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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | November, 2011

One Woman Supercommittee: Revenues for Entitlement Cuts

By on 04 November 2011



That’s the debt deal cog, revenues for entitlement cuts, which Speaker Boehner addressed yesterday. From CBS News:

“I think there is room for revenues, but I think there clearly is a limit to the amount of revenues that are available,” Boehner told reporters.

The comment was significant because Boehner and other Republican leaders have repeatedly insisted that tax increases are off the table, and most Republicans in the House and Senate have signed a “taxpayer protection pledge” vowing not to raise taxes.

[...] Boehner insisted that Republicans would only compromise on tax revenue if Democrats were willing to take significant and painful steps to shore up Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. “Without real reform on the entitlement side, I don’t know how you put any revenue on the table.”

He said any new tax revenue would not come from raising rates but from overhauling the tax code, sweeping out loopholes and deductions in order to reduce individual and corporate rates.

If you haven’t heard, along with Boehner, a coalition of 100 House Republicans and Democrats, led by Blue Dog Heath Shuler, sent a letter to the supercommittee telling them to “go big” and include revenues. You can find the signatories at the bottom of the letter.

Meanwhile, Pres. Bush’s plan to withdraw from Iraq is being carried out by Pres. Obama, though we’ll build up our military presence in the Gulf (while keeping troops in Okinawa, Germany and dozens of other countries around the world). Americans will just have to do without.

After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the Pentagon is now drawing up an alternative.

In addition to negotiations over maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the United States is considering sending more naval warships through international waters in the region.

With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia , Kuwait, Bahrain , Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new “security architecture” for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.

The Pentagon always wins.

As for the one woman supercommittee, women are the voting, working and buying majority in this country, but Rep. Nancy Pelosi couldn’t bring herself to appoint even one woman. The party’s so over, for Republicans and Democrats.

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Keystone Pipeline Allies ‘Jobs for the 99′ Occupy Strategy

By on 04 November 2011

Let’s start here, Keystone XL Oil Pipeline: A Symbolic Struggle Steeped In Fuzzy Math, which leads us to a Cornell study. Here’s a snippet:

The battle is said to be about jobs vs. the environment, but it’s really about Republicans like the Koch Bros. selling the State Dept. and Pres. Obama a bill of goods Keystone can’t back up.

So now the Occupy movement is being occupied by the Keystone Pipeline proponents, which include the AFL-CIO led by Richard Trumka. “Jobsforthe99″ is a pro-Keystone website. It trumpets an article from Richard Blackwell that is linked by Lucianne Goldberg, a right winger (some of you may remember her from Linda Tripp).

Huffington Post has a piece up on Keystone today.

There’s a “surround the White House” rally on November 6th trying to stop the approval of Keystone.

Jane Hamsher has an unintentionally hilarious post on Firedoglake, explaining that advertising policy is quite different from editorial. Keystone proponents are occupying her site via advertising that no business person should refuse.

Young people believe the environment matters. We need more of these individuals to get involved in politics, because the current crew is clueless.

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“Obama throws Mardi Gras beads to the left and gold bracelets to the right”

By on 04 November 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

Things I’ve heard, repeatedly, from some people who identify as Democrats, particularly as related to voting in the presidential election: 1) A vote for any third party is a vote for the Republican candidate; 2) Any kind of “protest” / third party vote is a “wasted” vote; 3) A statement that I am Independent and liberal, and think third / new parties are essential is met with a usually rather condescending, “You just don’t understand how our political system works.” To the latter, I fairly often respond with something like, “No, it’s my under-standing of it that leads me to being liberally independent.”

One way to understand this Two Few Choices series, it occurs to me, might be as much longer responses to those three comments. The 2012 framing for what I frequently term the Two Party Front for the Oligarchy is neatly captured in a comment by David Glenn Cox at The Leftist Review, particularly in reference to Obama’s persistent and less than successful efforts to win the favor of those on the Right, while not completely running off those on what passes for the Left:

In truth, Obama throws Mardi Gras beads to the left and gold bracelets to the right … .

We don’t really live in a democracy, of course. We know that. There is that small number of people, some-times called the “power elite,” and they make decisions about everything from employment to health care to who gets to run for office. The U.S. system of control is, as Howard Zinn wrote in A People’s History Of The United States

… the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent, and labor power the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority. It is a country so powerful, so big, so pleasing to so many of its citizens that it can afford to give freedom of dissent to the small number who are not pleased. …

This isn’t a new observation, of course, though Zinn made it in a powerful way. I think it needs to be repeated and updated, regularly, because one danger is that it becomes another piece of information that gets nothing more than a shrug. Probably a tired shrug. As is the following from Edward Fullbrook, “The 400 wealthiest Americans now own more than the ‘lower’ 150 million Americans put together”:

The title’s sentence comes from the latest issue of the English edition of Der Spiegel. It features the article ‘Has America Become an Oligarchy?’ Here are some of the facts … offered in support of a yes answer.

Nearly two-thirds of net private assets are concentrated in the hands of 5 percent of Americans. …

1 percent of American society now controls more than half of the country’s stocks and securities. …

In 1980, American CEOs earned 42 times more than the average employee. Today, that figure has skyrocketed to more than 300 times.
Last year, 25 of the country’s highest-paid CEOs earned more than their companies paid in taxes. …

The repercussions of this “oligarchy,” and how the “ruling class” maintains its position are also addressed by Zinn, though since he wrote this, the “one third” has changed to “one half,” per the Der Spiegel article above.

One percent of the nation owns a third of the wealth. The rest of the wealth is distributed in such a way as to turn those in the 99 percent against one another: small property owners against the propertyless, black against white, native-born against foreign-born, intellectuals and professionals against the uneducated and unskilled. These groups have resented one another and warred against one another with such vehemence and violence as to obscure their common position as sharers of leftovers in a very wealthy country. …

It could get worse. For example, Scott Keyes writes What States Are Doing To Restrict Voting Rights:

Perhaps the most nefarious legislation to pop up in states over the past year have been new laws intended to make it more difficult for people to vote. … Thirty-one years after Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and father of the modern conservative movement, told a Dallas crowd that ‘I don’t want everybody to vote,’ Republicans are making good on his call to making voting more difficult in the United States.

It isn’t inevitable, that things continue in this direction, though for me, this takes us back to the need to break out of the Two Party system, and so to the need of people working together to create something outside the Duopoly. Zinn wrote about the battle for resources “made scarce by elite control,” then continued

… I am taking the liberty of uniting those 99 percent as ‘the people.’ I have been writing a history that attempts to represent their submerged, deflected, common interest. To emphasize the commonality of the 99 percent, to declare deep enmity of interest with the 1 percent, is to do exactly what the governments of the United States, and the wealthy elite allied to them-from the Founding Fathers to now-have tried their best to prevent.

Naturally that makes me think of the Occupy movement, as it challenges the myth of, among other things, our electoral political system. Andrew Levin directly considers Occupy’s role in This Time, Let’s Really Crash the Party, characterizing the current state of politics and democracy this way:

… however polarized the electoral scene has become, there is little genuine political contestation in it. Our Tweedle Dums and Tweedle Dees despise one another and display their contempt profusely, but their politics is of a piece; they are all, in their own ways, faithful servants of the capitalist order. It is re-markable that such a pale semblance of democratic governance suffices to establish the legitimacy of the regime.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to add that in many ways, our Tweedle Dums and Tweedle Dees despise, or at least act as if they despise, we grassrootsie, non-elite, 99%-ers.

( Photo via ThinkProgress )

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Herman Cain Scandal Enters Quid Pro Quo Territory

By on 04 November 2011


Tit for tat.

This for that.

You like your job, sweetheart? Prove it. That’s the latest allegation swirling around Herman Cain as the week closes out.

Politico is now reporting the possibility of quid pro quo, sex to keep her job.

The woman in question, roughly 30 years old at the time and working in the National Restaurant Association’s government affairs division, told two people directly at the time that Cain made a sexual overture to her at one of the group’s events, according to the sources familiar with the incident. She was livid and lodged a verbal complaint with an NRA board member that same night, these sources said.

The woman told one of the sources Cain made a suggestion that she felt was overtly sexual in nature and that “she perceived that her job was at risk if she didn’t do it.”

“She is a pretty confident individual, and she was pretty upset,” the source, an acquaintance of the woman, said of her demeanor after the encounter with Cain. “Not crying, but angry.”

She described it as an “unwanted sexual advance” to the other source. The woman took the matter immediately and directly to the board member because “she wanted this fixed,” the source said.

Six sources for the Politico story.

No conservative or Republican should stand by Herman Cain after reading this without demanding the truth, though as Mr. Cain has proven he can’t handle the truth, so he simply forgets it.

Conservative females like Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter have disgraced themselves. Putting their ideology before women isn’t surprising. No wonder conservatives run from the word feminist. They can’t live up to it.

Again the question, how did Herman Cain get to the top of the Republican presidential field? Some will say it’s slick Mitt’s fault, because he’s not beloved. That may be, but since the right is always preening their love for this country, you’d think they’d put it first over some unqualified man who went on a book tour using the presidency as a lark.

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Nate Silver Plays Provacateur

By on 03 November 2011

Silver’s post, Is Obama Toast? Handicapping the 2012 Election, is unlikely to make many Democrats happy. Below are snippets, but read his full analysis.

A THREE-FACTOR MODEL

CASE STUDY NO. 1: ROMNEY AND STAGNANT ECONOMY
Obama approval rating in November 2011: 43%
G.D.P. growth in 2012: 0%
Probability of winning the popular vote: Romney: 83%, Obama: 17%

CASE STUDY NO. 2: ROMNEY AND IMPROVING ECONOMY
Obama approval rating in November 2011: 43%
G.D.P. growth in 2012: 4%
Probability of winning the popular vote: Romney: 40%, Obama: 60%

CASE STUDY NO. 3: PERRY AND IMPROVING ECONOMY
Obama approval rating in November 2011: 43%
G.D.P. growth in 2012: 4.0%
Probability of winning the popular vote: Perry: 17%, Obama: 83%

CASE STUDY NO. 4: PERRY AND STAGNANT ECONOMY
Obama approval rating in November 2011: 43%
G.D.P. growth in 2012: 0%
Probability of winning the popular vote: Perry: 59%, Obama: 41%

Jonathan Chait rebuts.

But I think that we have to be a little cautious about interpreting the importance of Obama’s mediocre approval ratings in the face of a polarized electorate and a still-discredited opposition party.

As for my analysis, it’s like trying to handicap whether Hillary Rodham Clinton will run for president in 2016. One year is a lifetime in politics, but three is an eternity. Remember in 2008, three years ago this week, when Barack Obama was elected and conservatism was pronounced D.O.A.? A time when Obama had the world and the press at his feet and Republicans, Independents, Democrats and progressives not just hoping, but believing he would deliver on change.

Anything can happen, with Obama very beatable, as long as Republicans don’t nominate a crazy person or an incompetent. However, considering what’s played out before the American public in the Republican debates, as well as the Cain catastrophe, the nomination process has helped Pres. Obama’s status immensely.

Back to Silver:

THE BOTTOM LINE

Average these four scenarios together and the probabilities come out to almost exactly 50-50. A month or two ago, when Perry and Romney appeared about equally likely to be the Republican nominee, it would therefore have been proper to think of the election as a toss-up.

With Perry having slumped in the polls, however, and Romney the more likely nominee, the odds tilt slightly toward Obama joining the list of one-termers. It is early, and almost no matter what, the election will be a losable one for Republicans. But Obama’s position is tenuous enough that it might not be a winnable one for him.

It’s why things like the Solyndra subpoena have the potential of tipping the scale, but only if it gains traction, which right now is a big if. But given the Republican Party’s ruthless tenaciousness, Democrats should never expect fairness.

Oh, if only Pres. Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have treated the Bush-Cheney administration with such investigative fierceness.

The wild card in Silver’s equation isn’t Rick Perry or Newt Gingrich, whose due for his turn at the top, or even an independent candidate. It’s the American electorate.

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National Restaurant Assoc. to Issue Statement Tomorrow

By on 03 November 2011

**UPDATED**

“Our outside counsel was contacted by Mr. Bennett today and was asked to provide a response to a proposed statement by tomorrow afternoon,” said Sue Hensley, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Communications for the National Restaurant Association. “We are currently reviewing the document, and we plan to respond tomorrow.” – National Restaurant Association to decide Friday on accusers’ request to make statement

So we wait.

But another development is going to prove uncomfortable for the prevaricating Mr. Cain.

If $45,000 is “two or three months salary,” who wouldn’t want her job?

Jonathan Martin reporting:

POLITICO has learned that one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s received a payout of about $45,000 as part of her settlement — significantly more than the two or three months’ salary Cain initially recalled the woman obtained.

The woman who received the approximately $45,000 is the staffer who Cain has acknowledged formally lodged a complaint about his behavior.

Herman Cain’s drip, drip, drip is now in need of a plumber. This is when the Republican establishment can come in handy.

UPDATE: PJMedia’s Roger L. Simon has quite a story up, but it’s the “correction” that’s one for the books. See David Weigel, who has written a classic on it.

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Seeing the Occupation as a “mere publicity stunt” …

By on 03 November 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

One quick thought: In spite of the growing level and quantity of reporting by Occupiers, as well as the steady stream of tweets, of web and FB pages for specific Occupied sites, of live streaming and podcasting; and in spite of the MSM’s initial reluctant but by now daily reporting … it’s still a challenge to sort through the multiple perspectives, and get to the “facts.” I’m not pretending I can do that, but do try to provide a lot of links. And, I know I miss things, or simply run out of time to mention all but a tiny portion of what I do see.

Mostly, that’s just to say, your information, observations and analysis are very important. And much appreciated.

Now, for today’s post, it’s mostly a round-up. There’s so much more going on, but this is at least an idea of what’s happening. The photo above, by the way, is from Occupy Oakland’s General Strike, with Occupiers crossing the bridge to shut down the ports.

To begin, another resource for following the movement is the
Occupy America Podcast. I’ve mentioned this before, but a good aggregator, via Occupy Together is “The Occupation Report,” compiled by Rebuild the Dream.

Though published about three weeks ago, this is still an interesting read from Sean Captain, at Fast Company:

The public milestones of #occupywallstreet are well known. A July 13 call to arms by activist magazine Adbusters. An August 31 YouTube video by hacktivist collective Anonymous. A few hundred protesters on September 17. Arrests the 24th. Taking the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1. Massive media attention and a national movement afterwards….’

I’ve been following the movement and attending events and meetings from day one, and for much of the time, it seemed destined to flop. Yet it took off. In retrospect, there were moments where it became obvious something new was going on here. …

More about this later, but you can go to OWS to read “Liberty Square Adopts a Spokes Council.”

This past Friday, the General Assembly of Liberty Square voted to adopt an additional coordinating body called a Spokes Council. …

A spokes council is a directly democratic structure that was inspired by the Quakers and numerous indigenous cultures and used widely in the Women’s Movement, the Anti-Nuclear Movement, and the Global Justice Movement.

The spokes council structure that the GA adopted can be reviewed at http://www.nycga.net/spokes-council/. This structure will evolve as our movement grows and our needs change.

The evolving nature of Occupy, including this structural change, may not sound all that interesting, but this is the level at which decisions are made, everything from how to spend the money donated to how to keep the camp clean and Occupiers safe.

Today’s NYC Occupy plans include this, from OWS:

On November 3rd … the 99 percent … will hold A People’s Hearing of Goldman Sachs in Liberty Square Park and march on Goldman Sachs! The people will bring to justice perhaps the single most egregious perpetrator of economic fraud and corruption in the United States. The Hearing will include testimonials from individuals directly affected by Goldman’s fraudulent manipulation of financial markets, including victims of housing foreclosures, pension losses, public lay-offs and untenable student debt.

The photo of the WW II vet in an Occupy action is via Occupy Chico, and not related to the following, but it still seems quite appropriate, and inspiring.

From
We are Veterans, We are the 99%:

Today Veterans of the 99% marched on Wall Street, announcing their support for the 99% and the occupations popping up around the country. The march began at Vietnam Veterans Plaza, passed in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and ended at Liberty Plaza, the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Veterans stopped the march at Trinity Church in order to hold a moment of silence in honor of their injured brother Scott Olsen.

Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War marched to draw attention to the ways veterans have been negatively affected by the economic and social issues raised by the growing movement. …

A follow-up, An open letter to Greg Mankiw:

The following letter was sent to Greg Mankiw by the organizers of yesterday’s Economics 10 walkout by students at Harvard. …
Dear Professor Mankiw—

Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. …

As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines … . Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.

From SF Appeal:

A resolution expressing support for the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement and its local counterpart in San Francisco was approved by a Board of Supervisors committee today and will be considered by the full board on Tuesday.

The resolution, introduced last week by Supervisor John Avalos and co-sponsored by Supervisors David Campos, Eric Mar and Jane Kim, offers support for the movement and asks Mayor Ed Lee and San Francisco police to ‘ensure that there will be no use of force to dislodge the Occupy SF demonstrators.’

Finally, and with electoral politics very much in mind, via Common Dreams:

‘Occupy’ Targets Iowa Caucuses

The Occupy movement has a new goal — shut down the Iowa caucuses.

The plan to ‘occupy’ the Iowa caucuses was approved by the Occupy Iowa’s general assembly. The state’s protesters are inviting fellow Occupiers from across the country to ‘occupy’ the campaign offices of the Republican presidential candidates and President Barack Obama in the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state, The Des Moines Register reports. …

Iowa Republican Chairman Matt Strawn announced earlier this month that the Iowa caucuses will be held on Jan. 3. He told the Register Monday that the plan to occupy presidential campaign headquarters is ‘ironic’ and a ‘mere publicity stunt.

First, the plan does take one Occupied group into the political system, something that the movement in general has indicated they aren’t interested in doing. Who knows how this will be viewed, both in Iowa and more broadly.

Second, Mr. Strawn’s criticism is so very predictable and obvious. I’ll be just as obvious: if one group of the Tea Party announced they were going to show up at presidential campaign headquarters, I’ll guess that rather than a “mere publicity stunt,” the actions would be characterized as those of “courageous, real Americans exercising their right to free speech.” Especially if the action was only at “socialist” Obama campaign headquarters. That’s just a guess, of course.

(Photo of Occupy Oakland General Strike, crossing bridge to the port, via Occupy Together)

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House Dems Fail to Avert W.H. Subpoena of Solyndra Documents

By on 03 November 2011


The above segment is from September. It was the first clue that Solyndra wasn’t going away.

The fawning Jonathan Alter evidently doesn’t watch or pay attention to the Jon Stewart standard. Alter should have waited a couple of weeks. Always the first to trumpet scandals against the Clintons, unfortunately, Mr. Alter just couldn’t wait to write his piece.

Maybe after this latest news Alter will learn what I learned almost 20 years ago: That it doesn’t take a real scandal to be plagued with accusations, something the Obama administration is about to learn first hand.

Breaking news from Politico:

A House panel investigating Solyndra voted Thursday to subpoena internal White House documents on the failed California solar company.

The 14-9 vote, entirely along party lines, adds a legal sledgehammer to what already had been a hyperactive political clash on energy policy between both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

With a Republican majority in the House and a general election coming up, not to mention a need to change the subject from the GOP presidential circus, this is a brilliant move on the part of House Republicans.

It doesn’t have to be a real scandal or even worthy of investigation to become a problem for Pres. Obama.

The current public mood is ugly. Even if Republicans can’t get traction, it’s worth their trouble to try, because with Obama’s numbers moving up they’ve got nothing to lose. The approval numbers of Congress can hardly get any lower.

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Popcorn for Breakfast: The Herman Cain Blame Game Brawl

By on 03 November 2011

**UPDATED**

The Cain campaign seems stuck on stupid, should never have engaged in the blame game when everyone was defending him, and now is not only going to further harm his own credibility, but will potentially hurt the credibility of a lot of other good people when the women start speaking. And they will start speaking. – The Herman Cain Campaign Is Stuck on Stupid, by Erick Erickson

In the throes of a meltdown, Herman Cain decided he had to blame someone. What’s classic about this is that Republicans like Cain and his supporters don’t get that who leaked the story isn’t the primary concern of a sexual harassment charge. It’s whether the man is guilty of harassing women, something only someone on the right could miss.

So, Rick Perry, come on down.

Cain Says Perry Camp Behind Sex Harassment Leak

Curt Anderson phoned me to say “I never heard about this story until I read about it in Politico. I have nothing but good things to say about Herman Cain. I’m not going to bad-mouth Herman Cain to anyone, on or off the record. I think he is a guy of great leadership and integrity.”

Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said it was “patently untrue” that the Perry campaign had any role in placing the sexual harassment story with Politico.

But just in case Perry didn’t leak the story, Cain’s team has a back-up:

PICKET: Source – Rahm Emanuel involved in Cain sexual harassment accuser attacks

According to a source who is friends with the Cain campaign, not only is the Rick Perry campaign involved but also the Mayor of Chicago and former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is likely involved with the sexual harassment accuser attacks. A friend of the Cain campaign believes a National Restaurant Association (NRA) employee out of the Chicago office leaked the story to the Perry campaign via information and influence from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office.

Sean Hannity played the tape, which came from WTOK, of a consultant who says he saw one of the offending incidents.

Oklahoma Consultant Claims He Witnessed Cain Harassment

Wilson said for legal reasons, he can not discuss details of the incident. “But if she comes out and talks about it, like I said, it’ll probably be the end of his campaign.” The consultant said Cain is digging himself a deeper hole by challenging the woman. He also believes it has put the Restaurant Association in a position where it will have to release the woman from her confidentialilty agreement. “If she talks about it, I think it’ll be the end of his campaign.”

Then there is a third woman who the AP is reporting has come forward to allege she was also harassed by Herman Cain. No news yet on whether Herman Cain is going to blame Rick Perry for her story.

…and then something weird allegedly happened in Iowa with Herman Cain. You figure that one out and tell me if a new name will surface in the Herman Cain blame game, Mike Huckabee.

Meanwhile, very few right-wing or Tea Party types seem to care if Herman Cain is a dog. Someone who rarely travels with his wife, who has enjoyed anonymity until recently, is charming and handsome, but who is being accused of preying on women for his own personal amusement.

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WSJ: The Greece Ultimatum

By on 02 November 2011

The background of the drama also includes whether Greek Prime Minister Papandreou can keep his government together.

From the WSJ:

“Does Greece want to remain part of the euro zone or not,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “That is the question the Greek people must now answer.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Greeks would get no more euro-zone rescue aid—”no French taxpayer money, no German taxpayer money”—until the question is answered. Without aid, Greece would be bankrupt within weeks.

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“The beginning is near” – Occupiers speak

By on 02 November 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

Today’s big story is Occupy Oakland’s General Strike. You can find a Livestream (it freezes at times, but comes back) at Occupy Oakland. OWS has updates.

As reported this morning, at RT.com:

Oakland turns to first general strike in 65 years

Hundreds of teachers have called-in to work. Shops have locked their doors in solidarity. Although the sun is only just rising over Oakland, California, thousands have started taking it to the streets.

Later this evening, today’s events will accumulate with a massive march in the Bay Area … .

One sign read: “Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re trying to save the world.”

As always, tweets provide one (if unofficial, unconfirmed) way of watching. A few Occupy Oakland tweets, via OWS, beginning about 9 AM:

Crowd erupts in cheers as #OccupyOakland speaker announces ‘the Longshoremen have already shut down the Port of Oakland’

OccupyOakland crowd told the 4 & 5 pm marches are still critical to ensuring Port of Oakland remains shut …

Speaker: line of trucks mile long outside port of Oakland. Longshoremen first union to honor #generalstrike. Crowd goes wild.

One march of thousands has left 14th & Bway to march on banks that didnt shut down.

What’s happening, of course, is much bigger than Oakland, than the U.S. As OWS says, it’s a “Global Uprising”:

On November 1st, Israel organized a general strike to fight back against the global neoliberal machine.

On November 2nd, Oakland will join the month of global uprising with a city-wide general strike during which the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city and its port. …

Following Israel and Oakland’s example, we join this month of global uprising. …

It is time for us to come together and build a new world through the power of the individual and the community. We are not here to make requests of a corrupt political system – we are here to take our lives back into our own hands. We are not acknowledging subservience. There is no higher power than the power of the people. We are not asking for assistance. We are declaring independence. Our demand is not to those in power, it is to those individuals still silenced.

Some will, some have, dismissed such thinking as “idealistic,” “all words, no action,” “they don’t have a plan,” etc. They do have a plan, actually. It just doesn’t fit into the “normal” mold. For Occupiers and like-minded, a fundamental aspect of “planning” is the process employed, including the General Assemblies. In the Comments to yesterday’s Occupy post, there was some very interesting conversation about all of this. Cujo359 offered this: “Occupy is part of the waking up process. It’s not the end of the campaign. It’s just barely the beginning.”

The concept of things just “beginning” is frequently heard among Occupiers. There is some idealistic thinking going on, accompanied by some very realistic thinking, too. Both are needed. One major focus is that the need for changes are much bigger than the existing systems, including our Two Party Front for the Oligarchy, can handle. In fact, since the Two Parties are major players in and beneficiaries of the existing system, the idea of depending on them for needed solutions is … hmm, is “delusional” too strong?

So the thinking and the planning and doing – the Occupying – looks and sounds different. Here’s one example, via OWS:

What it is, the demand the 1% can’t comprehend, is us. It is the individuals and villages, the cities and peoples across the world who are seeing each other on the far side of appeals and petition. It is the world we are becoming.

Establishment polls confirm what everyone in the street already knows: a clear majority of New Yorkers, three of every four, support the occupation and get the ‘demand’ in their gut. The epicenter of the October 15 international day of action was Times Square … . But our town is only one center.

The article goes on to name cities around the world which participated in the October 15 “day of action,” then concludes:

And in our own backyard, in thousands of backyards, from Augusta and Jackson, Springfield and Sioux Falls, Vegas and Santa Rosa and Green Bay: Americans celebrated the occupation in its infancy. Jobs with dignity. Housing fit for families. Education. Health care. Pensions. The very air we breathe. What can those who want democracy demand from the king, except his crown? Regime change is in the air. America is looking at itself, it’s place in the world and who we are to be.

This is not a demonstration. It’s participation. Creation. … A new world.

In last night’s comments, fangio talked about the “need to hook up with or form a third party,” and the need for candidates outside the Two Parties is certainly very real. It isn’t what Occupy is about, at least to this point, but fangio is right to point to the need for, in my words, candidates worth voting for. Who will do that needed work?

As I’ve mentioned several times, and no doubt will again, Occupy is creating space for conversations. It’s a “beginning” process, but that beginning is essential. Some thoughts from Eli, writing at Occupy Tulsa:

When the movement began, and for a few years prior years, my friend Samuel and I have talked about economic disparity and the corporatization of our republic and the infringement upon civil rights. The voice of the people has become marginalized by money and special interests and it seems that no matter who you’re voting for, you’re just going through a formality because in the end all you’ve done is allow a different puppet to have their strings pulled by Wall Street.

People know this stuff. They’ve been talking about it, living it, for years, decades. Among other things, Occupy is creating processes and public spaces for the conversations to come together and be amplified. Not in perfect harmony. Not without growing pains. But it’s a beginning. A very visible, audible, global, powerful beginning.

(“Beginning is near” photo via OWS.
“Stand with 99%” photo via OWS.
“Proudly Support” photo via OWS. )

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CBPP: Republican Deficit Plan Offers ‘Minuscule Revenue’

By on 02 November 2011


chart via TPM

The full headline from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is this: Republican Plan Contains Minuscule Revenue Increase Alongside Deep Cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. It’s the story on what the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (aka the “supercommittee”) is planning and proposing.

But get this, Republicans also consider increases in Medicare premiums and other fees as “revenues.” Honestly, these people are just morally corrupt and economically challenged. This hasn’t been the case for over three decades, according to the CBPP report.

[...] The latest proposal by Republicans on the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “supercommittee”) contains virtually no new revenue and deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. In those respects, it represents little change from earlier Republican budget proposals. It stands in contrast to last week’s proposal from Senator Baucus and some other Democratic members of the joint committee, which offered significant concessions and marked a major departure from traditional Democratic positions.[1]

The new Republican plan provides for slightly more than $3 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years, relative to a current-policy baseline that assumes extension of all the 2001-2003 tax cuts. (See Table 1.) Of that amount, only about 1 percent of the deficit reduction ($40 billion) stems from revenue increases. And, compared to the “plausible baseline” that the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission and the Senate’s Gang of Six used, which assumes expiration of the upper-income tax cuts, the latest Republican plan actually provides for tax cuts of more than $800 billion over ten years. (See Table 2.)

The plan’s sponsors have characterized the plan’s proposed increases in Medicare premiums and various fees as “revenues,” but this characterization is inconsistent with standard budget accounting. The federal budget treats these items as reductions in outlays, not increases in revenues, and has for almost three decades. [...]

Because of its lack of revenue increases, the Republican plan both achieves less deficit reduction and makes much deeper cuts in programs that benefit low- and moderate-income families and individuals than does the Democratic offer:

The Republican plan would produce $1 trillion less deficit reduction than the Democratic offer, relative to any baseline. If these plans are measured from a current-policy baseline, the Republican proposal reduces deficits by $3.1 trillion over ten years while the Democratic offer reduces deficits by $4.1 trillion, including (for both proposals) the discretionary spending cuts in the Budget Control Act, as shown in Table
1. (The figures for the Democratic offer do not include economic stimulus proposals, the details of which are not available, so the net deficit reduction under that plan is likely several hundred billion dollars smaller, although still well above the deficit reduction in the Republican plan.)

Relative to the “plausible baseline” used by the Bowles-Simpson commission and the Gang of Six, those two bipartisan plans proposed about $1½ in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue increases, not counting debt-service savings. (See Table 2.) The Democratic offer moved well to the right of those bipartisan plans, offering about $5 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue increases.[4] On a comparable basis, the Republican proposal is entirely spending cuts; it calls for revenue reductions relative to the “plausible baseline.”

In contrast, relative to the current-policy baseline, which assumes that all of the Bush tax cuts are made permanent, the Republican plan raises $40 billion in new revenue (by using a modestly lower measure of inflation, the chained Consumer Price Index, to make annual inflation adjustments in the tax code as well as in Social Security and other benefit programs).

The Republican plan makes deeper cuts in Medicare than the Democratic offer — $500 billion versus $400 billion. Of particular note, four-fifths of the Republicans’ proposed Medicare cuts — $400 billion — would directly affect beneficiaries through higher premiums, higher cost sharing, and more restrictive eligibility criteria. In the Democratic proposal, $200 billion of the Medicare cuts would apply to beneficiaries, with the rest falling on pharmaceutical companies and other health care providers. Since half of Medicare beneficiaries had incomes below $21,100 in 2010, it would be virtually impossible to achieve this level of beneficiary cuts without imposing substantial increases in out-of-pocket costs on near-poor elderly and disabled people — those between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty line (about $11,000 to $22,000 for an individual). Yet the typical Medicare beneficiary in this income range already pays 23 percent of income for out-of-pocket costs, a percentage that would increase significantly under both plans — especially under the Republican plan.[5]

The Republican plan also would make far deeper cuts in Medicaid — $185 billion versus $75 billion over ten years under the Democratic plan. Cuts of this depth would shift substantial costs to state governments, which would lead to state actions that limit care for the low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities whom Medicaid serves.

The Republican plan also would make sharper cuts in mandatory spending programs other than Medicare and Medicaid — $685 billion versus $385 billion under the Democratic plan and $364 billion under Bowles-Simpson. This level of cuts is close to that in the Ryan budget. Although the proposal does not specify how much will be cut from specific programs, at least half of these cuts are likely to be made in programs serving low-income Americans, such as food stamps.[6]

The weird thing about what the Republicans are offering is that for some reason it’s making Democrats want to yield on issues they shouldn’t, because the consequences of not coming up with something scares them. While Republicans offering cuts that hurt the middle class simply squeezes Democrats to make compromises against the interests of average Americans, too.

Catch 22, anyone?

Not quite, because whenever you see the name Sen. Max Baucus you have to think of two words: health care. Oh, and Jim Messina, the guy responsible for Obama/Biden 2012, who helped Baucus get into position to do what he did on health care. Baucus is the guy who helped take out Tom Daschle, according to much scuttlebutt, but also Confidence Men by Ron Suskind. It was Baucus who was most responsible for helping to deliver a health care bill that was nothing less than a Democratic choke.

Max Baucus is now simply doing for deficit reduction what he did for health care, with Pres. Barack Obama allowing him to do it again.

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Republican Nut Jobs Help Obama Rise

By on 02 November 2011

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating is up, from a negative 41 – 55 percent October 6, to a split today with 47 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving in a Quinnipiac University poll released today. The president has leads of 5 to 16 percentage points over likely Republican challengers. Voters also are divided 47 – 49 percent on whether Obama deserves reelection, compared to last month, when voters said 54 – 42 percent he did not deserve reelection. – Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Cain And Gingrich Up As Romney Stalls And Perry Fades

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Is it time Republicans started to root for Newt?

Compared to Herman Cain’s idiocy, I’d say yes.

At least Mr. Gingrich has a working knowledge of the last 50 years and won’t pontificate about China going nuclear, as Cain did with Judy Woodruff, evidently not having a clue that they’ve been nuclear for decades.

Poor Sarah Palin, she’s a genius compared to the current frontrunner, a man who doesn’t know squat about foreign policy and whose economic plan is a joke.

It’s why I’ve been writing for over a year that Pres. Obama is still the best bet to win in 2012.

Never have Republicans had a better chance to fulfill their dream of making Mr. Obama a one-term president. But with these bozos, who keep proving they’re not fit for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the American people are getting a sense that though Obama isn’t inspiring at his job at this point, these people would be far worse.

The lesser of two evils bites again, at least so far.

However, I still feel if Mitt Romney can make it through the clown primaries, he’d be a formidable challenger for Obama.

Meanwhile, many hope for an outsider type to enter the race next year. Anyone who could give the establishment moneyed men a challenge.

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Are Iowans Rubes?

By on 02 November 2011

**UPDATED**

While Herman Cain struggled for a second day in Washington to push back against sexual harassment allegations, the high political drama almost went unmentioned Tuesday in one of the most important courts of public opinion — Iowa. On the campaign trail, on local conservative talk radio and in conversations among activists, Republicans here have so far greeted the story with a shrug. – Iowa yawns at Herman Cain allegations

Iowa doesn’t deserve special treatment in our presidential sweepstakes. It’s the 21st century, with this state having no relationship whatsoever to the future. For anyone who knows its history on females and politics, it’s fitting that Iowa Republicans wouldn’t do anything else but shrug at Herman Cain’s alleged sexual harassment.

The highest approval rating Hillary Rodham Clinton ever received was when she was standing beside her philandering husband back in the ’90s. It’s not hard to guess Iowans loved her in that role, the role of victim, but like other women at the time, when running for a place of leadership it is no sale.

Judge, an Albia Democrat who has spent 18 years as a state senator, agriculture secretary and lieutenant governor, said she can see the day coming when Iowa ends the dubious distinction of being one of only two states that has not elected a woman to Congress or the governor’s office. – Women can win in Iowa, outgoing lieutenant governor says (January 2011)

The other state is Mississippi.

Iowans didn’t care when Barack Obama outright lied to them about Exelon either.

One wonders if Herman Cain’s other troubles, that he possibly broke federal campaign election law, will matter to Iowans.

“The number of questionable and possibly illegal transactions conducted on behalf of Herman Cain is staggering,” said Maistelman, a Democrat who has represented politicians from both parties on campaign issues.

It’s all just some big mistake, right? Read the article.

So why should the Republican primary rubes in Iowa care about what Mr. Cain allegedly did to women? That’s plural, in case you care.

So, when you read that Iowa “yawns” as Herman Cain and his backers, including conservative women like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, go around propping him up against the women who must remain silent, no one should be surprised.

Maureen Dowd says it well today.

Ann Coulter has a point when she says that feminists rewrote their own rules on sexual harassment to support Bill Clinton. It is never right for any boss, especially the president of the United States, to mess with an intern, even if she’s the aggressor.

But Coulter falters when she charges that, like Clarence Thomas, Cain is the victim of a high-tech lynching, that “if you are a conservative black, they will believe the most horrible sexualized fantasies of these white women feminists.”

This isn’t an incendiary story about race. It is the most hackneyed story in Washington — another powerful man who crossed the line and then, when caught, tried to blame the women.

In Iowa, blaming the women is still acceptable. It obviously is in the Tea Party, right wing arena of the Republican Party, too.

ps – For those of you who haven’t read Ken Gormley’s book, it’s important to note that former Pres. Bill Clinton, in fact, did not blame the women, contrary to what Maureen Dowd writes today, as she does every time she writes about the Clintons. But you’ll have to buy my new e-book to get the whole story in one place, backed up and proven.

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Herman Cain is ‘Bad-mouthing the Two Complainants’

By on 01 November 2011

“It is just frustrating that Herman Cain is going around bad-mouthing the two complainants, and my client is blocked by a confidentiality agreement,” Bennett said. “The National Restaurant Association ought to release them and allow them to respond.” – Lawyer: Cain accuser wants to tell her side of story

Herman Cain’s troubles just got worse.

One of the women wants to come forward, but while her attorney reviews the file, she can’t, because of the confidentiality agreement.

If she is released from the confidentiality ban, “then it is whole new ballgame,” Bennett said.

It certainly would be, because then Herman Cain wouldn’t be able to go on every cable and national news network to proclaim there wasn’t sexual harassment.

“If there hadn’t been [sexual harassment] claims, there wouldn’t have been a settlement,” Bennett said.

Why aren’t conservative women demanding more answers?

Why is Laura Ingraham, who used to clerk for Clarence Thomas, standing in front of Herman Cain?

What’s more important, Herman Cain or hearing what the woman who accused him has to say?

If the woman’s lawyer cannot find a way through the confidentiality agreement, Herman Cain should ask the Restaurant Assoc. to release her from it.

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Creative Occupying: Pedal power, Guerilla Drive-In and more

By on 01 November 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

Whatever else the Occupy movement is doing, it’s serving as a catalyst for multiple forms of creativity. From writing, to the use of the net, to street theatre and more, Occupy continues to create spaces for conversation. A few examples follow.

I’m beginning with a piece by Jim Hightower, whose writing and wit are always creative. And because this provides one reason why creativity is needed: forcing the attention of those who don’t want to give it.

Rising public anger explained in daily headlines …

America’s power elites on Wall Street and in Washington have been stunned by the sudden surge of the Occupy movement. Some 600 U.S. communities have Occupy groups, thousands of middle-class people have taken to the streets, and recent polls show that nearly six out of 10 Americans support what the protesters are saying and doing. ‘Why is this happening?’ wail bankers, CEOs, and their pet politicos, ‘What is upsetting all these people?’

You’d think that the superrich could afford to buy a clue, but apparently not. So, to help them grasp the situation, I’ve gathered a mess of news clips from just the past few weeks that pretty much spells it out for them. They needn’t read the actual stories, just scan the headlines. Better yet, I’ll do it for them (no need to thank me, I’m always delighted to edify the rich): …

Remember NYC taking away the OWS’ generators, just as it was suppose to start snowing? That action ended up generating a creative solution. Via Raw Story:

Occupy Wall Street turns to pedal power …

The Occupy Wall Street protesters who were left without power after their gas-fueled generators were confiscated by New York City authorities on Friday may have found the idea solution in the form of a stationary bicycle hooked up to charge batteries.

Stephan Keegan of the non-profit environmental group Time’s Up showed off one of the bikes to The Daily News, explaining that OWS’s General Assembly has already authorized payment for additional bikes and that ‘soon we’ll have ten of these set up and we’ll be powering the whole park with batteries.’

Via AlterNet, an “At-Home Activism Plan”:

The idea is to ‘keep Wall Street occupied’ by organizing a mass movement of consumers to send their unsolicited credit card and mortgage offers right back to the Wall Street mailrooms from whence they came – with a message from the 99% inside!

Not to downplay this idea, but by now, there are millions who never did, or no longer, receive such mail. Of course, that’s a part of the Occupy point.

Maybe “creative” isn’t exactly the right word, but city / police actions are creating a growing need among Occupiers. From Truth Out:

Volunteer Attorneys Steer Occupy Protesters Through the Legal System …Growing numbers of protesters are being arrested for trespassing, failure to disperse and disobeying a lawful order, as city after city confronts the question of whether individual rights to free speech and assembly include the right to camp out on public property. …

The resulting legal skirmishes have spurred the largest mobilization of pro bono protest attorneys since the anti-war movement of the 1960s and ’70s.

Thanks to Taylor for this one, definitely in the “creative” category, a Occupy the Kochs’ Guerilla Dive-In:

The Koch’s front group, Americans for Prosperity, is hosting a fancy gala dinner in DC this Friday. While it’s going on, hundreds (maybe even thousands) of members of the 99% will gather outside for a ‘Guerilla Drive-In.’

Please come out for popcorn, snacks, drinks and a great time as we watch fun videos that expose the Koch Brothers and their attempts to use their wealth to influence our elections and our government.

And via Counter Punch, Iowa provided Occupy Obama, held a couple of weeks ago, at Obama’s Des Moines campaign headquarters,

… organized in part by veteran rabble rouser Hugh Espey and his highly effective Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a grassroots force that has been fighting for economic and social justice since the 1970s. …

(Espey said) ‘We want regular folks telling the Obama staffers what they think. We want Obama to understand that the 99% demand action from him to put communities before corporations and people before profits’ … .

A few of the growing number of online resource:

Aimed at helping publicize “urgent” or “emergency” Occupy needs – like having your generators confiscated – is Occupy Bulletin.

Occupy Together provides, among other things, an Actions and Directory section, as well as a list of Occupy Together Communities, which numbered 2409 this morning.

The Occupations Report is an updated compilation of stories, events, etc., put together by Rebuild the Dream.

And while “general strikes” aren’t new, they way Occupy Oakland made the decision, and are organizing, is something quite different from most organizing. In spite of Very Serious People consistently telling Occupiers everywhere that it won’t work, the “General Assembly” is, in fact, working.

Via OWS:

Occupy Oakland Calls For City-Wide General Strike, Nov 2

Below is the proposal passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. 1607 people voted. 1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count. …

(Proposal) We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.
We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. …

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

(Power to the People poster via OccupyChico.
General Strike graphic via Occupy Oakland)

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Why Would Anyone Vote Republican Today?

By on 01 November 2011


The above graphic is compliments of Virginia Republicans, though it really could have come from any GOP office today.

When you look at the anti-democratic actions of Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich, or Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin, not to mention the war on women being waged by right-wing zealots across our country, it’s amazing that Democrats aren’t flying high.

For president, you’ve got an alleged sexual harasser, Herman Cain, leading the GOP presidential pack, with his bookend, a death penalty crazed, intellectually challenged Rick Perry, trying to claw his way back up the ranks.

It’s too bad today’s Democratic Party has chosen to capitulate and compromise with Republicans, which we’ll see further when the “super committee” comes in with its recommendations, instead of taking their advantage and pushing it to aid the people. Democrats today no longer have the courage of their convictions or the principles on which the Party has stood for decades.

The email pictured at the top came from the Virginia Loudoun County’s Republican committee.

Gov. McDonnell had the good sense to blast these despicable efforts. Unfortunately, he didn’t say what needed to be said, which is that Pres. Obama is our president and any such dangerous images are un-American and should be investigated by the Secret Service. McDonnell should also fire the entire staff in Loudon Cty.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) called the e-mail “shameful and offensive,’’ his spokesman Tucker Martin said. “He calls on those involved to apologize for their actions, and to immediately ensure that such imagery is never used again. The governor has long stressed the need for more civility and respect in our politics. An e-mail like this one undermines those goals, offends all Virginians and discredits our entire political process. It will not be tolerated.”

The e-mail, first reported on the blog Too Conservative, has “Halloween 2011” in the subject lines and has several other images, including one of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose face has been made to look deformed with one eye bulging out of its socket.

The e-mail invites supporters to a Halloween parade. “LCRC members and Republican candidates: We are going to vanquish the zombies with clear thinking conservative principles and a truckload of Republican candy…It’s fun and a great way to represent our candidates to a ton of voters (and their kids) just before the election.”

Rush Limbaugh translation: It was a joke.

This is who the Republican Party is today, because they’re being run by a bunch of ignorant, some would say crazy, cretins who have no impulse control.

In Gov. McDonald’s Virginia, where I live, George “macaca” Allen, is actually running for Senate again. That he’s being challenged by Tim I-blew-the-2010-midterms-because-I-didn’t-have-the-guts-to-make-an-economic-message Kaine seems fitting. Allen and Kaine representing the perfect examples of everything that’s wrong with both parties.

The same actually goes for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, both men having a weak ideological core, but no problem saying one thing on the campaign trail and another to the Wall Street jackals who fund their campaigns. Two politicians who are the epitome of the type of men who rise to the top in both parties, toting craven allegiances that leave we the people out in the cold, because it’s all about the best politician money can buy.

So, until Republicans get a handle on the people inside their party who trade in such dangerously racist, violently misogynistic, and anti-American rhetoric and campaign tactics, they don’t deserve a single vote.

But considering what Democrats, as well as progressives in Congress, are letting Republicans get away with, their cowardice doesn’t exactly deserve praise or a vote either.

This, in a nutshell, is American politics as it stands today.

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Progressive Notes: UPDATE-WH Nixes Fundraiser at Houston Pension Opponent Arnold’s Home

By on 01 November 2011

Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.

Michelle Obama’s fundraiser with pension opponent John Arnold in Houston has now suddenly been cancelled “postponed.”

UPDATE: Politico has a brief story up on the cancellation of the fundraisers in Houston here.

Did the words of Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon, its Director Zeph Capo, my post here about their opposition to the event, and a story in Politico nix the horrid thing?

I view this as a small but important victory.

Note the First Lady is still visiting New Orleans tomorrow, a spot mere hours from Houston. From ABC News Radio:

First lady Michelle Obama has postponed a campaign fundraiser that had been scheduled for Tuesday at the Houston home of billionaire and former Enron executive John Arnold, her office announced Monday.

The White House advisory cited “scheduling conflicts” for the change. Dana Guefen, a co-chair for the event, declined to comment to ABC News on why the event was moved.

Obama was to also appear at an earlier, larger fundraiser at the Westin Oaks in Houston. She was slated as the keynote speaker at both events….

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