New West Notes

Time magazine reports what the Israeli media gleefully hints at today, that Israel is behind a massive blast at an Iranian military base over the weekend which killed 17 soldiers, including the Revolutionary Guards general in charge of the country’s missile program. Iran says it was an accident at an ammunition dump. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over today’s funeral.

** QUICK HITS. Talk about flux in the crazy Republican presidential race. All polls show ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich rising dramatically, now this Public Policy Polling survey completed last night has him in the lead, with 28% to Herman Cain’s 25% and Mitt Romney’s 18%. Some other polls have Cain sliding as sexual harassment charges take their toll and Romney higher, but still in the familiar one-fifth to one-quarter zone. Expect more zaniness. … The University of California Board of Regents canceled its meeting this week in San Francisco, citing fear of disruptive protests. Many students are upset about program cuts and fee hikes, and some are targeting regents with ties to the financial industry. … Governor Jerry Brown today announced the 80th Annual Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, which will be on December 7th, the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, on the imposing West Steps of the Capitol. This year’s tree is a 40-foot white fir from El Dorado County, and it will be will be decorated with 900 hand-crafted ornaments created by children and adults with developmental disabilities supported by state and regional developmental center. It will be illuminated by 10,000 ultra-low wattage LED lights. … The California Museum today announced that Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the former NBA All-Star, and TV personality Lisa Ling will emcee the California Hall of Fame ceremony on December 8th. Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are continuing the program established by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees include Carlos Santana, the Beach Boys, Buzz Aldrin, Amy Tan, Father Gregory Boyle, and Magic Johnson.

** NEW POLL: CONGRESS STUCK AT LOWEST JOB APPROVAL RATING ON RECORD. The new Congress continues its record run.

In October, it hit a record low in institutional job approval.

And in November, it continues to match that record!

According to a new Gallup Poll, 2011 is a dead bang cinch to be the worst year for Congressional job approval since the sounding began in 1974, at the height of the Watergate scandal which ended the presidency of Richard Nixon and marked an era of deep suspicion of major institutions.

Congressional job approval remains at 13% in November, identical to October and tying the all-time Gallup low on this measure. The 2011 average is on track to be the lowest annual rating of Congress in Gallup’s history. …

Congressional approval has averaged 17% so far this year. If that holds, it will be the lowest annual congressional job approval rating in Gallup records dating to 1974 — slightly below the recent annual lows of 19% recorded in 2010 and 2008, and below two years in which Gallup recorded only one measure of congressional approval: 19% in 1979, and 18% in 1992. …

** NEW SURVEY: JOB MARKET SEEN AS WORST IN A DECADE. The US economy is technically out of recession and has been for quite awhile. Another great depression has been averted, so far.

But economic growth isn’t equating to employment growth, or income growth.

So we have a new Gallup Poll survey which indicates that the public view of the job market has worsened in November to the worst level in a decade.

Americans’ assessments of the job market worsened in November and are now the most pessimistic they have been in the past decade. Nine in 10 Americans say it is a “bad time” to find a quality job, while 8% think it is a “good time.” …

But underemployed and unemployed statistics may not be telling the whole story, if millions of additional Americans can’t find quality jobs. A lack of quality jobs reduces not only Americans’ current earnings but also their future earnings because they are failing to gain experience in good jobs. …

While the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Honolulu ended with agreements to increase trade, encourage innovation and make travel between the countries easier, President Barack Obama sharply criticized China for how it values the yuan to maintain export advantages.

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.

An unusual week in presidential politics is on tap, with President Barack Obama in the Asia Pacific region pursuing geopolitical ends and his would-be Republican challengers trying to sort out their strange primary contest and the so-called Congressional budget supercommittee struggles for decisions and relevance. And in California politics, potential initiatives percolate and the Occupy movement struggles for next steps as the Occupy Oakland encampment is peacefully shut down.

While the US continues its rapid withdrawal from Iraq and searches for momentum in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Obama is in the midst of a nine-day trip to the Pacific Basin, where the world’s center of gravity is arguably shifting. The troubled Eurozone looks to China for some bailout assistance, and much of the rest of the region casts a wary eye on the Middle Kingdom’s moves.

Meanwhile, Obama’s Republican opponents are in the midst of a very odd race. Mitt Romney is the only candidate who has a seemingly requisite set of credentials in experience, campaign skills, policy, and fundraising, though on any absolute scale he is suspect in every one of those areas. But only about a quarter of the party actually wants to nominate him, despite the stunning ups and downs and frequent sheer wackery of his leading opponents.

Newt Gingrich, defying all those who said he was finished in the spring and summer, is coming to the fore again. And Herman Cain is trying to maintain his lead or co-lead in the polls.

Rick Perry, who has the money and the office with which to contend, is trying to come back from his latest gaffe, but the infamous “Oops” moment in the first debate last week is going to be extremely hard to overcome. If you have three key things to do, and you can’t remember what they are, well, enough said. It’s not as if he said there were six. (Psychological research I’ve seen shows that it’s very difficult to remember more than five such things at a time without notes.)

I’d be happy if he and his party colleagues could get their conceptual reasoning straight.

While Obama was summiting one-on-one in Honolulu with the leaders of Russia, China, and Japan, the Republican field, in its second debate of the week, held on Saturday night, was demonstrating its unreadiness for prime time on geopolitics.

Herman Cain, whose awareness is very sketchy, denounced the Arab awakening, praising Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak and Yemeni strong man Ali Abdullah Saleh, and came out foursquare for waterboarding, as did the rest of the field except for Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul. It’s not torture, said Cain, it’s “enhanced interrogation.”

Mitt Romney threatened US military action to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. How would that actually, you know, work? He didn’t say.

Newt Gingrich also postured on Iran, but argued that covert actions, including killing Iranian scientists, are preferable. That doesn’t sound very covert when he puts it that way, does it?

Huntsman said it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

But Romney not only rejected that, he said he would refuse to allow any negotiation with the Taliban. What’s his plan then to win in Afghanistan? Unknown.

Obama will keep an amused eye on these would-be presidents back home, and a wary eye on the Eurozone crisis — where Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is finally out after dominating one of the world’s largest economies for nearly two decades and Greece has, which rattled global markets with its short-lived referendum call, finally settled on a new prime minister — while he moves around the Pacific Basin this week.

Following the APEC Summit, which ended late in the day on Sunday, the North American Leaders Summit, the annual meeting among the U.S. President and the Mexican President and the Canadian Prime Minister, took place in Honolulu. The trio reportedly agreed anew on Obama’s push to bring Pacific nations together in a free trade zone, a plan which China is resisting.

It’s not known what the three had to say about the death of the second Mexican interior minister killed in the past few years in an air crash, which happened over the weekend outside Mexico City. The interior minister is in charge of the fight against Mexico’s very powerful and violent drug cartels.

Part of what Obama is about is an attempt to bell the cat, in the form of China, by getting it to take part in trade and fiscal regimes that remove some of its competitive advantages.

On Monday, Obama will have a fundraiser in the morning in hometown Honolulu. He leaves on Tuesday morning for Canberra, Australia. The flight to Australia moves Obama forward a day on the clock. Obama will be marking the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Australian alliance on this trip, an alliance forged in the rising tide of the Pacific War, as the emerging World War II in the Pacific is known in much of the Pacific Basin. Australia is a longstanding key American ally, a fact which doesn’t get nearly the media attention it deserves.

Obama will hold meetings with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who just passed a carbon tax to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, and will take part in a dinner with the Australian Parliament.

Then he lays a wreath at a World War II memorial, meets with Australia’s Conservative opposition leader, and addresses the Australian Parliament.

This will be a major address for Obama, about not only the U.S.-Australian alliance, but also the the Asia Pacific region as a whole. Said a White House official in a background briefing: “This will really be the kind of anchor speech by the President in his first term on how the U.S. sees the Asia Pacific, the efforts that we’ve taken, again, within the region over the course of the last three years to strengthen our core alliances to engage emerging powers like China and India and others, and to engage Asian regional institutions like APEC and the East Asia Summit.”

Afterwards, still on Wednesday in the US, Obama will visit a local primary school with Prime Minister Gillard, Obama will visit the US embassy and then fly to Darwin, Australia.

Darwin was the site of a major Japanese attack during the Pacific War and an important Australian base today. Obama will make an announcement there about security arrangements between the US and Australia.

From there, Obama will fly to Bali, Indonesia, and his oft-postponed visit to the country of much of his boyhood. There he will meet privately with the leaders of India, the Philippines, and Thailand and other Asian nations, as well as Indonesia.

He then takes part in Indonesia, as the first US president to do so, in the East Asia Summit. Where the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) deals principally with economic issues, the East Asia Summit deals more specifically with security and political issues.

Obama will focus on nuclear non-proliferation, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, disaster relief in a region prone to earthquakes and tsunamis and typhoons, and China’s aggressive maritime moves in the South China Sea.

As you see, this is a totally different set of issues than has been in the forefront since 9/11.

Obama then returns to Washington late on Saturday.

Police from around the San Francisco Bay Area peacefully shut down the Occupy Oakland encampment outside Oakland City Hall early Monday morning.

But old issues remain, and threaten. Especially the brewing crisis around Iran’s nuclear program, with open discussion in the Israeli press and elsewhere of an Israeli military strike against Iran. Over the weekend, 17 people were killed in a huge blast outside Tehran. Said to be an accident involving ammunition, the blast took the life of a top Iranian general who was in charge of Iran’s missile program.

While Obama makes some major moves in the Pacific Basin, on the other side of the world, in Afghanistan, a loya jirga is set for Wednesday to discuss a peace overture with the Taliban. The Taliban publicly threaten to kill attendees, something the Taliban highlighted by today releasing some details of the meeting and its security arrangements, which are now being hastily updated.

Former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, the top non-Taliban rival to President Hamid Karzai, who lost a presidential race shot through with election fraud, says he won’t take part.

Back in California politics, maneuvering continues around 2012 election initiatives. Several shoes have yet to drop around potential revenue measures, and government reform measures. And we will get a much better idea if the right’s top priority, suspending the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s state Senate maps, will work in the form of a qualifying a referendum to overturn the law.

Meanwhile, with what may be a tumultuous University of California Board of Regents meeting set for this week in San Francisco (many students are angry about program cuts and fee increases, and a UC Berkeley demonstration called Occupy Cal was very forcefully squelched late last week), the Occupy Oakland camp outside Oakland City Hall was shut down without major incident early this morning. 32 people were arrested, most from outside Oakland.

The camp has become problematic, as I discussed in my “Ocupado” piece early this month, with the focus moving from the broad Occupy Wall Street themes of economic unfairness to a more street-level distraction of Paris commune fantasies, a lack of willingness to denounce and separate from violent elements, and disruption of local businesses.

It’s a fundamental problem for the left, and not an unfamiliar one.

Other Occupy encampments, in Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah are in various stages of being dispersed.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who flip-flopped all over the place, finally had to move or face recall herself. Her job approval rating was down in the teens in polling I’ve seen.

And this is in a city which largely agrees with the overall critique offered by Occupy Wall Street.

Quan’s legal counsel, Dan Siegel, quit early this morning because of his support for the encampment.

For some reason, the media covering this never gets around to mentioning that Siegel, a college friend of Quan’s, was the UC Berkeley student body president in 1969 who fatefully told a large rally of students that it was time to “Take the park!,” referring to the so-called People’s Park in Berkeley, an attempt to turn a planned university parking lot into a liberated public space.

This led to a huge confrontation with the police which left one person dead and huge numbers of arrests.

People’s Park did ultimately become a public park, but it’s a mess. Siegel, who was also a leader of Students for a Democratic Society, went on to graduate from the Berkeley law school and become a member of the Oakland school board, where he was a significant thorn in Governor Jerry Brown’s side as he pursued school reform measures while Oakland’s mayor from 1999 to 2007.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii.

The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than Pacific time.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings.

At 6:15 PM Pacific, Obama attends a fundraiser at the Aulani Disney Resort in Kapolei.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan says she tried to do what was “right for the city” when she ordered police to shut down the Occupy Oakland encampment near city hall early this morning.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** VETERANS DAY IN A FRACTURED AMERICA. Credit Barack Obama with some brilliant Veterans Day moves. In addition to the customary Arlington solemnities, he presided over the opening of the college basketball season on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier which conducted the funeral of Osama bin Laden.

And the veterans we celebrate, more dutifully it seems to me than not, all too often come back fractured in mind and body, as my father did. … From my November 12th essay.

** RECALLING JOE FRAZIER: AN APPRECIATION, AND A NOTE OF HORROR. The surprise death of former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier reminds of the man’s elemental greatness, and of the deep pitfalls of high-contact sport.

Today, boxing is a sport in decline, in no small measure because many of us can no longer enjoy it. But in Frazier’s heyday, which coincided with that of the iconic Ali, it captivated people around the globe. … From my November 10th essay.

** OCUPADO. … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

A spectacular time-lapse video taken from the International Space Station shows lightning striking hundreds of times a second.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $98 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $64 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $16 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media magnate who dominated politics in one of the world’s largest economies for nearly two decades, was at last forced from power on Saturday, ignominiously leaving the capital in Rome by a side door.

** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than Pacific time.

At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama participates in an APEC working session at the JW Marriott Hotel in Honolulu.

At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a dialogue with APEC Business Advisory Council members at the JW Marriott.

At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a working lunch with APEC leaders at the JW Marriott.

At 4:25 PM Pacific, Obama participates in the APEC leaders family photo at the JW Marriott.

At 4:45 PM Pacific, Obama participates in an APEC working session at the JW Marriott.

At 6:45 PM Pacific, Obama holds a news conference at the JW Marriott.

Last night’s Republican presidential debate in South Carolina highlighted the field’s general lack of knowledge and sophistication on foreign policy and geopolitics.

Herman Cain, whose awareness is very sketchy, denounced the Arab awakening, praising Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak and Yemeni strong man Ali Abdullah Saleh, and came out foursquare for waterboarding, as did the rest of the field except for Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul. It’s not torture, said Cain, it’s “enhanced interrogation.”

Mitt Romney threatened US military action to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. How would that actually, you know, work? He didn’t say.

Newt Gingrich also postured on Iran, but argued that covert actions, including killing Iranian scientists, are preferable. That doesn’t sound very covert when he puts it that way, does it?

Huntsman said it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

But Romney not only rejected that, he said he would refuse to allow any negotiation with the Taliban. What’s his plan then to win in Afghanistan? Unknown.

In more serious matters, Italy is at last about to have a new prime minister. Silvio Berlusconi finally resigned yesterday, ending a generation of domination of politics in one of the world’s largest economies.

After more haggling, he is about to be replaced by a technocrat, former European Commissioner Mario Monti, who apparently will move to institute greater austerity measures to deal with Italy’s massive debt.

A very disturbing development yesterday in Mexico, where Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora was killed yesterday in a suspicious helicopter crash outside Mexico City while en route to meet with anti-drug police and prosecutors in a neighboring province.

The interior minister is in charge of the war against Mexico’s powerful drug cartels, and Blake is the second Mexican interior minister in the past few years to be killed in an air crash.

His death has caused the cancellation of a North American Leaders mini-summit which was to be held today in Hawaii on the sidelines of the APEC summit. The cancellation of the meeting between Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may mean that Harper will not be able to discuss Obama’s recent postponement of the Keystone XL pipeline project with the president.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

Brown spoke yesterday at the National Association of Realtors annual conference at the Anaheim Convention Center.

While focusing on the need for frugality policies, he made a strong argument for continued public investment in infrastructure.

“We need some bold moves here,” Brown declared. “The way forward is not just to tighten everything. You’ve got to spend.”

“The way you climb out of this hole is not with pessimism and fear. It’s with optimism and investments.”

“I’m pretty optimistic,” Brown said at the end. “If we can just get through the next five years.”

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama, speaking from the flight control center of USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier which conducted the funeral of Osama bin Laden, discusses the meaning of Veterans Day.

** VETERANS DAY IN A FRACTURED AMERICA. Credit Barack Obama with some brilliant Veterans Day moves. In addition to the customary Arlington solemnities, he presided over the opening of the college basketball season on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier which conducted the funeral of Osama bin Laden.

And the veterans we celebrate, more dutifully it seems to me than not, all too often come back fractured in mind and body, as my father did. …

From my November 12th essay.

** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii.

The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than Pacific time.

Obama is in Honolulu, the city of his birth, for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

He received his daily intelligence and economic briefing during the flight from Washington on Air Force One.

At 12:05 PM Pacific, Obama participates in an APEC CEO business summit at the Sheraton Hotel in Honolulu.

At 2 PM Pacific, Obama hosts a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

At 3:45 PM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

At 5:15 PM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Hu Jintao of China at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

At 8:20 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama welcome APEC leaders and spouses in an arrival ceremony at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

At 9:10 PM Pacific, the Obamas host an APEC leaders dinner at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

At 10:45 PM Pacific, the Obamas host an APEC reception and performance at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.

The US has understandably neglected many geopolitical developments during its decade of wars in the Middle East and South Asia. The Pacific Basin, one of the rising mega-regions of the planet, definitely falls in this category.

With China now vying to become the world’s second superpower, and many nations in the region alarmed by the prospect, the US is moving to reassert its role in the Pacific.

Obama’s would-be Republican opponents square off in yet another of their wearying round of debates Saturday night in South Carolina, to discuss foreign policy and geopolitics, something about which they have had little of substance to say.

Some new polls show Herman Cain leading in this state, where the Civil War began, with Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry following.

Of the field, only Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich have significant foreign policy experience.

Huntsman, the former Utah governor, was the US ambassador to China. Which is a big deal. Unfortunately for Huntsman, it was in the Obama Administration. And the field so far has decided that China, which is problematic, will be an un-nuanced whipping boy of sorts.

Huntsman also served as ambassador to Singapore, a powerful and strategic Asian city-state, and as deputy US trade representative.

We’ll see if the moderators let him say much tonight.

Gingrich served as speaker of the House. Before that, he co-founded the Congressional Military Reform Caucus with then Senator Gary Hart. After that, he served on the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, co-chaired by Hart and former Senator Warren Rudman, which laid out a path for the first quarter of this century and predicted major terrorist attacks on the US homeland.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Southern California and Northern California.

At 2:30 PM, Brown speaks at the Legislative and Political Forum at the National Association of Realtors Annual Conference at the Anaheim Convention Center.

There are increasing signs that Occupy Oakland will soon be evicted from its encampment outside Oakland City Hall.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, whose husband protested outside the Port of Oakland last week during the briefly successful effort to shut it down, has turned against the camp.

The camp has become problematic and there is near unanimous opposition to its continuing on the Oakland City Council, including some who supported the camp in the beginning.

More to follow.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

President Barack Obama spoke at Arlington National Cemetery this morning, as netcast live here on NWN. He paid tribute to the nation’s service members and veterans and vowed that the tide of war is receding.

** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington, Virginia, California, and en route to Hawaii.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He and First Lady Michelle Obama then hosted a breakfast with veterans in the East Room.

Following that, he took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The Obama delivered Veterans Day remarks at Arlington National Cemetery

At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Air Force One.

At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama departs Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One en route to San Diego, California.

At 3:25 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Naval Base Coronado, home of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command, parent organization of the Navy SEALs. All SEALs undergo training at Coronado.

At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama attends the Carrier Classic on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson.

This is the aircraft carrier which conducted the funeral service for Osama bin Laden in the Arabian Sea.

The Michigan State Spartans and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels play in the first-ever college basketball game aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier. This college basketball season opener will be televised on ESPN. Magic Johnson, late of Michigan State, and James Worthy, late of North Carolina, will also be on-hand as honorary captains for their alma maters. North Carolina is ranked Number One in the country in the pre-season rankings.

At 5:30 PM Pacific, Obama is interviewed by Jim Gray of Westwood One aboard USS Carl Vinson.

At 6 PM Pacific, Obama is interviewed by Andy Katz of ESPN aboard USS Carl Vinson.

At 6:50 PM Pacific, Obama departs San Diego on Air Force en route Honolulu, Hawaii.

Obama is off late today for a lengthy trip to other parts of the Pacific Basin. He’ll spend nine days in the region, with his next stop in Hawaii for the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit.

Later, he will also be in Australia and Indonesia.

Indonesia hosts the East Asia Summit, and Obama will be the first American president to take part in it.

Indonesia is also where Obama spent much of his boyhood, living in Jakarta between the ages of six and ten before returning to his native Honolulu.

As the US slowly attempts to pull out of its Middle Eastern and South Asian entanglements, it does with the knowledge that China is on the rise. Obama will meet over the weekend in Honolulu with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is not a doctor. (And no, I never get tired of that joke.)

But China, which is ramping up its military and space programs, is seen as an intimidating power by a number of Pacific Basin nations. And the US wants to preserve its own standing in the region.

Obama may announce the establishment of a new US military base, this one in Australia, when he meets with Prime Minister Julia Gillard next week.

While these matters of geopolitics and geoeconomics play out, so does the strange Republican presidential race.

Embattled Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain’s campaign said today that it has raised $9 million in the past six weeks, $2 million of it since sexual harassment allegations against him first emerged.

That’s the fastest pace of any of the Republican campaigns.

Cain has gone all in on an all-out denial of anything like sexual harassment, even as he cracks jokes about “Princess Pelosi,” as he did in the Wednesday night debate, and wisecracks about Anita Hill supporting him, as he did at a campaign stop yesterday. He’s tempting fate.

But so far, his bet is holding. One of his accusers has backed away from any public statement unless she can appear with all four of the women who have made allegations. Which appears unlikely.

As Cain hangs in, fellow GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney appears on the verge of a decision to make a major move in Iowa. But he hasn’t made the move yet. If Romney could win Iowa, he could wrap up the nomination quickly. But Iowa is not his natural turf, as he discovered in 2008 when he bet huge on the Hawkeye State only to lose to Mike Huckabee.

Who, not incidentally, would probably be cruising to the nomination had he run this time, as it is clear that most Republican voters have no enthusiasm for nominating Romney. But that’s another matter.

Meanwhile, as the Eurozone teeters and global markets shake …

Greece’s new prime minister, Lucas Papademos, former vice president of the European Central Bank, was sworn in today.

And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media magnate who is the longest-serving prime minister of the world’s eighth largest economy since World War II, seems increasingly likely to resign this weekend as parliament moves on budgetary measure required to avert Eurozone disaster.

He will apparently be replaced by a cabinet of technocrats headed by a new prime minister, former European Commissioner Mario Monti. But it hasn’t happened yet.

Global markets have rallied on the change in Greece and looming change in Italy.

While Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned yesterday against an Israeli military strike against Iran, as reported here, the US is taking other steps to counter Iran’s looming power, including providing bunker buster bombs to Gulf Arab states.

The US also wants tougher sanctions against Iran, but Russia and China are opposed, and Iran is attempting to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a nascent security organization consisting of Russia, China, and four Central Asian nations and former Soviet republics.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

Governor Jerry Brown speaks about the meaning of Veterans Day.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Brown recorded the video you see above, urging Californians to honor the service of active duty military personnel and to recognize that veterans of military service face continuing challenges after their service.

“On this Veterans Day, let’s remember the sacrifice, but let us also rededicate ourselves to making sure our veterans have the education, the health and the jobs that they – like other Americans – richly deserve,” said Brown in a statement.

California is home to more than two million military veterans. Brown this year established the California Interagency Council on Veterans to improve how veterans’ services are coordinated across local, state and federal government.

Both of Brown’s chiefs of staff — Gray Davis and B.T. Collins — during his first two terms as governor were veterans of the Vietnam War.

Davis, a Democrat who of course later became governor himself, was a captain in the Army Signal Corps who earned the Bronze Star.

Collins, a Republican who later became a state legislator, was a captain in the Army’s Special Forces. Collins won a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars and lost his right arm and right leg in combat with the Viet Cong.

Here is Brown’s statement on Veterans Day in the form of a gubernatorial proclamation.

PROCLAMATION

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 8th day of November 2011.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** RECALLING JOE FRAZIER: AN APPRECIATION, AND A NOTE OF HORROR. The surprise death of former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier reminds of the man’s elemental greatness, and of the deep pitfalls of high-contact sport.

I met Joe Frazier years ago in Vegas. He was very lively, a joshing sort who was quick to utter what turned out to be his latter-day catchphrase, “Joe Frazier, sharp as a razor.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but of course was his way of comparing himself to his nemesis, Muhammad Ali, so far removed now from his once dazzling persona. … From my November 10th essay.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

The big protest in Oakland Wednesday marked another big step in what I think the movement is actually about, i.e., an attempt to create a new intellectual space, as it were. … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, with the latest Mars Rover on board, is ready to start its mission to the Red Planet in two weeks.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $98.99 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.

This is up about $65 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $15 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

>>>>>>LIVE VIDEO NETCAST
At 8 AM Pacific on Friday, President Barack Obama commemorates Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery. The event is netcast live here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

** LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

With massive geopolitical events swirling and the 2012 presidential race unfolding, the White House is increasingly a pivot point for the day’s events. Live streaming of key presidential events is now available as a matter of course here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

NWN will continue to present other live netcasts in full streaming mode, as it did with the Ronald Reagan Centennial events from the Reagan Library, as they emerge and are technically available and as significance dictates.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emerged today to warn against any attack, vowing to “demolish from the inside” any threat against his country. Russia and China have dismissed further sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

** QUICK HITS. At 8 AM Pacific on Friday, President Barack Obama speaks on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery. The event is netcast live here on New West Notes. … And it’s a big PUNT on that highly controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline to bring tar sands oil down from the Canada. The Obama Administration will delay a decision until 2013, to allow time to study an alternate route that might not threaten a huge underground aquifer. And, er, to allow time for the 2012 presidential election to take place. … Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today issued a strong cautionary about any Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. “You’ve got to be careful of unintended consequences here. And those consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from what they want to do, but more importantly, it could have a serious impact in the region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the region,” the veteran California political figure said. … San Francisco native Dennis Ross, a special advisor to the president for Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs and longtime interlocutor with Israel, is resigning. As has been noted here for a long time, there’s no Middle East peace process for him to work on.

** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … VETERANS DAY IN A FRACTURED AMERICA.

** JERRY-RIGGING: MOVING ON GREENTECH WHILE WARILY WATCHING THE REVENUE PICTURE. Governor Jerry Brown was in LA at noontime today for the opening of the new global headquarters of an expanding green tech and electric vehicles company. But while he was there, fresh figures came out indicating, once again, that optimistic revenue projections in the current state budget are not being met.

Brown joined Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Congresswoman and former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilman and former Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson, and CODA CEO Phil Murtaugh in opening the firm’s new global headquarters.

CODA had 79 California employees a year ago. Now it has over 220, with 250 expected by year end, and 350 in a year.

The new 100,000 foot global headquarters will house R&D activities. The company, which has not received any state or federal funding, is to begin production of the CODA all-electric vehicle sedan at the end of the year.

“Dynamic innovation is a key building block of California’s 21st century economy,” Brown declared. “Car companies like CODA are investing in California because our laws encourage electric cars and recognize the paramount importance of reducing oil dependency.”

While Brown celebrated this good news, he had some bad news to contemplate, though not news that is a particular surprise.

State Controller John Chiang this morning released his monthly report covering California’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements in October. Revenues came in $810.5 million below projections in the state budget.

After accounting for October revenues, total year-to-date general fund revenues are now behind the budget’s estimates by $1.5 billion, but expenditures for the year are over projections by $1.7 billion.

Get that trigger finger ready. (Trigger as in triggered cuts that went along with the revenue projections, in the event that projections were not met.)

** NEW POLL: OBAMA RISES AGAINST GENERIC REPUBLICAN. Recent polling has shown President Barack Obama running behind a generic Republican while generally leading his actual Republican challengers. But in a sign that his new, more focused approach with regard to the economy, is paying off, that’s changing.

Naturally, he’s about to spend a whopping nine days on a trip abroad, all of it before Thanksgiving.

A new Gallup Poll shows Obama running very slightly ahead of a generic Republican now, 43-42. With leaners, Obama has a 48-45 edge. That’s a major improvement.

It’s largely due to Obama fighting back from a significant deficit with independent voters. Obama lost independents during the federal debt ceiling debacle, from which no actual politician involved emerged unscathed. (A generic Republican not being an actual pol.)

History shows that the generic question is not determinative. But the improvement is certainly a good sign for Obama, as is the strangeness of the Republican race.

President Obama now essentially ties, 43% to 42%, a “generic” Republican candidate when U.S. registered voters are asked whom they are more likely to vote for in the presidential election next year. This marks a change from October and September, when the Republican candidate was ahead, and underscores the potential for a close presidential race in the year ahead. …

President George W. Bush led the generic Democratic candidate throughout 2003, although in one October survey his lead was only three points. Bush went on to defeat Democrat John Kerry by a narrow popular-vote margin in 2004.

** RECALLING JOE FRAZIER: AN APPRECIATION, AND A NOTE OF HORROR. The surprise death of former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier reminds of the man’s elemental greatness, and of the deep pitfalls of high-contact sport.

I met Joe Frazier years ago in Vegas. He was very lively, a joshing sort who was quick to utter what turned out to be his latter-day catchphrase, “Joe Frazier, sharp as a razor.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but of course was his way of comparing himself to his nemesis, Muhammad Ali, so far removed now from his once dazzling persona. …

From my new essay.

During Wednesday’s Republican debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry struggled to remember the names of the three executive departments he has promised to eliminate. Hint: It’s Education, Commerce, and … Energy.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

At 10:30 AM Pacific, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivers a briefing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room. Carney will deal with present issues and discuss the major upcoming trip to the Pacific Basin.

The event will be netcast live here on New West Notes.

At 2:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

Obama is prepping for a lengthy trip to the Pacific Basin. He’ll spend nine days in the region, beginning with tomorrow’s first ever Carrier Classic in San Diego — two college basketball teams play on the deck of USS Carl Vinson, the ship which hosted the funeral of Osama bin Laden — before continuing on to Hawaii for the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit.

Last night’s Republican presidential debate in Michigan produced a classic gaffe on the part of Texas Governor Rick Perry. His campaign in the process of rather effectively rebooting after early miscues, most notably in debates, Perry stumbled badly when he declared that he would eliminate three departments of the federal government and then could only name two.

He actually said “Oops” toward the end of a near minute-long brain freeze.

Oops, indeed.

In other debate action, Newt Gingrich showed well, Mitt Romney took some fire for flip-flopping, and executed one in real time for good measure, and Herman Cain was cheered for his stonewall approach to charges of sexual harassment.

The candidates had little if anything to say about the Eurozone crisis, which is merely the greatest threat to the global economy.

This is a very strange campaign.

Meanwhile, as the Eurozone teeters and global markets shake …

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media magnate who is the longest-serving prime minister of the world’s eighth largest economy since World War II, may resign resign this weekend as parliament moves on budgetary measure required to avert Eurozone disaster.

The ever controversial Berlusconi, subject of protests from hundreds of thousands of leftist demonstrators, lost support in his own party.

He will apparently be replaced by a cabinet of technocrats headed by a new prime minister, former European Commissioner Mario Monti.

Greek politicians have apparently at last finished haggling over the replacement to outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, who last week proposed a referendum on the terms of his country’s bailout before retreating.

Former vice president of the European Central Bank Lucas Papademos is the apparent choice to head a national unity government.

Reeling Greece finally has a new prime minister.

As expected, the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency produced a report yesterday indicating that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. But Russia balked at new sanctions against Iran, saying they could be interpreted as a means of regime change.

And today China also balked at new sanctions against Iran, saying they could be counter-productive.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Los Angeles and Northern California.

At 12 noon, Brown will deliver remarks at the grand opening of CODA’s new global headquarters in Los Angeles. CODA is an expanding electric vehicle and green technology company.

Brown’s appointees to the state Board of Forestry have pushed through a $150 annual fee for fire protection for rural property owners. This will fund the state’s firefighting services, which are increasingly called upon every year now.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

The big protest in Oakland Wednesday marked another big step in what I think the movement is actually about, i.e., an attempt to create a new intellectual space, as it were. … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $63 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $17 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today insisted that his nation’s nuclear designs are peaceful and refused to alter them.

** QUICK HITS. Republicans are holding their latest presidential debate tonight, with their two frontrunners in intriguing spots. Herman Cain is hanging in there with the big stonewall on all charges of sexual harassment. He had better be absolutely right about that. And Mitt Romney is now in the position of having been on the wrong side of the big labor fight in Ohio and of the losing anti-abortion “personhood” measure in Mississippi. … Interim San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who led with 31% of first choice votes last night, appears to have prevailed with 61% of the vote following preliminary apportionment of back-up choice votes, becoming the City by the Bay’s first elected Asian-American mayor. … Governor Jerry Brown, who will attend the the grand opening of the new global HQ of an electric vehicles/greentech company tomorrow in LA, won’t call a special session on public pension reform, instead opting to focus on it when the state legislature reconvenes in January.

** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … RECALLING JOE FRAZIER: AN APPRECIATION, AND A NOTE OF HORROR.

** JERRY-RIGGING: MEET DARRELL ISSA. This could get interesting.

San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa, now chairman of the House Oversight Committee, announced today that he will investigate the California Air Resources Board.

Ah, say what? Last I checked, the Air Resources Board is not a federal agency.

But then, neither is Occupy Wall Street, which Issa also says he is investigating.

What’s Issa’s beef with the Air Resources Board? He doesn’t like its policies, naturally.

But what is his slender hook of an in to justify a supposed investigation?

Well, it seems to be the ARB’s influence over federal fuel economy standards. Which Issa, as a good conservative Republican, naturally opposes.

ARB chief Mary Nichols has previously declined to play along with Issa’s committee hearings.

“Your refusal to subject yourself and your office to congressional scrutiny is emblematic of the core concern that many in Congress share…that CARB, as a state actor, is unresponsive to congressional concerns and unappreciative of congressional priorities,” Issa wrote.

Perhaps if Issa, who bankrolled the signature gathering for the great California of 2003, had not dropped out of the race for governor he would have a more legitimate call on subjecting the ARB to scrutiny.

But that would be state scrutiny, not federal scrutiny.

I know Issa, and this could become rather entertaining.

** NEW POLL: OBAMA STRONG ON NATIONAL SECURITY, WEAK ON THE ECONOMY. With Tuesday’s election results, especially those from Ohio, providing new evidence of Democratic strength, and with the Republican presidential race locked into reality TV mode, it’s obvious that it would be ridiculous not to consider President Barack Obama a strong prospect for re-election.

But a new Gallup Poll gives further indication of what a topsy turvy time we’re in.

The usual profile is for a Republican to be seen as strong on national security, and a Democrat to be strongest on the economy. But with Obama, that expectation is flipped.

Which is both a problem and an opportunity for him.

The economy is very sour nearly three years into his watch. A big problem, to be sure, even though most don’t blame him for the economy going bad or proving so resistant to vibrant recovery.

His opportunity lies in the fact that he will be harder to attack in a traditional Democratic area of vulnerability, thus freeing him to focus on demonstrating that he is better than the Republicans, who still get most of the blame, economically.

Of course, foreign policy reverses, and things really aren’t going that well in any number of areas, can wreck Obama’s strategy.

There is a clear division in the way Americans today perceive the job President Barack Obama is doing on issues. He gets largely positive reviews for matters related to foreign affairs, particularly terrorism and the situation in Iraq. At the same time, majorities disapprove of his handling of several fiscal-related matters, including the federal budget deficit, the economy, creating jobs, and healthcare. …

Obama’s 36% approval rating for creating jobs is somewhat higher than the 29% recorded in August, prior to his September jobs initiative; however, it is still one of his lowest approval ratings in the new poll and trails the 40% who approved of him on the issue in November 2009. …

Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected a new law sharply curtailing collective bargaining for public employees, dealing new Governor John Kasich a decisive defeat.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

Obama then continued what he calls his “We Can’t Wait” campaign, signing an executive order to cut waste and promote efficient spending across the federal government.

At 9:10 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet for lunch in the Private Dining Room.

At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Anibal Cavaco Silva of Portugal in the Oval Office.

At 5:35 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at the National Women’s Law Center’s Annual Awards dinner at the Washington Hilton.

Mostly big wins for Democrats and progressives in several elections around the country yesterday.

Ohio has been a big GOP hope for 2012, especially after Governor John Kasich defeated Obama backer Ted Strickland a year ago. But now Kasich is in eclipse, and the Buckeye State again looks very promising for the president.

In New Jersey, another GOP star, heavily hyped Governor Chris Christie, saw fresh limits to his influence as Democrats expanded their legislative majority despite Christie’s campaigning for Republican candidates.

In addition, Mississippi voters defeated an anti-abortion law, and the author of Arizona’s famous anti-illegal immigration law — the president of the Arizona State Senate, Russell Pearce — was apparently recalled.

Kentucky’s Democratic governor won a fairly easy re-election as well. But Republicans moved up to a 20-20 split in the Virginia state senate, where ties can be broken by the Old Dominion’s Republican lieutenant governor.

Republican presidential candidates debate again tonight. Will they get beyond the tabloidization that has dominated the past week and a half?

Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain’s ongoing reality TV show spiked yesterday afternoon in Phoenix, where he held a press conference to address yesterday’s sensationally detailed sexual harassment charges against him. Cain categorically denied that anything of the sort happened, and said he can’t even remember meeting his accuser, Sharon Bialek, who worked for the National Restaurant Association’s non-profit when he headed the trade association. Cain said he would take a lie detector test to address the charges, and his campaign released information to trash his accuser.

Meanwhile, another woman who, unlike Bialek, did file a complaint, has seen her previously undisclosed name emerge. She said yesterday that she would be interested in holding a press conference with other women who say Cain sexually harassed them. But it also emerged that she charged sexual harassment at her next workplace, with the matter ultimately dropped.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media magnate who is the longest-serving prime minister of the world’s eighth largest economy since World War II, says that he will resign as soon as parliament passes budgetary measure required to avert Eurozone disaster. The ever controversial Berlusconi, subject of protests from hundreds of thousands of leftist demonstrators, finally lost support in his own party.

Greek politicians say they have finished haggling over the replacement to outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, who last week proposed a referendum on the terms of his country’s bailout before retreating.

But no, we still don’t know who the new prime minister will be!

I’m sure things will go much more smoothly in Italy …

As expected, the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency has a report indicating that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. But Russia is balking at new sanctions against Iran, saying they could be interpreted as a means of regime change.

Here’s some context. At a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Monday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slammed “arrogant world powers” of the West.

“It really is just like you said -these are arrogant world powers,” Mr Putin said in response to remarks from the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, made during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Saint Petersburg.

“But what is interesting, they also supported the North African revolutions as well, the ones that overthrew the old regimes,” Mr Putin added.

The SCO is a potential regional military bloc consisting of Russia, China, and four Central Asian republics formerly part of the Soviet Union — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Iran is an official observer and would like to join, but can’t because it is under UN sanction. Pakistan is also an observer and Russia has just endorsed its membership.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

San Francisco voted yesterday, and interim Mayor Ed Lee is the clear frontrunner for a four-year term. The imponderable is the city’s ranked choice voting system. This is the first time it’s been a factor in a mayoral race there.

Lee leads in the actual vote, with just over 31% of all precincts reporting, with lefty city Supervisor John Avalos second with 17%. Now the back-up choices have to be apportioned.

Voters also backed a moderate public pension reform measure over a more stringent one.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

The big protest in Oakland Wednesday marked another big step in what I think the movement is actually about, i.e., an attempt to create a new intellectual space, as it were. … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

A joint Chinese-Russian Mars probe has malfunctioned shortly after blasting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $63 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $17 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog agency says Iran has worked on research and development for nuclear weapons and on testing for such arms. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the International Atomic Energy Agency “a puppet of America” and insisted Iran’s program is for peaceful purposes.

** QUICK HITS. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media magnate who is the longest-serving prime minister of the world’s eighth largest economy since World War II, said today that he will resign as soon as parliament passes budgetary measure required to avert Eurozone disaster. The ever controversial Berlusconi, subject of protests from hundreds of thousands of leftist demonstrators, finally lost support in his own party. More to follow. … Greek politicians are still haggling over the replacement to outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, who last week proposed a referendum on the terms of his country’s bailout before retreating. For days now, a new unity government has supposedly been about to emerge. … Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain’s ongoing reality TV show spiked this afternoon in Phoenix, where he held a press conference to address yesterday’s sensationally detailed sexual harassment charges against him. Cain categorically denied that anything of the sort happened, and said he can’t even remember meeting his accuser, Sharon Bialek, who worked for the National Restaurant Association’s non-profit when he headed the trade association. Cain said he would take a lie detector test to address the charges, and his campaign released information to trash his accuser. Meanwhile, another woman who, unlike Bialek, did file a complaint, has seen her previously undisclosed name emerge. She said today that she would be interested in holding a press conference with other women who say Cain sexually harassed them.

** JERRY-RIGGING: REFORM ISN’T EASY. That has to be the take-away from the two major developments today in California politics, at least before the polls close in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and several other localities holding elections today.

It applies to a proposed reform, on public pensions, and to an already enacted reform, on redistricting.

The Legislative Analyst Office weighed in today on Governor Jerry Brown’s pension reform proposal from last week.

The LAO report is positive on the overall about Brown’s proposals, though it says the plan needs to expand to deal with state teachers and University of California retirement systems.

But the LAO report is very doubtful about a fundamental tenet of Brown’s plan; namely, to increase the cost of retirement benefits for workers currently in system. Since there are serious reports that existing liabilities are unfunded, that’s a big problem.

The LAO assessment is that any effort to alter existing arrangements for current employees lead to a “legal and collective bargaining minefield.” And so it urges that reforms deal only with new employees.

Which would be a problem not only for Brown’s proposal but for even more restrictive potential ballot initiatives to rein in burgeoning expenses.

The challenge of future reform in today’s news is matched by the challenge to existing reform.

Conservative Republican interests have bankrolled a big signature gathering program for a referendum to overturn the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s plan for state Senate districts. Advocates said today that they will turn in some 700,000 signatures to force a referendum on the plan in November 2012 (the drive to stop the move of all initiatives to the November ballot having failed).

That may be enough to ensure the 500,000-plus valid signatures needed to qualify the referendum.

That doesn’t mean they can win the referendum, of course. But it does mean they may block the new districts from going into effect. At least, those new districts.

New districts will have to be drawn by someone, namely the courts, since the state’s population has changed dramatically since the previous Census over a decade ago. Of course, there’s no guarantee that these temporary districts will be any more to the right’s liking.

But their bottom line politically is avoiding losing the clout they have with two-thirds super-majority requirements for any tax increase or ending of a tax loophole. So this sort of holding action turns out to be the California Republican Party’s top priority of all.

Republicans complained for years about majority Democrats drawing district lines for the state legislature and Congress. But in the end, they didn’t like what then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and reform allies finally succeeded in passing in a 2008 initiative. Because the dirty little secret of the last reapportionment was that it was an incumbent protection act which actually sustained conservative clout in the state beyond its demographic support levels. Hence this rear guard referendum.

** NEW POLL: CAIN IMAGE TAKES HITS FROM ALLEGATIONS, GINGRICH CONTINUES UPWARD MOVE. While Herman Cain continues atop the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, albeit now in tandem with Mitt Romney in most soundings, the ongoing media firestorm around him is taking a toll with his image.

A new Gallup Poll survey shows that his very high Positive Intensity Score is taking a hit.

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, all but left for dead in the spring and summer, is continuing a resurgence on that score, with a rating now higher than that of Romney.

Herman Cain’s image among Republicans is starting to get worse amid claims that he sexually harassed several women in the 1990s. His latest Positive Intensity Score, based on Oct. 24-Nov. 6 Gallup Daily tracking, is 25. However, across the two weeks that make up that average, his score was 29 in interviewing conducted Oct. 24-30, before the news broke, and 20 in the days since. …

Though Romney’s intensity score has reached a new low, he remains tied with Cain for the lead in Republican nomination preferences. Additionally, his broader total favorable rating among those familiar with him, which does not take into account strength of opinion, is 68%, second only to Cain’s 76%, with Gingrich third at 64%.

Australia has passed a series of landmark anti-pollution laws, including the imposition of a tax on carbon emissions. Australia is the world’s leading per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, though only 1.5% of the global total.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

Obama then flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he toured a regional Head Start center and delivered remarks.

At 9:35 AM Pacific, Obama departs Philadelphia on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.

At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.

At 10:35 AM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.

The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds Mitt Romney and Herman Cain tied for the lead in the Republican presidential race with Newt Gingrich a strong third and Rick Perry and Ron Paul close behind. Despite his decidedly mixed ratings, it also finds President Barack Obama Obama with a significant lead over Romney, six points, and a big lead over Cain, 15 points. Most voters think Obama inherited a bad economy and most think the US has entered a long-term decline. And showing the increasingly polarization at work, half the country counts themselves followers of either the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street.

But the frontrunning Herman Cain is now forced to address the sexual harassment allegations head on, which he will do in a 1 PM Pacific press availability in Phoenix, Arizona.

A woman who worked for the National Restaurant Association when it was headed by Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain surfaced yesterday in New York, repped by LA attorney Gloria Allred, with specific allegations of sexual harassment against him. Cain denies her charges.

The Eurozone crisis continues today, with Greece’s governance situation still unresolved. A new prime minister is now to be named sometime today. Which they’ve been saying for several days now.

And Italy, next on the hit parade of deeply troubled economies, is reeling into deeper governance crisis as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi failed to win a majority parliamentary vote on a key finance resolution. Calls for him to resign are accelerating, including from some of his own allies.

As the Iranian nuclear crisis again approaches a boil, world leaders’ distrust of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is being revealed.

“I cannot bear Netanyahu, he’s a liar,” Sarkozy told Obama, unaware that the microphones in their meeting room had been switched on, enabling reporters in a separate location to listen in to a simultaneous translation.

The conversation was not initially reported by the small group of journalists who overheard it because it was considered private and off-the-record. But the comments have since emerged on French websites and can be confirmed by Reuters.

Obama had criticized Sarkozy for embarrassing the US by having France vote in favor of admitting Palestine to UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization, and urged him to tell the Palestinians not to seek membership in any more UN groups for which the US is obliged to shut down funding as a result of a law passed in the 1990s. The Palestinians appear to have taken this to heart.

Meanwhile, as expected, the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency has a report indicating that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. But it has not yet been released.

In more positive news, the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the longest such in the world, taking gas directly from Russia to Germany to fuel the European Union, was inaugurated today. That assures Western Europe of plentiful energy supply, and enshrines Russia as the energy guarantor for the continent.

While national moves to deal with climate change are blocked at the national level in the US, where greenhouse denialism is rampant, Australia has taken on a major role, just passing tough laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It was a key priority of new Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Australia, which generates only 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases, is the world’s top emitter per capita, due in part to a heavy reliance on coal. Among other moves, the 500 biggest corporations will now be subject to a carbon tax.

Ohio voters are at the polls today and Democrats seem fairly confident that they will defeat Governor John Kasich’s anti-labor initiative.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Brown has a fan in the form of Clint Eastwood, who, in the course of promoting his new film, J. Edgar, told the LA Times that he is a big admirer of the new/renewed governor.

The only Democrat he can remember voting for is Gray Davis when he was elected governor of California in 1998. Yet Eastwood is also a big admirer of the current governor, Jerry Brown, and what Eastwood likes about Brown is revealing. He sees him as a kindred spirit, a free-thinking libertarian willing to take unpopular or unorthodox positions on key issues. Eastwood says he contributed to Brown’s campaign to establish several charter schools in Oakland when Brown was mayor there, seeing them as an important example of new thinking on education.

There will be a one-day strike of California state colleges by faculty on November 17th over various labor issues.

And state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg has started raising money for a race for California lieutenant governor. In 2018.

Meanwhile, San Francisco votes today, and interim Mayor Ed Lee is the clear frontrunner for a four-year term. The imponderable is the city’s ranked choice voting system. This is the first time it’s been a factor in a mayoral race there.

Its major effect seems to be to bring down frontrunners to the level of less well known challengers.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

The big protest in Oakland Wednesday marked another big step in what I think the movement is actually about, i.e., an attempt to create a new intellectual space, as it were. … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

Former heavyweight champion Joe “Smokin’ Joe” Frazier died Monday night at age 67 after a brief battle with liver cancer. Frazier, along with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, was one of the great stars of the Golden Age of boxing, staging several epic battles, including the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 after which neither he nor Ali were ever the same.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $61 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $19 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

A woman who worked for the National Restaurant Association when it was headed by Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain surfaced today in New York, repped by LA attorney Gloria Allred, with specific allegations of sexual harassment against him. Cain denies her charges.

** QUICK HITS. The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds Mitt Romney and Herman Cain tied for the lead in the Republican presidential race with Newt Gingrich a strong third and Rick Perry and Ron Paul close behind. Despite his decidedly mixed ratings, it also finds President Barack Obama Obama with a significant lead over Romney, six points, and a big lead over Cain, 15 points. Most voters think Obama inherited a bad economy and most think the US has entered a long-term decline. And showing the increasingly polarization at work, half the country counts themselves followers of either the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street. … There will be a one-day strike of California state colleges by faculty on November 17th over various labor issues. … State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg has started raising money for a race for California lieutenant governor. In 2018.

** NEW SURVEY: DEMS SLIGHTLY MORE LIBERAL AND LESS WHITE THAN IN 2008. As the Republicans grow more conservative, older, and white, as previously discussed, the Democrats are becoming somewhat more liberal and non-white.

At least that is the finding in a new Gallup Poll survey.

I believe it’s called polarization.

Incidentally, I doubt that this statement is accurate, not in just three years: “The percentage of Democrats who are Hispanic rose by two percentage points, from 12% to 14%, identical to the increase among all Americans.”

1. Perhaps the most significant change in the composition of Democrats between 2008 and today is the two-point increase, from 35% to 37%, in the percentage describing their political views as “liberal.” This occurred at a time when the country as a whole became slightly more conservative, thus expanding the political gap between Democrats and the rest of the U.S.

The percentage of Democrats who are Hispanic rose by two percentage points, from 12% to 14%, identical to the increase among all Americans. …

A war of words is ramping up ahead of a UN report on Iran’s nuclear program, with open talk of an Israeli military strike. Foreign scientists have helped Iran overcome key hurdles in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. That’s according to leaked information from a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.

A big week in presidential politics on tap, with the teetering global economy (Obama has another international summit to attend at the end of the week, this one in Hawaii), rumblings of war between Israel and Iran, and the crazy Republican race in the forefront. In California politics, as usual, a quieter week, with some local elections and some 2012 initiatives on the verge, again, of emerging. And the Occupy Wall Street movement, which relates to both, has decisions to make about what to do, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do, in the future.

In G-20 summit action, the US was largely on the sidelines, its historic global role sharply curtailed by the still sputtering domestic economy and its deeply dysfunctional political system.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, seems finally about to step down and hand off the premiership to a new national unity government in the wake of dropping a referendum on the country’s financial bailout and winning a parliamentary vote of confidence.

But now Italy looms as the next iceberg threatening a tottering global economic recovery. Italy has massive public debts, and the G-20 did not come to agreement on infusing more funds into the International Monetary Fund for an Italian bailout. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been embattled for months, with hundreds of thousands rallying against him.

Elsewhere, in our new world chaos, the world awaits this week’s IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report on Iran’s nuclear program which is expected to provide more evidence of a weapons program. The report comes as talk in the Israeli media of an Israeli strike on Iran approaches a boil.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said in a Sunday TV interview that “the military option against Iran is closer” even as much of the Israeli media reports that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are pushing the rest of the cabinet for approval of a strike option. France’s foreign minister said that a military attack could totally destabilize the Middle East.

Then there is the crazy Republican presidential race.

After days of massive negative media coverage of still murky sexual harassment allegations from the 1990s, Herman Cain is more than hanging in there in the polls of Republican voters.

While he’s too clueless to be elected president — “U-bekibekibekibekistanstan,” indeed, not to mention his not knowing of China being a nuclear power — he’s clearly not so clueless that he can’t continue to be the frontrunner or co-frontrunner in the Republican presidential primaries. But he seems far too defensive for his own good, suspiciously so.

In Friday’s ABC/Washington Post poll, Cain actually improved from where he was last month, up to a dead heat with Mitt Romney. And in a new Rasmussen poll, he has a big lead over Romney in early primary South Carolina.

I have no idea what Cain did or did not do. A week after the story was so breathlessly broken, I still have remarkably little idea of what he supposedly did, or said. I also find it quite bizarre that the US media has now spent a week obsessing about this, without wondering why it can’t grapple with what “this” is.

But help may be on the way. LA attorney Gloria Allred is set to unveil another accuser, this one in public, presumably with some details. That happens in the modest media capital of Manhattan later today.

Mitt Romney is now going to play in Iowa, which he had seemingly eschewed earlier. The question is how heavy he plays there.

Newt Gingrich is making a move towards the top, even as he promotes a new novel about the Civil War.

And Rick Perry is in striking distance of getting back into serious contention, with the funds to do it, much of his conservative support having migrated to Cain when he stumbled in a debate format in which Cain, despite his wacky ideas and lack of knowledge, shines.

Meanwhile, “Bank Transfer Day,” a grassroots movement that sprang to life last month as part of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement, targeted November 5th — which is Guy Fawkes Day — as a deadline for bank customers to close their accounts in big banks and switch to community banks and credit unions. It’s unclear how many people did that, but nearly 80,000 had signed up to do it in advance.

The move came with the Occupy movement at something of a strategic crossroads with regard to how best to define and project its message, and how to deal with a minority of violent protesters latching on to the movement and giving it a major black eye in public.

There are two other big happenings this week on the domestic front of presidential politics. Ohio votes on Tuesday on an anti-union ballot measure promoted by new Governor John Kasich. Its prospects do not appear promising.

And Obama is facing a tough decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil sand energy to the US from Canada, with sharply divergent claims of economic benefits and energy independence on the one side and fears of more contributions to greenhouse gases and corporate manipulation on the other.

In California politics, while machinations play out around public pension reform initiatives and the Governor Jerry Brown’s own proposal and additional potential initiatives await public action, San Francisco is about to elect its mayor. I have no prediction, as I don’t follow San Francisco politics very closely and since the city’s new ranked choice voting system, which allows lightly informed back-up choices to have a major impact on outcomes — such as electing Oakland Mayor Jean Quan — makes prediction very difficult.

The clear frontrunner is interim Mayor Ed Lee, appointed when Gavin Newsom entered the witness protection known as the lieutenant governorship of California. The longtime city administrator is popular, but attacked on all sides in a multi-candidate race.

California also has the latest Pacific Gas & Electric debacle to contend with. PG&E, which presided over a deadly natural gas blast last year in the Bay Area city of San Bruno, managed to shut down a major freeway yesterday, Highway 280, while finally running a high-pressure water test of the same pipeline network. The pipe blew and caused an avalanche which closed the roadway, which is now open.

PG&E had previously avoided performing such tests. Make of that what you will.

Here’s what Obama’s week looks like.

On Monday, Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Tuesday, he will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, Obama will deliver remarks at the National Women’s Law Center’s Annual Awards dinner. On Thursday, he will attend meetings at the White House, as Casa Blanca continues its pattern of keeping things flexible toward the end of the week to deal with emerging issues.

Then on Friday, which is Veterans Day, the Obamas will host a breakfast with veterans at the White House. Afterwards, Obama will visit Arlington National Cemetery to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and deliver remarks. Then the Obamas will travel to San Diego, California for the Carrier Classic — two college basketball teams will play on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier on which Osama bin Laden had his funeral — and Honolulu, Hawaii for the start of the APEC Summit.

Then the Obamas fly to Honolulu, Hawaii for the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit. APEC brings together the leaders of 21 Pacific Basin economies, including, naturally, China and Japan.

President Barack Obama spoke to the press about the world economy and the G-20 summit at the end of the summit on Friday in Cannes, France.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 12:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in the Oval Office.

At 1 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.

At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a fundraiser at a private residence.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

Take Occupy Oakland, for example. What does it mean to “occupy Oakland?” … From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy.

It’s been daunting and, frankly, not exactly thrilling. Which made Wednesday’s big move toward the future all the more worthy of comment. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

A giant asteroid will make a cosmic near miss of the Earth on Tuesday. The aircraft carrier-sized piece of rock, 2005 YU55, will pass between us and the Moon, the closest such encounter in at least 200 years.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $61 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $19 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said in a Sunday TV interview that “the military option against Iran is closer” with a likely International Atomic Energy Agency report coming shortly on Iran’s nuclear program. France’s foreign minister said that a military attack could totally destabilize the Middle East.

** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He has no scheduled public events.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, still reportedly looking to step down and hand off the premiereship to a new national unity government in the wake of dropping a referendum on the country’s financial bailout and winning a parliamentary vote of confidence, is still in office Sunday morning in the Pacific time zone, the national unity government still being negotiated. Progress is apparently being made, but is slow.

Despite an agreement with the Arab League to stop attacking pro-democracy demonstrators and enter into a dialogue, the Syrian regime has killed dozens more this weekend, prompting a call from the Arab League for an emergency meeting.

Four bomb blasts hit Baghdad today, killing at least eight people. Meanwhile, the US pull-out is picking up steam.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

“Remember, remember the 5th of November,” as the old English schoolchild’s ditty goes. There’s a reason why Bank Transfer Day was called for today, just as there is a reason why you are seeing these masks from V for Vendetta popping up in various Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and Anonymous actions around the world. It’s Guy Fawkes Day, anniversary of the 1605 plot to blow up the House of Lords and the king with it.

** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He has no scheduled public events.

“Bank Transfer Day,” a grassroots movement that sprang to life last month as part of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement, has targeted today — which is Guy Fawkes Day — as a deadline for bank customers to close their accounts in big banks and switch to community banks and credit unions.

After days of massive negative media coverage of still murky sexual harassment allegations from the 1990s, Herman Cain is more than hanging in there in the polls of Republican voters.

While he’s too clueless to be elected president — “U-bekibekibekibekistanstan,” indeed — he’s clearly not so clueless that he can’t continue to be the frontrunner or co-frontrunner in the Republican presidential primaries.

In yesterday’s ABC/Washington Post poll, Cain has actually improved from where he was last month, up to a dead heat with Mitt Romney. And in a new Rasmussen poll, he has a big lead over Romney in early primary South Carolina.

I have no idea what Cain did or did not do. And five days after the story was so breathlessly broken, I still have little idea of what he supposedly did, or said.

I also find it quite bizarre that the US media has now spent a week obsessing about this, without wondering why it can’t grapple with what “this” is.

Meanwhile, important things are happening. Or not.

In G-20 action, the US was largely on the sidelines, its historic global role sharply curtailed by the still sputtering domestic economy and its deeply dysfunctional political system.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is to step down in favor of the formation of a unity government, his sudden move to subject the Greek financial bailout to a referendum — a move which threatened to shatter the barely found stability of global markets — shelved after pressure from other world leaders. But the unity government hasn’t happened yet.

But now Italy looms as the next iceberg threatening a tottering global economic recovery. Italy has massive public debts, and the G-20 did not come to agreement on infusing more funds into the International Monetary Fund for an Italian bailout.

With President Barack Obama in France at the end of the week for the G-20 summit, Vice President Joe Biden delivers the weekend video/radio address. Speaking from the University of Pittsburgh, Biden argues that this month’s jobs numbers demonstrate that Congress should pass the American Jobs Act.

Elsewhere, in our new world chaos …

The world awaits next week’s IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report on Iran’s nuclear program which is expected to provide more evidence of a weapons program. The report comes as talk in the Israeli media of an Israeli strike on Iran is on high simmer.

A top US general in Afghanistan was fired today for dissing President Hamid Karzai. Army Major General Peter Fuller, deputy chief of NATO’s training command (what a lovely gig that would be), was infuriated by Karzai’s recent statement that he would side with Pakistan if it had a military engagement with the US: “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?”

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

On Thursday night, Brown fired California’s two top oil and natural gas regulators, who have come under fire for being very slow to issue drilling permits.

That would be slow as in turning down or failing to move on some 90% of the permit applications.

The debate continues over what to do in Oakland, where city officials under Mayor Jean Quan struggle for coherence with regard to the Occupy Oakland encampment, and Occupy activists struggle for coherence and constructiveness with regard to their strategy moving forward.

See my essay below.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

But if something else is envisioned, something more literal-minded, something like the Paris Commune of 1871, a short-lived assumption of power by the working class, founded on theories of participatory democracy, well, that’s another matter entirely. Especially considering that the general strike called for Oakland on Wednesday did not materialize. …

From my November 4th essay.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy.

It’s been daunting and, frankly, not exactly thrilling. Which made Wednesday’s big move toward the future all the more worthy of comment. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed at $94.26 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.

This is up about $60 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $20 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

“Bank Transfer Day,” a grassroots movement that sprang to life last month as part of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement, has targeted Saturday as a deadline for bank customers to close their accounts in big banks and switch to community banks and credit unions.

** QUICK HITS. The world awaits next week’s IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report on Iran’s nuclear program which is expected to provide more evidence of a weapons program. The report comes as talk in the Israeli media of an Israeli strike on Iran is on high simmer. … A top US general in Afghanistan was fired today for dissing President Hamid Karzai. Army Major General Peter Fuller, deputy chief of NATO’s training command (what a lovely gig that would be), was infuriated by Karzai’s recent statement that he would side with Pakistan if it had a military engagement with the US: “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?” … Governor Jerry Brown last night fired California’s two top oil and natural gas regulators, who have come under fire for being very slow to issue drilling permits. …

** OCUPADO. Wednesday’s general strike in Oakland pointed up some of the promise, and the problems, of the loose-knit Occupy Wall Street movement.

But if something else is envisioned, something more literal-minded, something like the Paris Commune of 1871, a short-lived assumption of power by the working class, founded on theories of participatory democracy, well, that’s another matter entirely. Especially considering that the general strike called for Oakland on Wednesday did not materialize. …

From my new essay.

** NEW POLLS: THE CAIN MUTINY CONTINUES. After days of highly focused negative media coverage of still murky sexual harassment allegations from the 1990s, Herman Cain is more than hanging in there in the polls of Republican voters.

While he’s too clueless to be elected president — “U-bekibekibekibekistanstan,” indeed — he’s clearly not so clueless that he can’t continue to be the frontrunner or co-frontrunner in the Republican presidential primaries.

In the new ABC/Washington Post poll, Cain has actually improved from where he was last month, up to a dead heat with Mitt Romney.

And in a new Rasmussen poll, he has a big lead over Romney in early primary South Carolina.

I have no idea what Cain did or did not do. And five days after the story was so breathlessly broken, I still have little idea of what he supposedly did, or said.

Meanwhile, Cain spoke today at the Washington conference of Americans for Prosperity, a far right advocacy group that bankrolls much of the Tea Party movement and in turn is run and bankrolled by the Koch brothers, oil billionaires who have seemingly convinced themselves that Barack Obama is a socialist.

Cain, who is the Kochs’ former employee, said of them today: “I am the Koch brothers’ brother from another mother.”

This is all a very strange situation.

** NEW SURVEY: GENERIC REPUBLICAN HAS SWING STATE EDGE ON OBAMA ON THE ECONOMY. A new Gallup Poll survey points up the danger of being the president at a time of grave economic turmoil.

In a dozen swing states in next year’s election, a generic Republican candidate has the edge on President Barack Obama on the economy.

It’s a big edge on the deficit.

But it’s dead even on employment.

So it all comes to which aspect of the economic picture is more important: Stimulating employment or cutting the deficit.

Obama should be able to convince voters that whichever Republican is nominated is not focused on job creation.

But his problem is that 60% of swing state voters say they are not better off than they were before Obama was elected, while only 37% say they are.

The national health care bill is also not helping Obama in these states.

Health care is something people always to do, but I don’t recall it ever turning out to be a winning issue.

Voters in 12 key swing states are substantially more likely to feel that a generic “Republican candidate” for president would do a better job than President Obama of handling the federal deficit and debt, and are slightly more likely to prefer the Republican on the issue of unemployment. Swing-state voters are split on the question of whether Obama or the Republican candidate would do a better job of handing healthcare as well as terrorism and international threats. …

These “swing state” results are from the first USA Today/Gallup Swing States poll, based on Oct. 20-27 Gallup Daily tracking in 12 states that will be among the most crucial to winning the 2012 presidential election. The states include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Obama and the leading Republican candidates are competitive in terms of registered voter support in these states, and Republicans in these states are more enthusiastic about voting than are Democrats. …

President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. economy is growing “way too slow” but said leaders at a world summit have made progress at getting their countries on firmer footing.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in France and en route to Washington.

Obama has taken part in several sessions of the G-20 summit meeting today in Cannes, France.

He then held a press conference to discuss the G-20 meeting.

Following that, he made a joint appearance with Frence President Nicolas Sarkozy to celebrate the relationship between the US and France, which dates back to French intervention assisting the nascent United States in the Revolutionary War.

At 9 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a joint interview with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France with TF 1 and France 2 at Cannes City Hall.

At 10:10 AM Pacific, Obama departs Nice, France on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.

At 7:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.

At 7:25 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.

The time in France is eight hours ahead of Pacific time.

Obama got some good news this morning, but not as good as expected. The official unemployment rate ticked downward, but only slightly, to 9.0%. It was previously 9.1%.

This is significantly higher than the Gallup survey I published yesterday.

Positive employment numbers for the previous two months, meanwhile, were upgraded. Perhaps these numbers will be upgraded later as well.

Private sector job growth is being offset by continuing cuts in state and local government, bearing out the argument that the un-bailed out states are a drag constituency on the overall economic recovery.

In G-20 action, Europe, which has dodged a huge bullet in the form of the now canceled Greek referendum, is seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund. But in this, the US is largely absent.

Obama is not going to ask for additional US funds for the IMF. Imagine how that would play, in this Congress!

So the US was largely on the sidelines at this pivotal G-20 summit, its historic global role sharply curtailed by the still sputtering domestic economy and its deeply dysfunctional political system.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Iraq is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

The Oakland “general strike” continues to reverberate.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

The California Forward reform group has released proposals for a 2012 initiative. They are all quite familiar.

They include imposition of a two-year budget process, an end to “gut and amend” last minute legislative tactics, and performance-based budgeting.

Brown has had lengthy private talks with California Forward leader Bob Hertzberg, the former Assembly speaker.

He vetoed a performance-based budgeting bill as an exercise in paperwork, but the requirement that any program or tax cut costing more than $25 million have identified funding sources could well appeal to him.

Brown also announced his big climate change conference in San Francisco, set for December 15th. I reported on that yesterday, and discussed its impending status a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the Oakland City Council held a lengthy hearing and public meeting deep into the night last night on the big “general strike” of Wednesday. Much recrimination on all sides.

Embattled Mayor Jean Quan seems to have reversed herself yet again, going from a position of support for the Occupy Oakland encampment next to City Hall to saying they may have to leave. Oakland City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, who had prepared a resolution of support specifying how the city would help facilitate the encampment, didn’t offer it after hours of contentious testimony.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy.

It’s been daunting and, frankly, not exactly thrilling. Which made Wednesday’s big move toward the future all the more worthy of comment. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. It’s been a tumultuous time lately for the Obama Administration in geopolitics, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is more prominent than ever. The polls are strong for her, but the reality is more problematic.

But, aside from Libya, to which she paid a happy visit on October 18 having championed the limited U.S. intervention policy over opposition from then Defense Secretary Bob Gates, she’s been busy spinning up some unsuccessful/highly unconvincing stuff. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

Six men locked away in steel tubes for 520 days to simulate a mission to Mars have emerged from isolation in Moscow.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $93 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $59 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $21 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

While most focus, understandably, on global economic turmoil presently centering on Europe, there is now open talk in the Israeli and Iranian press of a preemptive strike against Iran’s growing nuclear program.

** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OCUPADO.

** QUICK HITS. While hand-wringing ramps up anew over accelerating signs of climate change, we’re in the midst of a huge jump in greenhouse gas emissions, with China and the US leading the way. The increase from 2009 to 2010 alone exceeds the individual emissions of all countries but the US, China, and India. … Another piece of President Barack Obama’s economic plan, a $60 billion infrastructure proposal, was defeated today in the Senate, 51 to 49. A majority in favor, but not the super-majority needed to beat a hypothetical filibuster. (Isn’t it time to force these filibusters?) Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson joined all 47 Republicans in voting no. … The conservative Republican drive to block the move of California ballot initiatives to the November ballot by mounting a referendum campaign is crashing to a halt, with no real funding to gather signatures. Instead, the big referendum money is going after the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s new state Senate districts.

** JERRY-RIGGING: BROWN ANNOUNCES CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER. Governor Jerry Brown this morning announced that he will host a conference on climate change on December 15th in San Francisco.

This conference was discussed last week on New West Notes.

The Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future will take place at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

The conference will, according to Brown, “focus on the risks of unpredictable and extreme weather events caused by climate change and how our communities can prepare and adapt.”

The event will build on an upcoming report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dealing with the increasing phenomenon of extreme weather events and their impact on the economy and communities.

Brown will be joined by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Rajendra Pachauri of the IPCC and other leaders in the field.

** NEW SURVEY: UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS. A new Gallup Poll survey has some continuing news of a somewhat improved economy.

According to the survey, the unemployment rate is shaping up as the lowest in nearly two years.

The official federal government report is due out tomorrow.

But before one gets carried away, we are millions of jobs away from getting back to where we were before the great global recession.

Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is at 8.4% at the end of October, down from 8.7% in September and 9.2% in August. Unemployment was at 8.3% in mid-October — its lowest level since Gallup began continuous monitoring in January 2010. Gallup’s unemployment measure is also now much lower compared with a year ago — it stood at 9.4% at the end of October 2010. …

However, Gallup’s view that the unemployment rate is likely to decline is not aligned with the current consensus that it will remain unchanged. It also does not fit with the report Wednesday from ADP, the nation’s largest payroll service, which found a rise of 110,000 in private-sector payrolls during October. …

>>>>>>LIVE VIDEO NETCAST

At 10:30 AM Pacific, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivers a briefing from Cannes, France, providing updates on the G-20 summit and the Eurozone crisis affecting global markets. The event will be netcast live here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

** LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

With massive geopolitical events swirling and the 2012 presidential race unfolding, the White House is increasingly a pivot point for the day’s events. Live streaming of key presidential events is now available as a matter of course here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

NWN will continue to present other live netcasts in full streaming mode, as it did with the Ronald Reagan Centennial events from the Reagan Library, as they emerge and are technically available and as significance dictates.

President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed the European financial crisis roiling global markets as the G-20 summit began today in Cannes. Greece has just scrapped plans for a referendum on its finances, a move which had threatened last week’s cobbled together Eurozone rescue plan.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in France.

Obama, who received intelligence briefings on Air Force One, arrived very early this morning at the Cote D’Azur Airport in Nice, France.

He then proceeded to Espace Riviera in Cannes, where he was greeted by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Following that, he held a bilateral meeting with President Sarkozy.

He then held a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the InterContinental Carlton Hotel in Cannes.

This was followed by a meeting with L20 International Labor Leaders at the InterContinental Carlton Hotel.

Obama then returned to Espace Riviera, where he was greeted by President Sarkozy and took part in a working lunch with G-20 leaders.

At 6:30 AM Pacific, Obama took part in a G-20 working session

At 8:05 AM Pacific, Obama joined other leaders for the G-20 family photo.

At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a second G-20 working session.

At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a working dinner with G-20 leaders.

The time in France is eight hours ahead of Pacific time.

The big news of the day, so far, took place with Obama still off-stage. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, under heavy pressure from Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and other European leaders, has dropped his sudden plan for a referendum on the Greek bailout, which had again thrown the Eurozone, and global markets, into serious disarray.

Papandreou, rumored to be about to resign with a parliamentary vote of confidence looming on Friday, finally agreed that a Greek referendum was simply too big an element of chaos for the global financial system to deal with.

It’s not clear what kind of firepower Obama brings to the table in these discussions, aside from an ability to pressure on the margins. With the fundamental dysfunction of the political system in Washington, and the election campaigns developing rapidly, he is in no position to save the day.

Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain, still ahead in some national polling I’ve seen including some of the period of present controversy, is still mired in he said/she said land. Except, several days along, no one is saying what he allegedly said, which makes this an odd and frustrating story to judge.

But even without any clearcut allegation against him, amazing consider we are days into the story, Cain is doing a bang-up job of debating with himself, offering a textbook example of how not to get one’s story straight under pressure. He’s also busy pointing fingers at Rick Perry’s campaign — and some who are part of Perry’s bid are clearly involved in pushing the story — and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, as I keep pointing out, we still don’t know precisely what it was that Cain supposedly said or did that led two — or is it three? — women to take serious offense. The woman who the Washington Post reported was about to come forward has decided, per her attorney, not to.

There is renewed loud chatter, as I’ve been mentioning, about an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program. I’ve written about this before at length.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is slated to release its latest report on Iran’s program next week, and it’s expected to show continued progress toward a nuclear weapon.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Libya is nine hours ahead of Pacific time, Iraq is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

After a day of mostly peaceful protest in Oakland, a large showing but hardly a general strike, a small number of protesters late last night got themselves arrested after starting a bonfire on a downtown street and taking over and vandalizing a building.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

As of 5 PM Pacific yesterday, the Occupy Wall Street-affiliated general strike in Oakland appeared relatively stable, relatively large, quite spirited, and not a general strike. Despite many activist claims in the morning, the Port of Oakland was not closed at any time during the day.

The crowd was well into the thousands, but certainly not sizable enough to occupy much of the city and most businesses and public agencies have remained open. There has been some vandalism, but not much and what there has been has been largely quelled by other protesters. The often aggressive Oakland police have had a lower key presence.

In the early evening, after a large march to the port by a swelling crowd of protesters, the port was closed. Some protesters tried to get on and block the Bay Bridge, but were themselves blocked by California Highway Patrol officers who had anticipated the move.

Most protesters either dispersed or returned to downtown Oakland. And there, very late last night, a familiar pattern ensued. A small group of protesters turned to vandalism and taunting of police, seizing an empty building which had previously housed a social service agency, before dozens were arrested.

Meanwhile, the Port of Oakland — the nation’s fifth busiest — is open again today.

In other action, moderate conservatives out to change California’s public pension system yesterday filed two initiatives for the November 2012 ballot. They say they can raise the money to qualify, though I don’t know the sources of the funding. The initiatives are somewhat harsher than the proposal rolled out last week by Brown, containing benefit cuts for existing state workers.

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy.

It’s been daunting and, frankly, not exactly thrilling. Which made Wednesday’s big move toward the future all the more worthy of comment. … From my November 2nd essay.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. It’s been a tumultuous time lately for the Obama Administration in geopolitics, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is more prominent than ever. The polls are strong for her, but the reality is more problematic.

But, aside from Libya, to which she paid a happy visit on October 18 having championed the limited U.S. intervention policy over opposition from then Defense Secretary Bob Gates, she’s been busy spinning up some unsuccessful/highly unconvincing stuff. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

This morning in London, the new James Bond film at last had its launch press conference. Skyfall, which will appear in the 50th anniversary year of the Bond film franchise, is directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes. Daniel Craig returns as Bond, joined by Oscar-winner Judi Dench as M, Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as the villain, Oscar nominees Ralph Viennes (in a secret role) and Albert Finney (as M’s boss), and Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris. Today, incidentally, is 50 years since Sean Connery was announced as the original Bond.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $93 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $59 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $21 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.

A finally definitive departure of American forces from Iraq has begun at the massive Al Asad (The Lion) Air Base, 100 miles west of Baghdad. Some 40,000 troops are slated to be on home soil by January.

** QUICK HITS. As of 5 PM Pacific, the Occupy Wall Street-affiliated general strike in Oakland appears relatively stable, relatively large, quite spirited, and not a general strike. Despite many activist claims this morning, the Port of Oakland was not closed. The crowd appears to be well into the thousands, but certainly not sizable enough to occupy much of the city and most businesses and public agencies have remained open. There has been some vandalism, but not much and what there has been has been largely quelled by other protesters. The often aggressive Oakland police have had a lower key presence. We’ll see what happens tonight. … Moderate conservatives out to change California’s public pension system today filed two initiatives for the November 2012 ballot. They say they can raise the money to qualify, though I don’t know the sources of the funding. The initiatives are somewhat harsher than the proposal rolled out last week by Governor Jerry Brown, containing benefit cuts for existing state workers. … Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain, still ahead in some national polling I’ve seen including some of the period of present controversy, is still mired in he said/she said land. Except, several days along, no one is saying what he allegedly said, which makes this an odd and frustrating story to judge.

** NEW POLL: BIG BACKING FOR OBAMA ON U.S. WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ. A new Gallup Poll confirms that President Barack Obama took a popular course on Iraq, even if it was in large part forced upon him by the Iraqis.

A whopping 75% support the full US withdrawal from Iraq, which goes beyond levels envisioned by the previous administration and the Pentagon, whose plans for a significant residual force were dashed by opposition from the Iraqi parliament.

It’s 75-21 among all respondents and an amazing 96-2 among Democrats.

But Republicans oppose the Iraq withdrawal, 52-43.

Most Republican presidential candidates, as well as 2008 nominee John McCain, strongly condemned Obama for not somehow inveigling the Iraqis into allowing a large force of US troops to remain in Iraq.

Since Iran is playing a major role in Iraq, thanks to our thoughtful removal of longtime regional counterweight Saddam Hussein, that wasn’t in the cards.

These findings are consistent with Americans’ long-standing desire to leave Iraq. Last August, as the drawdown in U.S. forces was underway, 6 in 10 Americans were opposed to renewing combat operations in Iraq even if Iraqi forces were unable to maintain security in that country.

The Iraq war had been one of the top issues in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, and Americans named it as the most important problem facing the country each month for nearly four years, from April 2004 to January 2008. Now, 1% of Americans name it as the most important problem. U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will thus end the debate on what has been one of the dominant policy issues in U.S. politics for the past eight years.

** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. Today marks one year since Jerry Brown’s election as California’s new/renewed governor. (He’s only been governor for 10 months.) Brown has been consumed in dealing with the state’s systemic political dysfunction, but yesterday began an important move into the future. A move that, with Republican governors in other states balking, may lead to America’s biggest action on the high-speed rail systems that Europe and Asia already enjoy.

It’s been daunting and, frankly, not exactly thrilling. Which made Wednesday’s big move toward the future all the more worthy of comment. …

From my new essay.

>>>>>>LIVE VIDEO NETCAST

At 9:30 AM Pacific, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivers a briefing. The event will be netcast live here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

** LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

With massive geopolitical events swirling and the 2012 presidential race unfolding, the White House is increasingly a pivot point for the day’s events. Live streaming of key presidential events is now available as a matter of course here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.

NWN will continue to present other live netcasts in full streaming mode, as it did with the Ronald Reagan Centennial events from the Reagan Library, as they emerge and are technically available and as significance dictates.

Four members of a far right Georgia militia group were arrested today on charges of plotting to use chemical and biological weapons against federal government officials.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and then en route to France.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefing and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

Obama then delivered remarks urging Congress to pass the infrastructure piece of the American Jobs Act at Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington.

At 9:05 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden have lunch in the Private Dining Room.

At 9:30 AM Pacific, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivers a briefing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room.

At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Senate Democratic Leadership in the Oval Office.

At 3:45 PM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Air Force One.

At 4 PM Pacific, Obama departs Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One en route Nice, France for the G-20 summit.

Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain, after some dreadful missteps, has been weathering the controversy around sexual harassment allegations during his 1990s tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association. (Are we really going to elect a lobbyist president?) Top conservatives like Rush Limbaugh have rushed to his defense.

But now the Washington Post says that one of the two women who leveled the allegations wants to be released from her confidentiality agreement.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has thrown the big Eurozone fix back into crisis with his sudden decision to hold a referendum in January on already agreed upon Greek austerity measures. But he faces a vote of no confidence on Friday and may not survive long enough to call the election.

Reacting immediately to UNESCO’s admission of Palestine as a member state, the Obama Administration retaliated as required by US law (bills signed by the first President Bush and Bill Clinton) by cutting off all US funding to the UN agency. That includes $60 million that was to be paid next month. The US has provided a fifth of UNESCO’s funding.

Israel further upped the ante by vowing to accelerate the extraordinarily controversial settlements by religious fundamentalists in disputed areas and by moving to cut off funds that it collects for the Palestinian Authority.

Now Sky News is reporting that Israel’s leaders are seriously considering a military strike against Iran as a preemptive strike against the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are said to be promoting the move.

The Israelis today tested a Jericho missile, a weapons platform capable of striking Tehran.

Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.

War Zone Times: Libya is nine hours ahead of Pacific time, Iraq is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.

Occupy Oakland hopes to pull off a general strike today.

** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.

He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.

Reaction to the release of the California High Speed Rail Authority’s revamped business plan has been mainly positive, with even incoming state Senate Republican leader Bob Huff agreeing with the need for new transit alternatives and praising the plan’s realism.

Today is the anniversary of Brown’s election as governor. By coincidence, it is also the day of a proposed general strike of Oakland being staged by the local affiliate of Occupy Wall Street. Brown has had no comment on this, and has been out of public view for the past several days.

But do you really think that the former mayor of Oakland, now governed by the feckless Jean Quan, isn’t paying a lot of attention here?

Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.

** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. It’s been a tumultuous time lately for the Obama Administration in geopolitics, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is more prominent than ever. The polls are strong for her, but the reality is more problematic.

But, aside from Libya, to which she paid a happy visit on October 18 having championed the limited U.S. intervention policy over opposition from then Defense Secretary Bob Gates, she’s been busy spinning up some unsuccessful/highly unconvincing stuff. … From my October 29th column.

** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. As Apple CEO Tim Cook noted again at last week’s memorial service, Steve Jobs liked to say that he modeled his business after the Beatles. So it was interesting to have been around when the Beatles broke up, i.e., when Jobs was fired in the ’80s from the company he so famously co-founded and led. … From my October 26th essay.

** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.

** AFGHAN WAR AT 10, 9/11 AT 10+: DID OSAMA BIN WIN AFTER ALL? … From my October 7th essay.

** CALIFORNIA’S WILD RIDE: OF ARNOLD, JERRY, AND VANITIES FAIR (AND OTHERWISE). … From my October 4th essay.

** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.

** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $91 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This is up about $57 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $23 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.