memeorandum: Budget cuts take U.S. military “to the edge”: Panetta (David Alexander/Reuters)

8:05 AM ET, October 14, 2011

Top Items:

Facing Eviction, Protesters Begin Park Cleanup — As the clock ticked down on the occupiers of Zuccotti Park and the prospect of eviction loomed, the Occupy Wall Street protesters' pre-emptive cleanup effort lurched into gear Thursday afternoon. — Volunteers taped off sections of the park …

Discussion: Mediaite, Austin American-Statesman, Michelle Malkin, naked capitalism, Pajamas Media, msnbc.com, Hotline On Call, Dealbreaker, Left of the Hudson, New York Times and Washington Monthly

Occupy Wall Street:

OccupyWallStreet — Tell Bloomberg: Don't Foreclose the Occupation. Join us at 6AM FRIDAY for non-violent eviction defense. — Please take a minute to read this, and please take action and spread the word far and wide. — Occupy Wall Street is gaining momentum, with occupation actions now happening in cities across the world.

Discussion: Guardian, Associated Press, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, iOwnTheWorld.com, Atlas Shrugs, Political Mojo, Global Guerrillas, Crooks and Liars, The Crawdad Hole, US Politics, Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine, The Maddow Blog, CANNONFIRE and Wake up America

Felix Salmon:

On George Soros, Occupy Wall Street, and Reuters — Wouldn't it be ironic if Occupy Wall Street — the soi-disant “99%” — were being secretly funded by billionaire Davos Man George Soros, exemplar of the 1%? Well, no, it wouldn't, actually. As Noreen Malone points out, lots of the 1% have …

Discussion: Salon.com, Gothamist, The Lede, Reuters, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, The Awl and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:
Wall Street protest rep says group won't leave ahead of cleaning

Discussion: This Just In, RedState, Guardian and ThinkProgress

Zombie / Pajamas Media:
More Anti-Semitism at Occupy Los Angeles

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, Power Line, CBS New York, PoliPundit.com, Atlas Shrugs and JammieWearingFool

New York Post:
Wall St. protesters will not be allowed to bring sleeping bags, tents back into park

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Reuters, The Confluence, Oregonian, Gawker, Blue Mass Group, Firedoglake, Occupy Boston, The Raw Story, The Politico, Towleroad News #gay, Guardian, Gothamist, US Politics and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Jake Dobkin / Gothamist:
This Just In: Mayor Bloomberg Shows Up At Occupy Wall Street

Discussion: Ironic Surrealism, Daily Kos, Salon.com, Gawker and Business Insider

Zaid Jilani / ThinkProgress:
EXCLUSIVE: The Notice Of Rules That May Be Used To Shut Down Occupy Wall Street

Discussion: Daily Kos and Shakesville

Jesse / CBS New York:
Possible Showdown Looms Between City, Protesters Ahead Of Zuccotti Park Cleaning

Discussion: The Politico, Associated Press, The New York Observer, Campaign 2012, Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, Pirate's Cove, Wake up America and Atlas Shrugs

J.J. Gould / The Atlantic Online:
OWS: What the Media Can't See About America's First Web-Era Movement

Discussion: The Crawdad Hole and The New Republic

David Moore / Wall Street Journal:

The Panhandler and the President — I do not recall another president whose negative drumbeat about large segments of the population has been so relentless. — Walking down New York's 55th Street near Park Avenue last Friday evening, our group of seven men in suits and ties was approached by a panhandler asking for money.

Discussion: Mock, Paper, Scissors, Wonkette, Hullabaloo, New York Magazine, The Lonely Conservative and The New Republic

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly: An unintentionally amusing take from Wall Street

The Huffington Post:

Herman Cain 999 Plan: Did It Come From SimCity? … WASHINGTON — In Herman Cain's America, the tax code would be very, very simple: The corporate income tax rate would be 9 percent, the personal income tax rate would be 9 percent and the national sales tax rate would be 9 percent.

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, TVNewser, Truthdig, ABCNEWS, Donklephant, New York Magazine, The Enterprise Blog and Washington Post

John Rossomando / The Daily Caller:

Paul Ryan ‘loves’ Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan — House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan says he “loves” presidential candidate Herman Cain's signature “9-9-9″ tax plan. — Ryan told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview that Cain's plan shows the GOP presidential campaign season …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Ballot Box, AMERICAN FUTURE, Weasel Zippers, Human Events, The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative, The Hill, Balloon Juice, National Review, Business Insider, Slate and iOwnTheWorld.com

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
There is no such thing as the 9-9-9 tax

Discussion: Start Making Sense, Political Mojo, Salon.com, Opinionator, AMERICAN FUTURE, pandagon.net, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, Swampland and Ben Smith's Blog

Justin Sink / Ballot Box:
Norquist: Cain 9-9-9 plan more dangerous than current code

Discussion: streiff's blog

CBS News:

“Unusual” meeting between US, Iran over plot — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Thursday that officials at the “highest levels” of the Iranian government must be held accountable for a brazen and bizarre plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States on American soil …

Discussion: Hot Air, JustOneMinute, Booman Tribune, Washington Post, ABCNEWS and Foreign Policy

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Vows to Punish Iran in Alleged Plot Against Envoy

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Caucus and The Atlantic Online

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

John Boehner's committees hit $18M mark — John Boehner has proved once again it pays to be speaker of the House. — Boehner's political committees raised more than $6 million during the third quarter, POLITICO has learned. Since the Ohio Republican took the speaker's gavel in January …

Discussion: The Page

The Hill: House Dems focus on raising revenue, taxes in supercommittee suggestions

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Dem: House GOP ‘misogynist’ for bringing up abortion bill

Discussion: Hot Air, The Politico, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain and Little Green Footballs

The Politico:

Editors' Note — One of the inviolable principles of journalism, one we live by at POLITICO, is that the work we publish must be genuinely our own. Whenever we must rely on reporting or ideas that were first produced by others, our policy is to cite and/or link to these sources by name …

Discussion: Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Martin S. Feldstein / New York Times:

How to Stop the Drop in Home Values — HOMES are the primary form of wealth for most Americans. Since the housing bubble burst in 2006, the wealth of American homeowners has fallen by some $9 trillion, or nearly 40 percent. In the 12 months ending in June, house values fell by more than $1 trillion, or 8 percent.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, TheMoneyIllusion, Balloon Juice, The New Republic, The Atlantic Online and TalkLeft

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Rabbit-Hole Economics — Reading the transcript of Tuesday's Republican debate on the economy is, for anyone who has actually been following economic events these past few years, like falling down a rabbit hole. Suddenly, you find yourself in a fantasy world where nothing looks or behaves the way it does in real life.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Space Tourism, Space Transport …:

Iran failed with space monkey launch: report — Iran acknowledged as a failure Wednesday its attempt to send a live monkey into space last month — touted as its first step towards launching a man into space. — “The Kavoshgar-5 rocket carrying a capsule with a live animal (a monkey) …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Boston Globe:

in study, sweat — Mitt Romney would lead Bain Capital from a staff of seven people managing $37 million to 115 people managing $4 billion. During his tenure, the firm would post an astonishing record, on average doubling its return on realized investments every year.

Discussion: Gawker, Dealbreaker, The Political Carnival, The Atlantic Online and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jacob Heilbrunn / Foreign Policy:

Twilight of the Wise Man — The 2012 election may well mark the last gasp of the Republican foreign-policy establishment. But what's more remarkable is that it lasted as long as it did. — In September 2005, two U.S. senators walked into a Soviet-era weapons factory in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Ben Smith's Blog

David Alexander / Reuters:

Budget cuts take U.S. military “to the edge”: Panetta — (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta chided congressional dysfunction and warned that cutting $450 billion in defense spending would take the Pentagon “to the edge” at a hearing on Thursday punctuated by anti-war protests.

Discussion: Attackerman

Scott Galupo / US News:

The Tea Party Was Just a Giant Temper Tantrum — Is former Gov. Mitt Romney a better campaigner than I thought—or are his closest rivals just that pathetic? — As things stand now, the former Massachusetts governor will enjoy an astonishingly painless pivot into the general election.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, National Review, neo-neocon, Balloon Juice, Rod Dreher, Pundit & Pundette and Washington Post

Lindsay Murdoch / Sydney Morning Herald:

Islamic sex guide says wives meet only 10% of husbands' desires — BANGKOK: Just months after telling its members to serve their husbands better than prostitutes, prompting widespread criticism, the Obedient Wives Club of Malaysia has stirred further controversy by publishing a guide to Islamic sex.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Jessie Van Berkel / postcrescent.com:

Test run of new state voter ID law in Madison led to lines and voter confusion — State officials plan voter ID education efforts — Key election dates — April 3: Spring nonpartisan election and presidential partisan — Source: Wisconsin Government Accountability Board — How to register to vote

Discussion: ThinkProgress