The Commentariat -- November 19

The Weekend Open Thread is running on today's Off Times Square. And there's a bonus question!

President Obama's Weekly Address:

      ... Here's the transcript. Related AP story here.

On This Day, Seven Score and Eight Years Ago:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. -- President Abraham Lincoln, at the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

... My column in the New York Times eXaminer, on Charles Blow's column, is here. Some excerpts:

This Week in Statistics has Blow worried about our declining belief in American exceptionalism. A new Pew Research poll found that only 49 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, '… our culture is superior to others.' ... What has Blow most concerned is the opinion of young Americans: ... among the 18-to-29-year-old demographic, Pew researchers found that just 37 percent said American culture was superior to other national cultures and 61 percent said it was not. Now, I see these results as a good thing.... Blow disagrees. What I see as hopeful, Blow sees as a sign 'we are settling into a dangerous national pessimism.' ... The Pew results actually suggest otherwise.

      ... Update: A NYTX reader cites this letter from Lynne Milnes to the New Yorker as a good example of an exception to U.S. exceptionalism. ...

      ... Update 2: for a different take on the Pew results, see Karen Garcia's post "Twilight in America," which incorporates a comment by Nan Socolow. Both essentially agree with Blow, though -- not surprisingly -- their remarks are more incisive.

These numbers are higher than we anticipated. There are more people struggling than the official numbers show. -- Trudi J. Renwick, the Census Bureau’s chief poverty statistician ...

... Jason DeParle, et al., of the New York Times: "When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty..., it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.... The size of the near-poor population took even the bureau’s number crunchers by surprise."

Here's a classic joke from Steve Martin. The joke was funny when Martin told it in 1978 because the premise was absurd:

You can be a millionaire... and never pay taxes! You say... 'Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?' First: Get a million dollars. Now, you say, 'Steve... what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, "You... have never paid taxes'?' Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: 'I forgot!' ...

... The premise is no longer absurd. Now you don't even have to say, "I forgot." It's all legal. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "In 2009, 1,470 households reported income of more than $1 million but paid no federal income tax on it, through their use of various tax loopholes and shelters. Tax rates for millionaires have fallen by 25 percent since the mid-’90s, while one quarter of millionaires currently pay lower tax rates than the average middle-class household." ...

... The One Percent are making a lot more than they were in 1986, but they're paying income tax at a rate 10 percent lower than in '86:

Charts by the Washington Post

Greg Sargent: "Yesterday Paul Ryan released a very serious looking report entitled: “A deeper look at inequality.” Ryan’s effort — a rebuttal to that recent CBO report on growing inequality that got so much attention — was applauded by conservatives as an important contribution to the debate." Sargent asked "Tim Smeeding, an expert on inequality at the University of Wisconsin, to evaluate his report. Smeeding’s verdict: Ryan’s effort is only 'half serious,' fails to prove its argument about inequality, and doesn’t offer any policy prescriptions that would fix the problem as Ryan himself defines it." CW: you have to read the whole post (it's neither long nor complicated) to see what a mendacious watercarrier-for-the-rich Ryan is. He's just reprehensible. ...

... Paul Krugman: "As usual, Ryan makes me think of Ezra Klein’s old line about Dick Armey: he’s a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like." ...

... NEW. Ezra Klein: It's great that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has taken a sudden interest in income inequality. It's not so great that his plan to address it increases income inequality.

In case you care about the Super Committee (and why should you?), Greg Sargent explains where they are and where they have been all along: "This, in a nutshell, is why the supercommittee is deadlocked: 1) Republicans believe that the better policy outcome would be for the wealthy to pay less in taxes towards deficit reduction. 2) Democrats believe that the better policy outcome would be for the wealthy to pay more in taxes towards deficit reduction. And that’s all there is to it."

Are You a Whistleblower? Maybe Not. CW: Last week, in our Off Times Square discussion of the Penn State scandal, I argued that people with high ethical standards still may not meet those standards when they themselves face an ethical crisis, especially one in which they must act immediately and/or when they are part of a culture that tolerates unethical behavior. As it turns out, academic research backs me up. Alina Tugend of the New York Times reports on a wide variety of studies and experiments that make my points. (Too bad she riffs off a David Brooks column!) Thanks to reader Diane F. for the link.

Please read Driftglass on David Brooks. He's hilarious. Adn 100 percent right, as he proves.

Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: Sen. Scott "Brown [R-Mass], a freshman who harnessed populist Tea Party anger to win the seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy, has taken more money from the financial industry than almost any other senator: all told, more than $1 million during the last two years.... Of the 20 companies that accounted for the most campaign donations to Mr. Brown, about half were prominent investment or securities firms like Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments and Bain Capital.... Mr. Brown, in turn, has been an important ally at critical moments, using his swing vote in the Senate to wring significant concessions out of Democrats on last year’s financial regulation bill, including helping strip out a proposed $19 billion bank tax and weakening a proposal to stop commercial banks from holding large interests in hedge funds and private equity funds.... Several executives said that [Elizabeth] Warren’s entry into the campaign in mid-September had sparked renewed interest in Mr. Brown’s re-election." CW: BTW, Confessore blithely mischaracterizes Warren's support for the principles behind the Occupy movement. When does a myth become a reality? When it appears as fact on the pages of the New York Times, especially when it's a misstatement about a liberal.

Right Wing World

So has the Taliban moved to Libya or has Libya moved to Central Asia? You'll have to ask Herman Cain, who "clarified" his flubbed Libya response to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter by confusing Libya with Afghanistan. Or Pakistan. Or someplace:

     ... Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "First he attempted to blame the interviewer for not being 'specific' enough and for supposedly selectively editing Cain’s response. (Over five uncut minutes of his remarks are visible on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s website.) Then, Cain erroneously claimed that the Taliban has taken control in Libya."

Hail to the Chief. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans, Michele Bachmann has already been elected and sworn in as the POTUS. She's on the job, and no, President Bachmann is not going to let anybody waterboard her. See her response to the queston "If you think it’s not that bad, would you ever willingly submit to it, just to see what it’s like?” right under the video. Thanks to Jeanne B.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The Libyan capital erupted in celebratory gunfire, singing and dancing as it was announced by militia commanders that Saif al-Islam, the favored son of former Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, has been arrested on the border with Niger. He was detained while his supporters were trying to smuggle him out of the country, according to Othman Maigeta, one of several brigade commanders at a press conference...." Al Jazeera story here. ...

     ... AP Update: "The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Saturday he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam will be tried."

Washington Post: "President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held an unscheduled meeting Saturday morning on the sidelines of a summit of Asian leaders on the Indonesian island of Bali, and the two briefly discussed the territorial dispute in the South China Sea that has unnerved some of China’s neighbors."

AP: "Syrian troops stormed Saturday a central town and a northwestern region in search of opponents of the government as pressure on Damascus intensified to end an eight-month crisis that has left thousands of people dead, activists said. The attacks on the town of Shezar in the central province of Hama and the restive Jabal al-Zawiya region near the Turkish border came a day after Syria agreed in principle to allow Arab observers into the country to oversee a peace plan proposed by the 22-member Arab League."

AP: "Police and protesters clashed for control of downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday, after security forces tried to stop activists from staging a long-term sit-in in the symbolic site. Protesters attacked a police armored truck, shaking it and pummeling it with rocks. Earlier in the day, riot police beat protesters and dismantled a small tent city set up to commemorate revolutionary martyrs." ...

Reuters: "Myanmar vowed on Saturday to address concerns raised by U.S. President Barack Obama, outlining far-reaching plans to make peace with ethnic rebels, gradually release all political prisoners and relax controls on freedom of expression."

Al Jazeera: "The board of the UN's atomic watchdog has passed a resolution expressing 'deep and increasing concern' over Iran nuclear activities, following the Vienna-based body's recent highly critical report of the country's atomic programme. However, the text of the resolution, proposed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and 12 others, stopped short of reporting Iran to the UN Security Council or setting Tehran a deadline to comply."

The Commentariat -- November 18

Natasha Lennard, the New York Times stringer whom the NYPD arrested when she was covering the Brooklyn Bridge Occupy movement October 2, on why she has quit the mainstream media: "... if the mainstream media prides itself on reporting the facts, I have found too many problems with what does or does not get to be a fact — or what rises to the level of a fact they believe to be worth reporting — to be part of such a machine." ...

... In my column in today's New York Times eXaminer, I study David Brooks' sudden affinity for populism:

In his column in today’s New York Times, David Brooks lashes out at European elites.... It is for ... Wall Street moguls that Brooks has turned populist for a day. It is not for you.

... the New York Times eXaminer front page is here.

Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "Total up the systemic failures in law enforcement and public policy that led to the devolution of our once-vibrant middle-class democracy, and is it any wonder that people took to the streets and sparked a movement to remake our country? Occupy Wall Street’s challenge ... is to channel its rage and hopes into strategies that will alter the course of American capitalism. As the great organizer Bayard Rustin put it, from protest to politics." ...

... Juan Gonzalez in the New York Daily News: "They aren’t going anywhere. During a long and turbulent day of street protests, the ragtag rebels of Occupy Wall Street served notice that their two-month-old movement against the nation’s big banks and corporations is now stronger than ever."

... Greg Sargent: Quinnipiac’s polling director, Maurice Carroll, thinks the Occupy movement may be the reason support has grown for a millionaires' tax to help balance the New Jersey state budget. Quinnipiac reports that, "To balance the state budget, New Jersey voters support 64-28 percent the so-called Millionaire’s Tax, up from a high of 55-34 percent February 10." Sargent writes, "Readers, it’s time to start documenting little tells like this one from around the country. If you see anything in your states or districts that capture the ways the debate is shifting, please send them my way." ...

... BUT -- Here's a Surprise -- Matthew Goldstein & Jennifer Ablan of Reuters: "The cognitive disconnect between the protesters and the captains of finance is alive and well.... In conversations with nearly two dozen current and former bankers, finance professionals and money managers across the United States, the prevailing sentiment is that the anger at Wall Street's elite is misguided and misdirected. Blame the politicians and policymakers in Washington, many of them say...."

Steve Benen: Republicans are hammering President Obama because the national debt just exceeded $15 trillion. So let's see how we got here. Benen has a nifty timeline that begins with President Reagan. And there's this more recent history, expressed in a bar graph:

Much Ado about Nothing?

Paul Krugman: "So the supercommittee will fail — and that’s good. For one thing, history tells us that the Republican Party would renege on its side of any deal as soon as it got the chance.... Also, any deal reached now would almost surely end up worsening the economic slump." ...

... CW: Krugman does not explain, however, the automatic or "sequestered" cuts that are to take effect when the supercommittee fails. For that, Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution has the short answer, which I also linked in yesterday's Commentariat:

... the law calls for a sequester that ... would cut spending $1.2 trillion, half from defense and half from nondefense.... CBO estimates that the proportion borne by discretionary programs would be 71 percent and the proportion borne by nonexempted mandatories would be 13 percent (with the remainder taking the form of debt service savings).... Those who are willing to accept such cuts should worry about the likely effects on our competitiveness, on the disadvantaged, on public safety, on veterans, and on the ability of the federal government to responsibly administer a wide variety of laws and programs in a way that does not lead to greater fraud and abuse. ...

      ... CW Update: it turns out the future may not be nearly as bad as Sawhill suggests. Rather, as Jay Newton-Small of Times lays out, if the SuperCommittee fails to reach agreement, as is more than likely, Congress could take any number of paths. Newton-Small finds the following the path most likely to be taken:

On Monday night, after U.S. markets close and after both sides hold outraged press conferences blaming each other for failure, supercommittee members slink out of town, joining their colleagues for Thanksgiving break.... The committee hopes no one, especially Wall Street and the ratings agencies, notices. Some time in 2012, lawmakers find a way to avoid the sequestration either by enacting tax reform or repealing the sequestration or some combination. ...

... AND Lori Montgomery & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "If the congressional 'supercommittee' cannot agree on a plan to tame the federal debt by next week’s deadline, as now appears likely, here’s what will happen: nothing. The automatic spending cuts that were supposed to force the panel to deliver more palatable options would not take effect until January 2013. That leaves lawmakers a full year to devise alternatives." ...

... Michael Tomasky in the Daily Beast on the GOP "deficit reduction" plan: "The actual Republican position as of this writing submits to $250 billion in semi-phony revenues but seeks to add $3.7 trillion to the 10-year deficit. And the supercommittee is a panel that, remember, is charged with reducing the deficit. This is more politics by hostage-taking, just like during the debt-ceiling fiasco.... They want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.... They’ve said to the Democrats, in other words, that they will agree to minor revenue increases now, but only on the firm condition that the Democrats accept depleting the Treasury by 15 times as much over the next decade." ...

... MEANWHILE, Most Americans Don't Care. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "In a Politico/George Washington University national poll, 50 percent — yes, half the country! — said they were 'not at all familiar' with the supercommittee while 38 percent said they were only 'somewhat familiar' with it. That means that almost nine out of every ten Americans lack even the vaguest notion of what the supercommittee is — much less what its tasked with doing.

It's not democracy. It's Di Giorno. -- Jon Stewart, on how pizza became a vegetable ...

... Mary Clare Jalonick of the AP: "... Congress wants pizza and french fries to stay on school lunch lines and is fighting the Obama administration's efforts to take unhealthy foods out of schools. The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year.... Food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress.... The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now."

Monday. I’m going to be in Portland in the morning. I’m going to be visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon. That’s two. I can’t remember what the third thing is. -- Nancy Pelosi, in response to Rick Perry's request to debate her Monday

Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "At least some of the weather extremes being seen around the world are consequences of human-induced climate change and can be expected to worsen in coming decades, a United Nations panel reported on Friday."

Right Wing World

The Double Life of an Historian/Opinion Writing Salamander. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: gee, it turns out Newt Gingrich was "advising" quite a few corporate clients, even though this very same Newt Gingrich is running for president as the "Washington outsider" former Speaker of the House. Speaking of "history," the history of his relationship with the Gundersen Lutheran Health System provides a nice insight: First Newt takes their money; then he writes a pro-Gundersen op-ed (without revealing his financial relationship with them); then -- a whole few weeks later -- when his op-ed position became unpopular with the GOP base, he just reversed his position. Somehow, I don't think he returned Gundersen's money. Advice to Gundersen: do not trust a creature who slithers out from under rocks. ...

... Dan Eggen of the Washington Post has a startling lede & more hilarious details: "A think tank founded by GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from major health-care companies and industry groups, offering special access to the former House speaker and other perks, according to records and interviews.... The health center advocated, among other things, requiring that 'anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond,' a type of insurance mandate that has since become anathema to conservatives. The group also pushed proposals to build centralized electronic medical records and use such data to research treatment effectiveness, both central features of President Obama’s health-care reforms." In other words,NewtCare looks a lot like RomneyCare looks a lot like ObamaCare.

Just Joking. Again. Maybe. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Herman Cain says he was kidding when he said he had asked Henry Kissinger to serve as his secretary of state in a hypothetical Cain administration. 'Dr. Kissinger turned my offer down to be secretary of state,' Cain told the Milwaulkee-Journal Sentinel’s editorial board in a video clip published Monday.... Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon earlier told reporters that Cain was joking and had not asked Kissinger to serve in his administration. On the campaign trail in Iowa on Tuesday, Cain avoided questions about Kissinger on Tuesday; that is, until he was told that his campaign had said he was joking...." With video. ...

... AND Cain advocates for the dumbing-down of the presidency:

We need a leader, not a reader. -- Herman Cain, Anti-Intellectual-in-Chief

 ... Via Adam Sorensen of Time

... Mark Preston & John King of CNN: "Presidential candidate Herman Cain will receive protection from the United States Secret Service, the agency confirms to CNN. Cain will be the first [2012 GOP presidential] candidate ... to be placed under the protection of this federal law enforcement agency.... Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan ... told CNN that the Cain campaign requested coverage, and the review found that it met the criteria. It is not yet clear why Cain is getting Secret Service protection." ...

... CW: Oh, I don't know. Maybe this is why: Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Lately..., physical skirmishes involving the press ... [have] emerged from the fever-pitch of the Cain road show."

Local News

United Republic, a campaign-finance-reform coalition, on how SuperPacs are about to take Wisconsin. as both sides gear up for a recall of Gov. Scott Walker. Walker spent $300K for ads in the first week alone.

Howard Fischer of the Arizona Daily Star: "The Arizona Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that Gov. Jan Brewer illegally fired Colleen Mathis from the Independent Redistricting Commission.... They said Brewer can oust a commissioner only for substantial neglect of duty or gross misconduct, and nothing the governor alleged in her letter firing Mathis rises to that level. Commission spokesman Stuart Robinson said the order means Mathis is once again chairing the five-member panel. Thus, she can call a meeting to decide what to do next with the draft congressional and legislative maps the commission had approved before her firing -- maps that Brewer and Republicans want changed." Thanks to Fred D. for the link.

News Ledes

AP: "Days after losing the job he held for nearly a half century, former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer." ...

... ABC News: "The lawyer for accused Penn State child molester Jerry Sandusky said today he can defeat a potential prosecution by attacking the credibility of key witness Mike McQueary and the accounts of two alleged victims."

Al Jazeera: "Tens of thousands of Islamist and secular protesters have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in Alexandria for a mass rally to press the ruling military to hand power to a civilian government." With video.

AP: "The House is voting on a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, a step some see as the only way to fix a Congress deeply divided over how to put its fiscal affairs in order." ...

     ... Reuters Update: "A measure that would amend the Constitution to require the government to balance its books each year fell short in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday. By a vote of 261 to 165, largely along party lines, the bill fell short of the two-thirds majority that constitutional amendments need to pass the House and Senate."

New York Times: "Hours before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most prominent democracy campaigner, announced her return to formal politics on Friday, President Obama disclosed that he was sending Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on a visit there next month, the first by a secretary of state in more than 50 years."

AFP: "President Barack Obama Friday seized on Boeing's biggest-ever deal for commercial jets as a multi-billion dollar vindication of his bid to mine booming Asia for American jobs. Obama officiated as the US aviation giant signed a deal to build at least 230 medium-range 737s worth $21.7 billion for Lion Air, a regional carrier based in Indonesia, where he is attending an East Asia summit."

AP: "Pope Benedict XVI is making his second trip to Africa, where he plans to outline the church's future for the continent with the fastest growing number of faithful. Even in Benin, the heartland of the voodoo tradition, the number of Catholics has grown by nearly half in the past decade, adding more than half-a-million converts."

Los Angeles Times: "Thirty years after Natalie Wood died off Santa Catalina Island, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday that it was reopening the investigation into one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries. Wood, 43, was boating off the island on Thanksgiving weekend 1981 with her husband, Robert Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and others when she somehow went overboard and died. Officials at the time ruled her death an accident, but there has been much speculation since over whether there was more to the story." ...

     ... AP Update: "Actor Robert Wagner is not a suspect in the 30-year-old drowning of his actress wife, Natalie Wood, and there is nothing to indicate a crime, even though the investigation has been reopened, a sheriff's detective said Friday.... Officials would not say why they were taking another look at the case, although the captain of the boat where the couple had stayed blamed Wagner for Wood's death."

Occupy around the U.S. in yesterday's Day of Action:

     ... Occupy Wall Street Journal: "Tens of thousands took action Thursday, November 17 to demand that our political system serve all of us — not just the wealthy and powerful. The NYPD estimated [Thursday] night’s crowd at 32,500 people, at the culmination of the day of action. Thousands more also mobilized in at least 30 cities across the United States. Demonstrations were also held in cities around the world."

The Commentariat -- November 17

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer looks at the Times editor's embrace of Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) report titled "Subsidies of the Rich & Famous." Here's an excerpt:

... The editors had a duty to tell us that Coburn’s agenda doesn’t stop with closing loopholes, loopholes that can be reopened at the whim of Congress or the ingenuity of a tax lawyer. The premise that underlies Coburn’s plan is anything but populist.... Tom Coburn intends – via a flat tax – to raise taxes on those less fortunate Americans. At the same time he would cut programs designed to help them through hard times. Coburn says so right in that letter the Times editors so glowingly cited. They just left out the part where Coburn reveals his real scheme.

... AND for you Tom Friedman fans, Jason Linkins has a fairly hilarious take on Friedman's latest:

Would it be too much to ask for someone — perhaps one of his New York Times colleagues — to give famously airheaded columnist Thomas Friedman a bit of an explanation of what is actually going on in the world of politics? Or just provide him with some sort of real world mooring point to which his precious barnacles of thought could cling?

Charles Pierce of Esquire on the future of Occupy. And a history lesson. Read his whole post, please. Here's the history part:

Generally, people tend to love goals in the abstract, but resent the inconvenience that accomplishing those goals may cause them in their daily lives.... In 1954, for example, a Gallup Poll showed that 55 percent of the people supported the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Five years later, after the stirrings of a larger movement, and the violent backlash against it, had become increasingly obvious, Gallup found that 59 percent of the people it polled thought the decision had 'caused more trouble than it was worth.' In May of 1961, Gallup found that 57 percent of its respondents thought that the sit-ins at lunch counters and various other forms of direct action against segregation 'hurt the cause' of black people around the country.

... AND this, from David Atkins in Hullabaloo: "It's perhaps most important to note that advocacy for social justice has never really been publicly popular at the time. It's hard to believe today, but at the time, the public overwhelmingly blamed the students for the Kent State Massacre." ...

... Beth Fouhy of the AP: "Polling shows the public supports the message of the Occupy Wall Street movement even if people have reservations about the encampments themselves. And political observers say Democrats may be missing a chance to reinvigorate their base."

Gail Collins: "This week, the House of Representatives took time out of its busy schedule of going home for vacation to ... approve a bill requiring states with strict gun regulations to honor concealed weapon carry permits issued in [all other] states.... The bill passed 272 to 154. It’s a law-enforcement nightmare for states that take gun regulation seriously. There’s no national database cops can check if they stop someone who’s carrying a gun with an out-of-state permit. Some state records aren’t available at all."

Prof. Lawrence Lessig, in a New York Times op-ed, opposes the Constitutional amendment proposed by nine U.S. senators as "just the latest verse in a very tired song.... So long as elections cost money, we won’t end Congress’s dependence on its funders. But we can change it. We can make 'the funders' 'the people.' Following Arizona, Maine and Connecticut, we could adopt a system of small-dollar public funding for Congress." Lessig would give a $50 rebate -- a/k/a "democracy voucher" -- to every taxpayer, who would use the $50 to contribute to congressional candidates who would not accept big-check financing. ...

... Here's Lessig, speaking a few weeks ago in Seattle. Fascinating:

... A Congress of the One Percent. We've said it before, but just in case your forgot, Michael Beckel of Open Secrets is here to remind you: "About 47 percent of Congress, or 250 current members of Congress, are millionaires, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics of lawmakers' personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010. The Center's analysis is based on the median values of lawmakers' disclosed assets and liabilities. That lofty financial status is enjoyed by only about one percent of Americans." CW: I expect that if the CRP ran the numbers for MOCs in leadership positions, the percentage would be even higher. After all, junior members haven't had as much time to cash in. Also, if you wondered why GE got so many tax breaks that the company not only paid no taxes in 2010, the taxpayers paid GE. Here's a partial explanation (this does not speak at all, of course, to GE's campaign contributions & other lobbying efforts):

What happens if the deficit reduction Super Committee fails to make a deal? Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution has the short answer, and it isn't pretty.

"Concierge Care." Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, in a New York Times op-ed: "Half the population — mostly young people and healthy adults — consumes just 3 percent of [healthcare] costs, while the sickest 10 percent consumes 64 percent. Real cost control requires changing the way we care for these high-cost patients with multiple chronic conditions.... Controlling costs can do more than simply save money, it can also improve the quality of medical care and these patients’ lives.... 'High touch medicine' or 'concierge medicine' [is] not for rich people who can afford it, but for chronically ill patients who need it." Emanuel explains how concierge care would work, and how some physician groups are making it working right now.

This was the worst thing a Democratic president had ever done on our issues. Period. -- Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters

Betrayal. John Broder of the New York Times takes a hard look at President Obama's cold decision, engineered by Chief-of-Staff Bill Daley & regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, to nix the EPA's new ozone regulations. ...

... "Ignorance, Green & Ideology Are ... Hurting Democracy." Julian Brooks of Rolling Stone interviews science writer Shawn Lawrence Otto about his new book Fool Me Twice, Fighting the Assault on Science in America. "... too many Americans are either plain ignorant of science or actively hostile to it, or both. And that's as true of political leaders and journalists as it is of ordinary citizens (to say nothing of corporate leaders who see action on climate change, say, as a threat to the bottom line)."

Where Did I Put that $600 Million? Ben Protess & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Nearly three weeks after $600 million in customer money went missing from MF Global, the search for the cash has been hampered by the bankrupt brokerage firm’s sloppy record-keeping, an increasingly worrisome situation that has left regulators frustrated and customers in the lurch.... As authorities comb through some 38,000 customer accounts, they are growing more suspicious about what went wrong at MF Global, the commodities powerhouse once run by Jon S. Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey." ...

... NEW! Karen Garcia sees the cruel, ironic contrast between the official treatment of multimillionaire (at least $600 million?) Jon Corzine & the Occupy Protesters: "Regulators and investigators are literally living at their desks trying to avoid actually having to charge Corzine with anything. Meanwhile, the people who actually had their life savings, pensions and futures stolen by the Global Financial Cabal are being arrested as they protest near the NYSE."

Joe Nocera: why didn't Joe Paterno "go to the police or do more than he was minimally required to do under the law"? Maybe it was because, after two losing seasons & questions about the then-75 year-old coach's fitness, he was trying to save his job.

Right Wing World

He isn't a human being. He's a gaseous state.... He's a whirling dervish of dishonesty. -- Chris Matthews, on Newt Gingrich

     ... Here's the updated Bloomberg story; we linked the original two days ago. Clea Benson & John McCormick: "Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse." ...

     ... In the segment, David Corn refers to a Mother Jones story that runs down Newt's lies and contradictory statements. I couldn't find it. But for a fine partial list, see Akhilleus' comment in Tuesday's Off Times Square. A full list would require a whole book. Since Newt is fond of writing books, as soon as his presidential candidacy fails, maybe that would be a good project for him. ...

     ... Tim Egan: "This is not just another Gingrich laugher, up there with his revolving Tiffany’s account or his multiple personal hypocrisies. This story encapsulates why Washington is broken and how the powerful protect and enrich themselves, unanchored to basic principles.At the same time, it’s a case study in the Gingrich method: denounce something as outrageous, while doing that very outrageous thing himself. (Politicians with ties to Freddie Mac came in for scathing Gingrich criticism in 2010.)"

How do you say 'delicious' in Cuban? -- Herman Cain, in Miami's Little Havana. CW Answer: "Delicioso," similar to the way you say it in American ...

      ... AND other displays of ignorance.

Mark Murray of NBC News: "It has become the new Republican attack on President Obama: He thinks Americans are lazy. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney leveled that charge [Tuesday].... [Wednesday], Rick Perry uses the line of attack in a new TV ad. 'Can you believe that?" Perry says to the camera. "That's what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy?' ... But when you examine what Obama said on Saturday..., it's pretty clear ... he wasn't calling Americans lazy; rather, he was calling U.S. business practices to attract foreign investors lazy. In fact, you could interpret his full remarks as a call to arms to improve on that front." CW: Where's Obama's rapid response team?

News Ledes

New York Times: "Federal authorities charged a 21-year-old Idaho man on Thursday with trying to assassinate President Obama. They said he had told friends that he believed the president was 'the Antichrist' and that he 'needed to kill him,' according to a complaint filed in federal court." Here's the arrest warrant.

New York Times: "Hundreds of protesters from Zuccotti Park clashed with the police as they tried to reach the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning, and many were arrested. Protesters had vowed to prevent traders from reaching the Stock Exchange on Wall Street and some traders did appear to have a hard time reaching the building. But the Stock Exchange opened for trading as usual at 9:30 a.m."

     ... The New York Daily News has a liveblog here. "Wall Street under siege! Protesters clog streets, at least 50 arrested." With video. Update: "More than 175 protesters have been arrested today -- among the most recent was Councilman Jumaane Williams and dozens of union members after they sat on the ground on Centre Street." ...

AP: "Tightening ties with Asian nations as China's might rises, President Barack Obama prepared Thursday to be the first U.S. president to take part in a summit of East Asian nations. Ahead of his diplomatic efforts here, the White House announced trade deals to show progress on the jobs front back home." ...

... New York Times: "Fresh from having announced plans for an expanded American military presence in Australia, President Obama came to this remote northern town [of Darwin, Australia] that will be the base of operations and told American and Australian troops ... 'We are deepening our alliance and this is the perfect place to do it.... This region has some of the busiest sea lanes in the world.' Mr. Obama arrived in Bali, Indonesia, Thursday evening for the East Asia Summit on regional security and economic issues." ...

National Journal: "Three members of Herman Cain’s campaign team apologized on Wednesday after a local police officer [in Coral Springs, Florida] who said he was there to protect the Republican presidential candidate manhandled a reporter.... As ... journalists trailed Cain, the officer, who was in plain clothes, blindsided National Journal/CBS News reporter Lindsey Boerma into the side of the campaign bus. Moments later, as journalists circled around the bus toward Cain, the same man stuck his arm out and clotheslined Boerma." CW: "Clothesline" (v.) Def: "To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline."

... Al Jazeera: "China has reacted angrily to remarks by Barack Obama signalling a significant shift in US policy vis-a-vis Asia.... The People's Daily, the Chinese newspaper that is the organ of the ruling Communist Party, was clear in its opposition to reinforced US-Australia security ties.... 'Australia surely cannot play China for a fool. It is impossible for China to remain detached no matter what Australia does to undermine its security,' the paper said."