THE SOUTH PEOPLE will rise again. I’ve been arguing this since before the 2010 election. It’s good to see other people notice as well.

BACK TO THE FUTURE PAST: Brown Asks California to Cheer Rail Project.

THOMAS SOWELL: Ignoring disparity.

WHY LIVING IN FLORIDA might not be so bad.

DON’T PET THE OWS PROTESTERS: they bite.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: three years down, one to go. Here are some charts, taken from the Rasmussen Obama Approval Index. The first is Obama's approval rating, dating back to his inauguration. For the last 2-1/2 years his approval rating has been consistently negative.


This chart is the same data, subdivided into 'Strongly Approve', 'Strongly Disapprove', and 'Mixed Reaction' -- those who either mildly approve or mildly disapprove. Note that at the end of 2010, the 'Mixed Reaction' population dramatically increased to around 35% of the population and did so by moving from the 'Strong Approval' population.


The last chart shows the data from calendar year 2011. Note that the trend lines show the 'Strong Disapprovals' and 'Mixed Reactions' still continuing to increase, again at the cost of losses in the 'Strong Approval' population.


President Obama is due for a tough election year.

CIVILIZATION IS FRAGILE. "Its continuance requires respect for the law, tough-minded education, collective thrift, private investment, individual self-reliance, and common codes of behavior and civility -- and exempts no one from those rules. Such knowledge and patterns of civilized behavior, slowly accrued over centuries, can be lost in a single generation."

SHADOW'S WORLD is on temporary hiatus, as the office computer is down with a severe viral infection. Blogging will be intermittent until the machine is nursed back to health.

COMING SOON TO A TV NEAR YOU: This year the State of the Union address will be on January 24th. Nine days later, on February 2nd, it will be Ground Hog Day. One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication. The other involves a groundhog.

ANOTHER:

I was eating breakfast with my 13-year-old granddaughter and I asked her, "What day is the 20th of February?"

She said "It's President's Day!"

She is a smart kid.

I asked "What does President's Day mean?" I was waiting for something about Washington or Lincoln ....

She replied, "President's Day is when President Obama steps out of the White House, and if he sees his shadow we have one more year of unemployment."

You know, it hurts when hot coffee spurts out your nose....