Occupy Wall Street: The Enemy Within

See Discover the Networks, "Occupy Wall Street":

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a movement whose activism is planned and coordinated via a free, open-source social-networking website that is maintained by an independent group of organizers who describe themselves as “committed to doing technical support work for resistance movements.” Strongly anti-capitalist, OWS characterizes America as a “ruthless,” materialistic society where the chief objective is to “always minimize costs and maximize profits”; where “lives are commodities to be bought and sold on the open market”; and where “the economic transaction has become the dominant way of relating to the culture and artifacts of human civilization.” The “deep spiritual sickness” that necessarily results from this repugnant philosophy of perpetual economic "growth for the sake of growth," says OWS, has caused “vast deprivation, oppression and despoliation ... to cover the world.” OWS's prescribed remedy is to replace the foregoing arrangement “with a society of cooperation and community” – i.e., a socialist economy....

Front groups of the community organization ACORN played a major role in organizing the OWS protests nationwide. For instance, the Working Families Party (WFP), a longtime ACORN front, helped mobilize the demonstrations in New York City. "[We are] actually trying to change the capitalist system that we have today because it’s not working for any of us," WFP organizer Nelini Stamp told Laura Flanders of Free Speech TV in an interview.

Meanwhile, ACORN’s newer front groups were likewise deeply involved in launching and expanding the OWS movement throughout the fall of 2011. For instance, New York Communities for Change -- led by longtime ACORN lobbyist Jon Kest -- helped WFP organize the demonstrations in lower Manhattan. In Pennsylvania, Action United participated in the "Occupy Pittsburgh" rallies. In Florida, Organize Now took part in "Occupy Orlando." The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment led the "Occupy L.A." protests. And New England United for Justice, headed by former ACORN national president Maude Hurd, participated in the related “Take Back Boston” rallies in Massachusetts.

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was also heavily involved in OWS's formation and early growth. At the heart of "Occupy Los Angeles," for instance, were two Southern California communists -- veteran Party leader Arturo Cambron and his comrade Mario Brito. In early October 2011, Brito declared that OWS's chief objective was to achieve “economic justice,” and added: “This is an international movement ... The vast majority of Americans actually believe income inequality is a major problem. The only reason they haven’t acted upon it is because there hasn’t been a mass movement.” In an October 15, 2011 address to the nearly 3,000 attendees at an "Occupy Chicago" rally, John Bachtell, a spokesman from the CPUSA's national board, claimed to “bring greetings and solidarity from the Communist Party”; he received a number of loud ovations from the crowd.

The early OWS demonstrations imposed considerable monetary costs on the cities in which they were staged. By mid-October 2011, for example, the protesters' then-month-long siege of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan had already cost New York taxpayers some $3.2 million for overtime police pay. Meanwhile, Boston City Council president Stephen Murphy reported that the costs resulting from the protests in his city were approaching $2 million.

Quite popular at OWS demonstrations across the United States are T-shirts and speeches glorifying such renowned Marxists as Che Guevara, Emiliano Zapata and Mao Zedong; lionizing convicted cop-killer Troy Davis and WikiLeaks collaborator Bradley Manning; promoting the DREAM Act and 9/11 Trutherism; and denouncing Fox News, the American Legislative Exchange Council, Wisconsin's Republican governor Scott Walker, the Koch family, the New York Police Department, and "Nazi Bankers" and Jews.

Indeed, anti-Semitism is clearly in evidence at many “Occupy” events nationwide, where placards and chanted slogans denouncing the alleged conspiracies of “Jewish bankers” (and "Zionist Jews") square neatly with OWS's relentless condemnations of “greedy Wall Street bankers” and thus go unchallenged by the protesting throngs. According to the American Nazi Party, which supports OWS, the movement strikes a welcome blow against an obscenely corrupt "Judeo-Capitalism."

Check the link for the full entry.

IMAGE CREDIT: Communist Lalo Alcaraz.

Israel Matzav on Erick Erickson's Anti-Semitic Attack on Jennifer Rubin

Carl in Jerusalem picks up on my second post on Erick Erickson's attack on Jennifer Rubin.

See: "Eric Erickson charges Jennifer Rubin with dual loyalty, then backtracks":

What I want to get to is Erickson's labeling of anyone who advocates for Jonathan Pollard's release as having dual loyalties (yes, that still comes through in his apology) and of automatically not being a conservative. Over the last year, Lawrence Korb (formerly Caspar Weinberger's number 2 at the Defense Department), former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, former Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former US Secretary of State George Schultz, and Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree have all come out in favor of releasing Pollard. Of those, to the best of my knowledge, only Mukasey is Jewish and only DeConcini and Ogletree are not Republicans.

Additionally, some 500 American Jewish and Christian leaders called for Pollard's release in a letter to President Obama in January. That letter cites all of the following (some of whom are already listed above) as favoring Pollard's release:

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Senators Charles Schumer and Arlen Specter, Harvard Law Professors Charles Ogletree and Alan Dershowitz, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame, Benjamin Hooks of the NAACP, former federal Judge George Leighton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olsen, Pastor John Hagee, and Gary Bauer.

And 39 members of Congress.

Would Erickson accuse all of them of dual loyalty? Are none of them Republican or conservative enough for Erickson? Surely Hagee and Bauer (at least) ought to be. And if that's the case, why is Erickson going after Jennifer with a charge like this and not after any of them?

Pollard committed a crime and he's paid for that crime disproportionately. It's long past time to let him go. Unfortunately, much of the American Jewish community cannot find its voice on this issue precisely because it is intimidated by the type of dual loyalty charges made by Erickson against Jennifer Rubin. But the American Jewish community ought to find its voice.

There's still more at the link, and Erickson's getting beaten up in the comments.

Also, at The Other McCain, "Erickson’s ‘Anti-Semitic Screed’?"

Michael Moore: I'm Not in the 99 Percent!

It's not just the hypocrisy. Michael Moore's lying through his teeth on national television. It's really pathetic. At The Rhetorican, "RICH MAN, POOR MAN, YOU’RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE, MAN!"

And the key quote:

Well, then, if you believe that about me, then that’s really something, isn’t it? That, even though I do well, that I don’t associate myself with those who do well. I am devoting my life to those who who have less and who’ve been crapped upon by the system. And that’s how I spent my time, my energy, my money on trying to upend this system that I think is a system of violence; it’s a system that’s unfair to the average working person of this country, and it was a mistake to ever give me a dime, from the day Time Warner, actually, gave me money to buy Roger & Me… I hope they rue the day that they ever allowed me up on the movie screens.

And at NewsBusters, "OWS Supporter Michael Moore Lies on National Television About His Wealth: No I'm Not Worth Millions."

Also, from Peter Wehner, at Commentary, "Michael Moore, Hypocrite and Liar":

Greeks Attack Merkel Government as Nazi Regime

At London's Daily Mail, "Furious Greeks lampoon German 'overlords' as Nazis with picture of Merkel dressed as an SS guard."

Greeks angry at the fate of the euro are comparing the German government with the Nazis who occupied the country in the Second World War.

Newspaper cartoons have presented modern-day German officials dressed in Nazi uniform, and a street poster depicts Chancellor Angela Merkel dressed as an officer in Hitler’s regime accompanied with the words: ‘Public nuisance.’

Greeks are furious at the deal, even though it means the banks will write off 50 per cent of the country’s debt and Socialist prime minister George Papandreou said Greece had ‘avoided a mortal national danger’.

Opposition parties blasted the landmark agreement, with conservatives warning it condemned the country to ‘nine more years of collapse and poverty’.

But it is the fury of ordinary Greeks which is raising eyebrows.

Greek government officials who agreed to the belt-tightening moves have been portrayed in cartoons giving the Nazi ‘Sieg Heil’ salute.

And German visitors flocking to ancient tourist sites are being met with a hostile welcome from some Greeks.

Berlin’s interference has revived historical enmities and evoked comparisons to the massive destruction of Greece at the hands of Hitler’s Germany more than 65 years ago.

That's pretty cheap.

Of course, Greece is the freeloader of Europe, so naturally they'd attack the powerful Germans as "Nazis."

This is What Mobocracy Looks Like: Street Artist 'Above' Hangs Banker in Effigy Along Florida's I-95

Taking things too far?

Hardly, this is where things are headed.

At Weasel Zippers, "Effigy of Wall Street Banker Hung From a Noose Over Miami Highway…"

And London's Daily Mail, "Is this taking the protests too far? Occupy Wall Street-inspired artist hangs dummy of banker from telephone wire."

Iran Defeats the United States in Iraq?

From Frederick Kagan and Kimberly Kagan, at Los Angeles Times, "Out of Iraq":

Iran has just defeated the United States in Iraq.

The American withdrawal, which comes after the administration's failure to secure a new agreement that would have allowed troops to remain in Iraq, won't be good for ordinary Iraqis or for the region. But it will unquestionably benefit Iran.

President Obama's February 2009 speech at Camp Lejeune accurately defined the U.S. goal for Iraq as "an Iraq that is sovereign, stable and self-reliant." He then outlined how the U.S. would achieve that goal by working "to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe haven to terrorists."

Despite recent administration claims to the contrary, Iraq today meets none of those conditions. Its sovereignty is hollow because of the continued activities of Iranian-backed militias in its territory. Its stability is fragile, since the fundamental disputes among ethnic and sectarian groups remain unresolved. And it is not in any way self-reliant. The Iraqi military cannot protect its borders, its airspace or its territorial waters without foreign assistance.

Although Obama has clearly failed to achieve the goals for Iraq that he set five weeks after taking office, Iran, in contrast, is well on its way to achieving its strategic objectives. Since 2004, Tehran has sought to drive all American forces out of the country, to promote a weak, Shiite-led government in Baghdad, to develop Hezbollah-like political-militia organizations in Iraq through which to exert influence and intimidate pro-Western Iraqi leaders, and to insinuate its theocratic ideology into Iraq's Shiite clerical establishment. It has largely succeeded in achieving each of those goals.

Well, they don't beat around the bush, do they?

There's more at that top link.

And see Omri Ceren, at Commentary, "Untangling Ideology From Incompetence on Obama’s Iraq Withdrawal."

Protesting Outside People's Homes — Is This What Democracy Looks Like?

From Elizabeth Ames, at Fox News:

Protesting at people’s homes ... is not about asserting an opinion. It is a warning of potential violence. It implies, 'We’re outside your house because we're angry enough to hurt you unless you do what we want.'

But they're progressives, and thus purely virtuous.

Not.

Archaeologists in France Discover Underground Remains of 21 German Soldiers from World War I

At Der Spiegel, "WWI Grave Find Tells Story Germans Want to Forget":

Archaeologists in northern France have unearthed the bodies of 21 German soldiers from World War One in an elaborate underground shelter that was destroyed in a French attack in March 1918, and hasn't been opened since.

Individual war casualties are still frequently found during construction work on the former Western front battlefields of France and Belgium, but the discovery of so many soldiers in one location is rare.
The tomb, poignant and grisly, sheds light on the lives of the soldiers who died in explosions from heavy shells that penetrated the tunnel.

"It's a bit like Pompeii," Michaël Landolt, the French archaeologist leading the dig, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Everything collapsed in seconds and is just the way it was at the time. This is an extraordinary find."

Fascinating. It turns out Germans don't really like digging up the past, so to speak. German newspapers buried the story on the inside pages.

RTWT.

Obama Gets a Lifeline on Reelection?

President Obama's toast in 2012, right?

I think he'll lose reelection, but my prediction is based on continued high unemployment and depressed presidential approval ratings. So it's interesting that Obama's getting some improvement on those measures today.

The New York Times has the report on the new third-quarter GDP numbers, "Economic Growth in U.S., Though Still Modest, Speeds Up." And Gallup has the latest approval numbers, which show some improvement in the president's standing, "Obama Job Approval Showing Modest Improvement, Now 43%."

On the economy, continued improvements in economic growth rates must translate into a decline in the unemployment rate. We're still at 9.1 percent nationally, and higher in key states like Florida, Michigan, and Ohio. (BLS data is here.) My hunch is that unemployment needs to come down to below 7 percent nationally by next summer, and perhaps to a similar degree in some of those key battleground states.

On public opinion, Charlie Cook's out with a new analysis, at National Journal, "Underwater":

With the 2012 presidential general election just a year away, it’s a good time to look at the national polling and talk about the state of play. Obviously, we have to make allowances for changing circumstances and unexpected events.

The best barometer of how a president is going to fare is his approval rating, which starts taking on predictive value about a year out. As each month goes by, the rating becomes a better indicator of the eventual results. Presidents with approval numbers above 48 to 50 percent in the Gallup Poll win reelection. Those with approval ratings below that level usually lose. If voters don’t approve of the job you are doing after four years in office, they usually don’t vote for you. Of course, a candidate can win the popular vote and still lose the Electoral College. It happened to Samuel Tilden in 1876, Grover Cleveland in 1888, and Al Gore in 2000. But the popular votes and the Electoral College numbers usually come down on the same side.

In his 11th and most recent quarter in office (July 20-Oct. 19), President Obama averaged a 41 percent approval rating among registered voters, according to Gallup. His average for the month of September was the same. For the week of Oct. 17-23, the president’s approval was 41 percent with a disapproval rating of 51 percent. It’s worth noting that in the Oct. 17-23 aggregation of Gallup tracking, Obama’s job-approval rating among independents was only 38 percent. This was a group he carried by 8 percentage points over John McCain in 2008, 52 percent to 44 percent. Among “pure” independents, those who don’t lean toward either party when pushed, the president’s approval rating was 32 percent.

Focusing on the big picture and that target of 48 to 50 percent among the total electorate, if Obama is to win in 2012, he needs to raise his approval rating at least 7 to 9 points. (Obama got some good news on Wednesday when the CBS/New York Times poll, conducted Oct. 19-24, pegged his approval rating at 46 percent—closer to his target.)

Keep reading.

Well, Obama's up 2 points in the latest Gallup survey, so things are heading in the right direction. And as I reported yesterday, the president, while unpopular, performs better in head-to-head matchups in recent polls. So, Obambi's looking a little more competitive. But it still early and there's lots still to shake out between now and November 2012. And I'll be keeping an eye on things.

'Pushin Too Hard'

The Seeds, from my afternoon drive time on Tuesday:

2:01 - American Woman by Guess Who

2:01 - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by Elton John

2:07 - Pushin Too Hard by Seeds

2:17 - Dangerous Type by Cars

2:21 - Light My Fire by Doors

2:28 - Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie

2:32 - D'yer Mak'er by Led Zeppelin

2:36 - In The Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett

2:39 - Take It On The Run by Reo Speedwagon

2:49 - Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh

2:57 - Lookin' Out My Backdoor by CCR

And speaking of pushing too hard, I hope Tania doesn't. See: "Chasing 26.2." Just go nice and easy, my friend.

Harvard's Stephen Walt: 'The Myth of American Exceptionalism'

At Foreign Policy.

I saw this a couple of weeks back and wasn't the least bit surprised, especially since I learned that Walt was a featured speaker at communist Code Pink's Jew-hating anti-AIPAC conference in May. I considered writing a full take-down, but thought better of my time. Besides, Walt gets hammered in the comments:

Typical Revisionist Thinking

As an American, I have absolutely no qualms with the content of this article. That said, we all need to take a deep breath and realize that this is just another contribution to the millions of pages of standard revisionist political thinking in the US. And it seems like every time another page or two is written, the author and/or his/her readers act as though they have just unearthed a treasure trove of hidden truth that typical "brainwashed" Americans have never heard before.

There is nothing in this article that is not taught in every basic US history class (at least at the university level), that has not been widely reported in the US media, or that is not a common topic in US political discussion. As much as people outside of the US like to think of Americans as lost in a world of false euphoria stemming from their very "Americanness," the harshest critics of the United States, much like this author, are to be found right within the US itself, teaching at its universities, publishing articles in its journals and newspapers, lecturing at events, and participating in public political discussion. Believe me, as a nation, we are quite sober and objective.

This is a full-length feature in the magazine's November/December issue, and it might be useful for international relations course syllabi. Or, well, perhaps as part of a debate on exceptionalism. Either that, or as a museum piece of elitist (egghead) political science, worth a read for its curiosity value (at the link)

Blackbeard's Cannon Recovered After Almost Three Centuries Underwater

At Telegraph UK, "Blackbeard's pirate ship cannon recovered from ocean."

Also, at London's Daily Mail, "Blackbeard's cannon salvaged from wreckage of pirate's ship on ocean floor."

Polls Suggest Obama Victory in 2012, But Economy Suggests a Defeat

This bugs me.

But campaigns matter, so we won't know for sure until the GOP race is settled in early 2012.

See Wall Street Journal.

I still think Obama's cooked in November 2012.

REMEMBER: "New Poll Finds Deep Distrust of Government."

Thailand Floods Bring Fears of Escaped Crocodiles

Interesting piece, at WSJ, "As Floodwaters Rise, So Do Thais' Crocodile Fears: Reptiles Escape Farms, Spurring Bid to Bring Them Back Alive."

Perry Steps Up Attacks on Romney for Changing Positions

The report's at Wall Street Journal.

And Perry's got his work cut out for him. See Time, "CNN/TIME Poll: Romney Leads Republican Rivals in First Four Primary States."

Mitt Romney's Finest Hour?

I don't recall WSJ's editorial board making any endorsements in the GOP race, but this sure comes close, "Romney's Finest Hour":

A friend of ours quipped recently that Mitt Romney could do his Presidential candidacy a lot of good if he took even a single position that is unpopular in the polls. Well, we can report that he has done that on housing policy, that he's being pummeled for it, and that it may be his finest campaign hour. It also contrasts favorably with the latest temporary, ad hoc and futile housing effort from President Obama.

Campaigning last week in Nevada, the epicenter of the housing bust, Mr. Romney was asked by the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board what he would do about housing and foreclosures. His reply:

"One is, don't try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. Let it turn around and come back up. The Obama Administration has slow-walked the foreclosure processes that have long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang."

How's that for refreshing? After five years of politicians trying without success to postpone disclosures and levitate the housing market, Mr. Romney dared to tell the truth. Parts of the U.S., including Nevada, still have too many homes, and that supply needs to be sold off and fixed up so the market can find a bottom before home prices can start to rise again. The faster that process proceeds, the faster the recovery will take hold.

That sounds good to me. I just wish Romney was so sure-footed on some other issues, like collective bargaining in Ohio.

Continue reading the editorial at that top link.

RELATED: At MSNBC, "ROMNEY'S KILLING IT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE."

Toronto Airport Security Employee of the Month!

Via Kathy Shaidle, "Toronto airport security employee hopes plane blows up! (video)"

Herman Cain 'Impresses' in Power Outsiders Poll at Huffington Post

From Mark Blumenthal, "Herman Cain Impresses GOP Power Outsiders":

Businessman Herman Cain may be the latest in a string of Republican presidential candidates to enjoy a bump in the national polls, but his appeal is real, even among GOP activists and party regulars in early primary and caucus states. That's the key finding of the latest Power Outsiders survey conducted by The Huffington Post and Patch.

Cain has impressed these local influential Republicans with his story of success and his advocacy of conservative issues. A surprising number believe he can beat President Barack Obama in 2012, although they are more hesitant about Cain's ability to win the Republican nomination.

The HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders poll of political activists, party officials and officeholders in the early primary and caucus states attempts to listen in on the "invisible primary" under way among influential local activists and political insiders that has historically driven the outcome of party nomination campaigns. This week, we heard from 51 Power Outsiders in Iowa, 45 in New Hampshire and 63 in South Carolina.

As with the announced and prospective candidates tested previously, we began by asking respondents to pick just one word to describe Herman Cain. Nearly three out of four (74 percent) used a positive word to describe Cain, a slightly more favorable response than we have recorded for any of the others tested to date, including Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Chris Christie. The most frequently used positive words were "impressive," "leader," "successful," "likeable" and "charismatic."

Check the link for the tag cloud.

And you gotta love this. The poll shows Cain with the highest favorables among the entire GOP field:

There's lots more at the link.

GOP activists, party leaders, and elected officials were polled in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It's not a scientific random sample, but the list of participants looks pretty good.

See also Fox News, "Fox News Poll: GOP Primary Voters Get on the Cain Train" (via Memeorandum).

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "James Carville Trashes Herman Cain."

Jennifer Rubin Slams Erick Erickson's 'Anti-Semitic Screed'

My post on the Jennifer Rubin profile at Politico was the top entry here through most of the day. Then this morning I saw Erick Erickson's attack on Rubin at RealClearPolitics. I noticed the Jewish slur, where Erickson deploys the disgusting dual loyalty smear, alleging that Rubin's "best understood as 'Likud' rather than Republican or conservative." Well Rubin pushed back, apparently. See Ben Smith, "Rubin dismisses Erickson's 'anti-Semitic screed'."

And Erickson's apologized, "An Anti-Semite?"

Erickson's a clueless hack, as I've held all along. In fact, I don't doubt his claim of ignorance at the apology, where he suggests that, "A friend of mine explains to me that a Jewish-American might find it insulting because it suggests they put Israel ahead of the United States." Hey, you think?

Just one more example of how overrated this dude is. What a loser.

Via Memeorandum and Weekly Standard.

Added: From PolitiJim, "I'm Sorry But Screw You Erick Erickson."

Police Deploy Flash Bombs at Occupy Oakland?

See Reason, "An Iraq War Veteran is in Critical Condition After Occupy Oakland Scuffles, Police Won't Confirm What Weapons They Used."

But watch the video:

Clearing the protest? Good. Police-state tactics? Not so good.

The New York Times has more, "Updates on Occupy Protests Nationwide":

Two veterans groups say that a protester who was badly wounded in Oakland on Tuesday night is a former marine who is now hospitalized with a fractured skull.

According to Iraq Veterans Against the War, the protester, Scott Olsen, is a member of their group who left the Marines in 2010, after serving two tours in Iraq. In a statement, the group's executive director Jose Vasquez, claimed that Mr. Olsen "sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland march," on Tuesday night. Mr. Vasquez added that Mr. Olsen, a systems network administrator in Daly, Calif. "is currently sedated at a local hospital awaiting examination by a neurosurgeon."

A series of bloody photographs that appear to show Mr. Olsen after he was wounded were posted on the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center's site, Indybay.org. Those images show that Mr. Olsen was wearing a brown military shirt with his last name on the front. Jay Finneburgh, the photographer who shot the images of Mr. Olsen, wrote on Indybay: "This poor guy was right behind me when he was hit in the head with a police projectile. He went down hard and did not get up. The bright light in the second shot is from a flash-bang grenade that went off a few feet from us. He looks like he might be a veteran. he was eventually taken to highland hospital."

Go back to New York Times to follow the links to IVAW and others.

The freedom to assemble is not unlimited. Time, place, manner restrictions are routine, and the police had already ordered the crowd to disperse. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Police said they had to protect themselves from protesters who hurled rocks, bottles and paint, and ignored orders to disperse.

Still, that Olsen dude got beat up pretty bad. Looks like the police have some PR problems now.

More at London's Daily Mail, "Marine veteran fighting for life after being shot in the face with gas canister during Occupy Oakland clashes."

New Poll Finds Deep Distrust of Government

Hey, maybe the contradictions of capitalism are ripe for revolution.

At New York Times (via Instapundit):

With Election Day just over a year away, a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future hangs over the nation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with Americans’ distrust of government at its highest level ever.

The combustible climate helps explain the volatility of the presidential race and has provided an opening for protest movements like Occupy Wall Street, to highlight grievances about banks, income inequality and a sense that the poor and middle class have been disenfranchised.

Almost half of the public thinks the sentiment at the root of the Occupy movement generally reflects the views of most Americans.

With nearly all Americans remaining fearful that the economy is stagnating or deteriorating further, two-thirds of the public said that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country. Seven in 10 Americans think the policies of Congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two-thirds object to tax cuts for corporations and a similar number prefer increasing income taxes on millionaires.

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new study concluding that income distribution had become much more uneven in the last three decades, a report that could figure prominently in the battle over how to revive the economy and rein in the federal debt.

The poll findings underscore a dissatisfaction and restlessness heading into the election season that has been highlighted through competing voices from the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements, a broad anti-Washington sentiment and the crosscurrents inside both parties about the best way forward.

Not only do 89 percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing, but 74 percent say the country is on the wrong track and 84 percent disapprove of Congress — warnings for Democrats and Republicans alike.

Also:

Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats, two-thirds of independents and just over one-third of all Republicans say that the distribution of wealth in the country should be more equitable...

Hey, that Obama-Pelosis class warfare really works!

RELATED: At The Blaze, "RADICAL BILL AYERS SPEAKS TO OCCUPY CHICAGO PROTESTERS ABOUT REVOLUTION & THE TEA PARTY."

Jennifer Rubin Profiled at Politico

I don't read her that much, although I'm not hostile to Rubin as are some blog colleagues on the right. Dan Riehl and I occasionally go back and forth about Rubin on Twitter.

See "Rick Perry's worst nightmare: Jennifer Rubin."

Rubin describes herself as a mainstream conservative, if not a a movement loyalist.“I don’t take a check-the-box, down-the-line view of conservatism. I think on foreign policy and economics I’m very much a Reagan conservative,” she said.

But many conservative bloggers don’t view her as one of them.

“I don’t have time to waste bytes on someone not in the conservative movement,” RedState’s Erick Erickson, who broke with Rubin over her support for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, told POLITICO when asked about her in an email.

Dan Riehl, another conservative blogger, described her as an “establishment Republican” and a “neocon” and said he suspected the Post uses her as a kind of foil, to define the rightward limit of the debate as relatively close to the center.

“She’s kind of like [center-right New York Times columnist] Ross Douthat in lipstick, assuming he doesn’t wear any,” Riehl said. “I guess she couldn’t get a job with Romney so she stayed with The Washington Post.”

(In fact, the Post has recently been courting other opinion writers on the right, in particular former Jesse Helms spokesman and Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, the leading defender of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the harsh interrogation he championed.)

But Rubin, who has never shied from a fight, says that her role is different from conservative bloggers: She’s commenting on the right, not defending it.

Lately I'm "commenting on the right" as well, since I haven't settled on a pick for the nomination, or at least not yet, since Michele Bachmann's numbers took a dive.

More later ...

Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters in Oakland, California

At The Lede:

1:40 a.m. [EST] Updated - Police officers shot several rounds of tear gas into a crowd of hundreds of protesters from the group Occupy Oakland on Tuesday night, as the protesters tried to re-enter an area outside of City Hall that the police had cleared of their encampment on Tuesday morning.

“It sounded like bombs,” said Joaquin Jutt, 24, a digital animator who was among the protesters. “There was a stinging and burning in my throat, eyes and nostrils. My eyes burned like there was hot sauce in them.”

And a nice photo-blog, at J.P. Dobrin's, "PHOTOGRAPHY OF POLICE DISMANTLING OCCUPY OAKLAND."

German Officials Reopen 1980 Oktoberfest Bombing Investigation

This is interesting.

At Der Spiegel, "Oktoberfest Bombing Under Review: Officials Ignored Right-Wing Extremist Links":

It was less than two weeks before the Oct. 5, 1980 German parliamentary election, and the CSU and its then Bavarian state governor and chancellor candidate, Franz Josef Strauss, were not interested in right-wing extremist terrorism. In their worldview, the threat always came from the left. The social climate was toxic, and the Strauss camp, and others, treated left-wing extremist terror group the Red Army Faction (RAF) and its sympathizers as Germany's public enemy number one.

What did not fit into this worldview was the idea that right-wing extremist groups were at the same time developing their own, loosely defined terrorist network, with cells in Hamburg, Nuremberg, Esslingen near Stuttgart, as well as in Antwerp and Bologna. Not surprisingly, efforts to investigate the threat from the far right were half-hearted at best.

For three decades, the official explanation for the Oktoberfest attack involved the theory of a confused "sole perpetrator." In May 1981, after just eight months of investigation, the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) postulated this theory in its "final comment" on the case. The Federal Prosecutor's Office also noted that there was "no evidence whatsoever" that "third parties" could have influenced Köhler. Case closed -- or so it seemed.

Until now, this final comment was the only document relating to the case that had been made available to the public, while the investigation files on which it had been based remained unknown. Now SPIEGEL has evaluated these files for the first time, in addition to dossiers from the former East German secret police, the Stasi, and other records, some of which were formerly classified -- a total of 46,000 pages.

Bikini Calendar Photoshoot Whistler, Canada

Via Theo Spark:

'The Internet Creates a Misinformed Electorate'

I don't think so, but interesting discussion, in any case.

At Business Week:

Inaccuracies, lies, and innuendoes racing throughout the cyberworld give voters a false sense of knowledge about political candidates. Pro or con?

Lindsay Lohan Nude!

Well, not yet actually.

It was the big celebrity buzz yesterday, in any case.

At LAT, "Lindsay Lohan may be in Playboy — now use your imagination."

The Post-Global Warming World

From Wall Street Journal (at Theo Spark):

The science on climate change and man's influence on it is far from settled. The question today is whether it makes sense to combat a potential climate threat by imposing economically destructive regulations and sinking billions into failure-prone technologies that have their own environmental costs.

Well, WaPo's Eugene Robinson says the debate's over.

Right. Freakin' idiot.

Homosexual Extremists Attempt to Get New Jersey Teacher Fired for Posting Alleged 'Anti-Gay' Comments on Facebook

A little late getting to this, but considering what's been happening here, it's worth weighing in.

See Los Angeles Times, "New Jersey teacher in trouble over anti-gay Facebook comments." And New Jersey Online, "Union Township school officials investigate teacher who allegedly made anti-gay remarks on Facebook":

The case raises broader questions about rights of teachers to speak freely in the age of social media.

No doubt.

Also at The Blaze, "GAY ADVOCATES PETITION TO HAVE TEACHER FIRED AFTER SHE POSTED ANTI-GAY MESSAGES ON FACEBOOK."

WikiLeaks May Shut Down

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of cyber-terrorists.

At Forbes, "Wikileaks to Close Over Funding Blockade?"

The Romney Implosion?

Perhaps Mitt Romney's still the "inevitable" nominee, but all of a sudden he looks more vulnerable, and decidedly un-conservative.

At The Other McCain, "Herman Cain Builds Lead Over Romney, Rick Perry 5th in New CBS/NYT Poll." Perhaps 21 percent isn't that bad, right? Well, ICYMI, on one of the hottest conservative causes of the year, and Romney waffles? See WSJ, "Romney Riles Conservatives by Declining to Weigh In on Ohio Union Referendum," and RealClearPolitics, "Romney Steers Clear of Union Fight in Ohio." And Dave Weigel, "In Ohio, Mitt Romney Punts on Health Care and Union Rights."

It's not a hard issue. We've had practically a year of Wisconsin politics. Folks on both sides are mobilized on collective bargaining, and Romney waffled. See Michelle as well, "Battleground: Ohio."

Matt Bai, at New York Times, says Romney's doing just fine: "Why It’s Good for Romney to Be at 21 Percent."

UPDATE: Linked at The Other McCain. Thanks!

Occupy Oakland 'Anarchist' Speaker Calls for 'End of Liberal Democracy'

Via Founding Bloggers, on Twitter:

Also, at Los Angeles Times, "Police raid Occupy Oakland encampment, arrest dozens."

Lots more at Memeorandum and Verum Serum. Also, at Hot Air, "Video: “The Man” 1, Occupy Oakland 0; Update: Protesters try to re-enter park."

The Once and Future German Problem

My dad used to always warn against the eventual rise of Germany after World War II. It's a question that's always fascinated me. Germany's already wielding tremendous influence amid all the economic turmoil, but if the Eurozone crashes say goodbye to a united Europe and the promise of peace it established.

At Washington Post, "In Europe, new fears of German might."

BERLIN — 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.

In Athens, protesters dressed up as Nazis routinely prowl the streets, an allusion to the old model of an assertive Germany. In Poland, accusations that Germany has imperial ambitions became a campaign issue in the recent presidential election.

And although German leaders have sought in recent weeks to soothe others’ fears in advance of high-level meetings in Brussels on Sunday and in coming days, the tone has sometimes sounded pugilistic.

Germany reengineered its culture after 1945. And I expect its role as economic powerhouse will satisfy renascent nationalist aspirations for European dominance. But there were predictions of a return to multipolarity and armed conflict in the years following the end of the Cold War. Hyper-institutionalization in the European project made that an impossibility. But times change. A lot depends on the role of the United States, whether we stay engaged in NATO and continue to keep Germany down, as we had throughout the postwar era. Is war among the leading European powers even a possibility at this point? Well, probably not --- I haven't heard a lot of calls for territorial revisionism, for example --- but you can't rule these things out. The pillars sustaining the peace are giving way. See Joshua Goldstein's recent essay, "Think Again: War."

RELATED: Anne-Marie Burley (Slaughter), "The Once and Future German Question."

Public Divided Over Occupy Wall Street Movement

This should send some tingles down the legs of the Occupier-in-Chief's communist base.

At Pew Research, "Tea Party Draws More Opposition than Support."

About four-in-ten Americans say they support the Occupy Wall Street movement (39%), while nearly as many (35%) say they oppose the movement launched last month in New York’s financial district.

By contrast, more say they oppose the Tea Party movement than support it (44% vs. 32%), according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, conducted Oct. 20-23 among 1,009 adults. One-in-ten (10%) say they support both, while 14% say they oppose both.

If the media bothered to cover the endemic anti-Semitism, public defecation, rat-infested conditions, outdoor sex, and revolutionary communism, I doubt you'd see this level of support. That's why bloggers are essential to getting the truth out on these idiot commies. See: "'Occupy Wall Street' Almost Entirely Socialist/Marxist."

IMAGE CREDIT: Bosch Fawstin, at Pajamas Media, "Seven Images That Will Make The Occupiers Cry."

Update on Zilla's Resistance Honor Roll

A follow-up to my earlier entry: "Conservatives Stand Up! — Zilla's Resistance Honor Roll Keeps Getting Bigger!" And Zilla's is here: "Stand Against Evil - Never Let it Win."

I didn't get a chance to link everybody up last time, and I've also been getting support via e-mail. Maggie Thornton sent this, "Harrassment":

Donald, the Left must deeply hate that you have classrooms of young minds in front of you every day. You are in their dominion, Education, and they believe they own it. How dare you treat with those they believe they own. You are their nightmare. Then you are bold enough to leave the classroom and share with your blog readers the insanity of promoting the destruction of capitalism and all that made this country great. You write from strength, with passion, and moral vision. I will pray that you be given the energy and will to prevail against this evil. Never forget that you are on a good and righteous mission.

Maggie

I don't, Maggie. And I appreciate the support.

And Jimmie Bise published a response to the progressives at his blog, "Beware the Howling Mob." Jimmie starts with a discussion of Ann Coulter's phenomenal book, "Demonic," and then writes:

My friend Zilla has been the subject of the left-wing mob, to the point where she ingeniously erected a Troll Tollgate which allows people to yell at her to their heart’s content so long as they fill up her tip jar for the privilege. Thus far, though, Zilla’s thuggish trolls have restricted their activities to childish rants in the comment sections of her blog posts.

Donald Douglas, on the other hand, has suffered that and far more. Left-wing agitators have gone after him, very personally and directly. They have dedicated a blog to his personal destruction and have attempted to get him fired on several occasions over the past three years. So far, they have failed, but their efforts have cost Donald countless hours of his time and, I will assume, some nontrivial amount of money to defend himself from the baseless attacks.

And all he did was give voice to his conservative political opinions.

Smitty, in a post on the subject, noted that it is not sufficient to the left that they prove their ideological opponents wrong. They must oppress. They must take away your ability to speak freely. We can complain about how unfair they are to us, but it won’t matter. They will not change. That is what they do. That is who they are. Progressivism over the decades is nothing but instance after instance of pure power politics: the rule of the howling mob, the haughty “We won”, the vicious “push back twice as hard”.

Here’s the thing, though. That exercise of power requires a faceless mob. When we begin to name and shame the offenders, the power diminishes. Their mob tactics require that they remain numerous and anonymous and that the victim remain isolated. When we band together and identify them as the thugs they are, their courage runs away like water.

It’s time we made the cowards run.

Just keep an eye on these people, Jimmie, and don't let your guard down. They're merciless bastards!

Also, Tania at Midnight Blue stands up as well: "A Progressive Attack on Conservative Blogger." And at Invincible Armor, "Stand With American Power Against Intimidation and Harassment."

Thanks!

And very interestingly, The Independent Realist has administered a brutal flogging to stalking asshat W. James Casper. In fact, Independent Realist engaged RACIST = REPSAC only to come away convinced he wasted his time on an epic loser. See, "Repsac3, W. James Casper — The Final Word." And from the conclusion there:

So there you have it. The whole sordid story of my involvement with a paranoid delusional. I gave him his chance to defend himself, and instead he now spends his days and nights tapping away on his keyboard writing post after post about the evil me and the conspiracy I am leading to ban him from the internet. The comment queue for this blog is filled with his rants are his blogs. As I have no desire to fuel his paranoia any further (not to mention that I don't enjoy playing games with the mentally ill), I am done with him. He cannot be rational or logical, and has slid down into irrational delusions. I fear for his sanity, and I can only hope that he will seek professional help, and not harm himself or others.

The Independent Realist has two other entries, here and here. Amazing isn't it? It took Independent Realist about two seconds to pin down W. James "Costanza" Casper. The idiot's completely deranged. It's too freakin' obvious. Indeed, Casper the hate-blogger responded with some incoherent ramblings attempting to deflect Independent Realist's devastating takedown, only to get hammered by one of his own progressives in the comments! His commenter calls out RACIST = REPSAC as crossing the line, indicating that Casper's campaign of intimidation is becoming "a real drag." Of course, you can't help someone who refuses wise counsel. RACIST = REPSAC's a nut case. A raving hatemonger and lunatic. He rambles at the post, spewing lies about how he's going to stop stalking me, and then says screw it, and starts up again with a new sets of rants.

Clinical.

Kudos to The Independent Realist. Thanks for taking this idiot Casper out back for a smackdown! The dude needs some help, no doubt. Sad.

Useful Idiots of Occupy Wall Street Get Lesson in Communism

Via Reaganite Republican, "Former Soviet Citizen Confronts Historically Ignorant OWS Boneheads re. 'Socialism'."

Miranda Kerr Fantasy Bra

This is the big event every year at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

See Sydney Morning Herald, "Miranda Kerr's Fantasy come true."

RELATED: From 2009, at WSJ, "Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Shows Off $3 Million Harlequin Fantasy Bra."

What's in the Bag? Shannan Click Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2011

Some Rule 5:

Previously: "Shannan Click Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2011."

And at The Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday."

A Hearing Aid That Cuts Out All the Clatter

I had profound hearing loss when I was 21 years-old. I regained some of my hearing and use a hearing aid. So as you can imagine, this story rings particularly true.

At New York Times:

After he lost much of his hearing last year at age 57, the composer Richard Einhorn despaired of ever really enjoying a concert or musical again. Even using special headsets supplied by the Metropolitan Opera and Broadway theaters, he found himself frustrated by the sound quality, static and interference.

Then, in June, he went to the Kennedy Center in Washington, where his “Voices of Light” oratorio had once been performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, for a performance of the musical “Wicked.”

There were no special headphones. This time, the words and music were transmitted to a wireless receiver in Mr. Einhorn’s hearing aid using a technology that is just starting to make its way into public places in America: a hearing loop.

“There I was at ‘Wicked’ weeping uncontrollably — and I don’t even like musicals,” he said. “For the first time since I lost most of my hearing, live music was perfectly clear, perfectly clean and incredibly rich.”

His reaction is a common one. The technology, which has been widely adopted in Northern Europe, has the potential to transform the lives of tens of millions of Americans, according to national advocacy groups. As loops are installed in stores, banks, museums, subway stations and other public spaces, people who have felt excluded are suddenly back in the conversation.

Continue reading.

Obama Unveils 'Son of Stimulus' for Housing Assistance

Critics called the administration's now-failed jobs initiative the "Son of Stimulus." And now it turns out the housing assistance program has an offspring. See Alana Goodman, "Obama’s New Housing Plan Purely Political." And Felix Salmon's not wasting any breath on it, "Obama's pathetic refinancing initiative."

But see WSJ, "Obama Housing Plan Highlights Sharp Political Split" (via Google):

President Barack Obama on Monday went where his Republican White House rivals have so far refused to go. He asserted that Washington should help Americans refinance their mortgages at lower rates.

The president's move to expand an existing, little-used program underscored his administration's belief that government has a role to play in restoring the health of the nation's broken housing market. In contrast, Republican presidential hopefuls have been loath to address the housing issue at all, in part because they blame government for causing the financial crisis and housing mess.

In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed that the government buy up home mortgages that exceeded the value of houses, then re-issue them at market value. "He got killed," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the economic adviser who had urged Mr. McCain to make the proposal.

Months later, the tea-party movement took off after CNBC analyst Rick Santelli's on-air tirade in February 2009 after the new Obama administration suggested it would try to aid homeowners. "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" he asked.

Ever since, politicians from both parties have feared aggressive action that would smack of welfare for McMansion dwellers.

Well, yeah. Bailing out over-leveraged homeowners? Still not popular.

Levi's 'Go Forth'

At Astute Bloggers, "LEVI'S GO FORTH: SELLING JEANS BY PROMOTING POLYTHEISM AND ANARCHISM?"

Dana Loesch: Occupy Wall Street Endorsed by Nazis

And boy, did she kick up a storm on the radical left.

See: "Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert Still Needs To Provide Proof For His Arguments *UPDATE: David Duke Endorses."

RELATED: More Nazi backing for OWS at Pamela's.

Muammar Gaddafi Allegedly Sodomized After Capture

It's pretty awful, but seriously? Folks are going to get worked up about this? The dude promised to go "house to house" to cleanse the "greasy rats" from Libya.

There's commentary at CBS News, "GlobalPost: Qaddafi apparently sodomized after capture." (Via Memeorandum.)

Or go straight to the source, "Gaddafi sodomized: Video shows abuse frame by frame (GRAPHIC)."

Down But Not Out: Investors and Home Buyers Returning to Inland Empire

From the front-page at yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Inland Empire is showing early stirrings of recovery."

Few places have been as devastated by the Great Recession as the Inland Empire, a region of 4 million people encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Unemployment has tripled since 2006. Home values have plunged 56% in Riverside County and 60% in San Bernardino County. Nearly 12,500 foreclosure notices were filed in the three months that ended Sept. 30.

Yet amid the stillborn subdivisions, abandoned storefronts and crowded unemployment offices, there are early stirrings of recovery.

Well, praise be Obama! (Or Jerry Brown — our local Democrat messiah!)

We even had unemployment come down to 11.9 percent from 12.1 percent. Booming!

Obama Doctrine: How Obama Blew It In Iraq

From Bruce Kesler, at Maggie's Farm:

After 9-years of US sacrifices, President Obama's rush for the exits in Iraq and the incompetence of his administration is seen again, with very probable bad consequences for Iraq's ability to withstand internal discord and external influence from Iran. The US is left with little but a likely buffer protecting Iranian interests and a sanctions evasion route that allows Iran greater freedom from Western pressure. Once again, each time over and over, Obama blows US interests into the crapper.

No doubt.

RTWT.

RELATED: From Pejman Yousefzadeh, "Leaving Iraq the Wrong Way."

How Many More People Does Obama Need to Kill to Get Reelected?

See James Taranto, "Lethal Weapon '08: Who'd have thought Obama would kill more Arab tyrants and terrorists than Bush?"

European Leaders Debate Severe Options for Accord

At WSJ (via Google):

BRUSSELS — European leaders took their first steps toward a new plan to stem the euro crisis, admitting that their last grand plan, agreed to only three months ago, has failed.

The new effort, which leaders hope to finalize at another summit on Wednesday, involves a sweeping recapitalization of European banks, a substantial restructuring of Greece's debts, a bigger bailout fund, and even possibly fresh efforts to entice sovereign-wealth funds in China and elsewhere to come to Europe's aid.

Continue reading at that link.

Banks are writing off some of their Greek loans, and lots more capitalization is needed. See also Der Spiegel, "German Parliament Slows Euro Rescue Decisions," and Telegraph UK, "David Cameron vows to reclaim EU powers amid looming rebellion."

Who Wants to Be Evaluated by Students?

Well, interestingly, I'll be passing out my own student evaluation forms next week, as part of my post-tenure review cycle. This happens every three years after the fourth year of employment (and the final probationary evaluation, when one is granted tenure). I don't mind them at all. I get decent reviews, and it's my political science colleagues who'll be using them to do a brief write up for their post-tenure committee reports. I imagine the dean and higher ups in the administration might be interested in them, but I doubt they do anything more than accept the recommendations from the department committees. The buzz on campus, however, is the latest union negotiations with the college over "student learning outcomes," which if implemented college-wide, could be used in evaluating faculty. (These SLOs could be combined with student evaluations in way way or another.) Needless to say the union's not falling in line for this. So many factors (outside of the classroom) determine student success that using SLOs in evaluating faculty would be seriously flawed, and worse, prone to really awful abuse if faculty retention decisions are made with them. I mention all of this as background for this piece at Minding the Campus, "Who Wants to Be Evaluated by Students?" Read the whole thing at the link, and here's this from The Barrister, at Maggie's Farm:

The notion that students evaluate profs as if school were American Idol seems perverted to me. School is not infotainment. I can be an entertaining speaker and did some litigation in my distant past, but I would never teach where my career, even in part, depended on student evaluations. When teaching, I like to be a demanding SOB, intolerant of anything short of excellence and keeping people on their toes. In the end, people are thankful for my demanding attitude.

RELATED: One of my favorite articles on this, "Something Wrong in Our Schools? Let's Blame Teachers."

Vanuatu

Robert Stacy McCain tweeted the other day, "Just updated my profile to include 'future U.S. ambassador to Vanuatu'."

I thought that was kinda funny at the time, but even more so now, with this piece on Vanuatu at Sunday's travel section at Los Angeles Times, "Vanuatu islands: Get happy, get a little wild."

The background on that ambassadorship at The Other McCain, "Memo From the National Affairs Desk to the Herman Cain Presidential Campaign."

The Tax Reform Evidence From 1986

From Martin Feldstein, at Wall Street Journal:

Congress's Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is struggling to find $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years. This is a unique opportunity to use tax reform to reduce future budget deficits while lowering individual tax rates.

The Tax Reform Act of 1986, enacted 25 years ago last Friday, showed how a tax reform that includes lower rates can change incentives in a way that grows the tax base and produces extra revenue. The 1986 agreement between President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill reduced the top marginal tax rate to 28% from 50%. A conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat could agree to a dramatic reduction in top rates because the legislation also eliminated a wide variety of tax loopholes.

A traditional "static" analysis that ignores the response of taxpayers to lower tax rates indicated that those combined tax changes would leave total revenue unchanged at each income level. But the actual experience after 1986 showed an enormous rise in the taxes paid, particularly by those who experienced the greatest reductions in marginal tax rates.

RTWT.

Jennifer Lopez Breaks Down on Stage

At People Magazine.

And lots of pics at London's Daily Mail, "Jennifer Lopez runs off stage sobbing after singing about lost love... (but at least she looked sensational in nude skintight catsuit)."

PREVIOUSLY: "Jennifer Lopez Hot New Fiat Ad."

Executive With Schizoaffective Disorder Uses Job to Cope

My wife and I are both like this. It's not schizophrenia, but keeping busy with work helps combat symptoms of severe anxiety. And now psychiatrists are finding large-N support for the tendency.

At New York Times, "An Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills."

Mitt Romney Offered Healthcare to Illegal Immigrants

Well, I doubt this will derail his "inevitability," but you never know. The inconsistencies are piling up.

At Los Angeles Times, "Medical help for illegal immigrants could haunt Mitt Romney":

The Massachusetts healthcare law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006 includes a program known as the Health Safety Net, which allows undocumented immigrants to get needed medical care along with others who lack insurance.

Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status.

The program, widely supported in Massachusetts, drew little attention when Romney signed the trailblazing healthcare law. But now it could prove problematic for the Republican presidential hopeful, who has been attacking Texas Gov. Rick Perry for supporting educational aid for children of undocumented immigrants in Texas.

"We have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits," Romney said at the recent Fox News-Google debate in Florida.

Perry has defended the Texas program, saying it is better to educate young people, even if they are in the country illegally, to help them become productive members of society.

Similarly, supporters of the Massachusetts program note there are ultimately higher costs for denying care to sick patients regardless of their immigration status.

The Massachusetts program, which cost more than $400 million last year, paid for 1.1 million hospital and clinic visits. It's unclear how many undocumented patients benefited because the state does not record that data.

The Romney campaign referred questions to Tim Murphy, who served as Romney's state health and human services secretary. Murphy said the governor never intended the Health Safety Net to serve undocumented immigrants.

Right.

"Never intended." Just like Romney never intended to hire illegal immigrants, like the ones the Boston Globe reported on in 2006: "Illegal immigrants toiled for governor: Guatemalans say firm hired them." And here: "Lawn work at Romney's home still done by illegal immigrants."

Gaddafi Killed by Shot to the Head

Well, you think?

It's not like it took a forensic medical examiner to figure it out.

See CBS News, "Autopsy: Qaddafi was killed by shot to head." (Via Memeorandum and Doug Powers at Michelle's.)

Hillary Clinton Warns Iran on U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows. Here's she's seen with Christiane Amanpour, where she announces that "no one should miscalculate our commitment to Iraq, most particularly Iran":

See New York Times, "Clinton Defends Iraq Withdrawal Plan."

Springtime for Islamists in Tunisia?

At LAT, "Tunisia vote could shape religion in public life":

This nation that 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.

Tunisians will vote Sunday for a constituent assembly that will set the course for a new government and write the nation's laws. Islamists, suppressed for decades by autocratic rule, are poised to win big, a prospect that has liberals and secularists worried about the future of civil liberties.

The outcome will be the latest evolution in a tumultuous year of Arab rebellion that last week saw Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi killed and his half-naked body laid out in a souk's cold-storage locker, a gruesome show of contempt that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.

But it has been a year of the unfathomable: Here in Tunisia, the suicide late last year of a desperate fruit seller launched an uprising that in January brought down President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. With quickening speed, revolt spread to Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown weeks later. Today, as the words "Arab Spring" have become the catchy lexicon of rebellion, the entrenched leaders of Yemen and Syria face gathering forces arrayed against them.

The pressing concerns facing Tunisia mirror those of other countries trying to advance beyond the grip of tyrants. Voters here say they do not want the vital issues of joblessness, economic problems and widening youth disenchantment to be eclipsed by an Islamic agenda.

But ambitions of Islamists have been simmering for years in a region where police states arrested their leaders and muffled the voices of fiery clerics. Freedoms brought by the Arab Spring are reigniting debates between Islamists and secularists, but also between ultraconservative and moderate Muslims over how deeply religion should permeate society.

Also at WSJ, "Large Numbers Turn Out for Tunisian Vote" (via Google):

Democracy activists across the region hope that a successful vote here could galvanize pro-democracy movements that have flagged amid violent regime crackdowns, as in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, and by a pushback by old-guard counterrevolutionary forces, as in Egypt.

Among the countries that have overthrown leaders, Tunisia presents the most fertile seedbed for democracy, say analysts: It has a relatively large and educated middle class. Women enjoy a measure of equality unmatched in the Arab world. The country has a tradition of civil rule both before and after January's revolution. With a relatively homogenous population of 10 million, the country also suffers from few ethnic and sectarian rifts.

The question is the degree to which Tunisia's vote will apply to the likes of Egypt, Libya, Yemen or Syria, where uprisings have been bloodier and rife with internal tribal, sectarian or regional tensions. Tunisia may stand as an aspirational example, analysts say—or as a bar set too high.

Dan Neil Reviews the 2012 Honda Civic

This is Neil's "Rumble Seat" column, which used to be exclusively at the Los Angeles Times.

Now (also?) at Wall Street Journal, "Honda's Sporty New Civic, Heavy on the 'Ick'":

And just like that, a giant stumbles. The redesigned 2012 Honda Civic—one of the most successful cars in U.S. auto history, a nameplate burnished with the grateful tears of generations of Americans—is a dud. A sham. A shud. Massive fail, LOL.

Civic's U.S. sales were down 26% in September and 15.6% year-to-date, a cratering rivaled only by the 15.7% decline registered by the Honda Accord. Some part of the losses was caused by supply-chain issues associated with the April earthquake; the greater part, surely, is bad press. The Civic sedan/coupe recently got scratched off the Consumer Reports list of Top Five recommended cars—which for Honda is like getting your name scratched off the frontispiece of the family Bible.

Over at the Honda fan site vtec.net they're in the midst of a high-tech Spanish Inquisition, with John Mendel, American Honda's executive vice president for sales, as guest of honor. It ain't pretty.

I've just spent two weeks enjoying the company of the 2012 Civic Hybrid sedan (see sidebar) and the Si sedan—the sport-tuned version with a 201-hp four-banger, a limited-slip differential, and a six-speed manual gearbox to slap around—and, to damn them with faint praise, they're actually pretty good cars. Still, they do not burn with Honda's once-routine overachievement, and the ire the company faces reflects the high expectations and great trust consumers have placed with the brand. In other words, merely decent feels like a betrayal from Honda.

What's going on with these cars? I have a theory....

Keep reading.

I've had three Honda Civic LX sedans, the second two with GPS navigation systems. They're awesome cars. But Honda does this every couple of iterations. They alienate the car's core fan base, perhaps attempting to appeal to a larger, family demographic, etc.

In any case, I used to read Neil's column every Wednesday at the Los Angeles Times. I thought I read something of his over there a few weeks back, but he might be syndicating his reviews now across different newspapers. He's fun to read, in any case.

Gilad Shalit Release

Gilad Shalit was released last Tuesday. I posted a couple of times on the Israel/Hamas deal, but I didn't have the chance mid-week to comment on Shalit's homecoming. He looks ghastly. That's what five years of being held hostage does to you. Terrorists terrorize. Not enough to eat. No loved ones to care for and have care for you. It burns inside the think of what in God's name drives these people to such barbarism. But he's home, and that in itself is a blessing, even if there may be more just like him.

I'm reminded after checking over at Melanie Phillips' blog, and she links to a couple of her essays: "The infernal choice," and "Journalism? No, cruelty and propaganda."

Occupy London Protests Close Down St. Paul's Cathedral for First Time Since World War II

At Telegraph UK, "St Paul's Cathedral announces closure due to 'Occupy' protesters":

It seemed a gesture of Christian tolerance when a clergyman at St Paul’s Cathedral told police to allow anti-capitalist protesters camped outside to continue their demonstration.

But the alliance appeared to be faltering yesterday as St Paul’s closed for the first time since the Blitz, claiming it had no choice because of the dangers posed by the growing numbers on its doorstep.

Successes Overseas Are Unlikely to Help Obama at Home

Not only will there be little gain politically, but we could be witnessing a weakening strategic situation in the Middle East. Lots of instability across the region combined with a declining U.S. presence. This is a major transformation in international politics, but the concerns are at home, and Obama needs some successes on that front. See NYT:

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s announcement that the last American soldiers will leave Iraq by the end of this year capped a momentous week in which he could also take credit for helping dispatch one of the world’s great villains, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Conventional wisdom holds that none of this will matter to Mr. Obama’s frayed political fortunes, which will be determined by the economy rather than the notches he is piling up on his statesman’s belt.

Yet Mr. Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq — a campaign pledge kept — and the successful NATO air campaign in Libya — with no American casualties, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of Iraq — allowed him to thread a political needle: reaffirming his credentials as a wartime leader while reassuring his Democratic base that he is making good on the promises that got him elected.

This one-two punch may also strengthen the president’s hand against his eventual Republican opponent, according to Mr. Obama’s supporters, by depriving Republicans of a cudgel typically used on Democratic presidents, that they are weak on national security. The swift and fierce criticism of his Iraq decision by the Republican candidates shows how reluctant they are to cede this advantage to him.

“There is an aggregate effect to all the president’s foreign policy successes,” said Bill Burton, a former White House aide who is a senior strategist at Priorities USA Action, a political action committee backing the Obama campaign. “The notion of who is a stronger leader will be deeply influenced by the promises the president kept.”

As the Rich Go, So Goes Much of the Economy

At Wall Street Journal, "The Wild Ride of the Wealthiest 1%."

An amazing report:

During the past three recessions, the top 1% of earners (those making $380,000 or more in 2008) experienced the largest income shocks in percentage terms of any income group in the U.S., according to research from economists Jonathan A. Parker and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen at Northwestern University. When the economy grows, their incomes grow up to three times faster than the rest of the country's. When the economy falls, their incomes fall two or three times as much.

The super-high earners have the biggest crashes. The number of Americans making $1 million or more fell 40% between 2007 and 2009, to 236,883, while their combined incomes fell by nearly 50%—far greater than the less than 2% drop in total incomes of those making $50,000 or less, according to Internal Revenue Service figures.

Walid Phares: The Strategic Situation in the Middle East

An interesting discussion, with Lou Dobbs interviewing Walid Phares. The U.S. could have worked to slow the pace of change in the states of the Arab Spring, especially Egypt. And the U.S. could have countered Iran's influence by negotiating a long-term basing deal deal in Iraq, but we're pulling out now.

The New York Times has some related reports: "Despite Difficult Talks, U.S. and Iraq Had Expected Some American Troops to Stay," and "U.S. Scales Back Diplomacy in Iraq Amid Fiscal and Security Concerns."

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

Glenn Reynolds links to the New York Times, "Ailment Can Steal Youth From the Young."

Glenn updates with some reader correspondence.

'The Ides of March'

Saw it Friday night.

I enjoyed it, although a number of things about the film tell me more about director and star George Clooney than about politics. Clooney's character is Mike Morris, a governor of Pennsylvania running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Morris is portrayed as a matter-of-fact progressive, proclaiming his unabashed secularism. He says his only religion is "the Constitution" and within ten days of taking office he'll pass legislation putting internal combustion engines on a bee line to extinction. It's really eye-rolling stuff. Morris repeats the mantra that he wants to make America great again. The closest model is Bill Clinton in 1992, and not just with echoes of economic nationalism. Morris is not the model of propriety we find out, in a plot twist that's key to the entire show. For me it was the movie's Machiavellian power games that ring true, and I'd recommend it in that sense, and for the crisp cinematography, solid acting, and for bringing things toward the climax relatively quickly. In any case, I'm avoiding plot spoilers here, so let me hand it over to A.O. Scott for some more background: "Estranged Bedfellows." And also, Kenneth Turan, "Movie review: 'The Ides of March'." If you're out to the movies this next week you might give this film a go.

VIDEO: Britney Spears 'Criminal'

It's controversial.

At London's Daily Mail, "True Romance: Britney Spears' casts boyfriend Jason as her lover for steamy sex scene in her music video."

Also, at MTV, "Britney Spears' 'Criminal' Director Talks Gun Controversy," and "Britney Spears Director Leads Us Through 'Criminal' Video."