• Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina

    CA-Sen Video: Barbara Boxer Gets Mixed Up On CNN – Not the First Time She is Confused With Facts

    Good grief and Barbara Boxer is a U.S. Senator? She cannot even get her own career facts straight = OLD.

    California incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer spent some time today with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer straightening out her arithmetic. Boxer is in a toss-up race with GOP challenger and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

    “I voted for over $2 trillion of tax cuts, the largest one was in the stimulus bill,” Boxer said. Blitzer, confused, thought she meant $2 trillion in the stimulus, when she meant over her career.

    Then Boxer got confused: “No, no, no — $1.2 trillion with the stimulus.”

    That confused Blitzer even more, since the entire stimulus was about $800 billion. He asked, “There was $1.2 trillion in tax cuts in the stimulus?”

    Boxer replied, “There was a lot. About, well, I will put it this way, over time, that’s what it will be, when you figure all the tax cuts over time. And what we did for the senior citizens, giving them back those refunds. So there was a lot.”

    She finally got back on track, adding, correctly this time, “Actually, a third of the stimulus was tax cuts. That I can tell you.”

    That’s the “Making Work Pay” cut that President Obama mistakenly thought would bring Republicans along to support the stimulus. Democrats bitterly complained later that the tax cut showed up as a few dollars a week in people’s paychecks that almost no one noticed.

    But, you know this is not the first time. Look at this video:

    Senator Barbara Boxer confused again

    Now, California voters understand why Boxer only agreed to one face to face debate with Carly Fiorina. Boxer really does not have the command of herself necessary to be a Senator.

    Sen. Barbara Boxer appeared on Ed Schultz’s MSNBC show earlier, and her performance was a pretty stunning demonstration of how little clue she has about what’s actually in the health care legislation she was on air to promote. A frustrated Boxer appeared on the show to defend the bill against attacks from the liberal Schultz, who began the segment by hammering Democrats for caving into moderates and watering down the government-run plan.

    In the clip below, Boxer tried to reassure Schultz by touting all of the government programs that are expanded by the bill. But she stumbled when trying to say how many new Medicaid beneficiaries would be added, said she needed to fact check it, looked off camera as if for guidance, and ended up asserting that the Medicaid expansion alone would cover 30 million more people. Yet anybody with an inkling of understanding of the Senate bill knows that the entire bill only covers 31 million according to the Congressional Budget Office. The expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP accounts for 15 million of that. I may sound like I’m nitpicking, but this is not some obscure provision of the bill or esoteric statistic. The coverage provisions account for the bulk of the overall cost of the legislation. It’s alarming that a sitting Senator would be this utterly clueless on the most sweeping domestic policy initiative since Medicare was created in 1965.

  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2010-10-14

    • Sarah Palin began a three-day swing through California on Thursday that promises to be equal parts promotional and political in a state that has been slow to embrace her conservative star power.

      The former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate's appearances conclude Saturday in Orange County at a Republican National Committee rally meant to whip up supporters for the final push toward the November elections.

      Last weekend, Palin spoke at a business conference in Bakersfield and at a San Diego event for Combat Veterans For Congress. The trip inspired a post on her Facebook page in which she declared, "This is still Reagan Country!"
      ++++++
      I plan to make the Anaheim event

    • Regarding House races, Jay Cost of the Weekly Standard notes that the Democratic Party has "an inefficiently distributed base of voters." It "consists mostly of union workers, upscale urban liberals, and minority voters, many of whom are clustered in highly Democratic districts." In many other districts, Democratic candidates depend on "independents and soft partisans," the very voters who have defected from the Obama coalition of 2008.

      If Democrats lose control of the House by a small number of seats, this might be condign punishment for a practice they favor and that Republicans have cynically encouraged — racial gerrymandering. It concentrates African American voters in majority-minority districts to guarantee the election of minority candidates.
      +++++
      Likely…..Read it all

    • The Republican rallying cry during this election season has been a promise to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare. The problem is that through at least 2012 President Obama would veto any law repealing his signature health-care legislation. What, then, can Republicans do in the next two years? Look to the states.

      After November, more than 30 Republican governors (many newly elected) will have the opportunity to resist the legislation at the state level. They could refuse to implement the health-care exchanges that are the core of ObamaCare. Doing so would force the federal government to step in and run the exchanges for the states—a chore that would slow down federal implementation of ObamaCare but fail to provide any alternative solution to insurance coverage problems.
      +++++
      Read it all

      (tags: Obamacare)
  • Jerry Brown,  Meg Whitman

    CA-Gov Video: Meg Whitman Hits Jerry Brown on Crime

    The Meg Whitman Campaign for Governor launched a new television ad, “Cops’ Choice,” that underscores why Whitman has support from nearly 30,000 law enforcement professionals. The 15-second spot describes Jerry Brown’s soft-on-crime record.

    Jerry Brown was “SOFT” on crime when he was California Governor in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Rose Bird, Brown’s appointee for California Supreme Chief Justice was a disaster and was recalled by California voters because of her refusal to enforce the California Death Penalty law among other things.

    Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has launched a new ad slamming Jerry Brown’s record on crime, including his appointment of Rose Bird as California Supreme Court chief justice. The Bird court overturned 64 death penalty convictions. She and justices Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso were ousted from the court by voters in 1986.

    The ad touts law enforcement groups that have endorsed Whitman, countering pro-Brown ads featuring other police and fire groups that have endorsed him.

  • Jerry Brown,  Meg Whitman

    CA-Gov Video: Jerry Brown’s Solution to Illegal Aliens – Slow Down Modernization in Mexico

    Former California governor Jerry Brown on the Ronn Owens radio show (KGO-San Francisco) on April 9, 1996.

    Granted it was in 1996 but Jerry Brown’s thought processes are the same today: Far Left “Moonbeam” nonsense, no matter how you spin it.

    Meg Whitman is not the most perfect candidate but compared to Brown……well, just wait, if this career idiot is elected.

  • Methamphetamine

    CVS Pharmacy Fined $75 Million for Allowing Large Quantities of Pseudoephedrine Sales in Violation of Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act



    Come on CVS this is frakking unacceptable and I, for one, will NOT shop at your stores for a while. What don’t you understand about the law?

    CVS Pharmacy Inc. has agreed to pay $75-million in fines for allowing repeated purchases of a key ingredient in the making of methamphetamine in at least five states that also led to a spike in Southern California drug trafficking, authorities said Thursday.

    The largest U.S. operator of retail pharmacies will pay what federal prosecutors said is the largest civil penalty under the Controlled Substances Act.

    The company also will forfeit about $2.6-million in profits earned from the sales of pseudoephedrine, which can often be found in cold medicine and is used to make meth.

    Authorities said CVS didn’t provide enough safeguards to monitor how much pseudoephedrine someone was buying, and the company violated federal drug regulations Arizona, Georgia, California, Nevada, and South Carolina and possibly 20 other states.

    “This case shows what happens when companies fail to follow their ethical and legal responsibilities,” said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. “CVS knew it had a duty to prevent methamphetamine trafficking, but it failed to take steps to control the sale of a regulated drug used by methamphetamine cooks as an essential ingredient for their poisonous stew.”

    The company was expected to pay the $75-million fine by Friday. The remaining forfeiture is due within 30 days.

    I mean isn’t this enough incentive to obey the law?

    Methamorphosis as a result of chronic Methamphetamine abuse

    Thanks CVS for turning your back on your American customers.

    Some executive at CVS should be prosecuted criminally for this gross megligence and maybe this will wise up the industry to obey the law.

  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina

    CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer 49% Vs. Carly Fiorina 46%

    Republican Nominee Carly Fiorina and California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer

    This is what the latest Rasmussen poll says about this closely fought California U.S. Senate race.

    Incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer continues to hold the slightest of leads over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina in California’s U.S. Senate race.

    The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in California shows Boxer with 49% support and Fiorina with 46%. Two percent (2%) prefer another candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) are undecided.

    The race remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.

    Just over a week ago, Boxer, who is seeking a fourth six-year term, posted a similar 49% to 45% lead over Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Boxer has held a small lead in every survey but one since February with 42% to 49% of the vote. Fiorina, in those same surveys, has earned 38% to 47% support.

    With Carly Fiorina now running statewide television ads, it may be time for her to start showing a move.

    Larry Sabato earlier today moved the race back to “leans Democrat” from toss-up. This is likely premature as early California voting and the televised ad wars continue.

    Note that if Barbara Boxer had this race in the bag, why would President Obama be coming to Los Angeles to campaign for her next week. The internal polls obviously show a close race.

    The survey of 750 Likely Voters in California was conducted on October 13, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

    Here is the latest Real Clear Politics poll average graph:

  • Barack Obama,  Joe Biden

    Joe Biden Plays HARDBALL with President Obama


    Vice President Joe Biden has got President Obama “under pressure.”

    Joe Biden just can’t keep his mouth shut. OK, I know that’s not exactly breaking news. But at a time when Democrats are supposed to be focussed on the
    November 2nd mid-terms and Barack Obama has not even announced he will seek a second term, did Biden really need to declare that he’ll be on
    the 2012 ticket?

    Here he is shooting from the lip to the New York Times:

    “I tell you what, there’s real trust, that’s why he’s asked me to run again,” Mr. Biden said Monday, dropping this tidbit at the end of a 40-minute conversation, just before he dashed off to his third fund-raiser of the day. “Look, he said, ‘We’re going to run together, are you going to run?’ I said, ‘Of course, you want me to run with you, I’m happy to run with you.’ ”

    Poor Hillary and poor Obama who is now locked in – sort of like President George H. W. Bush with the unpopular Vice President Dan Quayle.

    Joe Biden knows how to play “hardball.”

  • Dentistry

    Medicaid Dentistry for Adults Gets the Axe in Many States

    The adult Medicaid dentistry cutback started in California and has spread like a virus across the United States.

    From one side of the U.S. to the other, dental benefits for adults are being eyed for reduction or elimination as states struggle with the ongoing effects of the recession and burgeoning enrollment in Medicaid.

    Medicaid enrollment grew by 8.5% in fiscal year 2010, and while states got $87 billion in economic stimulus funds to help cope, they were also barred from placing new limits on eligibility. So to contain costs, many states have been cutting back on optional benefits, including adult dental services, according to an annual 50-state survey of Medicaid budgets released September 30 by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

    Adult dental benefits are always vulnerable in hard times, said Diane Rowland, the commission’s executive director.

    “Dental services for children are not an option for state cuts,” Rowland said. “It’s adult dental that is one of the first benefits to be cut.”

    With private companies suffering under an extended business recession, one of the first expenses they cut rather than laying off employees is dental insurance. Couple this with government cutbacks on adult dental benefits (medicaid) where do these patients go?

    They go without dental care – hoping for better economic times.

    In the meantime, public health and low-income clinics close with dentists (particularly new graduates with large school loan debt) not working. Do you see how this can spiral out of control?

    Exit question: How does President Obama expect to pay for dentistry for all (or for all children) with ObamaCare health reform?

  • Day By Day,  Nancy Pelosi

    Day By Day October 14, 2010 – The Mask



    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    A House Speaker Nancy Pelosi MASK is indeed scary and why so many incumbent Democratic Congressmen are running for political cover.

    But, what is even more scary is this:

    Applications for jobless benefits rose last week for the first time in three weeks, evidence that companies are reluctant to hire in a slow economy.

    The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment aid rose by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000. It was only the second rise in two months.

    Despite the ups and down, claims have been stuck near 450,000 all year. Few employers see much reason to create many jobs, and some are still laying off workers.

    In addition, cash-strapped state and local governments are cutting jobs, adding to the ranks of those out of work.

    The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose by 2,250 to 459,000.

    The November election cannot come fast enough and then January when the new Congress can send President Obama and the Democrats a message – Fix Our economy by repealing ObamaCare.

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