• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 17:47

    These are my links for April 5th from 17:47 to 18:59:

    • TODAY’S TMJ4 Election – Wisconsin election results are here: #tcot #catcot #teaparty
    • Exposing the Planned Parenthood business model – The Hill’s Congress Blog – Exposing the Planned Parenthood business model
    • Exposing the Planned Parenthood business model – Myths about Planned Parenthood are spreading like grassfire. Thanks to a perfect storm of events, the abortion provider is scrambling to cauterize the biggest PR hit it has ever sustained. November’s election of an overwhelmingly pro-life Congress, revelation of numerous violations by its staff and repeated calls for its defunding by social and fiscal conservatives alike have put Planned Parenthood’s lifeblood on the line.

      Planned Parenthood’s bottom line is numbers. And, with abortion as its primary money-maker, that means implementing a quota. I know this is true because I worked at one of their Texas clinics for 8 years, two as the clinic director.

      Though 98 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services to pregnant women are abortion, Planned Parenthood and its political allies have sworn up and down that taxpayer dollars do not to pay for abortion. But of course they do. Planned Parenthood gets one-third of its entire budget from taxpayer funding and performed more than 650,000 abortions between 2008 and 2009. An abortion is expensive. Its cost includes pay for the doctor, supporting medical staff, their health benefits packages and malpractice insurance. As clinic director, I saw how money affiliate clinics receive from several sources is combined into one pot, not set aside for specific services.

      Planned Parenthood’s claim that abortions make up just 3 percent of its services is also a gimmick. That number is actually closer to 12 percent, but strategically skewed by unbundling family planning services so that each patient shows anywhere from five to 20 “visits” per appointment (i.e., 12 packs of birth control equals 12 visits) and doing the opposite with abortion visits, bundling them together so that each appointment equals one visit. The resulting difference between family planning and abortion “visits” is striking.

      But that’s not the only deception Planned Parenthood is spreading.

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      Read it all

  • Dentistry

    Video: Kerr Corporation Launches SonicFill Dental Composite

    Dr. Ron Jackson demonstrates the new SonicFill material

    Kerr Corporation has introduced a new easy to use dental restorative composite resin, SonicFill.

    From the press release:

    Kerr Corporation, a leading manufacturer of technology for dental procedures has announced the launch of SonicFill, a first-of-its-kind, time-saving composite system that enables clinicians to perform posterior restorations with an easy-to-use, single-step, bulk fill technology that requires no additional composite capping layer.  Dentists utilizing SonicFill can go from placement to polished in less than 3 minutes on cavities up to 5mm.

    Kerr’s proprietary sonic activation within SonicFill’s delivery system dramatically lowers the viscosity of the composite during placement, providing superior adaptation. The SonicFill composite then immediately returns to a non-slumping, highly sculptable state that is easy to carve without being sticky.  Outstanding mechanical properties, including superior strength, low shrinkage and high depth of cure, allow it to be placed in bulk increments up to 5mm so that dentists can use it with confidence in posterior restorations.

    “We finally have a practical, efficient technique for placing posterior composites in one single, esthetic, bulk fill increment,” said Ron Jackson, DDS of Middleburg, VA. “SonicFill is a game changer.”

    “It’s truly rewarding to be able to offer the SonicFill system to the dental community because it is such a decidedly different and unique composite system that can dramatically save clinicians time,” said James Lobsenz, Kerr’s Product Manager. “And not only is SonicFill a tremendous time-saver, it has also proven, in a variety of third party clinical studies, to meet or exceed performance criteria when compared with either bulk fill flowables or traditional composites placed in layers.  The initial feedback we’re receiving from the clinician community is extremely enthusiastic – we are excited to be making the system available and feel SonicFill will change the way composites are done and ultimately the way clinicians do dentistry”.

    I haven’t used the material yet, but I look forward to doing so.

    One of the main time consuming elements in posterior composite restorations is the tedious layering that must be accomplished because of slumping of the bulk-fill material.

    Watching the video, one would have to agree at the ease of use of this material and the time saving.

    Here is a longer video that more extensively describes the system with the sonic nature of the handpiece delivery system.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 12:05

    These are my links for April 5th from 12:05 to 13:47:

    • Mitch Daniels on Paul Ryan Budget: ‘First Serious Proposal Produced by Either Party’ – Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, who referred to the growing national debt as our generation’s “red threat” during his February CPAC speech, has issued this statement in response to Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget:

      The House budget resolution is the first serious proposal produced by either party to deal with the overriding issue of our time. The national debt we are amassing threatens the livelihood and the liberty of every single American, and in particular the life prospects of our young people.

      Anyone criticizing this plan without offering a specific and equally bold program of his own has failed in the public duty to be honest and clear with Americans about the gravest danger we are facing together.

    • San Francisco supes to vote on Twitter tax break – A tax break to keep Twitter from fleeing San Francisco is coming up for a vote by city lawmakers as part of a package to revive a blighted neighborhood.

      The vote by the Board of Supervisors expected Tuesday afternoon would exempt the microblogging service from paying the city's payroll tax on new hires.

      The tax break would apply to any business in the crime-plagued neighborhood.

      Twitter is fast on its way to outgrowing its current San Francisco headquarters. The company said it would commit to moving into the city's Mid-Market neighborhood if it got the break, which would also exempt stock options from the tax.

      Critics, including the city's largest employees union, have called the plan backed by Mayor Ed Lee an ill-conceived corporate giveaway.

      =======

      Good luck with this San Francisco.

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

    President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Mike Huckabee is Strongest as President Obama Announces

    According to the latest Gallup Poll.

    With President Obama officially announcing his candidacy for re-election on Monday, the question of whom he will run against becomes even more relevant. Three possible Republican candidates — Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich — are currently best situated among Republicans nationwide in terms of name recognition and Gallup Positive Intensity Scores. Sarah Palin and Ron Paul are also well known, but generate lower net enthusiasm from those who know them. Of the less well-known potential GOP candidates, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Tim Pawlenty have the highest Positive Intensity Scores.

    Here is the positive intensity score chart.

    And, the name recognition chart.

    So, what does all mean?

    Gallup’s ongoing tracking shows that former Arkansas Gov. and current Fox News commentator Huckabee is the GOP leader at this point, based on his high name recognition and advantage in Positive Intensity. Huckabee also leads when Gallup asks Republicans whom they would support for the nomination. It remains unclear, however, whether Huckabee will end up running for his party’s nomination.

    Gingrich and Romney are clearly in second place behind Huckabee, based on their name identification and Positive Intensity Scores. However, neither man generates levels of support from Republicans that are as high as Huckabee’s, and neither has been able to change his status much over the last month. Gingrich has been more public about his intention to run for president, while Romney has maintained a somewhat lower national profile, even while traveling extensively to early primary and caucus states.

    As is the case for Huckabee, Palin’s intentions about running for president next year are unknown. By virtue of her inclusion on the national GOP ticket in 2008 and her ongoing television exposure, she is almost universally known among Republicans nationwide. But Palin’s positioning in the minds of Republicans who do know her is weaker than that of other potential candidates: 23% of those who recognize her have a strongly favorable opinion, compared with 7% who are strongly unfavorable.

    The potential for other less well-known Republicans to increase their name recognition and become serious contenders for their party’s nomination is the interesting question going forward. The data clearly show that Bachmann and Cain have a reaction-generating edge among those who know them, which in theory puts them in a position to make an impact if they can become better known. Pawlenty, who appears to be making a serious run at the presidency, is known by about 4 out of 10 Republicans and has a Positive Intensity Score slightly below Cain’s and Bachmann’s. Other, less well-known candidates such as Mississippi Gov. Barbour, Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, and Daniels currently do not generate high positive emotions from those who know them, something that would need to change if they are to contend for the nomination.

    The GOP Presidential race is wide-open is what these polls really say.

    Mike Huckabee should he choose to run and there has been little indication that he would, would be in the best position with Romney and Gingrich trailing – with little enthusiasm. Sarah Palin, who has been AWOL from Presidential speculation lately is behind the three.

    My guess is that a candidate who is not registering on the radar, like Mitch Daniels, Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie may indeed join the race and the perceived vacuum of GOP candidates.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 09:33

    These are my links for April 5th from 09:33 to 11:59:

    • ObamaCare: Senate Nixes 1099 Requirement, Obama’s Signature Is Next – Following the lead of the House, the Senate today voted 87 to 12 to eliminate an onerous tax-reporting duty in the new healthcare reform law.

      The repeal measure now goes to President Barack Obama, who has signaled that he will sign it.

      The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires all businesses, beginning in 2012, to file federal tax form 1099 if they buy $600 or more worth of goods or services in a given year from any vendor. Similar to Congress, Obama has decried the paperwork requirement as too burdensome. In the past, however, the president and Congress have wrangled about how to make up the roughly $20 billion in revenue that the government will lose if the 1099 provision is repealed.

      Before passage of the ACA in early 2010, businesses needed to file a 1099 with the Internal Revenue Service only for services provided by unincorporated vendors, such as sole proprietors. The ACA expands that reporting duty to include goods as well as services, and all vendors, including incorporated ones. Congressional Democrats added this provision to the ACA to help pay for healthcare reform, thinking that it would identify previously unreported and untaxed vendor revenue.

      The business community, as well as organized medicine, has vehemently objected to the new requirement, saying it will it cost them too much in time and money. A medical practice, for example, would need to file a 1099 for a $600 printer that it bought from Office Depot.

    • Proposed GOP 2012 Budget Turns Medicare Into Subsidy Program – House Republicans today unveiled an ambitiously frugal budget for fiscal 2012 that they say will save the Medicare program in part by eventually giving beneficiaries subsidies to purchase private health plans.

      The GOP budget, released by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee, would attempt to save Medicaid as well by turning it into a simple block-grant program. More Medicaid and Medicare savings would be achieved by capping noneconomic (pain and suffering) damages in medical malpractice cases — a tort reform designed to reduce the number frivolous lawsuits and jackpot jury awards.

      The proposal also addresses the 29.5% cut in Medicare reimbursement for physicians next year by instituting an unspecified 10-year "fix" of the payment formula. The cost of that fix must not add to the federal deficit, however.

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      Read it all

    • Untitled (http://twitter.com/flap) – @Steph4Gngrch12 Not my name or my city. Check my twitter profile.
    • President 2012 Video: GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama Campaign Launch | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Video: GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama Campaign Launch #tcot #catcot
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 08:04 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 08:04 #tcot #catcot
    • Paul Ryan: The GOP Path to Prosperity – WSJ.com – Paul Ryan: The GOP Path to Prosperity
    • The Ryan Plan Doesn’t Privatize Medicare – By Veronique de Rugy – The Corner – National Review Online – The Ryan Plan Doesn’t Privatize Medicare
  • Barack Obama,  GOP,  President 2012,  Tim Pawlenty

    President 2012 Video: GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama Campaign Launch

    Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Response to Obama Campaign Announcement. April 4, 2011

    Quite a difference from the 2008 campaign.

    If the Republicans’ response to President Barack Obama’s campaign launch Monday is any indication, social media will play a major role in the 2012 election.

    Shortly after Obama’s first video for the campaign went up, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and potential GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential race, released a YouTube retort. The video (below), which has the urgent music of an action film, features Pawlenty responding to an Obama sound bite, by asking, “How can America win the future when we’re losing the present?” Pawlenty concludes, “In order for America to take a new direction, it’s going to take a new president.”

    Since its release Monday, the video has gotten about 53,000 views, compared with 168,000 for Obama’s. Pawlenty also released the video on his Facebook Page, which has 81,000 fans. Obama has close to 19 million Facebook fans.

    Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, the GOP has made great strides in technological aided communication since the 2008 campaign. This was evident in the 2010 midterm elections and will be expanded during the coming election cycle.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 08:04

    These are my links for April 5th from 08:04 to 09:24:

    • Paul Ryan: The GOP Path to Prosperity – Congress is currently embroiled in a funding fight over how much to spend on less than one-fifth of the federal budget for the next six months. Whether we cut $33 billion or $61 billion—that is, whether we shave 2% or 4% off of this year's deficit—is important. It's a sign that the election did in fact change the debate in Washington from how much we should spend to how much spending we should cut.

      But this morning the new House Republican majority will introduce a budget that moves the debate from billions in spending cuts to trillions. America is facing a defining moment. The threat posed by our monumental debt will damage our country in profound ways, unless we act.

      No one person or party is responsible for the looming crisis. Yet the facts are clear: Since President Obama took office, our problems have gotten worse. Major spending increases have failed to deliver promised jobs. The safety net for the poor is coming apart at the seams. Government health and retirement programs are growing at unsustainable rates. The new health-care law is a fiscal train wreck. And a complex, inefficient tax code is holding back American families and businesses.

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      Read it all

    • The Ryan Plan Doesn’t Privatize Medicare – This morning at 6:15 a.m., I was driving to Union Station to catch a train to New York when I heard an NPR analyst describe Chairman Ryan’s budget plan as effectively a reform to privatize Medicare. It’s not. Privatization of Medicare would mean government getting out of the business of providing health care. In this case, Medicare is saved and the government continues to contribute large amounts of money towards seniors’ health-care premiums by paying a fixed amount of money to the insurance provider. Everyone above 65 will benefit from this premium support.

      This is Ryan in the Wall Street Journal today:

      Starting in 2022, new Medicare beneficiaries will be enrolled in the same kind of health-care program that members of Congress enjoy. Future Medicare recipients will be able to choose a plan that works best for them from a list of guaranteed coverage options. This is not a voucher program but rather a premium-support model. A Medicare premium-support payment would be paid, by Medicare, to the plan chosen by the beneficiary, subsidizing its cost.

      In addition, Medicare will provide increased assistance for lower- income beneficiaries and those with greater health risks. Reform that empowers individuals—with more help for the poor and the sick—will guarantee that Medicare can fulfill the promise of health security for America’s seniors.

      That’s not privatization. In fact, while this reform is a great start, the plan continues the Washington tradition of extending open-ended promises on Medicare without paying for them (even though the cost is much lower). Also, this may be nitpicking on my part, but under this plan consumers will still be bound to a list of guaranteed coverage options chosen by the government.

    • California Governor’s Jerry Brown’s pension plan is nothing but fluff – The timing of Gov. Jerry Brown's "12-point pension reform plan" last week was no accident.

      The plan was released on Thursday, a couple of days after his negotiations with Republicans on a state budget deal collapsed. The latter contended that Brown had balked at their demands for public pension reforms because of opposition from unions that helped him win the governorship last year.

      Thus, the plan's release was aimed at giving Brown political cover, implicitly demonstrating that he's tough-minded on pensions and not beholden to the unions. But while a 12-point plan sounds impressive – especially coming from a politician who historically has sneered at multipoint policy plans – there's less there than meets the eye.

      The political debate over public pensions has been conducted on two levels, the largely superficial and the meaningful.

      The superficial aspects – anecdotal accounts of outrageous pension manipulation – have received the most media attention. Meanwhile, the more meaningful issue of whether taxpayers and employees face a ticking time bomb of unfunded liabilities is complex and unsexy, receiving relatively little attention.

      For the most part, Brown's plan deals with the former rather than the latter. It gives the illusion of being tough on pension issues without making truly tough choices.

      ======

      You think?

      Political cover and that is all.

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

    President 2012 New Hampshire GOP Poll Watch: Romney 27% Trump 21% Huckabee 12% Gingrich 12%

    According to the latest PPP Poll.

    Mitt Romney’s still the clear early front runner to take the Republican primary in New Hampshire next year but for the first time in our polling of the race PPP finds someone within single digits of him…Donald Trump.

    If Trump actually run 21% of New Hampshire GOP voters say they’d vote for him, compared to 27% for Romney. The key to Trump’s relatively strong showing? He does well with birthers and Tea Partiers, two groups he has seemed to actively court with his public comments of late. 42% of primary voters firmly say they do not believe Barack Obama was born in the United States to 35% who believe that he was and 23% who aren’t sure. Trump leads Romney 22-21 with the birther crowd, but Romney holds the overall lead because he’s up by a much wider margin with the folks who dismiss the birther theory.

    Trump also leads Romney 23-21 with the Republican primary voters who consider themselves to be Tea Party members but that’s only 30% of the electorate and Romney’s up by a good margin with the folks who don’t identify with that movement.

    If you take Trump out of the picture Romney maintains the customary wide lead he has shown in most polling of the state. On the standard Republican primary question we ask in every state Romney gets 31% to 15% for Mike Huckabee, 13% for Newt Gingrich, 10% for Sarah Palin and Ron Paul, 4% for Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty, and 2% for Haley Barbour.

    Yeah, but don’t get to excited Donald Trump or anti-Romney fans. Mitt still owns New Hampshire and nobody does particularly well there except him.

    I suspect most candidates, when the field becomes more defined, will ignore New Hampshire or try for a second/third place finish before moving on to primary elections that will matter, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida.