† The Uniter: Part II: Polling by the Pew Research Center For People & The Press finds that Barack Obama has the most polarized job approval ratings within the first hundred days of his presidency than any of his predecessors in the past 40 years:

The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama's job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president - 88% job approval among Democrats - and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

By comparison, there was a somewhat smaller 51-point partisan gap in views of George W. Bush's job performance in April 2001, a few months into his first term. At that time, Republican enthusiasm for Bush was comparable to how Democrats feel about Obama today, but there was substantially less criticism from members of the opposition party. Among Democrats, 36% approved of Bush's job performance in April 2001; that compares with a 27% job approval rating for Obama among Republicans today.

The survey results reflect, in part, long-term trends towards increased partisanship amongst voters. Other recent Pew polling indicates that Obama’s approval rating is showing signs of slippage as a growing number of Americans see him aligning with liberal Dems rather than with party moderates and are unhappy with some of his economic proposals. Obama’s job approval rating slid from 64 percent in February to 59 percent in March, while his disapproval rating spiked from 17 percent to 26 percent.

† Chicago On The Potomac: The Office of Congressional Ethics voted to initiate a preliminary review of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s (D-IL) “efforts to be appointed to the U.S. Senate by ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich,” reports The Associated Press:

The panel reportedly began its work … the same day a federal grand jury indicted Blagojevich on corruption charges that, among other things, accuse him of scheming to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Blagojevich denies wrongdoing.

Jackson, the son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, has acknowledged he was "Senate Candidate A" in the Blagojevich criminal complaint, one of several candidates that authorities say the former governor considered for the seat now held by Roland Burris. Jackson's supporters were willing to raise $1.5 million for Blagojevich if he picked the congressman, the complaint said.

† Phoenix Airport Tests Screening Device That Sees Through Clothing: Transportation Security Administration is thinking of replacing walk-through metal detectors at airport security checkpoints with whole-body imaging machines that can “see” underneath clothing to the bare skin, because pilot tests at 19 U.S. airports have been a success, reports The New York Times:

Initially, the machines were supposed to be used only on passengers who set off the metal detectors, to provide them with an option to the customary secondary physical pat-downs and inspections by electronic wand. …

The plan now is that all passengers will “go through the whole-body imager instead of the walk-through metal detector,” he said. …

Still, the use of the equipment has its critics. Bruce Schneier, a security technology consultant, said the body-imaging machines are the equivalent of “a physically invasive strip-search.”

The machines will cost about $100,000 to $170,000 each, depending on the model. They are being developed by the agency as part of an ambitious technology initiative, which also includes advanced X-ray systems for inspecting carry-on bags for weapons and other contraband.

As with everything related to airport security, there’s a plus for passengers and a minus. If the new technology can detect explosive chemicals electronically, you will no longer have to pack travel-size toiletries in a clear zip-top plastic bag. The tradeoff: For a few seconds a naked picture of your body (not your face) will be viewed by a screener at a remote location. But with “sexting” replacing flirting amongst teenagers (and soon enough their desperate-to-be-hip parents will be doing it too) maybe this won’t be as big a deal as some fear.

† Your Bonus: $0. Continued Employment: Priceless.: Even as attorneys are helping companies revise their compensation plans, executive bonuses are triggering lawsuits “ranging from corporate officers who allege their companies reneged on bonuses to officers who believe they were fired for protesting them, reports The National Law Journal:

"This is a very, very touchy situation," said Gary R. Basham of Basham Parker, an employment defense boutique in Sacramento, Calif., that in recent months has helped several companies revise their bonus plans. …

Basham knows firsthand the liabilities involved with promising bonuses. He represented Douglas A. Pautsch Jr., the executive who sued Centex over his unpaid bonus. While Basham would not comment on the case due to a confidentiality agreement, he still views bonuses as "a valid tool to reward employees for good performance" and "retain a company's best employees." Companies must be very careful with how they do that, said Basham, who has recently advised companies not to pay bonuses during unprofitable quarters.

It's the retention bonuses that are most likely to cause employers grief, said Frederick Lipman, a partner at Philadelphia's Blank Rome and author of Executive Compensation Best Practices. "A retention bonus in this economy is absurd, unless you find that these people have job offers all over the place," said Lipman, who is a strong proponent of executive bonuses. There's nothing like money to motivate good results, Lipman said. But if the bonus is not justified by the results, he stressed, "they should not be doing it."

Companies hit by layoffs should especially reconsider bonuses, Lipman said, noting he has a number of clients hit with layoffs that are voluntarily giving up their bonuses to share the sacrifice.

† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: The Washington Post reports that there is a growing rift between blacks who want to remain Barack Obama’s cheerleaders and those who want to assess him objectively:

Jeff Johnson knows how to make his audiences squirm. The young, black radio and TV political commentator waits for the discussion to turn to the topic being talked about ceaselessly, incessantly, ad nauseam: the meaning of the barrier-breaking election of Barack Obama.

Then, in his laid-back style, he says, "The real issue for me is that history is not enough." That's when the mood becomes tense.

"Black folks, in particular, get irritated," says Johnson, who travels the lecture circuit, hosts a half-hour show on Black Entertainment Television and has a weekly spot for social criticism on a radio program popular with black listeners. Get past "Obama the personality" and see "Obama the president," he says. "Otherwise all you're being is a political-celebrity groupie instead of a citizen. … It starts with acknowledging he's my president, and not my homie." …

Johnson is one of a growing number of black academics, commentators and authors determined to press Obama on issues such as the elimination of racial profiling and the double-digit unemployment rate among blacks.

But doing so has put them at odds with others in the black community. Love for the Obamas is thick among African Americans - 91 percent of whom view the president favorably, compared with 59 percent of the total population, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month - and as a result, the African American punditry finds itself navigating new ground.

They are learning to negotiate what talk show host and author Tavis Smiley calls an "unfamiliar dance." If you push too forcefully, he says he has learned, you risk your credibility in the community.

† Can The Nutrition Police Lay Off Coffee, Already?: A study involving 25 physically fit college-age men finds that those who drank two to three cups of coffee an hour before an intense workout on a stationary bike experienced less muscle soreness, reports Reuters:

[T]he benefits were seen in both habitual caffeine consumers and those who typically shunned caffeine, the researchers report in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. …

In theory, caffeine may limit muscle pain by blocking the activity of a chemical called adenosine. Adenosine is released as part of the inflammatory response to injury and can activate pain receptors in body cells.

† Updates To Previous Posts (seventh item, We Fight Them Over There So We Don’t Have To Fight Them Over Here?: Part III): Youssef Samir Megahed, 23, an Egyptian-born engineering student at the University of South Florida who was acquitted of federal explosives charges, was arrested and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on a warrant signed by an immigration judge, reports The Associated Press:  

In a statement, ICE spokesman James Judge said Megahed "has been placed into removal proceedings" and will be held until a judge hears his case. He declined to comment further.

Megahed is a legal permanent U.S. resident who's lived with his family in the United States since he was 11.

Megahed’s attorney says the government is trying to deport his client even though federal prosecutors failed to convict him of any crime.