memeorandum: Occupy Wall Street growing rapidly (Chris Bowers/Daily Kos)

2:33 AM ET, September 30, 2011

Top Items:

Chris Bowers / Daily Kos:

Occupy Wall Street growing rapidly — Airline pilots march on Wall Street Tuesday. (Dan Nguyen @ New York City/Flickr) — Occupy Wall Street is experiencing a burst of rapid visibility and support. Several established groups are now getting involved:

Discussion: Toronto Star, Teamster Nation, Newshoggers.com, Hullabaloo and Raw Replay

Linette Lopez / Business Insider:

A Massive Union Just Voted To Side With The Wall Street Protesters — According to Daily Kos, The New York Transit Workers Union (TWU) voted to support the Wall Street Protestors at their meeting last night. — A member of TWU Local 100 told a reporter that they would join the protest Friday at 4PM.

Discussion: Teamster Nation, Firedoglake, Corrente, Booman Tribune, Guardian, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Matt Sledge / The Huffington Post:

NYC Transit Union Joins Occupy Wall Street … SEIU 32BJ , Wall Street Protest , March On Wall Street , May 12 Coalition , New York City Unions , New York Transit Workers , New York Transit Workers Union , Occupy Wall Street , Seiu 1199 , Unions Wall Street Protest , New York News

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Seeing the Forest and Crooks and Liars

Latest from Crain's New York Business:
Veteran agitators flock to Occupy Wall Street

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine and The Raw Story

Daily Mail:
Ladies and gentleman, we are currently cruising down Wall Street because we are fed up with our bosses!

Discussion: Balloon Juice and The Agonist

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

Wait, Is Malaise French for “Soft”? — Obama speaking in Orlando: … Interesting perspective. I wonder where America could have lost its competitive edge. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with a government that blows billions on green energy boondoggles while making it harder …

Discussion: White House Dossier

Jared A. Favole / Washington Wire:

Obama: U.S. Has Become a ‘Little Soft’ — President Barack Obama on Thursday said the U.S. has lost some of its competitive edge and gotten a “little soft.” — Mr. Obama, in an interview with WESH-TV in Orlando, said his administration has been tough on the country's trading partners and tried to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Steven Nelson / The Daily Caller:

Biden: Voters should blame Obama, not Bush, for economy — Vice President Joe Biden told Florida radio station WLRN on Thursday that voters should hold President Barack Obama, not former President George W. Bush, accountable for the poor state of America's economy.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politics, The Hill, Don Surber, Campaign 2012 and Sister Toldjah

WESH-TV:
WESH, President Talk Jobs Act, NASA, Rail

Discussion: The Sundries Shack and nation.foxnews.com

Serena Williams / The Onion:

Congress Takes Group Of Schoolchildren Hostage — WASHINGTON—Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage this morning, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda, where they remain at press time.

Discussion: Agence France Presse, TPMDC, Runnin' Scared, Media Decoder, Indecision Forever, The Hill, Mediaite, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Mashable!, New York Magazine, Washington Wire, Politics, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Michelle Malkin, more at Techmeme »

Elizabeth Flock / Washington Post:
The Onion's tweets about Capitol gunfire prompt panic, mockery

Discussion: msnbc.com, Gothamist, Wonkette, Boing Boing and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Debbie Siegelbaum / The Hill:
Onion takes heat from Capitol Police after tweets about gunfire

Discussion: The Politico

Maya Rodriguez / WWL-TV:

Anti-Obama sign in Uptown neighborhood draws controversy — NEW ORLEANS — There are several political signs attracting all kinds of attention in one Uptown neighborhood. — On Wednesday, crowds gathered at the corner of Calhoun and Coralie streets, looking at several signs depicting President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Doug Ross, Hullabaloo, The Hinterland Gazette and First Draft

Michelle Malkin: Adventures in liberal tolerance, part 999,901

Stephen Gutowski / MRCTV: Liberals Try to Remove Anti-Obama Signs in New Orleans

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:

House GOP Unveils Plan To Cut NPR, Job Training And Education Programs … WASHINGTON — Setting a collision course with Democrats that could drag out for months, House Republicans on Thursday unveiled plans to cut federal money for job training, heating subsidies and grants to better-performing schools.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The other big jobs fight

Discussion: Firedoglake, democracyarsenal.org, Reuters and Daily Kos

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Florida close — Mitt Romney's return to the top of the GOP field is very good news for Republicans if they want to knock off Barack Obama next year. Our newest Florida poll finds that Romney would be in a toss up with Obama in the critical swing state but that Perry trails Obama by 7 points …

Discussion: Campaign 2012, GOP 12, Guardian and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:
Taking Cain Seriously

Discussion: The New Republic, Betsy's Page, Hot Air, CBS Philly, Washington Post and CNN

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Perry Slumps in Polls, but Not to Romney's Gain

Discussion: Daily Kos, Salon, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, The Raw Story, Politics, Campaign 2012, Poll Watch Daily and The Daily Dish

ABCNEWS:

Tobacco Companies Knew of Radiation in Cigarettes, Covered It Up — Tobacco companies knew that cigarettes contained a radioactive substance called polonium-210, but hid that knowledge from the public for over four decades, a new study of historical documents revealed.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Telegraph:

Hugo Chavez in hospital ‘for kidney failure’ — Hugo Chavez, who has been fighting cancer, was rushed to a military hospital for emergency care following kidney failure, according to reports. — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — The leftist, staunchly anti-US stalwart Chavez went …

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Durbin says Democrats don't currently have the votes for Obama jobs bill — Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, at the moment, Democrats in Congress don't have the votes to pass President Obama's jobs bill, but Durbin added that that situation would change.

Discussion: Fox News, wlsam.com and Hot Air

First Read / msnbc.com:

Irony alert: Romney cites wrong Brit in defense of flip-flops — By NBC's Garrett Haake and Jo Ling Kent — Speaking to a New Hampshire Town Hall audience of more than 250 yesterday, Mitt Romney addressed perceptions that he is a flip-flopper by quoting from a political leader he often cites on the trail, Winston Churchill.

Discussion: FrumForum, Business Insider and New York Magazine

Economist: Economics A-Z terms beginning with K

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Joe Biden: The economy belongs to us, not Bush — Vice President Joe Biden said in a live interview with Miami public radio station WLRN Thursday that the Obama administration - not the Bush administration - now has ownership of the struggling U.S. economy.

Discussion: Hot Air, Examiner, Michelle Malkin, National Review and Pajamas Media

O.Kay Henderson:

Gingrich chides reporter for asking him about campaign $$ (AUDIO) — During a Q&A session with reporters this afternoon, Seema Mehta of The LA Times asked Gingrich about his fundraising for the quarter. — AUDIO of Mehta & Gingrich … AUDIO: Q & A with reporters

Discussion: The Page

TheBlaze.com:

OBAMA'S SENIOR ADVISOR VALERIE JARRETT: THE POINT OF GOVERNMENT IS TO GIVE PEOPLE A LIVELIHOOD SO THEY CAN PROVIDE FOR THEIR FAMILIES — Order By: — I thought we were against slavery — Log in to Reply — wow freakin wow. — She needs to read the Constitution!

Discussion: Hot Air, Little Green Footballs and The Right Scoop

Eva Rodriguez / Washington Post:

Obama may have more than five votes to uphold health-care law — The Obama administration's decision on Wednesday to seek review of a lower court's ruling on the constitutionality of its signature health-care program almost guarantees a Supreme Court decision by next June. And the administration is predicting victory.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, The Heritage Foundation, Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway and SCOTUSblog

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Democrats Dispirited About Voting in 2012 — Republicans' enthusiasm for voting matches 2004 and exceeds 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — In thinking about the 2012 presidential election, 45% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic say they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual …

Discussion: Wizbang, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Politics, The Other McCain, Questions and Observations, Poll Watch Daily, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, CNN, americanthinker.com, Washington Monthly and Hot Air

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

More Than 300,000 Ohio Voters Submit Petition Suspending Gov. Kasich's Anti-Voter Law — Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a sweeping bill intended to make it harder to vote in his states' elections. Kasich's anti-voter law drastically cuts back on early voting and erects …

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Reaction

Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:

Crony Capitalism: $737 Million Green Jobs Loan Given to Nancy Pelosi's Brother-In-Law — Despite the growing Solyndra scandal, yesterday the Department of Energy approved $1 billion in new loans to green energy companies — including a $737 million loan guarantee to a company known as SolarReserve:

Discussion: Bloomberg, Power Line, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Campaign 2012 and Doug Ross

KFSN-TV:

Teacher penalizes students for saying “bless you” — FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A Northern California teacher says he doesn't want to hear a common courtesy in his classroom. — He's even lowering students' grades if they say “bless you” after someone sneezes.

Discussion: Mediaite, Examiner, Sister Toldjah and Alan Colmes' Liberaland