gift" has little to do with counterterrorism, but much to do with getting the emphasis away from Islamic extremism.  Some 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is the leading exporter of very extreme interpretations of Islam.  But the powerful, and vastly wealthy, Saudi lobby in America continues to portray the Saudis as wonderful fellas.  See much reporting on that lobby?

BAN THEM, BAN THEM! – A new academic study says that about 1,000 pedestrians are injured by bike riders each year in New York State.  Bikes, of course, are one of the darlings of the greenies, who would like to see us all on two-wheelers to avoid those awful, sinful automobiles.  New York City for years has tried to encourage bike riding, creating bike lanes in congested Manhattan.  (I have dodged more than my share of bikes, especially those piloted by messengers.)  I wonder what the new statistic will do to the promotion of bike riding.  Will six-year-old Johnnie have to get a bike license?  Appear in court?  Of course, we could ban bikes, but then only the outlaws will have them.

September 19, 2011