Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

For children to have a healthy smile they must brush at least twice a day for a minimum of two minutes and also use the correct pressure to ensure they don’t damage the gums.

Check out this ingenious RF device toothbrush for children.

Tom Bentley ‘s toothbrush for kids monitors the pressure used when brushing and indicates when the child or parent is brushing too hard. If brushing is too hard the end of the brush will glow red, after 2 minutes of brushing the end will glow blue to indicate they have finished.

To encourage the child to brush twice a day the toothbrush interacts (via RF) with a silicone crocodile that will remind them to brush if they forget. The crocodile maintains a steady lifelike breathing motion, but if the child forgets to brush it will slow down until it eventually stops. The only way to re-animate it is for the child to brush their teeth correctly.

Using the toothbrush will develop the child’s motor skills from an early age so they can continue to brush correctly in the future.

And how cool is this for your children?

A GREAT Christmas present!

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (L) speaks to Sun Microsystems employees during a town hall style meeting at the Sun Microsystems plant in Menlo Park, California September 28, 2005.

The ASSociated Press has Schwarzenegger Vetoes Gay Marriage Bill.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger followed through Thursday on his promise to veto a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, leaving the issue up to voters or judges who will likely face the volatile issue in the next year.

“This bill simply adds confusion to a constitutional issue,” the Republican governor said in a veto message.

Schwarzenegger had announced his intention on Sept. 7, a day after the Legislature became the first in the country to approve a bill allowing gays and lesbians to wed.

Schwarzenegger said the bill by Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno contradicted Proposition 22, which was approved by voters in 2000 and said only a marriage between a man and woman is valid.

The governor said the state constitution bars the Legislature from enacting a law allowing gay marriage without another vote by the public and that Leno’s bill wouldn’t provide for that vote.

Whatever…..better to say you are against Gay Marriage, Governor.

President Bush watches as Judge John Roberts is sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005.

The 17th Chief Justice of the United States.

The Public Plicy Institute of California has its latest poll, PPIC Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Initiative Process, September 2005.

The poll numbers are not favorable for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, the poll was conducted prior to the beginning Governor’s television campaign and did not poll on proposition 75, the Paycheck Protection Initiative.

Ok, here are the numbers:

* Proposition 74 (teacher tenure), 43% yes, 47% no

* Proposition 76 (spending and funding limits), 26% yes, 63% no

* Proposition 77 (redistricting), 33% yes, 50% no

* Proposition 78 (prescription drug discounts), 43% yes, 38% no

* Proposition 79 (prescription drug discounts), 34% yes, 40% no

The full report is here.

The Governor’s personal poll numbers are unfavorable as well:

Currently, 33 percent of Californians approve and 58 percent disapprove of the way Governor Schwarzenegger is handling his job as governor. His ratings today are similar to those of the state legislature (32% approve, 53% disapprove). Fewer Californians today than one year ago say the governor is doing an excellent or good job working for their best interests (from 46% to 28%). Likely voters are slightly more supportive of the governor than are Californians generally: 38 percent approve of his performance in office, while 55 percent disapprove. His ratings were virtually
unchanged before and after he announced his reelection plans on September 16th.

Flap believes the Governor can turn these numbers around with more media exposure – meaning television. The public employee unions have spent tens of millions of dollars and the Governor was late in raising and matching media dollars.

Time is fleeting for the Governor and the television spots need to be increased in frequency.

Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Recovery Team, California Special Election, Bear Flag League, Proposition 74, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77, Proposition 78, Proposition 79

Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

Congratulations Mr. Chief Justice Roberts………

While we are waiting for Judge John Robert’s confirmation this morning (thee confirmation roll call vote in the U.S. Senate has begun) let’s look at some of the candidates mentioned for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat.

Flap continues to handicap the following as the next nominees:

Janice Rogers Brown

Edith Clement

Edith Hollan Jones

Priscilla Owen

With the nomination going to Judge Owen.

But, the New York Times has Bush Reported Near to Nominating Judge.

President Bush is close to naming a successor to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and could announce his choice this week, Republicans close to the White House said Wednesday.

One name that was the source of enormous speculation in Washington legal and political circles was Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, who is a leader in the search for Justice O’Connor’s successor. Ms. Miers, 60, was the first woman to become a partner at a major Texas law firm and the first woman to be president of the State Bar of Texas. At one point, Ms. Miers was Mr. Bush’s personal lawyer.

In 1995, Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, named her chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and gave her the task of cleaning up that scandal-plagued agency. Ms. Miers has never been a judge, although that is not a requirement for a Supreme Court justice.

Ms. Miers was also a leader in the search that led Mr. Bush to Judge John G. Roberts Jr., who is widely expected to be confirmed by the Senate as chief justice on Thursday.

Republicans cautioned that Ms. Miers was just one in a swirling mix of perhaps 12 possibilities and that she could be the subject of the same kind of assumptions that led much of Washington to conclude in July that Judge Edith Brown Clement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was Mr. Bush’s choice for the court only hours before he named Judge Roberts.

And who is Harriet Miers?

Co-Managing Partner of Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP, has previously served as President and director of the State Bar of Texas as well as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Dallas Bar Association. She is currently a member of the House of Delegates for the American Bar Association and State Delegate for the State of Texas. Ms. Miers also serves as a Trustee of the Southwestern Legal Foundation, a member of the Executive Board for the Southern Methodist University School of Law and Chair of the Texas Lottery Commission.

Stay Tuned…… Justice Roberts has now a majority of votes in the Senate and is confirmed!

Update #1

Some of the leftie Senators have asked President Bush to not nominate among others Judge Priscilla Owen.

On Wednesday, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, and Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, sent Mr. Bush a letter urging him not to name to the court any of the three judges who were part of the compromise – Judge William J. Pryor Jr. and Judges Owen and Brown.

“The nomination of any of these individuals to the Supreme Court would represent an unnecessary provocation and would be met by substantial opposition in the Senate,” the letter said.

So………

Don’t tell a Texan what to do……..