SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

PROBLEMS IN THE FAMILY – You have to feel for any president at times.  It is a difficult job and you get flak from everywhere.  Now President Obama is getting flak for his same-sex marriage stance from...his father's homeland, Kenya.  It seems that Muslim leaders there take great offense at their former pride and joy.  “Simply because he has risen to be the President of a super power does not mean he can now start acting as God. He is nothing in the eyes of God and his plans will not succeed just like those who preceded him in such plans,” said Sheikh Khalifa.  Man, that is heavy.

CALIFORNIA, THERE IT GOES – California, which used to be the trendsetter for the United States, is in awful shape.  Governor Jerry Brown now says the current state deficit has expanded to $16-billion, more than had been expected since the last official estimate in January.  Brown charges that the federal government and the courts have barred California from making necessary budget cuts.  Brown is proposing a series of tax increases, but he faces a no-win situation.  Without the increases the state's situation becomes disastrous.  With the increases, more job creators flood out of the state. 

NEWT JOINS UP – Newt Gingrich, a bitter foe of Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primaries, will officially join the Romney campaign this week with two events in Georgia, including one at the Republican state convention.  There is undoubtedly still bad blood between the two men – Gingrich holds Romney responsible for destroying his campaign in Iowa – but Newt is playing the good soldier.  Rick Santorum, while giving Romney a lukewarm endorsement, still has not announced any plans to join the Romney campaign.

May 12, 2012