• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2010-11-15

    • What happened to the Central Valley?

      We've heard for years about the man-made water shortages, high unemployment, local Latino politicians switching to the Republican party and how unpopular are the democrats. The only problem is that 5 key counties failed to vote.

      Where was the gusto ?

      The statewide average of registered voters is about 55%. Yet Fresno [44.7%], Kern [53.1%] , Merced [50.9%], Stanislaus [50.7%] and Tulare [42.5%] didn't pull their respective weights. Some Republican power bases performed well, such as Ventura [59.5%] and San Diego [ 60.3% ! ].

      Had the 5 central valley counties voted at 55% , we might have a new congressman Andy Vidak. Steve Cooley would have netted an additional 30,000 votes. Today, Cooley is behind some 14,000 votes.
      ++++++
      What happened?

      An ineffective GOTV plan in the Central Valley and other GOP dominated areas.

      (tags: GOP California)
    • In the just concluded election, Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer captured 65% or 80% of that vote (depending on which exit poll you believe). More importantly, it was a bigger pie – 3 times larger than back in 1992. It was one of the major factors that kept the red tide out of California – and a factor that will only get bigger.

      Here’s the story of how that happened…
      +++++
      Read it all.
      This analaysis will not bode well for the national GOP to ever fund California statewide races in the near future nor support illegal alien amnesty.

    • The Wall Street Journal has a lead editorial arguing that one of the big tests of whether Republicans are serious about limited government is whether they embrace a ban on earmarks. Earmarks only represent a small portion of federal spending, the editors note, but they help grease the wheels of massive spending bills and are also of great symbolic importance. While I agree with this as far as it goes — and support a ban on earmarks — I also think that the overemphasis on earmarks has distracted attention from the much more important issue of how to deal with the entitlement spending mess.
      +++++
      Agreed – entitlement spending has to be cut and the states must do their part as well re: welfare.
      (tags: GOP Earmarks)
    • But for all the maneuvering, not one of the possible 2012 Republican presidential contenders is planning to make a formal announcement before early next year or even later. Seeking to avoid the scrutiny and expenses that come with opening a full-fledged campaign, the potential candidates, including Sarah Palin and former Gov. George E. Pataki of New York, are instead quietly testing campaign messages, wooing local activists and trying to assess the shifting political climate.
      ++++++
      It will take $50 Million to run a good primary campaign. Romney plus either Palin or Huckabee are the most likely challengers to Mitt.
    • CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: But what is going to happen? I mean, are you clear on where a compromise is going to be? It's got to be discussed before the end of the year, no?

      KRUGMAN: No. Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now.

      So, we've got to get Medicare under control by deciding "what it's going to pay for…which medical procedures are not effective at all and should not be paid for at all."

      AKA "death panels."

    • Desperate transplant patients are being given the lungs of chain smokers because the NHS is so short of organ donations.

      Surgeons are also being forced to use diseased body parts from cancer sufferers, drug addicts and the very elderly.

      Experts say that the waiting list for transplants has now grown so long that hospitals are increasingly resorting to implanting so-called 'high risk' organs.

      There are around 8,000 people needing an organ donation at any one time and every day three patients die because they do not get one in time.

      As a result, doctors say that most patients would probably accept a 'high risk' or 'marginal' organ as without it they may not survive the year.

      They are also using tissue from those more at risk of carrying HIV and Hepatitis C such as gay men and drug users.

      These groups are not allowed to give blood but they can donate organs simply because there is such a shortage.
      ++++++
      Good ol' socialized medicine. A preview of ObamaCare?

  • Sarah Palin

    Updated with Ratings: Sarah Palin’s Alaska – I Liked the Show – Others Did Too

    +++++Update+++++

    Television ratings for last night’s show are out.

    TLC’s “SARAH PALIN’S ALASKA” DELIVERS 4.96M TOTAL VIEWERS

    The premiere of TLC’s Sarah Palin’s Alaska (Sun, Nov 14, 9-10 p.m. ET/PT) garnered a 3.5 HH rating and delivered 4.96M P2+, 1.8M P25-54, 1.1M W25-54, 1.6M P18-49, 4.7M P18+ and 3.9M P35+, according to Nielsen fast nationals.

    Sarah Palin’s Alaska is the #1 program launch in TLC history among HH and  P2+ delivery, besting the What Not to Wear series launch in 2003, and posting triple digit rating and delivery gains vs. the  prior six week prime average, and the 4Q10 to-date prime average.

    I watched Sarah Palin’s Alaska (TLC) this Monday morning (recorded on my DVR) and I liked the show.

    I watch a whole bunch of television (mostly recorded) including reality shows and found Sarah Palin and her family to be engagingly delightful. Now, this isn’t Survivor or The Apprentice, other Mark Burnett produced shows but fits right in with the TLC genre of family entertainment.

    Is the show political?

    Why, of course it is and I think you would have to be either naive or a dullard to think otherwise. Sarah, Todd and the children have been brutally portrayed in the Left-leaning media, particularly CBS and NBC. Ridiculed is the word that often comes to my mind.

    So, here is a chance for some redemption in the minds of the media. Yeah, Tina Fey will continue to do her mocking portrayal of Sarah “seeing Russia from my house” but will be balanced with a more honest depiction of a woman raisng her family in Alaska.

    I have already set a series recording for the remaining seven episodes of Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

    Exit question: Will Sarah Palin run for President in 2012?

    After watching – who cares?

    Sarah has a wonderful family and life.

  • Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin’s Alaska – I Liked the Show

    I watched Sarah Palin’s Alaska (TLC) this Monday morning (recorded on my DVR) and I liked the show.

    I watch a whole bunch of television (mostly recorded) including reality shows and found Sarah Palin and her family to be engagingly delightful. Now, this isn’t Survivor or The Apprentice, other Mark Burnett produced shows but fits right in with the TLC genre of family entertainment.

    Is the show political?

    Why, of course it is and I think you would have to be either naive or a dullard to think otherwise. Sarah, Todd and the children have been brutally portrayed in the Left-leaning media, particularly CBS and NBC. Ridiculed is the word that often comes to my mind.

    So, here is a chance for some redemption in the minds of the media. Yeah, Tina Fey will continue to do her mocking portrayal of Sarah “seeing Russia from my house” but will be balanced with a more honest depiction of a woman raisng her family in Alaska.

    I have already set a series recording for the remaining seven episodes of Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

    Exit question: Will Sarah Palin run for President in 2012?

    After watching – who cares?

    Sarah has a wonderful family and life.

  • Day By Day,  James Clyburn,  Nancy Pelosi

    Day By Day November 15, 2010 – No.3Dream

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    African-American voters support the Democratic Party over 9:1 in elections and yet when one of their own seek to run for the number two (minority) leadership position in the House, they are asked to step aside for party unity. What a joke.

    Rep. James Clyburn says he is in favor of a plan laid out by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which Clyburn would become assistant leader, a new position that would preserve his No. 3 ranking in the party.

    Pelosi is seeking to remain the top House Democrat when they become the minority party next year.

    “Should I receive the privilege of serving as House Democratic Leader, I will be very honored to nominate our outstanding colleague, Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, to serve in the number three House Democratic position,” Pelosi said in a letter today to House members. “I will also ask the Caucus to designate that position as Assistant Leader.”

    Clyburn sent a follow-up letter today to House Democrats in which he asked them to support Pelosi’s idea.

    “It adds an elected Leadership position and maintains a Leadership structure that honors the diversity and fosters the unity of our Caucus,” Clyburn wrote.

    A lesson to be learned by Latino voters in the Southwest now that they are supporting the Democrats en block by a 3 to 1 margin?

    Politics based on race, looks like a non-starter for the long term health of American politics. Somebody will always be disappointed.

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