The Commentariat -- October 23

Prof. Alexander Stille in a New York Times op-ed: "... one dispossessed group after another — blacks, women, Hispanics and gays — has been gradually accepted in the United States, granted equal rights and brought into the mainstream. At the same time, in economic terms, the United States has gone from being a comparatively egalitarian society to one of the most unequal democracies in the world. The two shifts are each huge and hugely important: one shows a steady march toward democratic inclusion, the other toward a tolerance of economic stratification that would have been unthinkable a generation ago."

Gretchen Morgenson & Louise Story of the New York Times: "While American financial institutions have sought to limit any damage by reducing their loans and thus lowering their direct exposure to Europe’s problems, the recent rescue of the Belgian-French bank Dexia shows that there are indirect exposures that are less known and understood — and potentially worrisome." ...

... Good luck figuring out this dizzying New York Times graph demonstrating the interconnections between U.S. and European banks.

Contrary to earlier indications, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports Occupy Wall Street and welcomes protesters from around the world:

I've never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I've done for NPR World of Opera. What is NPR afraid I'll do — insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly? ... This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses. -- Lisa Simeone ...

... Andrew Jones of Raw Story: "National Public Radio (NPR) has continued its decision to remove itself from anything associated with Lisa Simeone after her participation in an anti-war protest in Washington. The network will no longer distribute 'World of Opera,' a show Simeone hosts.... WDAV, the station that produces 'World of Opera,' refused to drop the radio music personality and will distribute the show on its own starting November 11th. Earlier in the week, Simeone was fired from the radio documentary program 'Soundprint,'" which is independently produced by airs on some 35 NPR affiliates.

Jeffrey Fleishman & Alexandra Sandels of the Los Angeles Times: Tunisia, which "inspired revolution across the Arab world, is facing another bellwether moment that may again foreshadow what happens throughout the Mideast in the intensifying battle between secularists and Islamists over the role of religion in shaping public life." See also today's Ledes.

Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "For decades, Germany’s role in Europe has been to supply the cash, not the leadership. With fresh memories of war, the continent was cautious about German domination — and so were the Germans themselves. But the economic crisis has shaken Europe’s postwar model, and Germany increasingly calls the shots. As countries struggle to pay their debts, only Chancellor Angela Merkel has enough money to haul them out of trouble. And the price Merkel is demanding — more control over how they run their economies — is setting off alarm bells in capitals across the continent."

Right Wing World

Still a Cold Fish. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Ever since he stepped onto the national stage, [Mitt] Romney has been criticized as being unable to connect with voters — partly because of past positions out of step with many in his party and partly because of what some say is a wooden, detached personality.... When voters exposed themselves emotionally, Romney offered little empathy. When they sought his support for their causes, Romney didn’t show them that he cared. Romney was scripted when he could have been spontaneous. He was boardroom cool when he could have been living room warm."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "On the campaign trail, [Herman Cain] talks up his business experience, casting himself as a 'problem solver' and Washington outsider. But the role that helped propel Mr. Cain into politics was that of an ultimate Washington insider: industry lobbyist. From 1996, when he left the pizza company, until 1999, Mr. Cain ran the National Restaurant Association, a once-sleepy trade group that he transformed into a lobbying powerhouse. He allied himself closely with cigarette makers fighting restaurant smoking bans, spoke out against lowering blood-alcohol limits as a way to prevent drunken driving, fought an increase in the minimum wage and opposed a patients’ bill of rights — all in keeping with the interests of the industry he represented." ...

... Perry Bacon of the Washington Post: in an effort to blunt widespread criticism of his 999 tax plan, Herman Cain made a speech in Detroit, Michigan, on Friday in which he "offered new details on his tax plan that he says would reduce taxes both for people who are poor and businesses that invest in low-income areas like Detroit.... But ... millions of Americans would still likely face a tax increase under Cain’s proposals." ...

... Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: Among those new details is a description of the "opportunity zones" Cain envisions: "for a jurisdiction to qualify, it would have to adopt a number of conservative policies that may seem unpalatable to liberals, including eliminating the minimum wage, instituting school vouchers, and declaring the area 'right-to-work' – or non-union." So if you want a job in Detroit, don't expect to get paid a big fat minimum wage or be allowed to join a union. BTW, "Two days after admitting that this facet of his plan was secret, Cain now claims that those criticizing his plan 'didn’t read it.'” Well, no, they didn't read what wasn't there. CW: in this short post Garofalo manages to expose Herman Cain as one nasty human being.

"Birthers Eat Their Own." Dana Milbank: "The people who brought you the Barack Obama birth-certificate hullabaloo now have a new target: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a man often speculated to be the next Republican vice presidential nominee. While they’re at it, they also have Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana and perhaps a future presidential candidate, in their sights. Each man, the birthers say, is ineligible to be president because he runs afoul of the constitutional requirement that a president must be a 'natural born citizen' of the United States. Rubio’s parents were Cuban nationals at the time of his birth, and Jindal’s parents were citizens of India.... This suggests they were going after Obama..., not because of the president’s political party [but] ... because of his race.... [They rely] on a rather expansive interpretation of 'natural born.'” ...

... Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post: "Following an article in the Washington Post stating that the senator had embellished the story of his family’s arrival from Cuba to the United States, Sen. Marco Rubio’s Senate Web site biography has now been changed.... But as of Friday night, the day the Post story was published and about 24 hours after he conceded it was inaccurate, the senator updated the second sentence of his Web site biography to clarify that his parents arrived in the U.S. in 1956."

Pat Garofalo: In the speech House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) chose not to give when he realized the University of Pennsylvania would allow poor people to attend, he would have said, "Be nicer to rich people." Garofalo has the details. CW: evidently Leader Cantor doesn't actually want to tell us peasants we should be nicer to poor people; he just wanted to reassure a toney crowd that he would continue to be nice to rich people.

News Ledes

Star-Ledger: the Justice Department has closed a five-year-old corruption probe of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) brought by then-U.S. attorney (now New Jersey governor) Chris Christie during the height of Sen. Menendez' 2006 re-election fight.

Bloomberg News: "Bobby Jindal, a Republican who championed stronger ethics laws in his first term as Louisiana governor, won re-election against nine other candidates in an open primary, according to the Associated Press. Jindal earned 65.8 percent of the vote in yesterday’s ballot, negating the need for a November general election, according to the AP, which declared him the winner. Tara Hollis, a Democrat and schoolteacher making her first bid for public office, came in second with 17.9 percent of the vote, with 100 percent of precincts reporting." Times-Picayune story here.

New York Times: "The leader of the transitional government declared to thousands of revelers in a sunlit square here on Sunday that Libya’s revolution had ended, setting the country on the path to elections, and he vowed that the new government would be based on Islamic tenets."

New York Post: "Filth-ridden Zuccotti Park is a breeding ground for bacterial infection loaded with potential health-code violations that pose a major risk to the public, an expert who inspected the area warned. 'It’s like Walmart for rats,' Wayne Yon, an expert on city health regulations, said yesterday.... He noted the lack of lavatory facilities, as neighbors repeatedly complain about protesters defecating in the area and the stench of urine." ...

... Chicago Tribune: "Chicago police arrested about 130 Occupy Chicago protesters starting about 1 a.m. today after the group returned to Grant Park for the second weekend Saturday night and tried to maintain a camp in the park after its official closing time. Police estimated that the crowd that showed up for a rally earlier in the evening peaked at around 3,000 people by the time protesters arrived Congress Plaza at Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway after a march from Federal Plaza in the Loop." ...

... Elsewhere around the Nation World:

     ... Washington Post: "Numerous local and federal agencies are involved in what has been described as 'sensitive and delicate' discussions about the future of the Occupy DC camp in McPherson Square downtown, but as of now the protest will be able to continue, Park Service officials and police said Saturday. With the number of tents in the park growing and with protesters vowing to stay into winter, officials with the National Park Service, Park Police, District mayor’s office, U.S. Attorney’s office, D.C. Attorney General’s office, District police department and Interior Department have been in constant contact about the situation." ...

     ... AP: "Police say 11 Occupy Cincinnati protesters were arrested early Sunday after refusing to leave a downtown square." ...

     ... ABC News: "A crowd of 100 protesters, some from New York City’s Occupy Wall Street movement and others from Occupy New Haven, came together in a show of solidarity on Saturday afternoon on General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt’s front lawn in New Canaan, Conn. Many of those who came from New York were responding to an invitation posted on Occupy Wall Street’s General Assembly web site that read: 'In the land of the free they tax me but not G.E!'” ...

     ... AP: "Protesters camped out in front of Oakland City Hall in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement showed no signs of going away Saturday despite warnings from city officials that they were breaking the law and should not stay there overnight." ...

     ... ** CBS Sacramento: "Most of the Occupy protests have been in large cities, but now part-time protestors are showing up in smaller cities." CW: this story & the accompanying video feature Off Times Square contributor Elizabeth Adams. I can't get the video up on Reality Chex, but I've asked the station to check their code.

     ... CBS News: "Albuquerque police subdued a 48-year-old man who lunged with a knife at a group of protesters gathered Friday evening near the University of New Mexico in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. About 100 people were in the area when Miguel Aguirre - described by police as a homeless man who also was drunk - pulled out a knife and attempted to stab several protesters. No one was injured." ...

     ... UK Telegraph: in London, the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, who originally welcomed Occupy London protesters, has done an about-face & has asked the 250 protesters who are occupying its churchyard to leave.

CNN: "Under pressure and amid threats of candidates boycotting the state, the Nevada Republican Party pushed back the date of its caucus to February 4. The state's GOP central committee voted in overwhelming favor of the new date on Saturday."

AP: "An autopsy confirmed that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi died from a gunshot to the head, the country's chief pathologist said Sunday, just hours before Libya's new leaders were to declare liberation and a formal end to an eight-month civil war to topple the longtime ruler's regime." ...

... Washington Post: "Nearly 7,000 prisoners of war are packed into dingy, makeshift jails around Libya, where they have languished for weeks without charges and have faced abuse and even torture, according to human rights groups and interviews with the detainees. The prisoners will pose an early test of the new government’s ability to rein in powerful militias and break from the cruel legacy of Moammar Gaddafi...."

AP: "Tunisians began voting Sunday in their first truly free elections, the culmination of a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule and set off similar rebellions across the Middle East."

Reuters: "European Union leaders piled pressure on Italy on Sunday to speed up economic reforms to avoid a Greece-style meltdown as they began a crucial two-leg summit called to rescue the euro zone from a deepening sovereign debt crisis."

AP: "Saudi Arabia’s ruling monarchy moved into a critical period of realignment Saturday after the death of the heir to the throne opened the way for a new crown prince: most likely a tough-talking interior minister who has led crackdowns on Islamic militants but also has shown favor to ultraconservative traditions such as keeping the ban on women voting ... Sultan’s half brother, Prince Nayef."