The Wonk Room

“Climate change is likely to hit the water-starved Arab world harder than many other parts of the globe and threatens to slash agricultural output in the area,” U.N. and Arab League officials said.

Climate-hack Swiftboating: the Competitive Enterprise Institute plans to sue climate scientist Gavin Schmidt for the “inappropriate behavior” of moderating comments at his blog, RealClimate.

Yet more Swifthack harassment: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) are targeting the years-old “correspondence of White House Science Adviser John Holdren.”

Former CNN host Lou Dobbs is reportedly weighing a run for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) as a “steppingstone” to a run for President.

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns has sued the state, arguing that the state legislature “unconstitutionally approved policy changes that affect…how cities enforce requirements that people show proof of citizenship to receive government benefits.”

U.S. and Canadian safety chiefs vowed yesterday “to jointly combat organized crime and violent extremism in a bid to boost legal travel and trade across their shared border.”

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber says that too few lawmakers are worrying about the affordability measures in health care reform. “Let’s put it this way: It is 10 times as important as the public option and has received one one-hundredth of the coverage,” he says

Kaiser Health News asks “how would legislation affect premiums paid by individuals and small businesses, two groups that currently face wildly unpredictable rate increases year to year?”

Why does Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) think that his best shot to pass health care reform is through regular order?

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., at least 552 banks “are still at risk of going under.” This is the highest number of banks on the FDIC’s “problem list” since 1993.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) “has asked key members of his committee to split off into bipartisan working groups in an effort to break the logjam on financial reform legislation.”

World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned yesterday that “swift interest rate hikes aimed at containing inflation in product and asset prices could cause another downturn in the slowly recovering economies of the United States and Europe.”

“Iran would be willing to give up some of its stock of low-enriched uranium in exchange for fuel for a medical reactor, as long as the swap takes place on its own soil,” Iranian officials said yesterday. “The United States, Russia and France have indicated that they would reject any swap on Iranian soil.”

“A key official in the Obama administration’s effort to remake detention policy and close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has resigned.” Phillip Carter “said in a brief telephone interview that he was leaving for ‘personal and family reasons’ and not because of any policy differences with the administration.”

“Israel has rejected a demand for the release of two Hamas commanders as part of any exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, a source close to negotiations said Wednesday, signaling talks had hit a snag.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “some federal officials are pressing the U.S. pay czar to ease up on compensation restrictions at AIG for 2010, arguing that the firm, and ultimately the taxpayer, would suffer if the curbs are too severe.”

The percentage of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage has climbed to 23 percent, as “nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter.” These homes “are more likely to fall into bank foreclosure and get dumped into an already saturated market.”

The Federal Reserve has “asked nine of the U.S. banks that were part of this year’s stress tests to submit plans for repaying the government’s capital injections.”

“Most Americans don’t expect a health care overhaul to affect their lives directly, but those who worry about the fallout outnumber those expecting to come out ahead, a poll out Tuesday has found.”

Respondents in a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll were “given a list of features of a hypothetical health care proposal and asked to name which were extremely or very important to them.” Among Democratic respondents, 87 percent picked “making sure affordable health insurance plans are available” as their top priority. The public option ranked seventh.

“An analyst for JPMorgan upgraded shares of WellPoint Inc. and Cigna Corp. Monday, saying the stocks should trade higher as the details of a federal health care reform bill come into focus.”

The Washington Post reports that “President Obama has finished gathering information about troop options in Afghanistan and will likely announce his decision in an address to the nation next Tuesday.”

“Iran can take legal action if Russia refuses to fulfill its commitments to deliver an advanced missile defense system to the Islamic Republic,” a senior military official said today. “Iranian officials have voiced growing irritation at Russia’s failure so far to supply the S-300 missile system, which Israel and the United States do not want Tehran to have.”

Politico reports “after months of listening to conservatives caterwaul over deficits and health care, senior House Democrats want a graduated surtax on individuals and corporations to pay for another big drain on the treasury: the Afghanistan war.”

At least 15 couples in the Chicago area were involved in sham marriages as part of “an immigration scheme run in part by traffic court employees who were trying to make money on the side, federal prosecutors say.”

Yesterday, former CNN anchor and immigration fear-monger, Lou Dobbs, announced that he is considering running for President in 2012. “‘What’s so crazy about that?’ Dobbs responded when an anchor with Washington’s WTOP radio station laughed about the possibility of Dobbs running for president.”

On Friday, “as part of a national crackdown on employers” five New Hampshire dairy farms were “shaken by federal subpoenas” seeking “records proving their workers are legal.” It was originally rumored that as many as 86 farmers were to be targeted by federal officials.

“Greenhouse gases have reached their highest levels since pre-industrial times” with carbon dioxide at “385.2 parts per million in 2008,” according to a World Meteorological Organization bulletin.

“Key climate change measures are tracking near or beyond worse-case scenarios predicted just two years ago,” according to the Copenhagen Diagnosis, which draws on more than 200 recently published studies and finds “global ice-sheets are melting at an increased rate; Arctic sea-ice is disappearing much faster than recently projected, and future sea-level rise is now expected to be much higher than previously forecast.”

“In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions — the major cause of global warming — cannot be stabilized unless the world’s economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day,” as “accumulated economic production over the course of history has been tied to the rate of energy consumption at a global level through a constant factor.”

Torrential rain of “biblical proportions,” fueled by global warming, have ravaged the Canary Islands, Vancouver Island and the United Kingdom with killer floods.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) — an opponent of strong climate legislation — is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency taxpayer funds for American farmers hit by extreme rain and flooding.

Climategate: Led by Rush Limbaugh and former Jim Inhofe (R-OK) staffer Marc Morano, right-wing global warming deniers are Swiftboating climate scientists with a coordinated disinformation campaign about the contents of illegally hacked emails.

House Democrats are changing immigration reform legislation to reflect the tough economic climate, the Hill reports. Supporters of immigration reform “acknowledge the tough economic times create a difficult climate for legislation.”

According to the Houston Chronicle, “security training companies in Texas and elsewhere, bolstered by an alarming increase in kidnappings and violence in Mexico” have seen their business boom as more Americans and Mexicans must turn to private firms for security.

Over a hundred men, mostly refugees fleeing violence in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, took part in a massive, hours-long brawl at a remote immigration processing station on Australia’s Christmas Island yesterday.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Washington for the first official state visit of the Obama presidency today. Talks are “expected to be dominated by Afghanistan, climate change and nuclear energy cooperation.”

“Four United States troops have died fighting in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours,” NATO said in a statement today.

Brazil’s president, is set to receive Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday “in his first state visit to Brazil.” “The visit is drawing criticism from lawmakers and former diplomats here and in the United States, who say it could undercut Western efforts to press Iran on its nuclear program.”

According to a new study, executives at failed Wall Street investment banks Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers “cashed out nearly $2.5 billion from their firms between 2000 and 2008 even though the financial crisis hammered the shares they held.”

“A new wave of foreclosures stands to hurt people who may have never taken out a mortgage: renters,” reports the Washington Post, as “many investors are carrying upside-down mortgages on large rental buildings.”

Both Paul Krugman and Dean Baker take the New York Times to task for its front page government debt fearmongering.

“Companies and groups hiring lobbying firms on health issues nearly doubled this year as special interests rushed to shape the massive revamp of the nation’s health care system now in its final stretch before Congress.”

“Anxious that Saturday’s party-line Senate vote to open debate on a health care overhaul gives them little maneuvering room, Obama administration officials and their Congressional allies are stepping up overtures to select Senate Republicans in hopes of winning their ultimate support,” including Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia (R-ME).

“Small businesses, which the White House is courting, are lobbying for more generous tax credits.”

Iran analyst Genieve Abdo writes “as [Iran's] religious and political crisis unfolds, it is becoming clearer that the central problem, among many, lies with Khamenei and his absolute power as Supreme Leader.” Abdo suggests that the Supreme Leader will not be replaced after he dies.

Dipali Mukhopadhyay writes that acknowledging the role played by warlords in Afghanistan governance “need not mean the abandonment of formal institutional capacity building on the part of international, intervening organizations.”

Venezuela has blown up two pedestrian bridges on its border with Colombia in the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the Andean neighbors.

The House Financial Services Committee approved a measure yesterday, proposed by Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Alan Grayson (D-FL), “that would allow Congress to order audits of all the [Federal Reserve's] lending programs as well as of its basic decisions to set monetary policy.”

House Democrats are looking at implementing a financial transactions tax, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said yesterday that any such tax “would have to take effect internationally to keep Wall Street jobs and related business from moving overseas.”

“What’s Obama’s trade policy?” asks McClatchy’s Kevin Hall. “So far, there isn’t much of one.”

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) tells President Obama not to be a leader on climate change, saying, “As a country, I know we’re not there yet, so I would hope the president wouldn’t be out in front of where the country has been.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) trashes the efforts by his former best friends, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to develop climate and clean energy legislation: “Obviously, they’re going nowhere.”

The Department of Labor announced “nearly $55 million in grants to help workers, many in underserved communities, find jobs in expanding green industries,” as the United States and China race for clean energy jobs.

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs told Reuters that he is “mulling” a Senate or White House run, stating “Do I seek to have some influence on public policy? Absolutely. Do I seek to represent and champion the middle class in this country and those who aspire to it? Absolutely.”

The White House denies claims made by Latino leaders that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel “has his fingerprints all over” the Obama administration’s support of barring undocumented immigrants from purchasing health insurance at full cost on the exchange.

Federal prosecutors dropped all 72 immigration charges against Sholom Rubashkin — the owner of the company which underwent the nation’s largest immigration raid.”

The Senate will vote on Saturday on a motion to proceed with the health care reform bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) doesn’t have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster but remains ‘cautiously’ optimistic that hold outs Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) will vote for the motion by 8pm.

Yesterday, the House “overwhelmingly approved a physician repayment bill to permanently fix the way doctors who cover Medicare patients are reimbursed. Only one Republican member [Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX)] voted with Democrats for the bill that was approved 243-183.”

“Chances of business supporting the Obama administration’s health overhaul are fading fast, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bill took a liberal turn,” the Wall Street Journal is reporting.

The House Financial Services Committee yesterday approved an amendment proposed by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) that allows the government to preemptively break up “too big to fail” firms. The measure passed 38-29, with three Democrats voting against.

A new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that “most state tax systems are regressive”: “Nearly every state and local tax system takes a much greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from the wealthy.”

Noam Scheiber looks at why President Obama wasn’t more assertive with China.

The Daily Show introduced guest Lou Dobbs with mariachi music yesterday, but “avoided a discussion of immigration policy when challenging the ex-CNN pundit’s political positions.”

The Migration Policy Institute has found that immigrants in the U.S are suffering more than native-born workers from the economic downturn.

A Local Colorado station reports that thousands of families, activists and politicians in Colorado and around the nation gathered at house parties to participate in a conference call and hear plans from congressional leaders about passing immigration reform.

Cal Dooley, the CEO of the American Chemistry Council, argues Congress should block the EPA from regulating global warming pollution while it dithers: “The best action here is for Congress to give EPA a ‘time out’ from proceeding with its rulemaking affecting stationary sources and have time to pass its own effective emissions reduction policies.”

“Slicing and dicing isn’t going to work,” White House climate advisor Carol Browner said, responding to efforts by senators such as Bingaman (D-NM), Webb (D-VA), Dorgan (D-ND), Lincoln (D-AR), and Lugar (R-IN) to pass an energy bill without comprehensive carbon pollution limits.

Five major fires are burning in Australia as the nation “swelters in a heatwave that has seen decades old records fall.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled the Senate’s health care reform legislation yesterday and is “expected to call a vote later this week, perhaps Saturday if not sooner.”

The merged Senate bill “levies a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery. The provision raises $5 billion and was needed to make the numbers work, according to a Democratic Senate aide. The Finance Committee considered the tax but dismissed it, in part because it was a public relations battle that senators were not willing to wage.”

“Democrats in Congress asked for two separate investigations of drug industry pricing Wednesday as they continue working on legislation to overhaul the nation’s health care system.”

“President Obama wrapped up an eight-day tour of Asia on Thursday, holding talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and speaking to American troops at Osan Air Base.” Obama announced a US envoy would visit North Korea next month.

“Iran’s foreign minister vowed Wednesday that his nation wouldn’t allow any of its enriched uranium supply out of the country, the most definitive statement so far on an international proposal to exchange the bulk of Iran’s nuclear material for fuel rods fitted for a Tehran medical reactor.” However Iran has still “yet to make a concrete, formal response to the plan”

“In an unannounced visit Wednesday to Kabul, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned [President Hamid] Karzai that future civilian aid would depend in part on how his government performed in areas like developing an effective army and curbing cronyism, according to an American official.”

“In six hours of meetings, at two dinners and during a stilted 30-minute news conference in which President Hu Jintao did not allow questions, President Obama was confronted, on his first visit, with a fast-rising China more willing to say no to the United States.”

While President Obama landed in South Korea for the final stop on his tour of East Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an unannounced trip, landed in Kabul for the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

“A little more than a year after his election, President Obama said his administration has laid the groundwork for success on global and domestic matters. ‘I think that we’ve restored America’s standing in the world, and that’s confirmed by polls,’ he told CNN’s Ed Henry.”

Senate Republicans said yesterday that “there is no support within the GOP for the financial overhaul plan outlined last week by Democrats,” because they believe “the plan goes too far by putting onerous restrictions on Wall Street that could limit the availability of credit.”

A new study by the Urban Institute found that “troubled homeowners who receive housing counseling are 60 percent more likely to avoid foreclosure and have their mortgage payments lowered significantly than borrowers who navigate the process themselves.”

The IRS said yesterday that “more that 14,700 Americans had been attracted to an amnesty program in recent months and disclosed their secret foreign bank accounts — many more than had been attracted to a previous I.R.S. program.”

Though he lacks 60 firm commitments, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said Tuesday that “he remained cautiously optimistic that he could get the Senate’s 58 Democrats and 2 independents to vote to thwart a filibuster on what is known as a motion to proceed, the initial step in any debate.” Sens. Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and Blanche Lincoln haven’t committed to voting on the measure.

The Washington Post recalls how in 1997, “a federal committee of medical experts recommended against routine mammograms for women in their 40s.”

“Senate health care legislation expected this week is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help the elderly and the disabled avoid going into nursing homes.”

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has wrapped yet another immigrant “crime sweep,” arresting 18 people under Arizona’s anti-smuggling law which allows recent undocumented immigrants to be charged with smuggling themselves.

Immigrant rights activists are criticizing the government’s toughened immigration enforcement after yet another accidental deportation of someone who is lawfully present in the country.

According to an Arizona State University business expert, the purchasing power of Latinos is growing at a rate nearly three times as fast as that of the general population in Arizona and nationwide.

“Dallas investor Cappy McGarr said Tuesday his Chinese partners in a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy farm have agreed to build a turbine manufacturing plant in the United States,” after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “had publicly opposed the use of stimulus money to aid the companies, because its 240 turbines would be made in China by A-Power.”

Yesterday, a $14.5 million community-owned wind farm that will “stabilize power supplies and lower the high energy costs” went on line in Maine thanks to Recovery Act funds, and a “wind farm capable of generating enough power to light 60,000 average Indiana homes will be dedicated Thursday in northwestern Indiana.”

David Leonhardt discusses “Cash for Caulkers,” a major new plan to “give households money to pay for weatherization projects” and put millions of construction workers back to work.

In Beijing, President Barack Obama said today that next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen should cut a deal with “immediate operational effect,” rather than a “partial accord or political declaration,” even if its original aim of a legally binding pact is not achievable.

The Senate has decided to put consideration of clean energy legislation “in the near aftermath of financial reform,” making its enactment by spring questionable. “I’m totally unconcerned about Copenhagen,” said Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV).

Unveiling a $100 billion nuclear-industry subsidy plan with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) said he had ” some real questions about the real complexities on cap and trade,” claiming there is “no way to fully measure [its] potential impact on the economy.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expecting the CBO score for the merged Senate bill today, and is likely to brief the Democratic Caucus on the details of the bill tomorrow. The Senate could vote to begin debate on Sunday.

TNR’s Suzy Khimm is reporting that “the Senate leadership has basically decided to give more help to middle-class families on the higher of the subsidy spectrum, whose incomes are 300 to 400% above the poverty line.”

A new poll conducted by the Associated Press found that “when it comes to paying for health overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.” “Participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as ‘Cadillac plans.’”

According to a new report by the TARP Inspector General, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — led by Tim Geithner — “gave up much of its power in high-pressure negotiations with the American International Group’s trading partners last year,” potentially costing the U.S. billions more than was necessary.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “warned on Monday that high unemployment and a continued reluctance by banks to make loans were likely to slow the economic recovery for the next year.”

Tim Fernholz points out that Sen. Dodd’s regulatory reform plan “would make the Fed more independent by lessening the influence of major banks on the institution.”

The New York Times’ Caucus blog toys with the thought of a potential senatorial run-off between ex-CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

Immigrant girls and women will no longer have to receive Gardasil shots against a sexually transmitted virus (HPV) to get their green cards following a decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obama’s nomination for U=.S. attorney in northern Iowa, Stephanie Rose, is the subject of deep criticism by many who say she “treated illegal immigrants with excessive harshness” as lead prosecutor in a controversial crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Postville, Iowa in 2008.

“Czech students will take to the streets Tuesday, just as they did two decades ago when their historic march ushered in the fall of communist rule. The commemorative parade will follow the route students took in 1989 when they were blocked by police from entering Wenceslas Square in the heart of the capital, Prague.”

“The United States on Monday congratulated Kosovo on holding its first local elections since its unilateral declaration of independence.”

“Saudi clerics have accused Yemeni Houthi rebels of working with Iran to try to spread Shi’ism in Sunni Islam’s heartland, days before the start of the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage.”

General Motors reported today “that it lost $1.15 billion in the third quarter after emerging from bankruptcy in July 10, but it increased its cash reserves by $3.3 billion.” GM plans to begin repaying its loans to the U.S. and Canadian governments in December, “more than five years ahead of schedule.”

Of the financial institutions that received money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), 46 have “missed required dividend payments to the government as of the end of September.”

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Friday that “the capital investment in banks begun last year by government was a mistake and created a ‘horrible public outcry‘ directed at the industry.”

The NY Post reports that CNN gave anchor Lou Dobbs an $8 million severance package to leave the network following feuds between CNN boss Jonathan Klein and Dobbs over “the kind of reporting Dobbs was doing on his show.”

A couple days after DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her Department has laid the groundwork for immigration reform, senior White House adviser David Axelrod confirmed that work on a bipartisan immigration reform bill is advancing.

Anti-immigrant groups staged a series of Tea Party “copycat” protests across the nation this past weekend, without the support of tea bagger-operative Dick Armey who has long been opposed to nativist fear mongering.

The Wall Street Journal republishes Bjorn Lomborg’s argument that it is “immoral” to fight global warming when hunger and AIDS exist.

“There can be no food security without climate security,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the world food summit in Rome, as “Africa, Asia and Latin America could see a decline of between 20 and 40 percent in potential agricultural productivity if temperatures rise more than 2 degrees Celsius.”

Even as “world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month,” Russian President Dmitri Medvedev warned on Monday that climate change posed a “catastrophic” threat.

The New York Times is reporting that “even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “is confident he’ll be able to kick off debate on a massive health care reform measure before Thanksgiving.” “We understand that there are people who have concerns about this bill. They’ll be able to address those concerns on the Senate floor, but the first step is starting debate,” one Senate Democratic leadership aide said.

The LA Times explains how health care reform “could jeopardize states’ consumer protection laws.”

President Obama landed in China yesterday, where he pushed for greater freedoms. Obama will attempt to prod “China’s leaders to get tough on Iran.”

“President Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev warned Sunday that they were losing patience with Tehran and wouldn’t wait much longer for it to accept a proposal to resolve the dispute,” according to the LA Times.

President Obama said yesterday that “the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year’s end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders.”

“The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than in previous years and making an increasing contribution to sea level rise,” according to new research. “In total, Greenland lost about 1,500 billion tons of ice from 2000-08, split between icebergs cracking into the sea from glaciers and water runoff.”

Saying the Obama administration “shouldn’t ‘over-promise’” in Copenhagen, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) told reporters: “The question of what our emissions targets and reductions timetable will be, I think it’s pretty hard for them to know what that will be, because we do not yet know what that will be.”

“There is a group of people who deny the science, the reality of climate change,” Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd told reporters. “They are the enemies of us all.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is considering a proposal to increase the Medicare payroll tax “by one-half of 1 percentage point, to 1.95 percent for high-income people, with an expectation that the government could raise $40 billion to $50 billion over 10 years.”

The Business Roundtable has “issued an analysis saying the right combination of changes Congress is considering could slow health care cost growth by 15 percent to 20 percent over the next decade.”

“The Republican National Committee will no longer offer employees an insurance plan that covers abortion after POLITICO reported Thursday that the anti-abortion RNC’s policy has covered the procedure since 1991.”

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is making banks pre-pay $45 billion in fees to cover the cost of bank failures, “an unprecedented assessment that reflects the agency’s projections that the current round of failures will not peak until next year.”

The Federal Reserve yesterday issued a rule prohibiting banks from charging overdraft fees unless customers explicitly sign-up for the service. The regulations “cover overdrafts from ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases, which account for roughly half of overdrawn transactions.”

Barry Ritholz takes a look at “one of the causes of the disconnect between financial firms and the subsequent meltdown: Corporate governance. Or the lack thereof.”

“Federal authorities have identified more than 111,000 immigrants with criminal records being held in local jails,” as part of an attempt to refocus immigration enforcement policy away from the “high-profile factory raids and searches in communities for immigration fugitives” that was central to Bush administration immigration policy.

Yesterday, a federal jury convicted Sholom Rubashkin, the “former manager of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse, which was the site of a major immigration raid, on 86 of 91 financial fraud charges.”

The ACLU of Nevada has sent a letter to the president of the University of Nevada, Reno urging the school to allow Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minuteman Project, to appear on campus on November 19 as part of a forum on immigration.

Attorney General Eric Holder “will announce today that five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 conspiracy, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be transferred to New York to go on trial in civilian court.”

Pakistani security officials “say two suicide car bombings killed at least 16 people and wounded scores of others in northwestern Pakistan on Friday. The attacks come as U.S. National Security Advisor Jim Jones is in the country for meetings with civilian and military leaders.”

President Obama, “seeking to mend fences with America’s most important Asian ally Japan, announced that he would establish a high-level working group on the contentious issue of the continuing presence of a Marine base in Okinawa.”

The Obama administration is considering setting aside an unused portion of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for debt reduction. The Treasury Department estimates that about $210 billion in TARP funds remains unspent, “including about $70 billion returned from financial institutions.”

Bloomberg News notes that Sen. Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulation overhaul “may do little” in terms of reining in executive compensation. “For the most part it’s pretty hollow, a toothless tiger,” said Paul Dorf, managing director of Compensation Resources Inc.

Foreclosures filings in October fell three percent from September, but still surpassed 300,000 for an eighth straight month.

Last night, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs announced that he is leaving the network and seemed to hint at a possible run for elected office.

A new study shows that thousands of refugees who are fleeing persecution in their home countries and pose no threat to the US have had their asylum applications denied or indefinitely delayed due to the stringent application of U.S. anti-terrorism laws.

A Salvadoran immigrant is suing the sheriff’s office in Frederick County, Maryland claiming that she was unconstitutionally interrogated about her immigration status by deputies who had no probable cause and then detained for five weeks without charges.

The Hill points out that “the House could be in session until nearly Christmas Eve to try to win final passage on a healthcare bill.”

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) “is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials said Wednesday.”

Inside Health Policy is reporting that some are considering a “compromise that would tie adoption of health information technology — a key White House project — to liability protections.” The compromise “encourages electronic health records and does not include such controversial measures as capping non-economic damages or limiting lawyer fees.”

“We’ve failed our primary task of preventing harm,” said IPCC lead author Saleemul Huq. “Now we are going to be tasked with protecting those most vulnerable to harm. And soon we are going to be confronted with globally catastrophic harm.”

“It’s common understanding that climate-change legislation will not be brought up on the Senate floor and pass the Senate this year,” Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters.

“An array of West Virginia’s top political leaders stood shoulder-to-shoulder Tuesday with executives from the state’s top coal producers, vowing to form a united front in the face of what they call mixed signals and heavy-handedness from federal mining regulators.”

The current Ambassador and former top US military commander in Afghanistan, retired General Karl Eikenberry, “has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country.” “He wants to know where the off-ramps are,” one official said.

As the President departs for Asia, Reuters reports, “Japan will reassure the United States that their alliance is in good shape, Tokyo said on Thursday, as a feud over a Marine base strains relations ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.”

“Iran’s president on Wednesday called for international cooperation on nuclear technology in a prime-time television appearance filled with conciliatory language toward the world community, in stark contrast with the dismissive tone of other senior Iranian officials toward a United Nations-backed proposal,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Senate Democrats may introduce their their health care bill “as early as Monday,” vote on the bill by Christmas and pass the final conference report in January.

Last night, President Obama said “he was not comfortable with abortion restrictions inserted into the House version of major health care legislation, and he prodded Congress to revise them.” “There needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we’re not changing the status quo” on abortion, Obama said.

“The battle of the airwaves has already seen more than $150 million spent this year on television ads related to the health-care debate, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. “As of Friday, about $63 million had been spent on ads favoring Democrats’ reform plans and $52 million on ads opposed, according to the analysis group.”

President Obama said yesterday “that he plans to raise the issue of the yuan currency with Chinese officials when he meets with them in Beijing next week, a potentially disruptive topic for foreign exchange markets.”

CongressDaily reports that “the credit union industry is ramping up efforts to exclude its institutions from paying into a fund to rescue too-large-to-fail firms whose collapse would threaten financial markets.”

James Kwak looks at the political problem with resolution authority: “If, say, JPMorgan Chase runs into trouble five years from now, how much confidence do we have that the government would actually invoke the power and take over the bank when push comes to shove?”

Some House Republicans are upset that GOP leadership chose not to use a procedural motion during this weekend’s health care vote to force a decision on barring undocumented immigrants from buying insurance — a vote they believe would’ve killed the bill.

One of the largest immigration crackdowns under the Obama administration took place in Minnesota last month when 1,200 janitors were fired in a ‘quiet’ immigration raid.

In an effort to court right-wing voters, Florida’s U.S. Senate candidate, Marco Rubio, has adopted a hard-line immigration position and is opposed to any path to legalization for undocumented immigrants.

“The world will have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for each year it delays implementing a major assault on global warming,” the International Energy Agency said today.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is visiting Washington today “to lobby U.S. congressional leaders and government officials over next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen,” U.N. officials said.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) discussed why he plans to attend the Copenhagen summit: “So when Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and all the left get up there and say, ‘Yes. We’re going to pass a global warming bill,’ I will be able to stand up and say, ‘No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. I won.’”

Maps detailing the sectarian cleansing of Baghdad question the utility of the US surge in Iraq as a template for Afghanistan, Claudio Guler writes for ISN Security Watch.

“US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said pursuing nuclear weapons was not in Iran’s own interest as she pressed Tehran to accept a UN-backed deal,” according to AFP.

“NATO leaders expect member states to commit more troops to train Afghanistan’s expanding security forces at a meeting of alliance military representatives this month,” officials said yesterday.

According to McClatchy News, “President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it until after he consults with key allies and completes a trip to Asia later this month.”

Reuters reports that “thousands of Japanese gathered in sweltering heat on the southern island of Okinawa on Sunday to demand that a U.S. Marine base be moved out of the region.”

The Iraqi Parliament yesterday passed a law “to administer a critical national election in January, a significant milestone for its fragile democracy and a step that will allow the rapid withdrawal of American combat forces early next year.”

Wall Street’s big three — Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley — are on track to hand out $29.7 billion in bonuses this year. “That’s up 60 percent from last year and more than the previous high of $26.8 billion in 2007,” Bloomberg notes.

In an interview with London’s Sunday Times, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that investment banks serve a social purpose. Blankfein explained that he sees himself as just a banker “doing God’s work.”

According to the United Nations, “political corruption costs governments about $1.6tn every year. The money is lost in public assets moved across borders via money-laundering or undeclared holdings.”

Neo-Nazis were outnumbered by counter-protesters at both of their anti-immigration rallies this weekend in Phoenix, AZ and Austin, MN.

A new poll shows 54% of Californian voters prefer Congress change immigration laws to allow undocumented immigrants to become citizens as opposed to the only 39% who favor stronger border controls and deporting anyone who’s in the country illegally.

An emotional vigil marking the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant was held on Long Island Sunday as more and more high-profile attacks on the community’s growing Hispanic population come to light.

Nancy Pelosi’s decision to introduce the Stupak abortion amendment on the floor of the House, angered several liberal Democrats, Politico reports. “One by one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had leaned on her rank-and-file Democrats for months to cast off personal prerogatives for the sake of a history-making health care bill. But for Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, this was too much to ask.”

The New York Times suggests that “the House bill was not as bad for business as many in the health care industry might have feared when the overhaul effort began many months ago.”

Reform now moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is awaiting the Congressional Budget Office score for the merged Senate bill.

More than 80% of Tibet’s vast glaciers — which feed the rivers of China and India — are in retreat as global warming has raised temperatures six times as fast as the rest of China, elimated 3,000 lakes, and raised the snowline from 4,600 meters to 5,300 meters.

Typhoon Mirinae killed 123 people in Vietnam and Hurricane Ida killed 124 people in El Salvador. “U.S. oil companies were shutting production and evacuating workers” as Ida churns towards the Gulf Coast.

Writing in Newsweek and the Washington Post, right-wing climate denier George Will mocks “climate doomsayers,” claims that “computer models did not predict” this decade’s climate and compares concern about global warming to “nonsensical fears” about shark attacks.

In response to Congress extending and expanding the unnecessary and expensive homebuyer’s tax credit, the Tax Policy Center snarkily suggests a few “new tax credits.”

A paper by three International Monetary Fund economists shows that “mortgage lenders who lobbied Congress more intensively earlier this decade made riskier loans, were more prominent in communities that ended up with higher delinquency rates and had stock prices that fared worse than others in the industry.”

A bill in Congress that would impose new IRS reporting requirements on foreign financial institutions has drawn the ire of the New Democrats and the banking industry.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) met with President Obama yesterday and warned that CHC members are prepared to vote against the Democrats’ health care bill if undocumented immigrants are not allowed to participate in the exchange and buy insurance at full price.

18-year-old Nicholas Hausch pleaded guilty to his role in the hate-motivated murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero and agreed to testify in the upcoming trials against his six other friends.

Neo-Nazi members are staging a protest against immigration this Saturday and will be marching down Washington Street toward the capital buildings in Phoenix, Arizona.

The United Nations said it is “temporarily removing more than half of its foreign staff from Afghanistan in response to the killing of five workers at a guesthouse in Kabul last week.”

VOA reports that “an aide to ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal designed to end the country’s political crisis has failed, after interim leader Roberto Micheletti announced the formation of a new cabinet.”

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, “warned on Thursday that he would not seek re-election, the latest sign that the Obama administration’s drive to broker a Middle East peace accord, one of President Obama’s key foreign policy goals, has fallen into disarray.”

House Democratic leaders worked furiously on Thursday to “secure the final votes for weekend approval of a sweeping health care overhaul.” While they don’t have 218 votes yet, Democrats are confident they will pass the measure sometime this weekend.

The Washington Post observes that “the legislation’s prospects got a boost with key endorsements Thursday from AARP, the American Medical Association and the American Cancer Society.”

“Hawaii would be allowed to opt out of key requirements of national health care reform legislation, the only state given such a privilege because it already has its own comprehensive health insurance law,” the AP observes.

“It is time to be totally blunt about the agenda of the climate change skeptics in all their colors,” Australia prime minister Kevin Rudd said today. “It is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad, and our children’s fate – our grandchildren’s fate – will lie entirely with them. It is time to remove any polite veneer from this debate.”

“The balance” in the Senate on climate action “is among people who, like myself, are people who come from coal states and manufacturing states, who can’t just meet the Copenhagen deadline,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, calling for further delay.

“More than 23 million people are facing a major food crisis with significant threat to lives and livelihoods” because of drought in Africa, and typhoons have killed over a thousand people in Vietnam and the Philippines.

The Washington Post reports that despite a GOP boycott of the markup process, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is prepared to pass a climate bill without amendments when the committee convenes today.

Yesterday, legislators in California passed a series of bills that “would vastly overhaul the state’s troubled water system.” The historic water package, which Gov. Schwarzenegger pledged to sign, was “prompted by a protracted drought — which has reduced water supply, harmed the fishing industry and contributed to crop loss.”

Following more than 70 public hearings, South Korea, “the OECD’s fastest-growing carbon polluter,” announced that it would set its “carbon emission reduction targets for 2020 on November 17 at between unchanged from and 4 percent below 2005 levels.”

“House Democratic leaders struggled Wednesday to strike a deal that would restrict the use of federal money to pay for abortions under sweeping health care legislation headed for debate on the House floor this week,” the New York Times reports. “But the proposed compromise satisfied neither supporters nor opponents of abortion rights.”

Blue Dog Democrats face a dilemma this Saturday as the House prepares to vote for the health bill: “Should they oppose legislation they believe is flawed, or move the bill out of the House in the hopes of it changing in conference?”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House plan to prevent cuts to doctors’ Medicare reimbursement rates would cost $210 billion over 10 years.

After weathering weeks of Republican objections, the Senate finally passed a bill extending unemployment benefits yesterday, by a 98-0 vote. “The measure will increase to 99 weeks, or nearly two years, the maximum length of time that a jobless worker can get benefits in some states,” the New York Times notes.

“After spending more than a year in suspended animation, the commercial real estate industry is expected to hit bottom in 2010 with a wrenching thud,” which is going to spell trouble for a lot of small lenders and community banks.

Brad Delong writes that, while it wasn’t pretty, government intervention saved the country from a depression.

The Wall Street Journal points out that “Democrats may have to press ahead with a broad overhaul of immigration laws next year” if they want Latino voters to turn out and vote for them in 2010.

Republican candidate for Texas governor, Debra Medina, is the first candidate in the 2010 race with Spanish-language TV ads in which she claims she is “alguien como ustedes” — “someone like you.”

Two Guatemalan parents of US citizens with no criminal history who have lived and worked in the US since 1992 are about to be deported after spending $30,000 on legal proceedings in the absence of much-needed immigration reform.

Iran’s Arabic-language television network Al Alam said on Wednesday that “it had been taken off the air by Arab satellite operators based in Egypt and Saudi Arabia without explanation.”

In a profile of Secretary of State Clinton, Joe Klein reports that “the Palestinians are weak and divided. The Israelis have been difficult, as always: whenever Mitchell raises East Jerusalem in talks with the Israeli Foreign Minister, the Israeli stands up and walks out of the room.”

The New York Times reports that Abdullah Abdullah, “the erstwhile rival to President Hamid Karzai in the presidential election’s second round, held a news conference on Wednesday in which he denounced Mr. Karzai’s newly anointed administration as illegal and said that the government would be unable to cope with the problems facing Afghanistan, including security and corruption.”

Republicans refused to applaud German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call to “tear down walls of today” and “work in common in order to stem the potential catastrophe that can result if we continue to see global warming continue unabated.”

A survey of the “289 economists who had published climate-related studies in the top 25 economics journals in the past 15 years” finds “94% believe the U.S. should join climate agreements to limit global warming.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) rebuked the Republican boycott of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act markup, saying, “we are very close to a completely accurate estimate. People might say, ‘Why not wait?’ Because as soon as you amend it, you change it again. What are they going to do, wait five weeks to analyze each amendment?”

Democrats filed their Manager’s Amendment to the House health care bill last night, suggesting that vote “will not be held until Friday evening at the earliest.”

The Washington Post reports that “moderate lawmakers are exerting their outsize influence in the divided Senate to secure changes to health-care reform legislation, potentially adding more delays to a bill that has already missed several announced deadlines.”

“Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said Tuesday he was launching an investigation into health insurance pricing, asking four major insurers to justify their pricing practices.” “Harkin sent detailed requests to the four private companies — Aetna, Humana, Wellpoint and UnitedHealth Group — asking them to explain how they set premium rates and to explain the factors used in determining such charges.”

Buried in the unemployment insurance extension that both the House and Senate will likely pass this week is a tax change that, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, will “prove to be a $34 billion financial windfall for corporate America.”

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) introduced legislation yesterday “directing employers to pay for up to five days’ sick leave for workers they send home because they have contracted the H1N1 virus.”

The House Financial Services Committee, “under pressure from the White House, voted Tuesday to exempt small public companies from part of a federal law designed to prevent financial fraud, despite objections from regulators and key Democratic leaders.”

BBC reports that “US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Cairo, has reiterated Washington’s call for an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.”

VOA reports that “senior U.S. diplomats are meeting with detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday, as the Obama administration pursues a new diplomatic approach towards the military-ruled nation.”

Reuters reports that “police clashed with supporters of Iran’s opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in Tehran on Wednesday when a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. embassy turned violent.”

Latino leaders have started a campaign to make sure legal immigrants don’t get cut out of the health care bill by eliminating proposed waiting periods and canceling the existing five-year wait for Medicare and Medicaid programs.

A South Carolina poultry plant raided by immigration agents last year has avoided trial by agreeing to pay $1.5 million, change its hiring practices, and adopt E-verify — a controversial web-based employment verification system.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to be sticking to its promise of focusing more on dangerous immigrants: 45% of immigrants arrested in 2009 had criminal convictions, up from 23% last year.

According to The Hill, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on health care reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter.”

Congressional Daily reports that Democrats are close to finalizing an abortion compromise that would strengthen the segregation of private and public funds without writing into law the Hyde Amendment’s prohibition on using federal funds for abortion.

A new Senate analysis suggests that for-profit insurance companies spend as little as 66 cents of each dollar on health care, “while the rest covers administrative expenses, marketing and company profits, according to the analysis.”

According to a new report, “nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher.”

The British government announced yesterday that “it will break up parts of major financial institutions bailed out by taxpayers, highlighting a growing divide across the Atlantic over how to deal with the massive banks that were partially nationalized during the height of the financial crisis.”

Ryan Avent asks “what if for one year — just one year — we allocated as much money for infrastructure as we did for defense?”

Despite attacking the scientific criticism of SuperFreakonomics as being motivated by their “interests in non-carbon energy sources,” author Stephen J. Dubner joins the “doomsayers” his book mocks, saying “We’re heading towards cataclysm.”

Climate change will wholly eliminate the snows of Kilimanjaro “within a decade or two,” a new scientific report has found. “The climatological conditions currently driving the loss of Kilimanjaro’s ice fields are clearly unique within an 11,700-year perspective.”

On the day of the introduction of “Our Choice,” Al Gore’s new book about how we can build a green economy, the New York Times runs a front page story promoting right-wing attacks on his investments in clean energy — picked up by the Drudge Report.

Analyzing the Obama administration’s troubled efforts at Middle East peacemaking, Tony Karon writes “Having made resolving the Middle East’s most intractable conflict a top foreign policy priority, the Administration now needs the symbolic resumption of talks simply to signal progress.”

Sam Stein reports that the National Iranian American Council and J Street, “two relatively new organizations — each covering distinctly opposite ends on the spectrum of Middle Eastern affairs — have been the target of withering public relations attacks in recent weeks and months.”

Reuters reports that Afghan election officials declared Hamid Karzai president after “intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity to prevent a one-man contest on November 7.”

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific Islander Caucus are pushing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow undocumented immigrants to participate in the health insurance exchange and purchase insurance at full cost.

The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General to comment on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s challenge to an Arizona immigration law which imposed penalties on businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and requires all employers to use an online verification system.

Ben Reed was a conservative shock jock, but changed his philosophy after falling in love with a Mexican immigrant who was deported on their wedding day.

CIT Group filed for bankruptcy yesterday afternoon, making it “the first firm to fail after being bailed out by the government.” The bankruptcy process “almost certainly will wipe out the federal government’s $2.3 billion investment in the company.”

The AP’s latest Economic Stress Index shows that “the economic recovery is proceeding unevenly in its early stages, with areas hurt most by the housing slump still lagging behind other regions.”

According to a new report by the Tax Justice Network, Delaware is the most secretive financial jurisdiction on Earth, surpassing Switzerland. “While the U.S. has been jumping up and down and saying ‘Aha, bad, wicked Swiss banks,’ the U.S. is doing exactly the same things,” said Sarah Lewis, executive director of the UK-based group.

Nick Baumann looks at recent neocon smears of Trita Parsi and the National Iranian American Council, which charge without evidence that Parsi and NIAC have been working on behalf of the Iranian government.

The London Times reports “Hamid Karzai was handed a second term as President of Afghanistan today when the election run-off was cancelled after his main rival withdrew from the race. Dr Abdullah Abdullah quit yesterday in protest at the Government’s failure to combat election fraud.”

The Washington Post reports that “Palestinian officials criticized the United States for what one called “backpedaling” on demands that Israel stop settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, saying the Obama administration’s change of approach on the issue damaged the likelihood of a peace agreement.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) “are set to meet Wednesday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, as well as with Obama’s top climate adviser, Carol M. Browner, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to discuss a possible compromise” on comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.

Exxon Mobil spent $7.2 million lobbying Congress this summer, more than the the $6.6 million total of the entire alternative energy sector, and more than every environmental group combined, who spent $6.1 million, according to an E&E News analysis.

“Nepal’s Cabinet will hold a meeting on Mount Everest” ahead of the international climate change conference next month in Copenhagen, Denmark “to highlight the threat from global warming, which is causing glaciers to melt in the Himalayas.”

The top 13 health insurers and their industry association, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), “spent nearly $8.2 million in the third quarter of 2009 to influence Congress on upcoming health care legislation, according to analysis released today by the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF).”

Roll Call reports that Senate Republicans are planning to derail the health bill. They “plan to use targeted amendments to attack the legislation issue by issue, offering detailed GOP alternatives in a concerted bid to turn the public against the measure and to try to set the table for electoral gains in 2010.”

POLITICO details the White House’ strategy for passing health care reform. “Obama has worked behind the scenes to move the process along, keep abreast of policy disputes and monitor House and Senate vote count.”

Despite the fact that police have not ruled out the possibility that the bullet which hit Lou Dobbs’ house belonged to a hunter, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now considering tightening his own security.

The New York City Bar Association is “calling for all immigrant detainees to be provided with counsel” and are citing the Varick Street Detention Facility as an example of the “fundamental unfairness” of the US immigration detention system.

Brad Botwin, the Jewish founder of Help Save Maryland, resents his group being labeled a “nativist extremist group” and says he views the listing as an “anti-Semitic act against me.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever have offshore drilling for oil and gas until you marry it up with emissions controls,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters. “They don’t have 60 votes for environmental policy in the House and the Senate because it’s bad for business. All of these bills, I couldn’t support because they’re cap and trade legislation that really does put us at a competitive disadvantage.”

“The nation is using less water now than it did in 1975 and 1980,” according to new data just released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows that total water use in the United States dropped “while the nation’s population and economy grew.”

During testimony on his opposition to the Clean Energy Jobs Act, American Farm Bureau chief Bob Stallman contested the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, saying “Congress should at least hold hearings to consider the scientists and climatologists who disagree with the IPCC data and analysis.”

Reuters reports that “U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled on Friday that the United States will allow talks with Iran over its nuclear programme to play out before considering fresh sanctions against Tehran.”

The Washington Post reports “Russia and the United States are scrambling to address disagreements over a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with a little more than a month left until the existing agreement between the Cold War adversaries expires.”

Reporting from Iraq, Nir Rosen writes “Sectarianism rules, if less explicitly violently than it once did. The new government is among the most corrupt in the world. It is beginning to resemble its Baa’thist predecessor in its authoritarianism and brutality. But it faces no immediate threats, and its strength gives it some form of legitimacy, even among Sunnis. An ugly peace may indeed hold” in Iraq.

The “most extensive direct count” to date finds that the economic stimulus package has created or saved 650,000 jobs. This data “doesn’t include the thousands of jobs created or saved indirectly, through tax cuts, unemployment benefits, Pell Grants and other payments.”

A new Department of Education study finds that “nearly a third of the states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years, a step that helps schools stay ahead of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law.”

According to a new Bloomberg poll, most bank executives “expect their bonuses to match or exceed last year’s, with 1 in 10 predicting their best-ever payout.” A majority of executives “also turn thumbs down on government attempts to limit compensation, with 51 percent saying restrictions will stifle useful innovation.”

More than 100 Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a letter to President Obama urging him to tackle comprehensive immigration reform in early 2010.

Following an almost 15 year battle, the Obama administration has recommended political asylum for Rody Alvarado Peña, “a Guatemalan woman fleeing horrific abuse by her husband, the strongest signal yet that the administration is open to a variety of asylum claims from foreign women facing domestic abuse.”

“Arizona lawmakers are renewing a push to grant local police the ability to detain and question suspected undocumented immigrants.” The legislation would make it a crime to “trespass on the territory of the state” and allow local police to arrest anyone who cannot provide documentation of their citizenship.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in a new Web video posted Thursday, “makes the case for a public health insurance option and appeals to voters across the country to contact Washington to “push hard” for its inclusion in the final bill.”

TPMDC’s Brian Buetler is reporting that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) says “he will vote to bring the bill with a public option and an opt-out to the floor — getting the bill past a key procedural vote — and suggested his colleagues should do the same.”

The Wall Street Journal observes that the “House health-care bill presents more problems for drug makers than legislation in the Senate, but it gives the medical-device industry better breaks.”

The House unveils its health care reform legislation today. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “wants to have the legislation on the floor next week, with a final vote before Veterans Day, Nov. 11.”

In an effort to satisfy moderate Democrats, the House bill includes a public option that uses negotiated reimbursement rates. But asked whether more members of the Blue Dog Coalition will vote for the plan now that leaders will include negotiated rates, “Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, a spokesman for the group, said, “I don’t know. … It’s an important issue. But it’s not the only issue. It has never been the only issue.”

Meanwhile, the GOP is trying to generate business opposition to health care reform.

A group of New Mexico Latinos who were fired by the widely publicized hotel owner who wanted them to Anglicize their names may take their case to court.

Ten New Haven residents fighting deportation are suing their supervisors and senior immigration officials, alleging that their civil rights were violated when ICE agents stormed into their homes without cause, consent or search warrants.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a measure that supervisors passed Tuesday that would prevent local police from turning over minors to immigration officials until they are found guilty of the alleged crime.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, “the best showing in two years” and the first increase since the spring of 2008.

According to a new report by Pew Charitable Trusts, “none of the credit cards offered online by the 12 largest U.S. banks would meet requirements of new federal curbs on the industry’s rates and fees.” All of the companies employed practices considered “unfair or deceptive” by the Federal Reserve.

Bloomberg reports that “U.S. carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc. will have a harder time blocking union organizing campaigns under a change planned by a federal labor board.”

“Iran will seek major revisions to a U.N.-draft nuclear fuel deal, including shipping abroad its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in stages rather than all at once,” a pro-government newspaper reported on Thursday.

BBC reports that Iraqi authorities have “arrested more than 60 security force members, including 11 senior officers over Sunday’s twin suicide bombing in the capital Baghdad.”

AP reports that “Afghanistan will open more voting centers in next week’s presidential runoff than in the fraud-tainted first-round vote…rejecting U.N. recommendations that they cut sites to prevent cheating.”

“Jack Bonner, head of controversial political consulting firm Bonner and Associates, and Steve Miller, the CEO of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, have a lot of explaining to do” in a hearing today on the fraudulent letters they sent to Congress opposing clean energy legislation.

Western Republicans claim Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is “trying to skirt congressional authority by issuing an administrative order on climate change.”

“An international team of environmental scientists has shown that sea-level rise, at least in North Carolina, is accelerating. Researchers found 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years.”