Gulf shrimp harvest severely down

There's no question that the weather has been off this year but the problem may be similar to the herring collapse in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez spill. Following that disaster, the fish were unable to mature and the population crashed in Alaska. A lot more research needs to be done but either way, this year is another terrible year for the professional fishing fleets of the Gulf.

“There’s no shrimp,” explained Grant Bundy, 38. The dock should smell like a place where 10,000 pounds of shrimp a day are bought off the boats. Not this year. In all of September, Bundy’s Seafood bought around 41,000 pounds.

White shrimp season began in late August, and two months in, the shrimpers here say it is a bad one, if not the worst in memory. It is bad not just in spots but all over southeastern Louisiana, said Jules Nunez, 78, calling it the worst season he had seen since he began shrimping in 1950. Some fishermen said their catches were off by 80 percent or more.

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But what does #OccupyWallStreet want?

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow has a pretty brilliant toon up at Daily Kos on the refusal by many, particularly in the media, to acknowledge that #OccupyWallStreet has a very clear conception of what they are protesting. Go give it a read. Read the rest of this post...

NBC/WSJ poll: American Jobs Act wildly popular with public

NBC/WSJ:

Even though the United States Senate on Tuesday blocked President Obama's jobs bill, the legislation's specifics -- as well as the idea of taxing the wealthy to pay for it -- are popular with the American public, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

When asked simply if Congress should pass the legislation or not, 30 percent of respondents answer yes, while 22 percent say no; 44 percent have no opinion.

But when the legislation's details are included in a follow-up question -- that it would cut payroll taxes, fund new road construction, extend unemployment benefits, and that it would be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy -- 63 percent say they favor the bill and 32 percent oppose it.

What's more, 64 percent of respondents agree with the statement that it is a "good idea" to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, because they should pay their fair share and can afford to pay more to help fund programs and government operations.

Democrats need to be careful with this. The public is ambivalent on "health care reform," but they love the details of it, as we learned in previous polls. Just because the public likes the details doesn't mean that the GOP won't be able to convince them to hate the deal overall. Don't get me wrong, these numbers are great. But they still contain a warning for Dems that messaging counts. Read the rest of this post...

San Francisco police hit OccupySF protester in the face

There's no shortage of pushing and shoving but the police have to start showing more restraint in these situations. Especially when they're the ones starting the pushing and shoving.

NOTE FROM JOHN: The violence begins at about 2 minutes into the video.  One thing I'm unsure of - when the cop attacks the protester, someone has something in his hand that looks lit.  You'll see sparks flying.  I don't know whether the police had something, whether the protester lit something that set the cop off, or what (it could just be a cigar, looks too big to be a cigarette).  But these videos are difficult to judge some times since we don't know what's happening outside of the camera view.  Still, it doesn't seem like the police are handling these protests very well.  Not to mention, when the Teabaggers were just as belligerent during the Democratic health care town halls - and mind you, there were members of Congress present - the cops never reacted like this.

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Prayer fails to save Harrisburg, PA from bankruptcy. Are other cities next?

Who would have guessed that prayer, rather than math and wise decisions, wouldn't work?

If all the brightest minds in Harrisburg’s government can’t solve the city’s financial problems, maybe God can.

That seems to be the thinking in Pennsylvania’s capital city, where Mayor Linda Thompson and a host of other religious leaders are about to embark on a three-day fast and prayer campaign to cure the city’s daunting money woes.

Now that Harrisburg has filed for bankruptcy, the question is whether this is the beginning of a trend or an isolated event. Meredith Whitney believes this could be the first of possibly hundreds, though others are less convinced.

At this time there are lot more questions than answers, but what is certain is that the economic crisis is far from over.

Pennsylvania's capital has authorized a bankruptcy filing, making the city the nation's highest-profile municipality to acknowledge that it can no longer handle its burdensome debt.

Harrisburg's city council authorized the measure Tuesday after the government spent the past year and a half trying to find a solution to its $300 million debt crisis.

Harrisburg has become something of a national poster child for government debt run amok. Banking analyst Meredith Whitney has cited the city as an example of why perhaps a hundred or more municipalities across the country would default on their debts, causing hundreds of billions in damages.

Whitney's forecast has yet to materialize as municipal bonds actually have done quite well this year, and her call is receiving increased criticism in the financial community.

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Why is Obama not bombing Iran? And why he shouldn’t.

Not that I think Obama should bomb Iran in response to the terror plot just discovered. Republicans will certainly be calling for a military response. On past precedent, a military response would be justified. Yet this has been rulled out. Why?

First off we have to exclude the suggestion that not bombing is a sign of weakness. There is really nothing easier for a US president to do than to press the button for military action. Bush II proved that it is easy for a coward to send others in to fight a war. Russia and China would protest a military action, but they would support it in private if they were convinced the plot was real. Not bombing will take much more courage for Obama than the easy decision to attack.

One explanation for the lack of action is that the plot was 'aspirational' not 'operational', this being the cute phrase used in cases where the FBI has infiltrated some group with an agent provocateur who costructed a plot where none existed before. But at least one of the plotters was a member of the Qods force which means that they were under the Iranian chain of command. Such people do not spontaneously plot to bomb restaurants without direct and unambiguous orders from their superiors.

Another possible explanation is that the tip off came from inside the Iranian regime itself. Like the old Soviet illegals, the Qods force reports through operatives stationed in the local embassy. Reading between the lines of Holder's statement suggests to me that this might have occured or that this is what the Administration may want the Iranian goverment to assume occurred.

In either case, not bombing is the smartest response. Ahmedinejad is engaged in a power struggle within the regime. He has spent most of his time and energy as President attempting to provoke attack by Israel or the US. An external attack would give him the authority to liquidate opponents within the regime. While the Supreme Leader might retain titular authority, his actual position would be reduced to a cipher and the present incumbent most likely disposed of as well.

Not bombing deprives the would-be Napoleon of the pretext for his enabling act. Time is running short for the mullahs. They can either choose to return power to their citizens and permit a free election or they can attempt to continue their illegitimate rule through a series of Ahmadinejads and hope that none of them attempts to secure absolute rule. Read the rest of this post...

Poll: 70% of Americans view Wall Street negatively

It's hard to imagine what the 30% are thinking.

Overall, this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, finds that 70 percent of Americans see Wall Street unfavorably, and essentially as many, 68 percent, hold an unfavorable opinion of the government in Washington. Negative views of Wall Street soar to 84 percent among liberal Democrats, versus 59 percent among conservative Republicans. Negative views of the government in Washington, meanwhile, reach 89 percent among conservative Republicans, versus 57 percent among liberal Democrats.

Sharp differences also appear in intensity of sentiment, an important measure because people with strong views can be more motivated to act on them. Fifty-six percent of liberal Democrats have a “strongly” negative opinion of Wall Street, as opposed to 32 percent of conservative Republicans. By contrast, 69 percent of conservative Republicans have a strongly negative view of the federal government, compared with 32 percent of liberal Democrats.

Partisanship isn’t the only factor in views of Wall Street. It’s rated more negatively by better-off Americans, and more strongly negatively by those approaching retirement age, two groups that may have been particularly exposed to the market’s troubles.

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Sponsor of TN "okay to have gun in a bar" law arrested for DUI with a gun

We're number 1! (H/t to ThinkProgress, which notes that this is also the guy who compared illegal immigrants to "reproducing rats." Read the rest of this post...

White House "Star Chamber" recommended killing US citizen al-Awlaki; evidence of operational role "patchy"

I'm not going to make a big deal of this by writing a ton; it makes a big deal of itself by existing, and Glenn Greenwald has done a better job than I could ever do of exposing this fetid flower. So just a bunch of quotes to make a simple point.

You know already that the U.S. military-CIA complex killed American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki on President Obama's orders. CBS/AP:

U.S. counterterrorism forces killed two American citizens who played key roles in inspiring attacks against the U.S., U.S. and Yemeni officials said Friday.

U.S-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who edited the slick Jihadi Internet magazine, were killed in an air strike on their convoy in Yemen by a joint CIA-U.S. military operation, according to counterterrorism officials. Al-Awlaki was targeted in the killing, but Khan apparently was not targeted directly.

I've cut out the propaganda about "he needed killing" — see below for why. Also note that U.S. citizen Samir Khan was apparently just along for the ride and not covered by Obama's order.

In the same piece, Obama is saying that he killed these men in order to "build a world in which people everywhere can live in greater peace, prosperity and security." (Ahem.)

So what was the process by which this "targeted killing" (how is that not assassination) was decided? Reuters (h/t Greenwald, who supplied the emphasis):

Secret panel can put Americans on kill list

American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions . . . . There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House’s National Security Council . . . . Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate. . . . The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process.

There you go. Star Chamber, with the president the decider, the one to pull the trigger (so to speak). Here's what a Star Chamber was (and became):

[Star Chamber] Court sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. Evidence was presented in writing. Over time it evolved into a political weapon, a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power by the English monarchy and courts. ... The power of the Court of Star Chamber grew considerably under the House of Stuart, and by the time of King Charles I, it had become synonymous with misuse and abuse of power by the King and his circle. [my emphasis]

And for the information of Mr. Constitutional Law Professor:

The historical abuses of the Star Chamber are considered a primary motivating force behind the protections against compelled self-incrimination embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[9] The meaning of "compelled testimony" under the Fifth Amendment—i.e., the conditions under which a defendant is allowed to "take the Fifth"—is thus often interpreted via reference to the inquisitorial methods of the Star Chamber.

Greenwald adds this up (swallow that coffee; this isn't fun):

So a panel operating out of the White House — that meets in total secrecy, with no known law or rules governing what it can do or how it operates — is empowered to place American citizens on a list to be killed by the CIA, which (by some process nobody knows) eventually makes its way to the President, who is the final Decider.

It is difficult to describe the level of warped authoritarianism necessary to cause someone to lend their support to a twisted Star Chamber like that; I genuinely wonder whether the Good Democrats doing so actually first convince themselves that if this were the Bush White House’s hit list, or if it becomes Rick Perry’s, they would be supportive just the same.

Seriously: if you’re willing to endorse having White House functionaries meet in secret — with no known guidelines, no oversight, no transparency — and compile lists of American citizens to be killed by the CIA without due process, what aren’t you willing to support?

Of all the things I’ve seen over the past several years, easily one of the most repellent has been the number of people — especially journalists — who are running around definitively asserting that Awlaki had an “operational role” in Terrorist plots and had “taken up arms” against the U.S. even though they have no idea whether that’s actually true[.]

(Politico‘s Roger Simon: “U.S. citizen living overseas and plotting the death of American citizens from, let’s say, Yemen, you can say hello to our little friends, the 100-lb. Hellfires”; Josh Marshall: Awlaki was “a key leader of an international terrorist group, organizing and inspiring terrorist attacks within the US”). [my emphasis and paragraphing]

Et tu, Democrats? You just handed that power to the next R president.

And what about evidence of "operational role"? Reuters again, quoting the government (anonymously):

The Obama administration has not made public an accounting of the classified evidence that Awlaki was operationally involved in planning terrorist attacks.

But officials acknowledged that some of the intelligence purporting to show Awlaki’s hands-on role in plotting attacks was patchy.

Secret and patchy.

I've said many times that Obama is crossing lines of conscience, one Democrat at a time. In this Occupy Wall Street world, this is getting lost. Thus this post. Your president can now order your death.

GP Read the rest of this post...

The Welfare of the 99% not the wealth of the 1%: #OccupyWallStreet

People still seem to have a problem with the idea of a demonstration that is not making a demand. I can't see why this should be such a problem. Occupy Wall Street is not making threats, so why make demands?

The reason OWS is resonating is that there is something really wrong with the US political system. For the past 30 years the elites have been talking about one set of issues and problems as if they were all that mattered while the issues that really matter to people have been increasingly placed off limits.

To even mention the fact that the top 1% of earners received the benefit of 65% of the growth over the past ten years is completely unacceptable to the elites, That is class warfare. If you are talking about that you must be unpatriotic, un-American, engaging in class warfare. Even the suggestion that the Koch brothers and their retainers are the real elites rather than Harvard professors etc. is unacceptable.

The gains of the 1% are not a coincidence, it is the result of the elites being interested only in the wealth of the wealthiest 1%, not the welfare of the other 99%.

Another issue that has received far too little attention is student debt and the rising cost of higher education. Some companies now list a college degree as an essential requirement for a position as a shop assistant. An MBA is expected for management positions. Students who were told they were investing in their future are now finding themselves unemployed with a hundred thousand dollars or more in student debt.

Just talking about these issues is not going to result in a solution. But until people start talking about and thinking about them Congress is not even going to be looking for a solution. Read the rest of this post...

52% of Republicans support tax increases on rich

Surprise, surprise. The GOP candidates, House members and Senators  are all out of touch with their own.

More than half of Republicans say wealthier Americans should pay more in taxes to bring down the federal budget deficit.

Fifty-three percent of self-identified Republicans back an increase in taxes on households making more than $250,000, a sentiment at odds with the party’s presidential candidates, who will meet tonight in a Bloomberg-Washington Post-sponsored debate focused on economic issues.

More than two-thirds of all Americans back higher taxes on the rich and even larger numbers think Medicare and Social Security benefits should be left alone, according to a Bloomberg-Washington Post national poll conducted Oct. 6-9.

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More on the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador possibly in a DC restaurant

According to the Washington Post, the plot was uncharacteristically bold for Iran, and uncharacteristically sloppy. And this was an interesting tidbit at the end of the story:

The most spectacular blows in the covert war in recent years have fallen on Iran. In the past four years, four Iranian scientists with links to the country’s nuclear program have been slain, by gunshot, bomb or poisoning, by unknown assailants. A fifth scientist barely escaped death in a car-bombing. Iran has accused the United States and Israel of killing the scientists as part of a larger program of sabotage and intimidation aimed at crippling the nuclear program. Neither the U.S. nor Israeli government has commented publicly on the slayings.

Iran’s nuclear program also was damaged by a computer worm that targeted enrichment operations. Some computer experts believe the worm, Stuxnet, was created by the Israelis, perhaps with U.S. help.

So does anyone else think this is just the White House's attempt to divert attention from plan 999?  (Kidding.)  What a bozo that guy is (Cain, not Obama).  Totally off topic now, but I'm impressed that Bachmann pulled out her little 666 joke last night during the GOP presidential debate (if you turn 999 upside down it's 666). Don't think for a minute that she was really joking. I know it sounds nuts, but I'll bet you some evangelicals are not going to like the fact that Herman Cain's economics plan has a hidden sign of the devil built into it (hell, my grandmother made us change her phone number after someone told her that her new number, 725-1666, ended with the sign of the devil - and we're not even evangelical or born again).  I'm serious - don't forget who we're dealing with. These are folks who think the earth is only 6,000 years old, and the President is a socialist and possibly the anti-Christ. Don't put it past them to be unnerved by something like this.)

It's only a matter of time before the religious right realizes that Cain is also the name of the first murderer in the world.

PS As a fun aside, I seem to recall that back when we were fighting the gay military ban in 1993, the lead group fighting against the ban, the Campaign for Military Service, intentionally picked a phone number that included 666 just to scare away any religious right troublemakers from calling them.  Never underestimate the power of that number with those folks. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday morning open thread

Pogue likes the new iPhone.  He's particularly jones'd about Siri, the new talking personal assistant creepy Stark Trek computer thingy included in the new operating system:

You can say, “Wake me up at 7:35,” or “Change my 7:35 alarm to 8.” You can say, “What’s Gary’s work number?” Or, “How do I get to the airport?” Or, “Any good Thai restaurants around here?” Or, “Make a note to rent ‘Ishtar’ this weekend.” Or, “How many days until Valentine’s Day?” Or, “Play some Beatles.” Or, “When was Abraham Lincoln born?”

In each case, Siri thinks for a few seconds, displays a beautifully formatted response and speaks in a calm female voice.

It’s mind-blowing how inexact your utterances can be. Siri understands everything from, “What’s the weather going to be like in Tucson this weekend?” to “Will I need an umbrella tonight?” (She has various amusing responses for “What is the meaning of life?”)

It’s even more amazing how Siri’s responses can actually form a conversation. Once, I tried saying, “Make an appointment with Patrick for Thursday at 3.” Siri responded, “Note that you already have an all-day appointment about ‘Boston Trip’ for this Thursday. Shall I schedule this anyway?” Unbelievable.

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Gaza: Abu Mailek freed. Shalit to be swapped.

Some good news: Dissidents Under Fire are reporting that Mohamed Abu Mailek has been released (although, it is suggested that he is still in grave danger). In 2009, Mohamed was a member of a rocket squad. He decided that he was not prepared to fire on civilians. As a result he was tortured and faced the death penalty for "collaboration and espionage". A high profile campaign involving Amnesty and, amongst others, Archbishop Tutu, seems to have borne fruit.

Whatever view you take of the Israel/Palestine conflict, Mohamed's stand was a ridiculously brave and, in my view, utterly heroic one. His release is fantastic news.

The BBC is also reporting that a prisoner swap deal "for the release of Sgt Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants for five years." Read the rest of this post...