Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jul 19, 2011

I'm a Poll Man:

A USA Today/Gallup poll released yesterday found that 50 percent of participants believe the president and Congress are doing a worse job than their predecessors in dealing with national issues.
Four out of 10 believe it's the worst performance they've seen from their lawmakers in their lifetime. The public is split 50-50 on the question of whether Obama is looking out for his own political needs or the nation's interests.
"It's discouraging," says JOHN ROSS, who's 71, and a moderate Republican from Florida."The divide has gotten greater between Republicans and Democrats, and the concept of bipartisanship has gone out the window --and the country is suffering."
Two-thirds hope policymakers will reach a compromise, while 27 percent believe they should hold out for a deal they really want, even past the Aug 02 deadline. (Maiman)

Big Money, Big Problems:

Borders Books will soon be no more.
The book store chain said it would liquidate after failing to receive any offers to bail it out, a move that puts the nation's second-largest bookstore retailer out of business for good and leave more than a few big-box holes in shopping centers around the U-S. All told, Borders currently has about 400 stores across the country and employs about 10,700 people.
The embattled bookseller had hoped to finalize a roughly $215 million deal with a private equity firm but those talks fell apart last week.
It's the final chapter in a long fall for a company that started 40 years ago in Ann Arbor, MI, as a used bookstore and grew into to a chain of 1,249 stores at the height of its success in 2003.
The chain is expected to close up for good by the end of September, leaving Barnes & Noble as the sole national bookstore chain. (Maiman)

Idle gossip & unconfirmed rumors:

Feel free to switch the relationship meter on DAVID DUCHOVNY and TEA LEONI back to the "on" position. The two announced their separation just a few weeks ago, but photographers for RadarOnline.com caught the estranged couple taking a drive together last Sunday. The couple has had a rocky history, David and Tea split up in 2008 when the mister entered treatment for sex addiction, but later reunited and renewed their vows back in '09.
Phone starter: Could you forgive your mate for a very public cheating scandal, even if the damage occurred years in the past? (Lee)

Chic Sh*t:

Warning: note language
This is for real: there’s a shoe company in Europe that’s shipping its sneakers by carrier pigeon.
The French shoe brand JoJo was looking for ways to reduce their shipping costs. Flavorewire.com says their solution was to breed super-strong pigeons to carry the shoeboxes to their customers in the U-K, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Apparently, the pigeons are easily trained to recognize where they should go to deliver the shoes. Customers are asked to send in pictures of their home, neighborhood and their faces so the pigeons learn where they need to go.
There’s no word on how much pigeon-shipping costs. But customers seem to love it. “[The pigeon] was totally professional. Unbelievable, she came to the right window. There’s a little bit of (bleep) on it, really, but apart from that, honestly, perfect service." (Bartha)