SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:05 P.M. ET:

POLL MADNESS – A number of polls were released today showing Obama gaining more against Romney, especially in some swing states.  But Fox News ran an excellent, and devastating report this evening pointing out the history of polls taken in September, that they're often way off when measured against the final result.  The average change from September through the election in past polls has been about five percent.  Obama is leading by less than that in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

AND SYRIA – The Syrian tragedy goes on, but we're averting our eyes.  Secretary Panetta said today that Syria moved some of its chemical weapons, but that the U.S. assessment is that the regime is trying to secure them.  Yeah, right.  Panetta went on to say that we're not sure where some of the weapons are, and he left open the chance that some may have fallen into the hands of the Iranian Republican Guard, which has troops in Syria.  As Laurel and Hardy used to say, another fine mess.

SCREWBALL WITH MONEY – George Soros, the very left-wing Wall Street billionaire, who has been a big booster of Barack Obama, has given $1.5-million to pro-Obama PACs.  This man, with his militant left-wing views and his history as a currency manipulator wanted in several countries, is a menace.  Yet groups like National Public Radio take his money without hesitation.  I've always noticed that liberals are most interested in two things – style and money.  This is the money part, and it's embarrassing.

A REPEATING STORY – The alleged shooter in the Gabrielle Giffords case had experienced five negative contacts with the campus police of the school he attended, yet that was never in the federal database when he underwent the background check required to buy the gun he used in his crime.  Now we find out that the University of Colorado had taken disciplinary action against the alleged shooter in the recent "Batman" mass shooting for threatening a professor but that this, too, had never been reported beyond the campus.  And there were serious questions about some actions taken by Virginia Tech regarding the shooter in their mass shooting several years ago.  Is it too much to ask some of the mainstream media to look into the responsibilities of universities where mentally unstable students are suspected of going over the line, or are the editors and esteemed writers just sitting around waiting for their honorary degrees?  The softball approach to colleges and universities by the media is a journalistic scandal, a symbol of corruption.

ANYONE INTERESTED? – Breitbart is reporting that protests at American embassies throughout the Muslim world are continuing, with virtually no interest shown by the media.  There are protests in Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and even Manila.  Anybody home in the newsrooms?  I guess it will take another tragedy before we wake up and realize we have a major problem with Muslim extremism, and Obama's presence in the White House has done nothing to ease it.  He may have made matters worse by being such an appeaser.

September 28,  2012