The Commentariat -- October 2

The Open Thread continues on Off Times Square.

** Jonathan Turley in a Washington Post op-ed: "The fears of the Danbury Baptists, [whose letter to President Thomas Jefferson prompted him to respond that the First Amendment built "a wall between separation of church and state"] appear to have been realized, with political campaigns, federal programs and judicial decisions moving away from a clear separation of church and state." Turley goes on to cite many examples of today's politicians interjecting religion into their rhetoric. "The danger of explicit appeals to faith in politics isn’t the establishment of an official religion; that remains highly unlikely. Rather, faith-based politics can become faith-based laws that enforce morality codes, expand public subsidies for religious institutions or sideline religious (or non-religious) minorities." ...

... CW: if you haven't read Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, a transcript is here. A photo of the original is here:

The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. -- John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli, 1797

And then, hearing any leader declare that America isn't a Christian nation and poking an ally like Israel in the eye, it's mind-boggling to see some of our nation's actions recently. -- Sarah Palin, her mind apparently boggled by the founding father cited above, while criticizing, misrepresenting & misquoting this guy:

Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square. -- Barack Obama, a "Constitutional scholar," June 28, 2006

Our educational establishment these days, while so tolerant of and even insistent on diversity in all other aspects of life, seems bent on eliminating the diversity of moral judgment, particularly moral judgment based on religious views. -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, last week (cited in the MoDo column below)

... Maureen Dowd: "The most Catholic Supreme Court in history celebrates one of Washington’s most intriguing rituals, an annual merger of church and state." ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court, which has been focused in recent terms on the rights of corporations and on curbing big lawsuits, returns to the bench on Monday with a different agenda. Now, criminal justice is at the heart of the court’s docket, along with major cases on free speech and religious freedom.... Still, the shift in focus toward criminal and First Amendment cases will soon be obscured if, as expected, the justices agree to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law. That case promises to be a once-in-a-generation blockbuster. In the meantime, the justices will hear an extraordinary set of cases that together amount to a project that could overhaul almost every part of the criminal justice system." ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court convenes Monday for what could be the most significant term of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s six-year tenure, with an agenda that both reflects the nation’s political landscape and offers the potential to reshape it. The dominant theme is the one that has divided the country and fueled the debate between tea party Republicans and President Obama since the 2010 election: the extent of the federal government’s power. The justices are being asked to decide the constitutionality of the landmark health-care act, the ability of states to enforce strict immigration laws and whether the government can continue to monitor the airwaves for indecency."

Occupy Wall Street

CW: Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times gets a do-over. And, well, she sure botches the lede:

During their first week, members of Occupy Wall Street, the ideologically vague and strategically baffling effort to redress social inequities, put together a library on the north end of Zuccotti Park whose disparate offerings included 'Last Exit to Brooklyn'; Gay Talese’s article in The New Yorker on the collaboration of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga; and Abbott’s Digest of New York Statutes and Reports, Volumes 4, 9, 33 and 34.

     ... The ensuing prose improves. A little. I wonder what the report would look like if the Times had sent, say, a sports reporter instead of an arts critic like Ballafante. ...

FreakOutNation: "The New York Times has been part of the problem – in this image, note that within 20 minutes, the writer changed and the blame was shifted onto the protesters.... Natasha Lennard, a writer for the New York Times was allegedly among those arrested, so we can assume they will assign blame to her as well:

Graphic by FreakOut Nation.     ... CW Update: in an e-mail to me, Karen Garcia said that Natasha Lennard, the "Times reporter" who was arrested on the bridge yesterday is a stringer; i.e., not a regular staff reporter. So I'm thinking the Times won't give Lennard the full Judith Miller treatment (i.e., high-priced lawyers, First Amendment violation suits, supportive editorials, major news stories, etc.). ...

... A Felicitous "Coincidence." Yves Smith of naked capitalism: JPMorgan Chase "recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation." Smith figures the JPM Chase donation could represent as much as 3 to 4 percent of the foundation's total donations ever since its founding in 1971. "And what sort of benefits might JPM get? ... Today [Saturday], OccupyWallStreet decided to march across the Brooklyn Bridge (a proud New York tradition) to Chase Manhattan Plaza in Brooklyn.... Over 700 of the marchers were arrested," in an operation that many protesters [and Gawker] say was deliberate kettling; i.e., confining hundreds of protesters to the bridge, then arresting them before they could get to the Chase site. 

Heather Parton a/k/a Digby in Al Jazeera: "Elizabeth Warren cemented her reputation as a person who knows how to speak to Americans about progressive values in a way that seems to have eluded almost every other public figure in America. There's just something about the way she talks in plain prairie English that makes people listen - and scares even the most hardened businessman and compromised politician into paying attention."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... when [New York State Attorney General Eric] Schneiderman, 56, rejected a proposed nationwide settlement releasing some of the country’s biggest banks from a lawsuit brought by the states claiming misconduct in the mortgage markets. Almost overnight, he found his own name mentioned in a series of laudatory articles in publications as varied as Rolling Stone, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and the Web site Gawker." CW: Feuer doesn't mention it, but on Friday, California AG Kamala Harris also rejected the national settlement deal.

Right Wing World

CW: this story, by Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post, leaves me speechless, which is just as well: "In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance. 'Niggerhead,' it read. Ranchers who once grazed cattle on the 1,070-acre parcel on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River called it by that name well before Perry and his father, Ray, began hunting there in the early 1980s.... The name ... did not change for years after it became associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then as a state official and finally as Texas governor. Some locals still call it that. As recently as this summer, the slablike rock — lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint — remained by the gated entrance to the camp.... How, when or whether [Perry] dealt with it when he was using the property is less clear...." Seven people, mostly Perry allies, say he did not have the name obliterated as he claims. ...

... Federales, Sí. Rich Oppel of the New York Times: "Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said on Saturday that as president, he would consider sending American troops into Mexico to help defeat drug cartels and improve border security. He indicated that any such action would be done 'in concert' with the Mexican government." CW: finally, Perry finds some use for the federal government: invade Mexico!

If Your Name Is Mitt Romney, You Just Might Be a Hypocrite. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: while he was Governor of Massachusetts, Romney and his "administration relentlessly scoured the tax code for more loopholes, extracting hundreds of millions of corporate dollars to help close budget gaps.... It was only after Mr. Romney was gearing up in 2005 for a possible White House bid that he backed away from some of his most assertive tax enforcement proposals amid intensifying complaints from local companies and conservative antitax groups in Washington. Mr. Romney’s campaign against the tax loopholes, like no other period in his career, put him at odds with the values and expectations of the corporate world.... Today, in seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Romney promotes himself as the pro-business candidate who understands what companies need and how to create jobs."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign spent Sunday deflecting scrutiny of a report in The Washington Post detailing a West Texas hunting camp he once leased with his father that includes a racial epithet in its name.... One of Perry’s rivals for the GOP nomination..., Herman Cain, criticized Perry in appearances on 'Fox News Sunday' and ABC’s 'This Week.' Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called for Perry to explain more fully his relationship to the property or bow out of the presidential race." (See today's Right Wing World in the Commentariat.)

Washington Post: "Former vice president Dick Cheney on Sunday called last week’s CIA drone strike against al-Qaeda operative Anwar Awlaki a validation of the George W. Bush administration’s terrorist-fighting strategy, and said that President Obama should apologize for his past criticism of those policies." CW: new definition of -- and a very high bar for -- "shameless": expecting an apology from those who criticize you for torturing people.

AP: "Syrian dissidents on Sunday formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war. Syrians took to the streets in celebration, singing and dancing." Al Jazeera story here.

Al Jazeera: "The Greek government has acknowledged that it will miss its targets for reducing the budget deficit for this year and next year despite massive job cuts."

Reuters (via the NYT): "Israel accepted on Sunday a call by the Quartet of international peace mediators to resume talks with the Palestinians, an official Israeli statement said."

Fox "News": "Police have arrested two dozen protesters for trespassing during a demonstration against Bank of America's foreclosure practices at the banking giant's offices in downtown Boston. The Boston Herald reports that the event was an act of civil disobedience that the organizers intended to send the message that the lender's practices were unfair. 'They wanted to be arrested, and we obliged,' Boston police Commissioner Edward F. Davis told the newspaper. Organizers say about 3,000 people joined the protest." See also stories on Occupy Wall Street, NYC, in yesterday's Ledes & Commentariat. ...

Gothamist has a very good liveblog that details yesterday's Occupy Wall Street events, with lots of photos. BTW, the Gothamist reporter says the "little girl" who was arrested looks 15-18 year of age. CW: from her height & closeups of her face, I would guess she is 12 or 13, at the most. I can't find any news stories that ID her. ...

... AND here's the Firedoglake liveblog for today.

Reuters: "The State Department issued a worldwide travel alert on Saturday warning of the possibility of anti-American attacks in response to the killing of two top al Qaeda members."

AP: "The Afghan government needs to see Pakistan making 'tangible progress' on pledges to use its influence to help end the Taliban insurgency, a foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday. The statement came a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was giving up on trying to talk to the Taliban directly and that the key to ending the war is mediation by Pakistan."

AP: "A government warplane has mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more, military and medical officials said on Sunday.... Heavy fighting has been raging in the area for days as part of the army's monthslong campaign to seize back Zinjibar from the militants."

AP: "Sent to death row 20 years ago as a convicted cop killer, Troy Davis was celebrated as 'martyr and foot soldier' Saturday by more than 1,000 people who packed the pews at his funeral and pledged to keep fighting the death penalty." Savannah Morning News story here.

Los Angeles Times: "California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will no longer take part in a national foreclosure probe of some of the nation's biggest banks, which are accused of pervasive misconduct in dealing with troubled homeowners. Harris removed herself from talks by a coalition of state attorneys general and federal agencies investigating abusive foreclosure practices because the nation's five largest mortgage servicers were not offering California homeowners relief commensurate to what people in the state had suffered, Harris told The Times on Friday."

AP: "The Pentagon has decided that military chaplains may perform same-sex unions, whether on or off a military installation. The ruling announced Friday by the Pentagon's personnel chief follows the Sept. 20 repeal of a law that had prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military."

President Obama spoke at an event honoring outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen late this morning. Voice of America: "U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey will be sworn as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Friday. President Barack Obama will be in attendance when the 37-year veteran becomes the nation's top uniformed officer, replacing retiring Navy Admiral Mike Mullen. Mr. Obama nominated Dempsey to succeed Mullen in May, only a month after Dempsey assumed the post of chief of staff of the Army."

** New York Times: "In a significant and dramatic strike in the campaign against Al Qaeda, the Defense Ministry [in Yemen] said American-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, a leading figure in the group’s outpost in Yemen, was killed on Friday morning. In Washington a senior Obama administration official confirmed that Mr. Awlaki was dead. But the circumstances surrounding the killing remained unclear. It was not immediately known whether Yemeni forces carried out the attack or if American intelligence forces, which have been pursuing Mr. Awlaki for months, were involved in the operation." ...

     ... ** Updated Lede: "Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a leading figure in Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate and was considered its most dangerous English-speaking propagandist, was killed in an American drone strike that deliberately targeted his vehicle on Friday, officials in Washington and Yemen said. They said the strike also killed a radical American colleague traveling with Mr. Awlaki who edited Al Qaeda’s online jihadist magazine." (Emphasis added.) ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Yemen’s official news agency reported that the young Web-savvy American thought to be behind Inspire, a magazine for Al Qaeda, was killed in the same Friday strike that killed the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The report, citing an unnamed defense official, said the man, Samir Khan, was killed in the strike, along with two other people, and identified him as an American citizen and a computer specialist."

Washington Post: "Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged Thursday making the final decision to allow [Solyndra,] a struggling solar company, to continue receiving taxpayer money after it had technically defaulted on a $535 million federal loan guaranteed by his agency.... Also Thursday, a law enforcement official confirmed that the criminal probe of Solyndra is focused on whether the company and its officers misrepresented the firm’s finances to the government in seeking the loan or engaged in accounting fraud."

Washington Post: "After a remarkable run as the most successful atom smasher in the world, the Tevatron — a four-mile underground ring about 50 miles west of Chicago — will smash no more. At 2 p.m., Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab, the Energy Department facility that operates the Tevatron, will command the shutdown of the mammoth machine. Operators will switch off dual beams of particles that have been colliding since 1985, sprouting terrific sprays of fleeting particles that offered a glimpse of the subatomic world."

The Hill: "Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, at the moment Democrats in Congress don't have enough votes to pass President Obama's jobs bill, but Durbin added that that situation would change." The WLS Radio report is here.

Can You Hear Us Now? Crain's New York: "The city's most experienced agitators — the labor and community groups that typically organize local marches, rallies and sit-ins — have been largely missing from the Occupy Wall Street protest.... But that's about to change. A loose coalition of labor and community groups said Thursday that they would join the protest next week.... The United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers Union Local 100 are all expected to participate. The Working Families Party is helping to organize the protest and MoveOn.org is expected to mobilize its extensive online regional networks...."

Los Angeles Times: "Pakistani political leaders meeting Thursday in the capital [Islamabad] denounced U.S. allegations that the country's premier spy agency assisted insurgents in attacking American targets in Afghanistan, but also stressed the need to keep lines of communication open with Washington."

Occupy Wall Street

Here's a first-hand account from Meredith, one of Off Times Square's regular commenters, who visited Liberty Plaza Saturday:

I went down to the Liberty Plaza…spoke with Cornel West….he was interviewed by Canadian TV, and mentioned their advanced health care system etc. He then listened and conversed with many individuals clustered around him. I said to him we need our media here to explain more comparisons with other nations to give our voters realistic models of what our country might be capable of doing. He says even our liberal media is attuned to American interests and ideas, and isn’t used to delving into other nation’s social systems.

The young people there seem genuine, honest, with strong ideas, and not radical or hot headed at all. They seem level headed and low key in conversation. One of the reporters I chatted with was an ABC local news woman, who said, "Well, they don’t seem like anarchists, anyway, so that’s good.” That’s a typical reaction, like maybe demonstrators are left wing anarchists. In Europe demonstrations include all classes and walks of life, it isn’t just left to the “hippie kids.”

Anyway it’s easy to just ask questions of these people down in liberty plaza, and get into discussions with almost anyone. They talk to you very openly and I had nice interchanges with several. Their mode of operation now is democratic discussion of ideas in their meetings or various groups they set up, there in the plaza. Anyone with ideas can go down there, talk and maybe start a group. They seem to not want a strong top down leadership system. They do have some legal counsel and a media liaison I chatted with.

I’d like to see more focus in their plans and methods, to get specific effective messages out to the media. I wondered if leadership should take charge more. I don’t know the theories behind getting movements to snowball into wide support. Placards with generalities about wall street are a start to arouse interest. But maybe they also need specific actionable challenges for change. I suggested they broaden their message to address the mass of Americans who need a more secure safety net across the board — jobs, education tuition, unions, pay, pensions, health care, retirement. I put that on paper in their suggestion box they set up. I spoke to a guy at the desk, and he wrote down some of this. Well, that was nice.

They’re getting more unions to join them which will broaden their influence. I’d like to see some older participants, & more middle class business attired types to march with them — to show on TV to conservative America. Then let them identify with this group on the basis of lost jobs, education, pensions and retirement. Will this wake up America? Maybe.

The Commentariat -- October 1

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

President Obama's Weekly Address:

Barbara Ehrenreich in a Washington Post op-ed: "Admirers of the rich, led by pundits and politicians on the right — from Laura Ingraham to Larry Kudlow — have long derided the victimization claims of African Americans, women, gays and the unemployed, but now they’re raising their voices to defend the rich against what they see as an ugly tide of 'demonization.' ... You would never guess from all the talk of demonization that the rich enjoy perhaps the strongest PR machine on the planet, far beyond their entourages of agents, publicists and assorted image-makers. The mainstream media, for example.... Evangelical Christianity ... once harbored an ancient biblical bias in favor of the poor, but now, at least in its high-profile megachurch manifestations, it has abandoned the book of Matthew for a 'prosperity gospel' that counts wealth as a mark of God’s favor."

Peter Finn of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials. The document was produced following a review of the legal issues raised by striking a U.S. citizen and involved senior lawyers from across the administration. There was no dissent about the legality of killing Aulaqi, the officials said." ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: Anwar "Aulaqi’s death represents the latest, and perhaps most literal, illustration to date of the convergence between the CIA and the nation’s elite military units in the counterterrorism fight.... Traveling from secret bases on opposite sides of Yemen, armed drones from the CIA and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command converged above Anwar al-Aulaqi’s position in northern Yemen early Friday and unleashed a flurry of missiles. US officials said the CIA was in control of all the aircraft, as well as the decisions to fire, and that the operation was so seamless that even hours later, it remained unclear whether a drone supplied by the CIA or the military fired the missile that ended the al-Qaeda leader’s life." ...

... Here are President Obama's full remarks regarding the killing of Awlaki, remarks made yesterday morning during the ceremony for changing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

... Scott Shane of the New York Times: "The reported killing of Anwar al-Awlaki on Friday, an American citizen hit by a missile fired from a drone operated by his own government, instantly reignited a difficult debate over terrorism, civil liberties and the law." ...

... Michael Crowley of Time: "... the Awlaki killing ... is an occasion for Washington to debate some basic questions about our targeted killing campaign." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "... there are very good reasons that national governments are more constrained in their ability to kill their own citizens than in their ability to kill foreigners, constraints enshrined in both the explicit rules and longstanding traditions of due process. That bright line has grown a lot dimmer today. The hardcore national security hawks in both parties will likely cheer Obama's 'toughness' today, but they shouldn't. Bright lines, once crossed, seldom survive."

Occupy Wall Street

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake has a good overview of the protest. CW: The organizer's site is here -- it was down when I tried to load it, which could be a good sign. Anyway, Gosztola goes a fine job of reporting on the protesters' goals and messages. ...

... Gosztola is livingblogging today's activities. Here's a Fox "News" chopper-cam scan of yesterday's impressive crowd at One Police Plaza, which I got from Gosztola's liveblog:

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "Media coverage — even on the left — has been minimal, and what coverage has existed has been largely derisive. Cable’s liberal stalwart Rachel Maddow didn’t have a segment on the protest until last night, Mother Jones ran an article entitled 'why #occupywallstreet isn’t working,' and Grist’s Dave Roberts said the occupation was 'designed to discredit leftie protest.' And, yet, the occupation is spreading." ...

... After getting off to a shaky start (see also Karen Garcia on this), the New York Times metro assignment editor seems to be putting actual reporters on the story. N. R. Kleinfield & Cara Buckley of the Times: "The stalwarts seem to range from a relatively modest 100 to 300 people, though the ranks swelled to more than 2,000 on Friday as the protest has begun to attract mainstream attention from those disaffected with the weak economy and to enlist support from well-known liberals. The actress Susan Sarandon stopped by, as did the Princeton professor Cornel West and former Gov. David A. Paterson of New York." ...

... Marie Antoinette & her Wall Street courtiers sip champagne as the common people protest the Wall Street regime. Perhaps Queen Marie is unaware of the possible consequences of the amusing street spectacle:

... Karen Garcia has more on the Marie Antoinette of Wall Street & her entourage. Garcia includes this etching of the original Marie reviewing the unwashed masses from her own balcon (that's the Marquis de Lafayette there kissing the Queen's hand):

... AND Now for a Word from Baron von Bloomberg of the NYC von Bloombergs. Harry Siegel of the Village Voice: "New Yorkers need 'to help the banks' was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's message to the Occupy Wall Street crowd in his weekly radio appearance on the John Gambling show. 'The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That's the bottom line,' Bloomberg said..., adding that 'we all' share blame for taking on too much risk, not just the financial industry.... Asked if there's an 'end-game' for the protesters and if they will be allowed to stay in Zuccotti Park, which is privately owned but open to the public, Bloomberg said, 'We'll see.'" ...

... NEW. Kevin Gosztola has more on Baron von Bloomberg's radio daze. ...

... Matt Stoller in Naked Capitalism: "What these people are doing is building, for lack of a better word, a church of dissent. It’s not a march, though marches are spinning off of the campground. It’s not even a protest, really. It is a group of people, gathered together, to create a public space seeking meaning in their culture. They are asserting, together, to each other and to themselves, 'we matter'”.

Right Wing World *

Gov. Rick Perry, who's had government jobs most of his life, says billionaire investor Warren Buffett understand the private sector. Via Jed Lewison of Daily Kos:

Ha Ha Ha Ha. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post notes that, according to the Daily Caller story (which the editor stands by), the EPA is seeking to add 230,000 employees at an additional cost of $21 billion. That would be a 244 percent increase over their previous year's budget, by Wemple's calculation. You'd think somebody besides the Daily Caller would have noticed. Oh, and the Daily Caller didn't bother to ask the EPA how they could justify this extraordinary expansion. Well, no, because the quote from the EPA spokesperson would have been, "Ha ha ha ha."

* Where capitalists don't understand capitalism but career bureaucrats do.

Local News

We are at war with these people ["these people" being Ohio public employees]. -- Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) ...

... CW: the first part of this post of Kathie Bracy's blog authenticates a letter from Dr. Michael Shreffler, an Ohio schools superintendent. The letter, which appears in full in the blogpost, is well-worth a read, especially if you live in Ohio. If Ohioans think John Kasich is on their side, they have another think coming. (And next time, Gov. Kasich should be more careful whom he invites to his rant parties.) Thanks to reader Wayne M. for the link.

This boy is not a rapist ...... BUT. Jill of Brilliant at Breakfast: "In response to a string of at least 10 unsolved sexual assaults in Brooklyn, New York police are reportedly stopping women on the street who are wearing clothing they say is revealing and advising them to cover up if they don’t want to be raped." Jill goes on to point out the error of the cops' logic. CW: Somehow I don't think the cops will get Jill's "nuanced" advice.

News Ledes

Al Jazeera: "NATO-led forces have captured Haji Mali Khan, a senior commander for the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, during an operation in eastern Paktia province earlier in the week. Khan is 'the uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani ... one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan,' the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Saturday. The Haqqani network, which attacked the US emabssy in Kabul earlier this month, is based on the Afghan-Pakistan border." With video.

NYPD officers arrest & cuff a child on the Brooklyn Bridge:

... Al Jazeera: "New York City police say about 500 protesters have been arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours. Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway. Officers cut the marchers off, plunged into the crowd, and began making arrests as marchers chanted, 'Shame! Shame!'" ...

     ... AP Update: "More than 700 protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested Saturday after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police.... The majority of those arrested were given citations for disorderly conduct and were released, police said."

... NBC News: "Police confronted protesters in a heated exchange on the Brooklyn Bridge, where thousands of Occupy Wall Street marchers snarled traffic and blocked both sides of the expanse Saturday. Police made arrests but would not release the number because the protest is continuing, NBC New York reported." ...

... Gawker (yes, sometimes the best source for news): "... NYPD spent Saturday allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to halfway-cross the Brooklyn Bridge before cutting the marchers off and arresting several people, a controversial crowd-control tactic known as 'kettling.'"

Washington Post: "The Energy Department defied Republican critics Friday by announcing that it had committed an additional $4.7 billion in loan guarantees toward four big-dollar clean technology projects just hours before the program’s funding expired. The announcement marked a dramatic ending for the $18 billion loan guarantee program, which has been central to the administration’s push to create jobs and promote green technology. Simultaneously, the program has come under fire for its handling of a half-billion-dollar loan to Solyndra, a solar company that collapsed in August."

AP: "President Barack Obama and his House Republican adversaries feuded over how to best create jobs in the weakened U.S. economy Saturday, with Obama demanding Congress pass his $447 billion jobs bill and the GOP countering with a call for less government red tape." Video of the President's weekly address in the left column.

Reuters: "Florida defied national Republican Party leaders on Friday and set its U.S. presidential primary election for January 31, a move likely to push forward the 2012 election schedule as other states jockey to keep their influence."