POLITICO: Poll: Obama loses ground with white voters, women, liberals. He’s losing ground with just about everybody except blacks.

FRANK J. FLEMING: Comparing Obama’s Performance in Office with that of a Sack of Hammers. “Hint: It’s not even close. . . . This isn’t to say that Obama is dumber than a sack of hammers — a ridiculous assertion — it’s just to say that he’s much worse at being a president than one.”

AT AMAZON, Today Only: 50% off Men’s Hoodies And Sweatshirts. Hey, the cold weather’s coming. When I got out of the pool yesterday morning, I was actually slightly chilly.

IN A HURRICANE, CASH IS KING:

Banks across New York City are making provisions so people will be able to get hard currency Sunday and Monday, even if Hurricane Irene knocks power out and floods branches.

One of the enduring lessons from the hurricanes of 2005 is that cash is crucial in a storm zone for basic staples, yet often difficult to come by. After Katrina, for example, ATMs across New Orleans simply did not work.

With that in mind, people scrambled to ATMs on Friday and Saturday morning across New York and New Jersey, often withdrawing hundreds of dollars to prepare.

Keep some cash — in small bills, mostly — in your disaster kit.

FROM MEGAN MCARDLE, a recipe for Salmon Tartare.

JAMES Q. WILSON: CRIME AND THE GREAT RECESSION. Jobs have fled, lawbreaking hasn’t risen—and criminologists are scratching their heads.

I credit Internet porn and videogames. Is there anything they can’t do?

ROGER KIMBALL: More irenic thoughts, or Obama as Dukakis.

A friend with a sense of humor sent me this reassuring story: “Obama Takes Charge at Hurricane Center.” “Now you can sleep well tonight,” he said. Hardly that. I mean really: does he look like a man who has a clue about what to do? Ponder the official NOAA name plate emblazoned with “Barack Obama President of the United States.” Why does that seem ridiculous? After all, he isthe President of the United States. Maybe it’s because it put me in mind of that iconic image of Mike Dukakis in his tank. Anyway, if it failed to be reassuring, it did introduce a welcome moment of levity.

Funny how often people with no sense of humor manage to do that.

UPDATE: From Skip Press on Facebook: “Funny how Hurricane Irene was slowing down, then Obama took over the hurricane center and it sped up.” He’s got the magic touch!

Meanwhile, I note that at least Dukakis looked like he was having fun in the tank.

IRENE SLAMS New York and New Jersey.

FOLLOWING BILL KELLER’S LEAD, Faith Questions For Keith Ellison. It was nice of Keller to open this subject up to debate.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE GIBSON GUITAR WARS. And some crazy policy about Brazilian Rosewood: “It grows in a specific area but is threatened because most of this habitat has been converted to farmland? And the solution is to ban trade in the wood, making it of no economic value? How is this supposed to preserve the habitat? Wouldn’t that be an excellent reason to go ahead and convert the rest of the habitat to farmland, growing something that would be of economic value? I just don’t get the logic there.” Logic is not our political class’s strong suit.

COULD CLIMATE CHANGE BE killing off malaria? Environmentalists would hate that, since it would undercut the argument against global warming climate change — and undercut their long-running efforts to keep poor dark-skinned people sick and starving with bans on DDT and genetically-modified seeds.

What? That’s unfair? A person is presumed to intend the foreseeable and likely results of his actions.

POLL: Is Sex Hotter During A Hurricane? Depends on whether the roof blows off, I’d say.

IRONY: Advice on boosting your cash reserves, from Bank Of America.

Not that some of the suggestions aren’t decent ones. Flush with the Army of Davids advance, I bought the Highlander Hybrid for cash, then put “payments” into savings. That’ll pay for the next car.

But I can’t say that Bank Of America has been especially frugal in its own affairs. . . .

BUSH ERA: FEMA IS HORRIBLE AND INCOMPETENT.

OBAMA ERA: How Dare Ron Paul Criticize FEMA?

INTERESTING: UCLA Professor: Without Media Bias the Average US State Would Vote Like Texas or Tennessee. The professor is Tim Groseclose, author of Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind.

UH OH: Okay, It’s A Real Storm Now: “Sewer is now backing up into the house. Still in the sink, but rising. We’re in a lot of trouble here.” Open up the cleanout plug to relieve the pressure.

UPDATE: Sebastian emails to thank me for the cleanout-plug suggestion, which worked. I know it from first-hand experience, alas. . . .

ON FACEBOOK, ANDREW HOFER REPORTS: “I have to say, Amazon came through with a generator and D batteries shipped overnight, arrived today. Sears, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target were out of these items Thursday.” Yeah, they’ll get ’em to you overnight if FedEx is still delivering. In response to an inquiry, he reported that they only charged him $3.99 to overnight the generator. Yay, Amazon Prime!

THE POLITICS of fear.

AT AMAZON, the Levi’s Store.

ED DRISCOLL: Pretzel Logic.

THINGS PEOPLE BUY, BUT NEVER USE.

UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!

BRENDAN LOY ON Irene’s Storm Surge.

“I WANTED THE PRETTY GIRLS COMING UP TO ME AND SAYING ‘Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede.'”

RECIPE: Mexican Crockpot Chicken. It’s a little early for me to fire up the slow cooker — I like for temps to at least drop below 90 for a while — but it’s always good to think about recipes.

ADVICE: Canning For Klutzes.