• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 16th on 20:49

    March 16, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 16th from 20:49 to 20:55:

    • C.I.A. Security Officer Is Freed in Pakistan as Redress Is Paid – A C.I.A. security officer jailed for killing two Pakistanis on a crowded Lahore street was released Wednesday after weeks of secret negotiations between American and Pakistani officials, a pledge of millions of dollars in “blood money” to the victims’ families, and quiet political pressure by Pakistani officials on the courts.

      The fatal shootings by Raymond A. Davis, who was immediately flown out of the country to Kabul, Afghanistan, had ignited a furor here and brought relations between the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s spy service to perhaps their lowest ebb since the Sept. 11 attacks.

      Mr. Davis’s release appears to have temporarily cooled frictions between the two wary allies, but it left unresolved many of the irritants that strained ties in the first place. American officials insisted on Wednesday that the C.I.A. made no pledges to scale back covert operations in Pakistan or to give the Pakistani government or its intelligence agency a roster of American spies operating in the country — assertions that Pakistani officials disputed.

      ======

      Davis or whatever his name is should have been flown out of Pakistan weeks ago.

    • There’s More to Birthright Citizenship Than You Think – The debate over birthright citizenship has focused on children born here to illegal aliens. Admittedly, this is a big deal, with more than 300,000 births a year to illegal-immigrants mothers, though I’m on record as skeptical that changing our citizenship rules should be a high-priority objective for immigration hawks.

      But there’s a whole other part of the problem — children born here to legal, but temporary, visitors. Not green card holders, who as permanent residents are best seen as candidate-members of the American people and whose children should definitely be citizens at birth. The issue, rather, is about “non-immigrants,” foreigners here temporarily as tourists, students, workers, whatever. In this regard, the issue of birth tourism has gotten attention lately, as has the citizenship status of terrorists like Anwar al-Awlaki and Yaser Esam Hamdi, both born in the U.S. to visitors but raised entirely abroad, who’ve tried to use their nominal citizenship to protect themselves from justice.

      ======

      First, E-Verify and then secure the border.

      Civil rights organizations go wild over this issue of birthright citizenship and frankly is too difficult to change with a Constitutional amendment.

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitt Romney,  Newt Gingrich,  Polling,  President 2012,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 MO GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 29% Gingrich 19% Palin 14% Romney 13%

    March 16, 2011 /

    According to the latest PPP Poll.

    Favorable Vs. Unfavorable:

    • Mike Huckabee – 73% Vs. 12%
    • Newt Gingrich – 53% Vs. 24%
    • Sarah Palin – 63% Vs. 27%
    • Mitt Romney – 47% Vs. 32%

    Head to Head:

    • Mike Huckabee – 29%
    • Newt Gingrich – 19%
    • Sarah Palin – 14%
    • Mitt Romney – 13%

    So, what does it all mean?

    • Mike Huckabee continues to perform well and has been leading most of the polls lately. But, will Huck run?
    • Sarah Palin again is plummeting downward in the polls, even with GOP voters
    • Mitt Romney is the “Biggest Loser” here and it is questionable whether he can win the nomination unless he improves.

    One thing these numbers do reinforce is the recent ABC/Washington Post poll that showed Palin’s numbers plummeting even with Republican voters. When we polled Missouri in December Palin was at 25%, so her 14% now represents an 11 point drop in her standing over the last three months. Also while the other GOP frontrunners have seen modest drops in their net favorability since our previous Missouri Republican poll- 5 points for Romney, 3 for Gingrich, and 2 for Huckabee- Palin has seen a much more dramatic 16 point decline from +52 in December at 72/20 to now +36 at 63/27. There’s no doubt that the already limited interest in a Presidential bid from her that Republican voters had is declining even further.

    The other thing that’s striking in these numbers is how weak Romney is. In 2008 Huckabee got 32% here and his current 29% standing doesn’t represent much difference. But Romney pulled 29% here last time around and his 13% now means he’s lost more than half of his support. His albatross here, as we’re seeing in more and more of our GOP polling, is voters describing themselves as ‘very conservative.’ They’re the largest segment of the Republican electorate in Missouri at 41%, and only 10% of them want Romney as their candidate next year.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 16th on 12:27

    March 16, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 16th from 12:27 to 15:28:

    • ObamaCare A Year Later: The $2.6 Trillion Birthday Present – enator John Ensign today examined the impact of the $2.6 trillion health law during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified on the effectiveness of the law while Senator Ensign questioned its cost to taxpayers and its many unintended consequences.
       
      “Birthdays are cause for celebration, but the anniversary of $2.6 trillion worth of bad policy is hardly something to applaud,” said Ensign.  “This law fails to address the number one problem facing health care and that’s cost.  Unfortunately, this law does accomplish three things: higher healthcare costs, higher taxes and fewer jobs.
       
      “I traveled across our state to speak with Nevadans before this law was voted on and after it passed, and let me tell you, the support behind this law is not there, but the frustration is. Nevada employers are already being forced to choose between hiring employees and paying the higher healthcare premiums for the ones that they do have.  Steve Wynn told me today that between 2005 and 2010, his company’s premiums went up about 8% per year, but this year alone the premiums are up 12%.  This is an almost 50% increase in the rate of growth and amounts to about $900 per year per employee; how do we repair Nevada’s economy when our employers cannot afford to provide healthcare coverage?  We can and need to do better than this.” 

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      ObamaCare is something America cannot afford

    • Barack Obama’s lack of leadership — Obama the Invisible – the world's most despicable regimes.

      So where is the president?

      Japan may be on the verge of a disaster that dwarfs any we have yet seen. A self-governing nation like the United States needs its leader to take full measure of his position at times of crises when the path forward is no longer clear.

      This is not a time for leadership; this is the time for leadership.

      So where is Barack Obama?

      The moment demands that he rise to the challenge of showing America and the world that he is taking the reins. How leaders act in times of unanticipated crisis, in which they do not have a formulated game plan and must instead navigate in treacherous waters, defines them.

      Obama is defining himself in a way that will destroy him.

      It is not merely that he isn't rising to the challenge. He is avoiding the challenge. He is Bartleby the President. He would prefer not to.

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      Read it all

      Obama is voting present just like he did in the Illinois Legislature or you could say he is phoning it in.

    • Hillary’s End: Hillary Clinton says no to second term – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer she does not want to serve a second term as secretary of state or run for president of the United States.
      Blitzer sat down with the former 2008 presidential candidate in Cairo.
      Full transcript:

      Q- If the president is reelected, do you want to serve a second term as secretary of state?
      No
      Q- Would you like to serve as secretary of defense?
      No
      Q- Would you like to be vice president of the United States?
      No
      Q- Would you like to be president of the United States?
      No

      =======

      Hillary is moving on and I think she has her priorities straight

  • Dentistry,  Dr. Tommy Murph,  The Daily Extraction

    The Daily Extraction: Lower Decayed Molar With A Complication – A Broken Instrument

    March 16, 2011 /

    Dr. Tommy Murph extracts tooth #31 and has a complication – a broken elevator

    Dr. Murph is able to elevate this molar pretty quickly but the tip of his 301 elevator fractures off. He finishes the extraction with the #23 forcep and then goes after the broken instrument tip with a magnetized instrument.

    Here is the pre-operative photo of the tooth:

    And, the pre-operative radiograph (x-ray):

    Here are the magnetized instruments in Dr. Murph’s armamentarium:

    Plus, the instrument he uses to magnetize them:

    It is important for all exodontists to have either magnetized instruments or a magnetizer on hand in case an instrument or surgical bur should break. As you can see in the video above, it can be very difficult to visualize the instrument tip in a field of blood.

    Enjoy your Daily Extraction.

    Dr. Murph is a South Carolina dentist who practices general dentistry who really excels in extracting teeth. For patients in the Myrtle Beach area, I can heartily recommend Tommy as YOUR dentist.

    For dentists, Dr. Murph has a number of resources for you in extracting teeth, including one on one courses in his office.

    Dr. Murph’s website is here and his extraction manuals are here on e-Bay.

    Previous:

    The Daily Extraction Archive

  • Ann Wagner,  Claire McCaskill,  Ed Martin,  Sarah Steelman,  Todd Akin,  U.S. Senate 2012

    MO-Sen GOP Poll Watch: Steelman 31% Akin 24% Martin 9% Wagner 2%

    March 16, 2011 /

    Sen. Claire McCaskill (top), D-Mo., faces challenges from Republicans (bottom, from left) Ann Wagner, Ed Martin and Sarah Steelman

    According to the lastest PPP Poll.

    Sarah Steelman is the early top choice of Missouri Republicans to be their candidate for the Senate next year, although with most of the candidates including herself largely unknown at this point there is plenty of time for that to change.

    The Poll:

    • Sarah Steelman – 31%
    • Todd Akin – 24%
    • Ed Martin – 9%
    • Ann Wagner – 2%

    Without GOP Rep. Todd Akin in the race:

    • Sarah Steelman – 37%
    • Todd Martin – 18%
    • Ann Wagner – 11%

    But, most Missouri voters don’t really know about these candidates, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.

    We’re not seeing any big ideological fissures yet in these numbers. Steelman leads Akin by 14 points with moderates but she also has a 13 point advantage with those voters describing themselves as ‘very conservative.’ Her lead is narrower with ‘somewhat conservative’ voters who give her only a one point edge on Akin. It’s a similar story when Akin’s out- then Steelman’s up 26 points on Martin with the ‘very conservative’ wing and 24 points with the moderates, but only 9 points with folks who call themselves ‘somewhat conservative.’ For whatever reason she’s doing better with moderates and the far right than the center right.

    It’s too early to make a whole lot of these numbers though given that 56% of voters don’t know enough about Steelman to have formed an opinion and that just rises to 61% for Akin, 75% for Martin, and 81% for Wagner.

    The full poll is here (PDF).

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  Newt Gingrich,  Polling,  President 2012,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 Poll Watch: Voters Tepid on Obama But Favor Him Over GOP Field

    March 16, 2011 /

    According to the latest PPP Poll.

    Barack Obama’s looking somewhat weak in our national polling. The good news for him is that his prospective Republican opponents look even weaker, and that’s allowing him to maintain healthy leads in head to head match ups against each of them looking toward next year.

    Favorable Vs. Unfavorable:

    • Obama – 47% Vs. 47%
    • Huckabee – 35% Vs. 42%
    • Romney – 32% Vs. 44%
    • Palin – 35% Vs. 57%
    • Gingrich – 26% Vs. 57%

    Head to Head:

    • Obama – 48% Vs. Huckabee – 43%
    • Obama – 47% vs. Romney – 42%
    • Obama – 50% Vs. Gingrich – 39%
    • Obama – 53% Vs. Palin – 38%
    • Obama – 47% Vs. Pawlenty – 33%

    With Romney and Huckabee (do NO harm candidates) the GOP could possibly do better than McCain-Palin in 2008 but would likely lose. Gingrich, Palin and Pawlenty are really non-starters.

    So, the GOP has a choice – develop new candidates like Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels or concentrate on winning the Senate and maintaining their majority in the House.

    The entire poll is here (PDF).

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 16th on 09:36

    March 16, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 16th from 09:36 to 09:56:

    • President 2012: 5 reasons why Mitch Daniels should run for president – For months now, as Gov. Mitch Daniels has taken up residency on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal and collected gobs of frequent-flyer miles during his many visits to D.C., Indiana political observers have debated at length the question of whether he will run for president in 2012.

      But here's a better question: Should he run for president?

      Today, less than a year before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, let's discuss the five most compelling reasons for Daniels to make a run for the White House. (On Friday, we'll discuss the five reasons he should not.)

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      Read it all

    • Mitch Daniels worse than Romney on health care? – So much for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels being the last, best hope for fiscal conservatives in 2012.

      Daniels was my choice for the 2012 Republican nomination until I heard an interview RealClearPolitics.com dug up from his days as political director for the Reagan White House. Imagine the individual mandate morphed with the public option, and that's what Daniels supported in 1987.

      When Robert Novak, famed journalist and cohost of "Evans and Novak" on CNN, asked Daniels if federal health insurance for catastrophic illnesses should be a GOP agenda item, he replied, "I sure do, and I'm glad you asked."

      If Gov. Mitt Romney should lose his credentials as a fiscal conservative for instituting an individual mandate and an insurance program to cover the poor in Massachusetts, Daniels ought to lose his credentials for trying to nationalize health insurance.

      Short stature and a receding hairline aren't Daniels' only obstacles to the nomination. He must explain how someone who supports free-market economics could ever be in favor of socialized insurance.

      For a guy who, in March 2010, criticized Obamacare in the Wall Street Journal by saying, "We better start adjusting to our new status as good Europeans," his stance in 1987 sounds pretty European.

      But maybe, like Romney on many issues, Daniels has had a change of heart on health care. In his piece for the Journal, he advocates for a host of conservative reforms that "[s]hift to a system that allows individuals – not businesses – to buy health insurance tax free."

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      Read it all.

      Mitch Daniels is slow out of the gate and appears not to be gearing up for a Presidential run anyway.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 16th on 08:02

    March 16, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 16th from 08:02 to 08:29: