I SAID EARLIER THAT OBAMA WAS LOSING SUPPORT EVERYWHERE BUT WITH BLACKS, BUT I WAS WRONG: African American support waning for Obama. “A Gallup poll last week found Obama’s poll numbers in the African American community down from its once stratospheric 95 percent approval early in his term, to a still-high, but notably lower 81 percent — tying his worst ever showing from earlier this year. . . . Observers say weaker support for Obama owes to a faltering economy that at 16 percent unemployment for blacks — nearly double the national average of nine percent — has hit the African American community especially hard.”

A PERFECT STORM OF HYPE: Politicians, the media and the Hurricane Irene apocalypse that never was.

Related: It Was A Cat 5 Media Event.

Plus, some history.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Taken to Task: The Cult of Warren Buffett.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction.

DICK CHENEY, FIGHTING FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: Cheney tells inside story of how he bucked administration on 2nd Amendment.

FUN? FAMILY FRIENDLY? WISCONSIN? “Labor Day parade organizers confirm that no Republicans will be allowed to participate in this year’s Labor Day Parade.”

Rage, rage, against the dying of the featherbed.

RICK PERRY CALLS SOCIAL SECURITY A PONZI SCHEME.

Well, I have heard Yale Law Professor John Langbein say that if a private entity did what Social Security has done, they’d all be in jail. So Perry’s right up there with Ivy League experts on the subject.

UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes:

Rick Perry: Tribune of the young?

Haberman thinks that Perry is in a bind. I’m not convinced.

Given the indisputable fact that his accusation has merit, pressing this point puts Obama in a bit of a bind: devise a counter argument – good luck – or demagogue it. Of course, the first instinct will be to demagogue it. But the hollowness of that response without a convincing counter argument won’t go unnoticed by the young I’ve met; the very same ones so enthusiastic in support of his ’08 candidacy. And if it scares the old folks, it won’t be because Perry is saying that he opposes Social Security or Medicare in principle; rather, that their security is at risk because the programs are fundamentally flawed.

Pretty brazen on Perry’s part. But it’s a tack that could only work in the current environment where even old folks look on with shock and awe at the incredible deficits and massive increase in the public debt since Obama took office.

Indeed.

DO TELL: Seems the White House is a Bit Touchy About the Vacation Topic.

CLAIRE BERLINSKI: The Diplomat Who Drew The Short Straw.

OUT NOW: Teaching America: The Case For Civic Education. I’ve got a chapter in it; other contributors include Sandra Day O’Connor, Sen. Jon Kyl, Alan Dershowitz, Michael Kazin, and Juan Williams. If the next generation doesn’t understand America, it won’t preserve America.

THAT’S BETTER THAN USING FOOD: Converting Steel Mill Flue Gases To Ethanol.

18 SECONDS OF RAW CLASS WARFARE: “It’s coming! Get ready! All you fucking tea-party-baggers. It’s coming. Get ready.”

SHOCKER: Green Jobs Revealed As Fiscal Black Hole. “Pipe dreams eventually are revealed for what they are – unrealistic, wishful thinking. It didn’t take long for Spain’s touted green-job revolution to be revealed as a financial disaster, siphoning taxpayer subsidies and destroying 2.2 real jobs for every green job created. Domestic green-job pipe dreams similarly drain U.S. taxpayers’ money into economic sink holes. The millions of so-called green jobs promised by President Barack Obama and other champions of taxpayer-subsidized energy schemes not only haven’t materialized, many that did, already are disappearing. It’s truly a bad sign for the green-job revolution when failure becomes obvious even to acolytes.”

JUST SO LONG AS IT DOESN’T MASTER ADMINISTRATIVE LAW BEFORE I RETIRE: Robot Teaches English As A Second Language.

LIKING RICK PERRY BASED ON HIS ENEMIES. Hey, they say “sharks” like it’s a bad thing.

MARK STEYN: The West has incentivized non-productivity on an industrial scale.

CHANGE: Social Media And Biometric Software Could Make Future Undercover Policing Impossible.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Where’s The Facebook For Old People?

RAND SIMBERG: It’s not nice to anthropomorphize Mother Nature.

Twice this morning on ABC I heard the storm referred to as having emotions. “The ire of Irene,” (OK, I see the alliterary appeal) and “the wrath of the storm.”

Folks, don’t anthropomorphize rotational fluid dynamics. The storm didn’t really have it in for anyone, honest. Besides, it hates when you do that.

Indeed.

WILL THE IPHONE 5 WORK ON ANY CELLULAR NETWORK? “Combine these rumors with reports that Apple will include radios for both the major cell network technologies (i.e., CDMA and GSM) and you’ve got what looks like a major disruption in the making. Apple could be planning a smartphone that works equally well on any carrier network. I can only imagine how nervous AT&T and Verizon must be.” That would be cool.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Federal Government Prosecuting Man for Writing Many Insulting Tweets and Blog Posts About Religious Leader. They told me if I voted for John McCain, the federal government would go after people who taunted religious leaders. And they were right!

Related: Anti-“bullying” language used to attack critics of public official.

ARRESTING Uncle Omar. “I spoke to Framingham Public Information Officer Lieutenant Delaney who told me that when Onyango Obama was asked at booking if he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange for bail, the Kenyan immigrant replied: ‘I think I will call the White House.'” So he’s sort of Billy Carter to Obama’s Jimmy here?

CHERRY-PICKING: ESPN’s Double Standard On Its Personalities’ Political Tweets. Is it just me, or has the sports world somehow become the most wussy-PC sector of media?

MARK WARNER: $4T in debt cuts shouldn’t be an ‘ultimate heavy lift.’

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is urging the bipartisan “supercommittee” tasked with deficit cuts to pursue a deal in the $4 trillion range.

Warner, a centrist Democrat, used an interview with Bloomberg to urge the panel to “go big, go bold” when they negotiate this fall.

“We’re not going to solve the problem overnight, but, you know, a 10-year plan to reduce $4 trillion in debt should not be the kind of ultimate heavy lift. You know, if we don’t step up and do that, then I don’t think we are doing our country a service,” Warner said on the program “Political Capital” airing this weekend.

Even that’s barely a beginning.