Bloomberg: ‘Plain and simple,’ Congress caused the mortgage crisis, not the banks  —  Photo via British Prime Minister's Office flickr stream.  — Owners of the park at the center of the Occupy Wall Street protests are losing patience, but what can they do?  —  11:03 am Nov. 1, 20111Add a comment

Lawyer: Cain accuser wants to tell her side of story  —  Win McNamee/GETTY IMAGES - Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks at the National Press Club October 31, 2011 in Washington, DC.  During a question and answer portion of the program, Cain called the accusations of sexual harassment against him “a witch hunt”.

Official: MF Global admitted using client money  —  WASHINGTON—MF Global, the failed securities firm led by Jon Corzine, admitted using clients' money as its financial troubles mounted, a federal official says.  —  An MF Global executive admitted that to federal regulators in a phone call early Monday …

Greek referendum is coin-flip on euro exit  —  I say “while it lasts” because the opposition is mobilising a parliamentary manoeuvre to bring down the government, which may succeed - returning Europe to its status quo of containable trauma.  —  If Greeks reject the 50% controlled default …

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF OAKLAND FROM THE OAKLAND POLICE OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION  —  Oakland, Ca.  —  We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland.  We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment …

Rick Perry on Viral Video: ‘I Felt Good, Felt Great’  —  DES MOINES, IOWA - Texas Governor Rick Perry said he he “felt good, felt great” during a weekend event in New Hampshire.  Video of Perry giving the freewheeling speech went viral this week and was parodied on late night TV …

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)  —  The live webinar will begin at 11:00 a.m. EDT and will end at approximately 12:00.  Questions for the panelists may be submitted at any point during the webinar.  —  What Is NAEP?  —  The National Assessment of Educational Progress …

Graduates Versus Oligarchs  —  Dean Baker raises an important point here: it's really awfully late in the game to be saying that the important inequality issue is college graduates versus non-graduates.  It's not clear that this was ever true, and it certainly hasn't been true for a while.

Snowe looking safer  —  Olympia Snowe's prospects for winning the Republican nomination for another term as Senator from Maine are looking the best they have in two years, in what could be a sign of Tea Party fever dwindling.  —  In October of 2009 only 31% of Maine GOP voters stood with Snowe …

Chick-Fil-A Donated Nearly $2 Million To Anti-Gay Groups In 2009  —  Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A became embroiled in a controversy surrounding its donations to anti-gay groups.  Though Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy denied having an “agenda against anyone,” an Equality Matters investigation discovered …

Brooklyn Detective Convicted of Planting Drugs on Innocent People  —  The New York Police Department, already saddled with corruption scandals, saw its image further tainted on Tuesday with the conviction of a police detective for planting drugs on a woman and her boyfriend.

Democrats vow to block spending riders  —  House Democrats on Tuesday attacked “blatantly partisan” policy provisions Republicans are pushing in routine funding bills that would repeal health care reform and environmental regulations.  —  In a letter to Speaker John Boehner …

Exclusive: Romney Family Investment Group Partnered With Alleged Perpetrators Of $8 Billion Ponzi Scheme  —  Mitt Romney and his son Tagg Romney.  Tagg is the managing partner to Solamere Capital, a firm that invested in a new company employing brokers accused of taking part in the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme.

Smoking-Gun Document Ties Policy To Housing Crisis  —  President Obama says the Occupy Wall Street protests show a “broad-based frustration” among Americans with the financial sector, which continues to kick against regulatory reforms three years after the financial crisis.