A pair of mass shootings at Ft. Hood military post in Texas left at least 7 dead and 20 wounded Thursday, and one suspected gunman is on the loose, the Army said.

A massive manhunt was under way for the suspect at large, Fox News confirmed, and one person was in custody. The New York Post said that there were two shooters at the Army post massacre; other reports said there were three.

The most interesting thing about the list is that an event for Carly Fiorina is also listed, but I thought the NRSC hadn’t endorsed her. Bwahahahaha. I know. Who am I kidding.

President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

The Georgia nonprofit’s inflated job count is among persisting errors in the government’s latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House promises last week that the new data would undergo an “extensive review” to root out errors discovered in an earlier report.

Unlike the New York City mayoral, or the Virginia governor’s race, there is a really bad sign for Democrats out of the East Coast. Via The New York Times, Republicans made inroads in New York’s suburbs. “In Westchester County, where Democrats have a solid advantage in voter registration, a Republican challenger, Rob Astorino, upset the incumbent Democratic County Executive, Andrew Spano, who was seeking his fourth term … In Nassau County, Republicans recaptured the county legislature, and have come close to unseating the Democratic County Executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, in a race that remained too close to call on Wednesday morning.”

A big share of independent voters on Tuesday has Republicans optimistic about 2010, but some resiliency in the African-American vote could stunt their gains.

Exit polling data from the governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia show independents going two-to-one for the Republican governors-elect in both states. Independents will be key to Republican efforts to regain their majorities, as the bloc has trended toward Democrats in recent years.

In a free market, companies should be allowed to decide whether or not to offer paid sick leave to employees. At the margin, employees who value paid sick leave will flow to companies that offer it and employees that don’t won’t; also at the margin, companies that offer paid sick leave will be able to pay their employees a little less in other forms of compensation. Everything works out for the best.

Unfortunately, not offering paid sick leave creates a classic externality: People go to work even when they’re sick, infecting their co-workers (or customers); employers internalize some of that cost (co-workers), but not all of it (co-workers going home and infecting their kids, who then go to school — because their parents can’t stay home to take care of them — and infect their classmates, etc.). I’ve written before that we are far behind the rest of the developed world in requiring paid sick leave.

This is a unique time in our history. People are finding it difficult to be optimistic about the future when they’re uncertain if they’ll have a job tomorrow. Federal spending is out of control as our national debt soars. We are asking what legacy we’ll leave our kids, besides bills they can’t pay?

We are looking to our leaders in Washington for answers and action. But we get neither, and as a result we are rightfully frustrated and angry.

The highly anticipated premiere of V drew numbers that almost certainly exceeded expectations for ABC. The show pulled in 13.9 million viewers and an outstanding 5.0 rating in the critical 18-49 demo. That made it the highest rated new series of the season. It did this despite showing in the generally weaker 8pm hour and against NCIS which is the top show on TV. While NCIS came in first in overall viewers V topped it in the 18-49 demo.

In the year since he was elected president, Barack Obama has revealed himself as one of the boldest leaders to occupy the Oval Office in the modern era.

In that same year, Obama also has revealed himself to be an innately self-protective, constantly calibrating and, in some surprising ways, supremely conventional politician.

Arlen Specter and Chris Dodd can’t be happy with the defeat of fellow Democrat Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor’s race. It has more to do with their own hopes of keeping their Senate seats next year than party loyalty.

Mr. Specter, who is seeking his sixth term representing Pennsylvania, and Mr. Dodd, looking for his sixth from Connecticut, were hoping Mr. Corzine’s strategy — accumulating a big war chest to fund a negative TV ad campaign against a less-known but better-liked candidate -– would bring back the Jersey governor from the political dead.