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John McCain talks about his health care reforms in a 60 second TV ad

With all of the hubbub of Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club yesterday, John McCain’s first health care televison ad has almost slipped through the cracks.

What does McCain say?

Nothing glowing but promotes a $5,000 family tax credit to purchase health insurance.

Hillary and Obama have grand sounding health care reform plans that promise the world but mandate insurance and government redistribution to provide the care.

Rudy Giuliani had more of a private sector health care reform plan that McCain should adopt. Or, is that what McCain is trying to say?

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., smiles as she receives the endorsement of North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2008.

Senator Hillary Clinton picked up an important North Carolina endorsement and Democrat Superdelegate today with her endorsement by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley.

Governor Mike Easley endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday, boosting her presidential bid a week before North Carolina’s May 6 primary.

Appearing onstage with Clinton and his wife, Mary, the two-term Democrat declared the New York senator “gets it.”

“It’s time for somebody to be in the White House who understands the challenges we face in this country,” Easley said, adding a gentle dig at rival Barack Obama’s signature slogan of hope.

“There’s been lots of ‘Yes we can, yes we should.’ Hillary Clinton is ready to deliver,” Easley said.

Easley is term-limited and will leave office early next year. Both Democrats vying for the party’s nomination to replace him have endorsed Obama, whom polls show with a substantial lead over Clinton in the state.

Will this have an effect on next Tuesday’s North Carolina primary election?

Probably not. But, Easley is popular with white working class voters.

So far, North Carolina’s highest profile Democrat and former Presidential candidate, John Edwards has remain muted. Will he create a May weekend surprise endorsement later this week?

Perhaps…….

Dr. Katrina Cornish examines Guayule seedlings while at USDA

From the American Dental Association: FDA issues market clearance for new form of latex glove

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing a patient examination glove made from a new form of natural rubber latex, the first approval of a device derived from a desert plant native to the Southwestern United States. The FDA regulates medical-dental devices.

“This approval has the potential to make a significant difference to both the general public and the medical community at large,” said Daniel Schultz, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Gloves made from guayule latex may prove to be a safer alternative for some people with sensitivity to traditional latex. And yet they will not sacrifice the desirable properties of traditional latex such as flexibility and strength.”

American Dental Association latex allergy notices for the profession and patients are posted at www.ada.org under Oral Health Topics. The ADA Web site also includes information on hand hygiene and glove use and skin care and lotion use with latex gloves. “Some dental healthcare workers have developed hypersensitivity to proteins derived from natural rubber latex used in certain medical and dental devices, including examination and surgical gloves,” says an ada.org notice on personal protective equipment. “These workers should use PPE made of an alternative material.” Patients are encouraged to advise the dental office staff “if you have had a prior allergic reaction to latex-containing objects.”

The FDA-approved product, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, is derived from the guayule bush, a desert plant native to the Southwest. The Yulex Corp., Maricopa, Ariz., said in a press release that examination gloves made with patented Yulex natural rubber, and cleared by the FDA, do not contain proteins associated with allergic reactions to latex products. Traditional latex gloves are made from the milky sap of a rubber tree.

Flap has been fortunate that he has never experienced (first hand – sorry for the bad pun) a latex allergy to gloves. But, I have seen it for others, including dentists, assistants, hygienists and patients. The use of other glove substitutes do not provide the snugness of fit like latex.

Flap is looking forward to the distribution of this product. But, will they be able to ramp up production to satisfy demand?

The website for the Yulex Corporation is here.

An interesting trend in medicine that Flap is also seeing in dentistry. The days of the solo family practitioner in medicine or dentistry are thankfully over.

In dentistry there are more group practices with specialists “in house.” Patients will receive more coordinated multi-discipline care. Often, the junior associate dentists relieve senior partners of “on call” duty.

But, since dentistry is NOT hospital based, a group practice model to replace baby-boomer solo general practices may be slower to evolve.

Michael Ramirez on Reverend Jeremiah Wright

Flap and others think so.

While there’s still more GOPers who think Clinton and not Obama is the easier downballot target, NRCC’s Cole has been the consistent dissenter on this issue and is betting that Obama and not Clinton will be the bigger drag. Politico: “Republican-leaning districts could be particularly fertile ground for Obama-focused attacks, GOP officials say. ‘I think he’s the weaker candidate, and I’ve thought that for over a year now,’ NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) said at a briefing on Monday. ‘He’s very inexperienced. He is by any definition liberal and to the left of Hillary Clinton, and he will give us plenty of ideological divisions to work with.’”

“Besides the two special congressional elections in Mississippi and Louisiana next month, Republicans believe they can also exploit Obama’s vulnerabilities in House battlegrounds where he has struggled to win over key demographic groups. Those areas include three culturally conservative seats in Pennsylvania, where Obama lost badly in last week’s primary, and three Cuban-American districts in Florida that Democrats are seriously contesting for the first time.”

More on how Jeremiah Wright is being used by the GOP in down ballot races here.

As Flap said yesterday, each minute (news cycle) that Obama does not emphatically repudiate Jeremiah Wright HIS campaign and the Democrat Party is hurt. This entire flap may have created a HUGE opening for the GOP.

Even the LEFT recognizes the conundrum and urges Obama to throw Wright under the bus – and quick.

But, is it too late for a Sister Soulja moment and for Obama to DISOWN Reverend Wright?

If conservatives at first thought the Obama/Wright catastrophe was ironic, given Obama’s liberal sermons, or in a political sense timely in helping the McCain candidacy, I think by now they and most other Americans instead see the mess as tragic for the country, and a radical setback in our collective racial relations. Everyone of good conscience should deplore Wright in the strongest terms, and implore Obama once and for all to disown this extremist.

So, will Obama weigh in today on Jeremiah Wright? Or will Reverend Wright be the fatal blow to his candidacy?

In any case, for the GOP and John McCain, it is the WRIGHT STUFF.

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Barack Obama Watch: Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Day By Day by Chris Muir

And, who says women do NOT have the right to bare arms and legs – yeah, I know – PIG……..

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The Day By Day Archive

• Obama Tackles Bread-and-Butter Issues in Indiana – WSJ.com
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama Hillary_Clinton)
• Eyes on Blue-Collar Voters, Obama Shifts Style – New York Times
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama)
• Dean: Clinton or Obama Must Leave Race After June Primaries – America’s Election HQ
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama Hillary_Clinton)
• The Wright Target – Political Diary – WSJ.com
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama Jeremiah_Wright)
• Is the Stage Being Set For the All-Time Sister Souljah Moment? – The Campaign Spot on National Review Online
  Is the Stage Being Set For the All-Time Sister Souljah Moment? It better be or put a fork in Obama – He’s Done!
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama Jeremiah_Wright)
• The Reverend Wright – Swampland – TIME
  the guy is going to be a go-to mainstream media source for racial extremist spew, the next iteration of Al Sharpton–and destroy Barack Obama. Or the Sister Souljah moment?
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama Jeremiah_Wright)
• Wright’s Voice Could Spell Doom for Obama – Rough Sketch
  Ya think?
  (tags: 2008 Barack_Obama jer)
• Adam Green: MoveOn: Obama Got Outfoxed – Media on The Huffington Post
  The good ol’ LEFT – never satisified with their candidates – EVER.
  (tags: 2008 MoveOn.org Barack_Obama Fox_News)
• Politics – Dan Walters offers blueprint for closing budget gap – sacbee.com
  Dan Walter’s proposal is about as bankrupt as the Democrats and Schwarzenegger’s. Cut spending across the board and repeal education constitutional mandated spending for starters.
  (tags: California ArnoldSchwarzenegger Dan_Walters)
• Power Line: Brand protection without the fetish
  Senator McCain should welcome back Soren Dayton to his campaign
  (tags: 2008 McCain)