SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:42 P.M. ET: 

THE BOTTOM – President Obama has hit 38% approval in the Gallup Poll, tying the worst previous number in his presidency, hit in October of 2011.  However, please note that Obama bounced back from that previous low to win re-election.  However, he's not entering the last two years of his presidency, and recovery is more difficult.  The question is how his standing will affect Democratic candidates in November's midterm elections.

THE MARCH OF CIVILIZATION – From the New York Post:  "Check in married — check out single!
An upstate resort famous for its lavish weddings will ironically serve as the venue for 'Divorce Hotel' — a business that promises couples a painless split in an idyllic setting.  For a flat $5,000 fee, the divorcing parties are put up in separate rooms at Saratoga Springs’ Gideon Putnam Resort for a weekend and work with a mediator to finalize the details into a signed agreement.  'Practically, they are divorced after signing on Sunday,' founder Jim Halfens, who already runs similar projects in his native Netherlands, told The Post. 'After signing, all work is done and we send it to a judge who only puts a stamp on it to make it official.'"  I'd imagine divorce lawyers, a thriving industry in New York, might have something to say about this major cultural refinement.

JOHN'S SACRED MISSION – From White House Dossier:  "Secretary of State John Kerry today deployed logic to the effect of, God 'created the heavens and the earth' and therefore God wants him to stop global warming and especially to do this to help Muslim countries, which are particularly imperiled.  Now, you ask me, has Kerry gone bananas.   I really don’t know. I just hope Muslims and God appreciate everything he’s doing for them.  And if only ISIS could get this message. If only they could get themselves on the State Department press release list, they’d at least read what Kerry has to say, and how he wants to make the desert less hot for them."  There's the Nobel Peace Prize.

THE MARKET DECIDES – From the L.A. Times:  "Electric car sales are not charging the marketplace. A new study by online automotive research company Edmunds.com suggests the segment may have run out of gas.  Sales of electric drive vehicles are stuck at about 3.6% of all new car sales for 2014, Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell said.  That's below the 3.7% market share for 2013, and it's not likely to grow any before the end of the year.  And that's during an otherwise robust sales season. Total figures for August were higher than any time in the last decade.   Automakers sold about 1.6 million vehicles in the U.S. in August, an increase of about 3% from August 2013, according to initial industry estimates released Wednesday.  'The whole automobile market has grown,' Caldwell said. 'We’re not seeing electric vehicles as part of that growth.'"  I suspect people feel that the extra cost just isn't worth it. 

September 4, 2014