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Manic Monday Markup 10/17/11…

…And the World:

The French Socialist Party has nominated Francois Hollande to challenge incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election.  Hollande won the nomination after an American-style primary rather than a more traditional selection via an internal process.  Hollande became the front runner after Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s legal troubles in New York derailed the latter’s political career.  Hollande is presently ahead of the unpopular Sarkozy in the polls, but nobody is taking the Socialists victory for granted.  Hollande used to be the domestic partner of Segolene Royal, the 2007 Socialist party’s candidate whom Sarkozy defeated.

The Feds:

Former governor of Arkansas, former presidential candidate and supposed Man of God has called on supporters of a union-busting bill to do whatever is necessary to suppress the vote to repeal SB5, the Ohio law in question.  Ohio has a citizen’s veto enabling voters to repeal the measure at the ballot this November.  This comes after supporters of the law were caught manipulating the words of a grandmother who supports repeal of SB5.  If you know people who live in Ohio urge them to vote NO on Issue 2.

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post points out how President Barack Obama is turning the tables on the Republicans in the Senate who released their own jobs plan by noting that cutting regulations is not a jobs plan.  Besides having no bill or substance to their “plan” Republican proposals if actually able to create jobs (a monumental if) would require years to take hold, assuming the requisite in government spending did not knock the nation back into recession first.  Sargent also lend voice to the frustration to the equal treatment the media gives both the president’s and Republicans’ jobs bill despite the fact that no economist have said the GOP plan would create jobs.  In fact many have said it would kill jobs.  Numerous economists have said, by contrast, the president’s bill will create jobs.

The State of Things:

Governor Patrick won’t say if he supports or opposes a Senate amendment to the casino bill that would allow Happy Hours in Massachusetts once again.  The ban on cheap-drinks for a set period of time has been banned in Massachusetts for decades as tool to combat drunk driving.  Boston Globe opinion writers do battle for and against the ban.  Meanwhile, Patrick also visited the Occupy Boston encampment.  The Boston Phoenix spoke to him briefly on his visit.

Elizabeth Warren came to Chicopee yesterday and addressed the city’s Democrats at their annual breakfast.  State Rep. Tom Conroy also spoke, but Warren attracted more attention from attendees.  Shameless Self-promotion: WMassP&I interviewed Warren about her race and solicited her views on tackling urban issues facing the commonwealth’s cities.

City Slickers:

A resolve to pull the city’s remaining funds from bank accounts with Bank of America and resolve urging the city’s Residency Ordinance be obeyed in spirit of the law and not just its letter.

Occupy Springfield, Mass said to begin today.  Early news reports said cops outnumbered protesters, although a rally coordinated with local Occupy organizers on biomass and banks may swell numbers even as we speak.

Twitter Chatter:

Occupy Wall Street Turned One Month Today. The New York epicenter of Occupy Wall Street remembers the tweet (below) that started it.