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Running at Venice Beach
Running at Venice Beach, originally uploaded by flap.
Long run two weeks ago.
Tomorrow = 20 plus miler.
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Video: Herman Cain at the Madison Wisconsin Tea Party Rally in Support of Governor Scott Walker
From earlier today – watch it all. -
Flap’s Links for February 19th from 17:28 to 17:28
These are my links for February 19th from 17:28 to 17:28:
- Rep. David Wu’s staff confronted him over concerns about his mental health – Three days before the Nov. 2 election, U.S. Rep. David Wu’s most loyal and senior staffers were so alarmed by his erratic behavior that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Their concern had been spiking for weeks in tandem with the Oregon Democrat's increasingly unpredictable performance on the campaign trail and in private. He was loud and sometimes angry, some of them told The Oregonian. He said kooky things to staff and — more worrisome with a tough election fast approaching — around potential voters and donors.
Most of all, they were worried for Wu, a 55-year-old single father of two children.
Earlier and gentler efforts had failed, so the tight-knit group of high-level staff took other steps, including quiet inquiries about the availability of beds in hospitals in Portland and Washington, D.C., multiple sources familiar with the effort told The Oregonian.
Several staff members confronted Wu for the final time on Oct. 30. Wu’s psychiatrist was brought into that meeting as well, joining the group at the Portland campaign headquarters by speaker phone. The meeting was held after four consecutive days of troubling behavior that led the staff to agree that Wu needed a higher level of medical care, according to people intimately familiar with the events of that period.
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Read it all.
Oregon voters deserve better representation and should either recall Wu while he seeks treatment or ask for his resignation.
Wu clearly should NOT be serving in the Congress.
- Rep. David Wu’s staff confronted him over concerns about his mental health – Three days before the Nov. 2 election, U.S. Rep. David Wu’s most loyal and senior staffers were so alarmed by his erratic behavior that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
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Flap’s Links for February 19th from 16:13 to 16:13
These are my links for February 19th from 16:13 to 16:13:
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi backs Wisconsin protesters – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came out strongly in support of Wisconsin teachers and students who are protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to public employees of collective bargaining rights.
Pelosi told reporters Friday that the protests are “an extraordinary show of democracy in action.”
“Wisconsin's workers, teachers and public servants must have a seat at the table to fight for a safe workplace,” she said. “I stand in solidarity with the Wisconsin workers fighting for their rights, especially for all the students and young people leading the charge.”
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Wonder if former Democrat House Speaker Pelosi supports the fraudulent "Wildcat Strike" of the teachers who have been protesting on the Wisconsin taxpayer's dime?
I bet she does.
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi backs Wisconsin protesters – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came out strongly in support of Wisconsin teachers and students who are protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to public employees of collective bargaining rights.
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Video: Andrew Breitbart at the Madison Wisconsin Tea Party Rally in Support of Governor Scott Walker
Watch it all.
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Updated: Video: Wisconsin Physicians Distribute Fraudulent Sick Notes to Protesting Public Employees
As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.
On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’
Pretty disgusting and I trust the Wisconsin Medical Board might want to do a little investigation here.
Update:
In this next video this purported physician has had enough of being accused of fraudulent activity. Get a good look Wisconsin Medical Board. I smell a disciplinary hearing here.
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Video: Wisconsin Physicians Distribute Fraudulent Sick Notes to Protesting Public Employees
As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.
On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’
Pretty disgusting and I trust the Wisconsin Medical Board might want to do a little investigation here.
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Flap’s Links for February 19th from 14:56 to 14:56
These are my links for February 19th from 14:56 to 14:56:
- Wisconsin Union Leaders Offer Financial Concessions? – Top leaders of two of Wisconsin's largest public employee unions announced they are willing to accept the financial concessions called for in Walker's plan, but will not accept the loss of collective bargaining rights.
Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, and Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24, said in a conference call with reporters that workers will do their fair share to narrow Wisconsin's budget gap.
Walker's plan calls for nearly all state, local and school employees to pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care premiums. That would save $30 million by June 30 and $300 million over the next two years, the governor has said.
The measure also would prohibit most unionized public employees, except local police and fire fighters and the State Patrol, from bargaining on issues besides wages. Wage hikes could be negotiated only if they don't exceed the consumer price index.
"We want to say loud and clear — it is not about those concessions," Bell said. "For my members, it's about retaining a voice in their professions."
The two insisted their positions have not changed and Friday's call was intended to clarify their opposition to Walker's proposal. Bell, who represents 98,000 educators, and Beil, whose council includes 60,000 members, repeated calls for Walker to sit down with them.
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You see with the public employee unions it is all about power.
- Wisconsin Union Leaders Offer Financial Concessions? – Top leaders of two of Wisconsin's largest public employee unions announced they are willing to accept the financial concessions called for in Walker's plan, but will not accept the loss of collective bargaining rights.
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Flap’s Links for February 16th through February 19th
These are my links for February 16th through February 19th:
- FDR’s Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin’s Governor – Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin’s governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.
Except that Scott Walker — Republican cheapskate, his visage Hitlerized on signs waved by beet-faced union crowds besieging the Capitol — is kind of a liberal squish compared to FDR. He’s OK with some collective bargaining.
Walker, you might have heard, wants some changes in how Wisconsin deals with unions. He wants state employees to pay 5.8% of their salaries toward their pensions (they pay almost nothing now) and he wants them to cover 12.6% of their health care premiums (their share would go up from $79 a month to about $200; the average private-sector sap pays about $330).
Unions are enraged. They’ve been calling such increases unspeakable since Walker was elected handily in November. Then, Feb. 10, Walker went further. He’d allow public-sector unions to negotiate only pay, not benefits, mainly because he wants HSA-style health plans and 401(k)-style retirements for state workers, and unions would fight that, tooth and ragged red claw.
So unions erupted. Teachers faked illness in such numbers as to close school districts for days. Mobs beat on the doors of legislative chambers. And in some heavenly Hyde Park, the great liberal god of the 1930s is saying he saw it all along.
Roosevelt’s reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation’s workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.
But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.
“The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, “I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place” in the public sector. “A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government.”
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Fancy that – even FDR did not favor government worker’s collective bargaining.
When you think of it, public employees coercing more money from the taxpayers that they are serving is kind of perverse – now isn’t it?
- links for 2011-02-18 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – links for 2011-02-18 #tcot #catcot
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Is Sarah Palin Showings Signs of Reluctance About a Race for the Presidency? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Is Sarah Palin Showings Signs of Reluctance About a Race for the Presidency? #tcot #catcot
- Questions Raised About Lugar’s Residency – Real Clear Politics – TIME.com – IN-Sen: Questions Raised About Sen Richard Lugar’s Residency
- Democrat suggests ‘ObamaCare’ rhetoric should be banned from House floor – The Hill’s Floor Action – Dem Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz suggests ‘ObamaCare’ rhetoric should be banned from House floor
- IN-Sen: Questions Raised About Sen Richard Lugar’s Residency – Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has been preparing for an intra-party challenge since he was first elected, but recently, questions have popped up about his residency and commitment to Indiana.
Asked if Lugar lived in a hotel when he returned to Indiana, Lugar chief of staff Mark Helmke said, “That’s correct.”
Lugar owns a farm in the Hoosier State that he’s been tending for decades. His siblings own parts of the farm, but he still works on it once a month with his son, even though he doesn’t live there.
As for the living conditions on the farm, Helmke joked, “The place is pretty rustic.”
Asked how Lugar’s team would respond if challenged about his residency, Helmke shot back, “We’ll be happy to talk about the farm.”
“It’s not an issue. They can try to make it an issue. We’ll be happy to talk about the farm and what it means to him,” Helmke said.
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Not like Rham Emanuel and Chicago but Lugar really should have a residence in the state he represents.
- Poll Watch: Ronald Reagan is America’s Greatest President | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Ronald Reagan is America’s Greatest President #tcot #catcot
- House Votes to Defund Abortionist Planned Parenthood | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – House Votes to Defund Abortionist Planned Parenthood #tcot #catcot
- Dem Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz suggests ‘ObamaCare’ rhetoric should be banned from House floor – House Republicans and Democrats started Friday morning’s debate over whether to defund last year’s healthcare law, and as part of this debate sparred over whether members should be allowed to call that law “ObamaCare.”
After two House Republicans called it “ObamaCare,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) asked the chairman whether these “disparaging” remarks should be allowed on the House floor.
“That is a disparaging reference to the president of the United States; it is meant as a disparaging reference to the president of the United States, and it is clearly in violation of the House rules against that,” she said.
Because Wasserman Schultz only asked if it would be appropriate to curb the use of the term “ObamaCare,” the chairman said he would not rule on a hypothetical. But he did urge members to “refrain from engaging in personalities or descriptions about personalities in general.”
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Well, what should be call it?
Obama’s attempt to ruin American medicine?
How’s that?
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: Lower Right Second Molar – The Daily Extraction: Lower Right Second Molar
- NM-Sen 2012: Senator Jeff Bingaman to Retire from U.S. Senate | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – NM-Sen 2012: Senator Jeff Bingaman to Retire from U.S. Senate #tcot #catcot
- Day By Day February 18, 2011 – Pictures | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day February 18, 2011 – Pictures #tcot #catcot
- links for 2011-02-17 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – links for 2011-02-17 #tcot #catcot
- Republicans adjourn state Senate until Friday – JSOnline – Search for Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers continues as Senate adjourns without quorum
- BREAKING: Wisconsin Dems Hiding At Best Western in Rockford, IL …Update: TEA PARTY WINS! Chases WI Dems Out of Rockford …Update: WI Dem Says They’re Still in IL (Video) | The Gateway Pundit – TEA PARTY WINS! Chases WI Dems Out of Rockford, IL —-> back to Wisconsin? #tcot
- Search for Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers continues as Senate adjourns without quorum – Amid the third straight day of chaotic but largely peaceful protests at the Capitol, Democratic senators Thursday boycotted a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair plan, forcing Republicans to put off further action in that house until Friday at the earliest.
With Democrats hiding out just over the Illinois border and drawing national media attention, Republicans had too few lawmakers to take a vote Thursday and had to adjourn. With thousands of demonstrators swarming the Capitol Square, GOP lawmakers vowed to come back Friday morning to try to take up the proposal, which would help solve a state budget shortfall by cutting public employee benefits and most public union bargaining rights.
Democrats holed up in the Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center in Rockford, Ill., while Republicans said they wanted law enforcement to bring them to the Capitol if they were still in Wisconsin.
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A mockery of their oath of office.
Come on……
- Update with Video: House Votes to Block Funds for FCC Net Neutrality Order | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Update with Video: House Votes to Block Funds for FCC Net Neutrality Order #tcot #catcot
- President 2012: Jeb Bush Says Indiana Governor is the “Anti-Obama” | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Jeb Bush Says Indiana Governor is the “Anti-Obama” #tcot #catcot
- House Votes to Block Funds for FCC Net Neutrality Order | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – House Votes to Block Funds for FCC Net Neutrality Order #tcot #catcot
- Palin talks 2012, mocks Michelle Obama – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs – President 2012: Sarah Palin talks 2012, mocks Michelle Obama Breast Feeding Initiative
- Public Policy Polling: Obama ties Palin but trails everyone else in Tennessee – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama ties Palin but trails everyone else in Tennessee
- President 2012: Sarah Palin talks 2012, mocks Michelle Obama Breast Feeding Initiative – Sarah Palin addressed a variety of issues Thursday at a gathering of business officials in Long Island, New York including her 2012 plans, first lady Michelle Obama, President Obama’s proposed budget, the crisis in Egypt, and her feelings on the media.
Here’s a snapshot of what she had to say:
On her 2012 ambitions:
“I am still thinking of leading this country. I am still thinking about it. I haven’t made up my mind. We hired a chief of staff because Todd is getting tired of doing it for me.”
When asked who else she might envision at the top of the GOP ticket Palin responded, “No one is more qualified to multi-tasking and doing all the things you need to do as a President than a woman.”
She then began reciting from her resume, listing her experience as a mayor and running for Vice President.
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Sarah Palin can’t let it go…..always setting herself up to be the victim.
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama ties Palin but trails everyone else in Tennessee – Tennessee was a rare state where Barack Obama performed worse in 2008 than John Kerry did in 2004, albeit by less than one point on the margin. But the state now joins red-turned-blue neighbors North Carolina and Virginia as states where Obama has actually improved since the last election. While he lost to John McCain by 15 points last time, he now trails next year’s crop of Republican frontrunners by no more than 12.
Neighboring Arkansas’ Mike Huckabee typically does best against the president in Southern states, and he comes closest to matching McCain’s margin of victory here, 53-41. The other candidate who usually runs closest to Obama, Mitt Romney, beats him here, 48-41. But neighboring Georgia’s Newt Gingrich can manage only a 46-43 lead, and Sarah Palin actually ties the president at 45%.
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Tennessee is solidly red….
- Top Dems cool on Napolitano candidacy – David Catanese – POLITICO.com – AZ-Sen: Top Dems cool on Big Sis – Janet Napolitano candidacy
- Day by Day February 17, 2011 – Over Yonder | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day by Day February 17, 2011 – Over Yonder #tcot #catcot
- AZ-Sen: Top Dems cool on Big Sis – Janet Napolitano candidacy – While most of the Democratic establishment is visibly encouraging Tim Kaine to dive into the Virginia Senate race, the same cannot be said for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in Arizona.
In fact, top Democrats are unenthusiastic about a Napolitano Senate candidacy for retiring Sen. Jon Kyl’s seat, according to those familiar with the race and Arizona politics.
Beyond the routine calls that are made to any potential candidate, one source noted that there’s been little outreach from typical Democratic players to urge the former governor to run.
“There’s not much interest in her. She has a long, long, long record, closely tied to President Obama. She’s got a lot of baggage,” said a Democrat involved in the race.
Dubbed derisively as “Big Sis” by Matt Drudge, Napolitano also took a considerable amount of heat for declaring that “the system worked” after the Christmas bomber was able to board a plane.
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Time has passed Big Sis by and Jeff Flake will be the next Sen
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 47% Vs Huckabee 44% – Within the Margin of Error | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 47% Vs Huckabee 44% – Within the Margin of Error #tcot #catcot
- John Thune to Brody File on Social Issues: ‘I don’t think we can minimize those in the debate’ – President 2012: John Thune Re: Social Issues: ‘I don’t think we can minimize those in the debate’
- President 2012: John Thune Re: Social Issues: ‘I don’t think we can minimize those in the debate’ – Rather than call a “truce” on social issues as possible presidential contender Mitch Daniels suggests, Sen. John Thune tells The Brody File that, “I don’t think we can minimize those in the debate.”
Thune is mulling a presidential run and The Brody File spent the whole day with him on Capitol Hill this past Tuesday. The Brody File received exclusive access into certain meetings Thune was holding that day. All of that will be part of a feature airing on The 700 Club in a few weeks.
Thune told me, “For any conservative or any Republican to get elected to office, you have to have the support and hopefully the energetic support of people who care passionately about the social issues. So, they’re important. And we shouldn’t trivialize that.”
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Not exactly what Mitch Daniels said but is the CW that opponents will use against him – should he decide to run
- Gov. Daniels recovering after rotator cuff surgery – chicagotribune.com – President 2012: Mitch Daniels recovering after rotator cuff surgery
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 45% Vs. Nameless Republican 45% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 45% Vs. Nameless Republican 45% #tcot #catcot
- links for 2011-02-16 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – links for 2011-02-16 #tcot #catcot
- Video: Chris Christie Addresses the American Enterprise Institute and Lays Out a National Vision | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: Chris Christie Addresses the American Enterprise Institute and Lays Out a National Vision #tcot #catcot
- President 2012: Mitch Daniels recovering after rotator cuff surgery – Gov. Mitch Daniels is recovering at home after surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
The governor’s office says the outpatient surgery Thursday morning at Indiana Orthopedic Hospital Northwest in Indianapolis was successfully performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sandy Kunkel.
Daniels is expected to return to his office at the Statehouse sometime next week.
Spokesman Jacob Oakman says he’s back in charge of the executive branch of Indiana government after temporarily handing those duties to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.
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Get well Governor – Spring Training is just around the corner.
- Mitch Daniels vs. ObamaCare – Reason Magazine – Mitch Daniels vs. ObamaCare
- Mitch Daniels vs. ObamaCare – The problem is politicians haven’t done a very good job of explaining this to the American public. Daniels declines to speculate on whether or not he’ll run for president next year. But if he does, his aim will be to build support for a tough, specific fiscal agenda bolstered by sustainable, affordable health policy. Without that support, he says, there’d be little point in running: “Winning an election without a consensus is not worth very much.”
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Read it all
A perspective from a Republican governor who knows America is in trouble
- Eric Cantor || Majority Leader || Newsroom || Leader Cantor Statement on Resolution of Disapproval of Net Neutrality Regulations – RT @GOPLeader: House Republicans stand together in opposition to the FCC’s unilateral net neutrality regulations
- GOP blasts FCC on net neutrality – Eliza Krigman – POLITICO.com – GOP blasts FCC on net neutrality
- GOP blasts FCC on net neutrality – Republicans took the FCC to task for enacting a net neutrality order without any sound market-based analysis to justify it at a House hearing Wednesday.
“The FCC has done nothing to specifically quantify any harm requiring intervention, or the potential harm to consumers, innovation or the economy from the proposed rules,” Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said during his opening remarks.
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What Obama cannot do legilsatively he is attempting an end-around with executive regulations.
I don’t think the Congress is going to let this stand.
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Poll Watch: Americans Frequent Exercise Increases Slightly in 2010 – Poll Watch: Americans Frequent Exercise Increases Slightly in 2010
- Untitled (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t05.htm) – Union Affiliation of Employed Wage and Salary Workers By State – CA 17.5% NY 24.2% NC 3.2% – USBLS = 2010 #’s sorry
- Mark Levin on Ann Coulter and Chris Christie – When will my dear friend Ann start to address the substantive problems with Christie’s actual positions or are we going to get another year of “only Christie can win” fortune cookie logic?
Does she support his positions on: gun control, amnesty, the appointment of an Islamist to the bench, the green agenda, his campaigning for Mike Castle, his MIA on health care litigation, etc.; and how does she think this would energize the base outside of New Jersey? Has the Tea Party even in NJ been pushing for his candidacy? No. Yes, he’s solid in his YouTube battles with teachers and his efforts to try and address NJ’s budget problems, the outcome of which have yet to be determined. But the federal government is a vast enterprise that requires a solid conservative at the helm, especially now.
Oh, and Ann, I backed Fred Thompson. He lost. I reluctantly wound up voting for McCain like millions of my fellow conservatives. Who did you back?
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Mark Levin has a point.
- AEI Livestream
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The American, A Magazine of Ideas – NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s speech to AEI will be live streamed here: #tcot – starting in a few minutes - President 2012 Poll Watch: Is President Obama Vulnerable? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Is President Obama Vulnerable? #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Oral Bisphosphonates Associated with a SLIGHTLY Elevated Risk of Developing Osteonecrosis of the Jaw? – Oral Bisphosphonates Associated with a SLIGHTLY Elevated Risk of Developing Osteonecrosis of the Jaw?
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Job Approval 48% Vs. 41% Disapproval | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Job Approval 48% Vs. 41% Disapproval #tcot #catcot
- Brendan Nyhan: Early Primary/Straw Polls Don’t Matter – President 2012: Early Primary/Straw Polls Don’t Matter – CPAC in particular
- What Early Polls on Presidential Candidates Tell Us – NYTimes.com – What Early Polls on Presidential Candidates Tell Us – A GOP Warning
- TAPPED Archive – President 2012: Early Polling Doesn’t Matter
- President 2012: The GOP Primary Calendar – So Far | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: The GOP Primary Calendar – So Far #tcot #catcot
- FDR’s Ghost Is Smiling on Wisconsin’s Governor – Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin’s governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.
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Stand with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – Sign the Petition
Stand with Scott Walker.Read the petition:
Help send the following message to the Wisconsin Senate and to Governor Scott Walker:
Union dues should be voluntary, and the state should not be in the business of collecting them. Union certification should require a secret ballot. Collective bargaining should not be used to force extravagant pension and health benefits that cripple state budgets.
These common-sense reforms have made the union bosses desperate to disrupt Wisconsin government and overturn an election. They must not be allowed to succeed. In fact, every state should adopt Governor Scott Walker’s common sense reforms.
Go here and sign the petition.
Then share this with your friends and colleagues.