SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:37 P.M. ET:

NOT WHAT THEY EXPECTED – College graduates are the fastest-growing group who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the last five years.  The percentage of bankrupts with a bachelor's degree rose from 11.2% in 2006 to 13.6% in 2012.  Obviously, statistics like this might discourage some kids, not eligible for scholarship money, from enrolling at all. 

FIRST REACTIONS – First reactions to tonight's debate are coming in.  Perhaps most telling, no one I'd regard as thoughtful is providing deep applause for Rick Perry.  We'll cover more of this in the morning, but there seems to be a widespread feeling that Perry didn't bring it home tonight, and that too many of his answers lacked substance.  I also thought it was striking that Sarah Palin, in an interview just after the debate, went after Perry, not Romney.  Palin gives some indication of shrewdly positioning herself as someone above party, which she did successfully in Alaska.

IRANIAN ARTISTIC EXPRESSION – Iran has banned half-naked men and love triangles from Iranian TV, in an act that will surely lead to higher levels of art and philosophy.  I have no doubt that Holywood, which always seeks the best moral guidance, will study this new directive with an eye toward elevating its own product.  Can't wait to see those fully dressed family men on the new Iranian hit series, "Let us Destroy the Great Satan While Fighting the Cross Worshippers and the Jews."  It's a comedy.

September 12, 2011