The Commentariat -- October 17

Paul Krugman: "... until a few weeks ago it seemed as if Wall Street had effectively bribed and bullied our political system into forgetting about that whole drawing lavish paychecks while destroying the world economy thing. Then, all of a sudden, some people insisted on bringing the subject up again. And their outrage has found resonance with millions of Americans." So now the Wizards of Wall Street are whining. ...

... I've added a page for comments to Krugman's column on Off Times Square. ...

... Groupthink. In commenting on this latest Rupert Murdoch scandal (which I also linked last week), Krugman offers an insight that I think many of us may have missed or not fully grasped:

My sense, after 11 years of punditizing, is that people are complicated, but gangs of people less so. Individuals are often mixed in their behavior: incorruptible politicians may cheat on their spouses, political scoundrels may have impeccable personal lives. But groups, like a politician’s inner circle or the management team of a media empire, tend to behave similarly on multiple fronts. If they lie and cheat routinely in one domain, they tend to do it in others as well.

     ... Krugman adds that this is how he knew the Bush team was making a fake case for war with Iraq; they had routinely made fake cases for their economic policies. ...

... ** Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast has an excellent analysis of how Occupy Wall Street fits into the recent (past 50 years) history of American protests and why it has such resonance. ...

... Off Times Square contributor Elizabeth Adams helped organize a 99 Percent rally in the small, conservative town of Marysville, California (north of Sacramento). Adams writes that her daughter, Olivia Key, is quoted in the local paper (story linked below), as is she. She says, "We plan to do this again next Sunday." ...

... Someone yelled, 'Take a shower.' It's not like we've been here for weeks. -- Elizabeth Adams ...

     ... Nancy Pasternack of the Appeal-Democrat: "Marysville, not generally known for street protests or liberal sentiment, attracted more than 50 demonstrators to Washington Square in support of the 'We are the 99 percent' movement during the peak of an afternoon rally Sunday.... They got some honks of support and a few drive-by cheering sections as well as some flipped middle fingers and derogatory remarks. ...

... ALSO see Off Times Square's weekend thread for reports from Meredith, who was in Times Square for the huge Occupy Wall Street event, and from Julie, who attended the Occupy Boston protest. ...

... Toilets of the Rich and Famous. Karen Garcia: "Alas, there are no toilet facilities in Zuccotti Park.... The New York Times broke the story about the bathroom crashers of OWS when the encampment was entering its third week. The paper of record still can't seem to make up its mind whether to jump on the revolutionary bandwagon and celebrate the movement, or continue siding with the oligarchs over how stressed the whole thing is making them feel.... But unlike the OWS'ers, the million dollar wunderkinds don't have to worry about their next bathroom break. Again, from the New York Times ... comes the story of a luxury toilet called the Numi," which costs 81 times the price of a Home Depot crapper. ...

Do you feel your cause is hurt by the fact that you’re dressed like a Viking? -- "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver, interviewing a Zuccotti Park protester who was, well, dressed like a Viking ...

... TRIPOLI (The Borowitz Report) – As arrests mounted in the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) issued a stern statement today warning the NYPD to exercise restraint.... Libyan government officials also hinted that if the arrests continue, it would consider forming a NATO coalition'“to ensure the safety and security of the American people.' While it did not state it as an explicit goal, insiders believe that if the arrests continue Libya may seek the ouster of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose whereabouts remain unknown."

Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "Despite the marketing pitch from the armed forces, which promises to prepare soldiers for the working world, recent veterans are more likely to be unemployed than their civilian counterparts. Veterans who left military service in the past decade have an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, well above the overall jobless rate of 9.1 percent, according to fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The elevated unemployment rate for new veterans has persisted despite repeated efforts to reduce it."

Adam Goldman & Mark Apuzzo of the AP: "Three months ago, one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives started work inside the New York Police Department.... The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically, and its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation."

Nicholas Confessore & Griff Palmer of the New York Times: "Since the beginning of the year, [President] Obama and the Democratic National Committee, for which the president is helping raise money to finance his party’s grass-roots efforts, have spent close to $87 million in operating costs.... That amount is about as much as all the current Republican candidates together have raised so far in this campaign."

Mitt Romney, Vulture Capitalist. Steve Benen: "... literally all of the Republican [presidential] candidates ... want to eliminate all of the [financial regulatory] safeguards approved in 2010, but this seems to pose an even more acute problem for Mitt Romney. He not only wants to lift any measure of accountability for the financial industry, he’s also from that industry — Romney got very wealthy heading up a vulture capitalist fund, which made money by breaking up companies and firing their American workers.... By most measures, Romney is the strongest Republican candidate, but if voters are basing their decision in part on frustrations with Wall Street, a Romney nomination could very well be a gift to the Democratic Party."

New York Times Editors: Elizabeth "Warren talks about the nation’s growing income inequality in a way that channels the force of the Occupy Wall Street movement but makes it palatable and understandable to a far wider swath of voters. She is provocative and assertive in her critique of corporate power and the well-paid lobbyists who protect it in Washington, and eloquent in her defense of an eroding middle class. It is an informed and measured populism.... She is a remarkably eloquent and appealing Senate candidate." ...

... And allies of House Democrats are trying to climb onto the populist bandwagon, as evidenced by this negative spot against Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) produced by the HouseMajorityPac:

Adam Cohen of Time: "Abortion opponents have a new weapon of choice: the 'heartbeat bill.' A coalition of anti-abortion groups told the Associate Press last week last week that it was pushing to enact laws in all 50 states that would make women listen to a fetus's heart beat before they could abort. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has introduced a similar federal bill, The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, in Congress. When the Supreme Court decided Roe, critics of abortion vowed to get it overturned. They have not succeeded in that. But they have managed to pass a wide array of laws — some upheld by the courts, others struck down — making access to abortion more difficult."

Right Wing World *

Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Herman Cain ... was pushed to admit that his signature economic plan, 9-9-9, would result in increased taxes for some people.... He also sought to back away from fiery comments he had made just hours earlier, saying he was only joking about killing people trying to cross the border from Mexico with an electrified fence.... Beyond that, Mr. Cain acknowledged that he was unfamiliar with the neoconservative movement, and was not exactly sure what the word 'neoconservative' meant. All this was in the space of a 20-minute interview....” Here's the interview featuring our favorite hard-hitting journalist:

Enemy of the Earth. Chris Tomlinson of the AP: Texas Gov. Rick "Perry has cut funding for clean air programs and sued the Environmental Protection Agency to avoid enforcing laws to make the air cleaner. As part of his Republican presidential campaign, he routinely blasts the White House for tightening environmental standards."

Note to Conservatives: the MSM Is Not Obama's PR Unit. Keach Hagey of Politico (yes, Politico!) The right constantly asserts that President Obama has the media "in his back pocket" (Sarah Palin's description) & there is a "longstanding complaints from conservatives that the mainstream media treated the tea party with contempt.... But a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that, in the past five months, the reverse has actually been true: Obama has received the most unremittingly negative press of any of the presidential candidates by a wide margin, with negative assessments outweighing positive ones by four to one. Pew found that just 9 percent of the president’s coverage was positive, while 34 percent was negative — a stark contrast to the 32 percent positive coverage and 20 percent negative that it found Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the most covered Republican, received." CW: C'mon, Keach. Don't confuse us with the facts.

* Where one defense for saying you plan to kill people looking for work is to say, "I was only kidding."

News Ledes

President Obama spoke at West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek, North Carolina, this afternoon. Update: the video is here.

AP: "A lawyer for Dominique Strauss-Kahn says the former IMF chief wants to be questioned by police so that he can debunk claims he was linked to a suspected hotel prostitution ring."

President Obama speaks on the American Jobs Act in Ashville, North Carolina, & appropriately mocks the Republicans' "Real American Jobs Act," which would probably actually cut jobs:

Guardian: "A lawyer acting on behalf of an Occupy Wall Street protester who was allegedly assaulted by a New York police officer on Friday has called for an investigation into the behaviour of the deputy inspector involved after video evidence appeared to show the same officer [Johnny Cardona] engaging in the rough handling of a woman protester in an earlier incident." With videos which you really should watch; the NYPD look more like barroom brawlers than peace officers.

AP: "Greek unions lashed out at the government Monday with protests, strikes and ministry building sit-ins, intensifying resistance to more austerity cuts as both Greece and the 17-nation eurozone faced a crucially decisive week. Strikes halted ferries to the Greek islands and left rotting trash piling up on the streets of Athens for a 16th straight day. Tax collectors and customs officers walked off the job and protesting civil servants occupied the finance and labor ministry buildings in the Greek capital."

New York Times: "Three years after needing a federal bailout to survive, Citigroup reported its seventh-straight quarterly profit, with a 74 percent rise in the third quarter despite dismal results of its investment bank. Citigroup announced a profit of $3.8 billion, or $1.23 a share, beating analyst consensus estimates of 81 cents per share. The bank had reported a $2.2 billion profit, or 72 cents a share, a year ago in the third quarter."

Guardian: "Far from requesting that the 300-strong crowd be removed from [London's St. Paul's] Cathedral steps on Sunday , the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul's, requested that the police themselves move on as the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest entered its second day."

New York Times: "The British oil company, BP, said Monday that a partner in a well that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko Petroleum, had agreed to pay $4 billion to settle claims relating to last year’s oil spill. The settlement ends a long dispute between BP, which operated the well in the gulf, and Anadarko, which owned a 25 percent stake, about accepting responsibility for compensating those affected by one of the worst oil spills ever in the United States."

The Commentariat -- October 16

Adrian Chen of Gawker: Tom Ryan, a conservative "New York-based computer security expert..., has leaked thousands of emails from Occupy Wall Street organizers and told us he's identified members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous involved in the protest.... Now they're being used by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart to smear the movement. The emails show that Occupy Wall Street is a 'conspiracy to "destabalize" Global Markets,' Breitbart says!" ...

... In a follow-up post, Chen writes that since the start of Occupy Wall Street, Ryan "has been waging a campaign to infiltrate and discredit the movement, [and] he was forwarding interesting email threads to contacts at the NYPD and FBI.... He was also giving information to companies" like NBC Universal.

Nicholas Kristof: "... the United States is [economically] more unequal a society than either Tunisia or Egypt. Three factoids underscore that inequality (the following links are to data referenced):

¶The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.

¶The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.

¶In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 65 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent.

Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic for the New York Times, on the significance of place -- and of face-to-face contact -- to protest movements. "In his 'Politics,' Aristotle argued that the size of an ideal polis extended to the limits of a herald’s cry. He believed that the human voice was directly linked to civic order."

Closing your [Citibank] account is now a go-to-jail offense. -- Ken Layne, Wonkette ...

... A woman wearing a business suit is manhandled, detained & arrested at the La Guardia Place (Manhattan) Citibank branch -- AFTER she shows police & security guards her Citibank documents & repeatedly declares, "I'm a customer!" According to Layne, the woman went into the bank to close her account. Watch from about 60 secs. in:

The View from the Court of Louis XVI. Nelson Schwartz & Eric Dash of the New York Times: Wall Street bankers see Occupy Wall Street protesters as "a fringe group" & "a ragtag group looking for sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," people who don't have the sense to realize bankers "pay all the taxes." [CW: And why is that? you jerks.] One banker said Sens. Chuck Schumer & Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), both of whom get plenty of Wall Street campaign money, should be defending the Street: "They need to understand who their constituency is." That, of course, is the exactly problem.

"We Are the 53 Percent." Or Not. Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Monthly on Erick Erickson's "response" to the 99 Percent -- a Tumblr grievance site that allows wingers to complain that they are paying taxes and you're not. BUT, Bernstein writes, "... a substantial portion of them … don’t actually pay income taxes, and therefore are not, in fact, part of the 53 percent of households who do. For example, [a] citizen claims to be a college senior working '30+ hours a week making just barely over minimum wage.' ... If that’s all he’s got he’s not paying any income tax. Just as a guess, I’d be surprised if any fewer than 10 percent of the posters are actually income-tax free, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s about 50/50."

How to Identify a Moderate Republican. Jamison Foser of Media Matters: The votes by Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins against the American Jobs Act, which Moody's Analytics estimated would create nearly 2 million new jobs, have sparked protests in Augusta, [Maine's capital].... In her five-paragraph statement about her vote against the jobs bill, Snowe indicated an objection to only one of the bill's provisions: the surcharge on adjusted gross income in excess of one million dollars a year, which would affect only one-tenth of one percent of Maine residents. So it's pretty clear what side Snowe is on: She sides with the richest one-tenth of one percent of Mainers, and against 99.9 percent of her constituents.... But just to drive the point home, Snowe spoke to group of businessmen..., where she courageously told them their taxes are too high and they are over-regulated.... Snowe also backed a balanced budget amendment, which, according to ... Moody's Analytics ..., 'is likely to push the economy back into recession.'"

Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "The Internet banking services that have been sold to customers as conveniences, like online bill paying, also serve as powerful tethers that keep customers from jumping to another institution.... Representative Brad Miller [D-NC] ... introduced a bill this month that would make it easier for customers to switch" banks.

Nicholas Confessore & Griff Palmer of the New York Times: "Mitt Romney has raised far more money than [President] Obama this year from the firms that have been among Wall Street’s top sources of donations for the two candidates. That gap underscores the growing alienation from Mr. Obama among many rank-and-file financial professionals and Mr. Romney’s aggressive and successful efforts to woo them." CW: this is the top story in this morning's online Times, which can only please Barack Obama. ...

... CW: guess I was right. From Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "President Obama and his team have decided to turn public anger at Wall Street into a central tenet of their reelection strategy. The move comes as the Occupy Wall Street protests gain momentum across the country and as polls show deep public distrust of the nation’s major financial institutions. And it sets up what strategists see as a potent line of attack against Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, a former investment executive whom Obama aides plan to portray as a wealthy Wall Street sympathizer." CW: the Obama campaign probably fed the Times reporters the Obama-Romney Wall Street fundraising story above.

Right Wing World *

As the Worm Turns. Ryan Foley of the AP: "Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers [David & Charles Koch] who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity."

From yesterday's Commentariat: CW: the AP reported that "the United States is ... sending about 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to [act as advisers] ... against a guerrilla group accused of horrific atrocities." AND here is Rush Limbaugh's "news" report on the development. The headline: "Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians." ...

     ... Matt Yglesias: "... Rush Limbaugh’s instinct is to embrace brutal murderers.... Reasonable people can disagree as to whether or not chasing a relatively small band of depraved mass murderers around central africa is a reasonable thing for American military personel to be doing. But let’s make no mistake—these are depraved mass murderers. And yet Rush Limbaugh is pleased to welcome them as fellow Christian allies." ...

     ... Digby: "Considering that Rush is a leader of a rather large group of people who insist that Hitler was a leftist, I'm not entirely surprised. Rightwingers' worldview is so Manichean they literally cannot conceive of anyone a Democrat or liberal might oppose not being the good guys --- particularly if that enemy calls itself 'Christian.' (Again, the proof offered for Hitler's alleged leftism is that the word 'socialism' appears in the name of the Nazi Party. So there you go.)" ...

     ... Steve Benen: "I don’t care that Limbaugh is a professional liar; I do care when he sides with depraved, roving band of mass murderers, solely because he hates the U.S. president.... When Congress passed the LRA Disarmament & Northern Uganda Recovery Act, authorizing U.S. military support against the LRA [the group the U.S. military is targeting], it was approved unanimously in both chambers.... Given that Limbaugh is one of the nation’s most prominent Republican leaders, perhaps the GOP presidential candidates can be asked for their opinion on this. Does Mitt Romney agree with Limbaugh? Will Limbaugh’s embrace of the LRA ... stop the candidates from appearing on Limbaugh’s show?" ...

     ... Commenter Mike on Benen's post: "The Limbaugh show is still carried on Armed Forces Radio, btw." CW: I've written to Armed Forces Radio to protest their continued carrying of a program which supports terrorists. You can write to P. J. (Jerry) Weaver, an Armed Forces Radio director, at pjweaver94@gmail.com Here's my letter to him:

Dear Mr. Weaver:

As you probably know, last week Rush Limbaugh came out in support of the terrorist African group the Lord’s Resistance Army. In 2009, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the LRA Disarmament & Northern Uganda Recovery Act, authorizing U.S. military support against the LRA (you can find reference to it here). Last week the President sent Congressional leaders a letter advising them that he had “authorized a small number of combat equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony [the LRA leader] from the battlefield.”

In view of Mr. Limbaugh’s support of a group which the Congress and President have recognized as a violent terrorist organization, and against whom American troops are fighting, I ask you to immediately and permanently remove Mr. Limbaugh’s program from your schedule. Armed Forces Radio Network, which is taxpayer-funded, should not carry a radio show that advocates for enemy terrorists.

Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.

Marie Burns

* Where nothing is as it seems.

Local News

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "The push to repeal ... [Ohio State] Senate Bill 5..., Gov. John R. Kasich’s [R] signal achievements..., a law that weakens public employees’ bargaining rights..., will be one of the biggest battles in the country this Election Day, with the law’s supporters and opponents expected to spend in total more than $20 million in the fight."

News Ledes

AP: "Libyan revolutionary forces bulldozed the green walls surrounding Moammar Gadhafi's main Tripoli compound on Sunday, saying it was time 'to tear down this symbol of tyranny.'"

New York Times: "More than six months before the French presidential election, the main candidates appear to be set, with François Hollande, 57, winning a runoff election on Sunday to become the Socialist Party presidential candidate.... The putative favorite for the Socialists’ nomination — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund — did not run after he was arrested on charges of attempted rape in New York. The charges were dropped, but Mr. Strauss-Kahn retreated from political life." Hollande will likely face President Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), France's major right-wing political party.

New York Times: "Israel on Sunday released the names of the first 477 Palestinian prisoners that it will exchange for a soldier held by the militant faction Hamas, and the list revealed why the country has found the trade so wrenching: the majority of the inmates were convicted of manslaughter, attempted murder or intentionally causing death."

President Obama spoke at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial dedication on the National Mall this morning. AP story here. A post-speech AP story is here.

AP: "Iran's supreme leader warned the United States on Sunday that any measures taken against Tehran over an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington would elicit a 'resolute' response."

New York Times: "Buoyed by the longevity of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan, a wave of protests swept across Asia, the Americas and Europe on Saturday, with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people expressing discontent with the economic tides in marches, rallies and occasional clashes with the police.... At least 88 people were arrested in New York, including 24 accused of trespassing in a Greenwich Village branch of Citibank and 45 during a raucous rally of thousands of people in and around Times Square. More than 1,000 people filled Washington Square Park at night, but almost all of them left after dozens of police officers with batons and helmets streamed through the arch and warned that they would be enforcing a midnight curfew. Fourteen were arrested for remaining in the park."

Reuters: "The world's leading economies pressed Europe on Saturday to act decisively within eight days to resolve the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis which is endangering the world economy. In unusually direct language, finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 major economies said they expected an October 23 European Union summit to 'decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan'."

AP: "Arab foreign ministers have called an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss whether to suspend Syria from the Arab League, officials said, ramping up the pressure on Damascus to end its bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters."

The Commentariat -- October 15

The President's Weekly Address. The transcript is here:

I've posted an Open Thread for comments on Off Times Square.

Occupy ...

Today is to be an international day of protest. To find out if there are any organized protests in your area, go to the Daily Kos page OccupyWallStreetEvents.com ...

... ** Linette Lopez of the Business Insider: Occupy Wall Street protesters are in the initial stages of planning a national convention to be held July 4, 2012. Lopez writes, "... if this is carried out, Occupy Wall Street could shift the course of American politics at its highest levels." CW: Read the details. They're pretty interesting.

... Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "... the primary challenge of opposing the 50-headed hydra of Wall Street corruption ... is that it's extremely difficult to explain the crimes of the modern financial elite in a simple visual. The essence of this particular sort of oligarchic power is its complexity and day-to-day invisibility: Its worst crimes, from bribery and insider trading and market manipulation, to backroom dominance of government and the usurping of the regulatory structure from within, simply can't be seen by the public or put on TV." Taibbi offers some policy suggestions that are consistent with the protests. ...

... Timmy Geithner pretends to get with the program. You can see how uneasy the subject makes him:

... Apparently Baron von Bloomberg has an evolving story of why he decided not to close Zuccotti Park. The propertyowners, Brookfield, are not confirming the Mayor's story that unnamed "city officials" threatened them with retaliation if they closed down the park for cleaning. David Nir of Daily Kos reports. ...

On the off chance they were intending to arrest him for injuring the captain's fist with his jaw, I strongly suggest that you decide not to add insult to injury and avoid such a retaliatory move. -- Attorney Ron Kuby, whose client Felix Rivera-Pitre was videotaped being punched by a white-shirted NYPD officer, in a letter to the NYPD & Manhattan DA ...

     ... Here's the video, via the New York Observer, which has another video here of a police officer on a motorscooter rolling over a protester's leg. As Drew Grant of the Observer writes, "not for the ... faint of heart."

Greg Sargent: Republican Senators, having unanimously killed President Obama's jobs bill, which according to a Moody's estimate would have created 1.9 million jobs, have come up with their own so-called "jobs bill." Sen. Rand Paul has claimed, without providing evidence or any details, that the GOP bill would create 5 million jobs. Sometime. But according to a Moody's analyst, the GOP bill "could hurt the economy in the near term. 'Putting the emphasis on balancing the budget now is likely to push the economy back into recession.'” (Emphasis added.)

Whose Program Is This Anyway? Ryan Reilly of TPM: "As House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) continues to try to pin the flawed 'gun walking' tactic employed in Operation Fast and Furious on the Obama administration, it's becoming increasingly clear that problems with ATF's Phoenix division date back at least into the Bush era. TPM has obtained the documents relating to another Bush-era ATF operation ... which deployed the 'gun walking' tactic.... In fact, ATF officials wrote in 2007 that the gun walking tactic had 'full approval' of the U.S. Attorney's Office being run by an interim Bush appointee and that the U.S. Embassy in Mexico was 'fully on-board.' ... Issa's investigators have had the documents and emails on the 2007 case for months, but he hasn't said anything much about them." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Joe Nocera has been reading Since Yesterday, "by Frederick Lewis Allen, a popular historian of the 1930s and 1940s. Published in 1940, it turned out to be a shrewd, concise, wonderfully written account of America in the ’30s." The similarities between then and now are striking. CW: I read Since Yesterday as a young teen to find out what had come before me; needless to say, it's an easy read.

Andrew Zajac of Bloomberg News: "About 25 percent of millionaires in the U.S. pay federal taxes at lower effective rates than a significant portion of middle-income taxpayers, according to a legislative analysis. Preferential treatment of investment income and the reduced impact of payroll taxes on high earners lets about 94,500 millionaires pay taxes at a lower rate than 10.4 million 'moderate-income taxpayers,' representing about 10 percent of those making less than $100,000 a year...."

CREDO: "On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to let women die by passing a bill that would make it legal for hospitals to refuse to perform a life-saving abortion on a woman as an emergency procedure. In response to that vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a fundraising email asking supporters to donate to help protect the health of women. But three out of fifteen of the DCCC's top candidates who would receive that money voted [for the bill]." To tell the DCCC to "either stop fundraising off attacks on women's health or stop fundraising for anti-choice Democrats," you can sign CREDO's petition (which unfortunately will put you on CREDO's mailing list forever).

Here's a serious tearjerker. Thanks to a reader for the link:

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "The [Japanese] government’s failure to act quickly [to contain the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant], a growing chorus of scientists say, may be exposing many more people than originally believed to potentially harmful radiation. It is also part of a pattern: Japan’s leaders have continually insisted that the fallout from Fukushima will not spread far, or pose a health threat to residents, or contaminate the food chain. And officials have repeatedly been proved wrong by independent experts and citizens’ groups that conduct testing on their own."

Right Wing World *

Karen Garcia: "The Republican cavalcade of lunatics ... have served their purpose by deflecting attention away from what passes for government in Washington. Liberal pundits in general and MSNBC in particular have used their public arenas to shoot fish in a barrel every single day to save them the trouble of thinking, and to make the failure that is Obama look good.... The inconvenient truth is that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are mirror images of each other. Each panders to his supposed base. Each is a right-of-center fiscal conservative. Their insurance company giveaway health plans are identical."

Hey, Herman Cain Has a "Buffett Rule," too. Zach Roth of Yahoo! News: "If the '9-9-9' tax plan promoted by Herman Cain, a leading Republican presidential candidate, had been the law of the land last year, Warren Buffett would very likely have paid no income taxes, according to an analysis prepared for Yahoo News and The Lookout by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. At most, Buffett would have paid taxes on just 1 percent of his income."

Steve Kornacki of Salon makes a pretty good case for how crazy the right has become in the "Obama Era." Using Rush Limbaugh as a barometer, Kornacki notes that Rushbo "practically endorsed" Mitt Romney in 2008 at a time when Romney was touting RomneyCare; now Rush derides Romney daily. Kornacki writes,

It’s not that hard to imagine an alternate universe in which Romney somehow won the White House in 2008, then muscled through a national version of his Massachusetts law — with Republican support. But it was Obama who won, and when he tried to do the same thing, virtually every Republican in America accused him of destroying capitalism.

Not Ready to Be First Lady. Dan Gilgoff of CNN gives us a two-fer. (1) Anita Perry -- wife of Rick -- blames President Obama for her son's having to quit his job to work on the Perry campaign. According to Mom there,

My son had to resign his job because of federal regulations that Washington has put on us. He resigned his job two weeks ago because he can't go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations.... My son lost his job because of this administration. ...

      ... (2) She says the media & Rick's opponents have been "brutalizing" him "because of his faith." Here, Mrs. P was apparently referring to those who questioned or condemned the governor for refusing to disavow remarks of Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Perry friend & supporter, in which Jeffress called Mormonism -- Mitt Romney's faith -- a non-Christian cult. ...

      ... CW: So it's Obama's fault the Perry boy has to follow slightly ethical standards when he changes jobs (isn't the Perry campaign paying the kid?), and it's the media's fault that Perry won't stand up to religious intolerance. This woman, who is a nurse, needs a doctor. My non-professional diagnosis: severe persecution complex.

... Oh, wait. There's more. Jacob Bernstein of the Daily Beast: "Mrs. Perry is also fending off claims from people who say that her own career amounts to a series of conflicts of interests, in which she and the folks she works with benefit from her association with the governor. Since 2003, Mrs. Perry has worked for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), where she’s raised roughly $1.5 million as a $60,000-a-year contract employee.... A report in the Austin American-Statesman noted that a significant portion of Mrs. Perry’s salary at TAASA comes indirectly from the governor’s 'political donors, state contractors, and companies that do business with the state or have issues before the legislature.' Indeed, of 37 major donors to the organization, the paper reported, only three have 'no ties to the governor or state business.'”

... Then again, maybe we shouldn't fault Perry & Jeffress ...

CW: the AP reported that "the United States is ... sending about 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to [act as advisers] ... against a guerrilla group accused of horrific atrocities. Here is the President's letter to Congressional leaders. (Also linked in today's Ledes.) ...

     ... AND here is Rush Limbaugh's "news" report on the development. The headline: "Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians." And you wonder why wingers don't know WTF is going on? Is this satire or is Rush a living self-parody or is he genuinely insane or what?

* Is a diversion from Right Wingish World, which is, well, real.

Local News

CW: America's Worst Governor, Con'd. The Demise of the 7-7-7 Plan. Michael Bender of the St. Pete Times: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, campaigned on a promise "to create 700,000 jobs in seven years beyond estimates for job growth over the same span. State economists last year predicted Florida would add 1 million jobs in that time." During the campaign, he also urged Floridians to "hold him accountable." However, after backtracking several times on his job-grown promise, Scott now says he "could argue" he doesn't have to create any jobs. "I just have to make sure we don't lose jobs."

News Ledes

AP: "The U.S. is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, The Associated Press has learned. The decision to pull out fully by January will effectively end more than eight years of U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, despite ongoing concerns about its security forces and the potential for instability." ...

     ... Politico Update: "The Obama administration is knocking down a report that all but a small security force will be pulled from Iraq by the end of the year, saying instead that discussions are still ongoing."

AP: "An American drone strike in southern Yemen has killed seven al-Qaida-linked militants, including the media chief for the group's Yemeni branch and the son of a prominent U.S.-born cleric slain in a similar attack last month, government officials and tribal elders said Saturday. In the capital, meanwhile, forces loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh opened fire on tens of thousands of protesters, killing at least nine and wounding scores, according to medical officials and witnesses."

Occupy Wall Street moves uptown to Times Square for the biggest U.S. demonstration yet:

     ... And speaking of Times Square, no word yet from, um, the Times on the demonstration right next door.

AP: Occupy Wall Street "supporters in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday waved signs such as 'you can't eat money.' About 200 people in Tokyo joined the global protests, and Philippine supporters in Manila marched on the U.S. Embassy to express support for Occupy Wall Street and to denounce 'U.S. imperialism' and U.S.-led wars and aggression." ...

     ... NBC News Update: "Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters after some smashed shop and bank windows, torched cars and hurled bottles.... A small group of violent protesters broke away from the main demonstration in the Italian capital.... The ANSA news agency said some protesters trashed offices of the Defense Ministry and of a labor agency, smashing windows with clubs, throwing paper bombs and firecrackers and setting cars on fire. Most of the violence took place near the Colosseum." NEW. Al Jazeera story here, with video. ...

     ... AP Update: "Thousands of demonstrators protesting corporate greed filled Times Square on Saturday night, mixing with gawkers, Broadway showgoers, tourists and police to create a chaotic scene in the midst of Manhattan."

     ... ** The Guardian is liveblogging world events.

     ... NEW. The New York Daily News has a good liveblog of events in New York City. Police arrested about 20 protesters at a Citibank branch on La Guardia Place (near Washington Square Park).

     ... Firedoglake: In Cleveland, Ohio, after Occupy Cleveland obtained a city permit to erect small tents, individual members of the police force provided tents to the protesters.

AP: "The United States is venturing into one of Africa's bloodiest conflicts, sending about 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to support a years-long fight against a guerrilla group accused of horrific atrocities. The Obama administration said the troops will advise, not engage in combat, unless forced to defend themselves.... The first of the troops arrived in Uganda on Wednesday, the White House said, and others will be sent to South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo." ...

     ... Update: the text of the President's letter to Congressional leaders is here.

NEW. NBC News: "The number of donors who raise big money for President Barack Obama jumped in the last three months as he builds a war chest for what will likely be the costliest presidential election ever. At least forty-one people have raised at least half a million dollars for the president, compared to 27 in Obama's first report, according to an analysis of campaign data released Friday. The big donors [are] known as 'bundlers.' ..."

New York Times: "The Obama administration announced Friday that it was scrapping a long-term care insurance program created by the new health care law because it was too costly and would not work. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said she had concluded that premiums would be so high that few healthy people would sign up. The program, which was intended for people with chronic illnesses or severe disabilities, was known as Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or Class."

Reuters: "A Long Island man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday after admitting to stealing more than $195 million from thousands of investors in the course of a five-year, $400-million Ponzi scheme. Nicholas Cosmo, 40, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley to repay $179 million to more than 4,000 investors who thought they were investing in short-term commercial bridge loans through Cosmo's two Long Island-based companies, Agape World Inc and Agape Merchant Advance."

Guardian: "The prime minister lost his first Conservative cabinet minister on Friday when Liam Fox [the Defence Secretary] folded under the pressure of relentless revelations about a close friend and the access he gained to the heart of government."