• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 14:49

    These are my links for May 19th from 14:49 to 18:54:

    • On Medicare: Newt’s Right? – In the 1980s, the pre-Blair leftist Labor Party issued its campaign manifesto to oppose Thatcher's Conservatives in the coming national election. Its loony, leftist proposals were so extreme that the Tory media promptly dubbed it "the longest suicide note in history." The Republican proposal to shift Medicare from the current system to a voucher-based program of private insurance – in TEN years – falls into the same category. Don't blame Newt Gingrich for saying so. In fact, we have to hope that Romney, Bachmann, Daniels and the other candidates join him in distancing himself from the plan if we have a hope of electing any of them president! Worse, the Ryan budget continues the $500 billion in Medicare cuts which formed the basis of the Republican critique of Pelosi and Obama in the 2010 election. It keeps the money in the Medicare system rather than spending it on other entitlements as Obama did, but that is scant compensation for someone seeking care now to stay alive! (When I first endorsed Ryan's plan in a column and video, I was under the impression – as he had told me – that he would eliminate the $500 billion cut. I must have misunderstood him because his plan keeps that very cut on which we based our entire 2012 campaign. When I found that out, I switched to opposing his plan). Gingrich was entirely correct in denouncing this part of the Ryan Budget. The rest of the document is fine. But Obama has, as we predicted he would, focused all his fire on the Medicare portion and that is what the campaign of 2012 will be about – unless the GOP candidate for president disavows the plan. And the height of lunacy is that the Medicare voucher-based conversion is slated to take effect in a decade! Who can predict how medicine will evolve next week let along a decade hence? To hold the Republican Party's political fortunes hostage to a program that might or might not take effect in a decade is pure insanity. So Gingrich called it what it is – "right wing social engineering." Granted, Paul Ryan has the best of intentions. He wants to keep the Medicare system solvent in the face of escalating costs, but even he concedes that changing Medicare is not necessary over the next nine years to reduce the budget deficit. It is only in 2021, when those who are now 55 turn to Medicare that he would effect his changes. The House should drop the Medicare part of the program, repeal the $500 billion cut that the Republicans vilified in the campaign, and go ahead and implement the rest of the Ryan budget. Newt has acted responsibly and in the best interests of the Party by describing accurately what the stakes are. Don't blame him. Honor him for saying and doing the right thing.

      =====

      I think it was the way Newt said it and now he is backing away.

      The medicare cuts will be a disaster and the GOP Presidential nominee should reject them.

    • Did Daniels Previously Support the Individual Mandate? – By Katrina Trinko – The Primary Event – National Review Online – Did Mitch Daniels Previously Support the Individual Mandate?
  • Craig Huey,  Debra Bowen,  Janice Hahn

    CA-36: Debra Bowen Concedes to Craig Huey in Special Election Congressional Race

    Conservative businessman Craig Huey

    Democrat California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded this afternoon to my long time conservative friend Craig Huey.

    California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded Thursday in the special election race for a vacant Southern California congressional seat, handing a surprising second-place finish to little-known Republican Craig Huey.

    Huey, a wealthy advertising executive who spent $500,000 out of his own pocket, will face Democratic Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn in a July 12 runoff.

    Maybe Craig was little known in Sacramento or D.C. but he has been a strong conservative voice for decades in Los Angeles County, having grown up in El Segundo. He resides in Rolling Hills and his marketing/advertising business is in Torrance.

    An early adopter of conservative social media, Craig used it to power himself into a second place finish against a long-term POL in Debra Bowen.

    Bowen, also a Democrat, finished about 200 votes behind Huey in Tuesday’s primary but was waiting on around 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots that had yet to be counted. On Thursday afternoon, as election officials sorted through the remaining votes, Huey’s lead grew to 750 ballots.

    “Since Tuesday’s election, my staff, legal advisers and election experts participated in the ballot review process to ensure a full and fair vote count was conducted. It is clear now that I will not be in the runoff and I congratulate Janice Hahn and Craig Huey,” Bowen said in a statement. A recount would have put Bowen, the state’s top election official, in an awkward predicament.

    Here are the election results as of late this afternoon:

    So, on to the general election on July 12th!

    As I said before, this Congressional District will be redrawen in June of this year by the California Redistricting Commission because of the census. So, win or lose in July, Huey will be a force in South Bay politics for a long time to come.

    Interesting and something that Huey WILL exploit is that Debra Bowen did NOT endorse fellow Democrat LA Councilwoman Janice Hahn in the July run-off election.

    Bowen did not endorse Hahn in her Thursday evening concession, citing a “strict policy of not endorsing candidates to avoid even a perception of conflict.”

    “Voters in the Congressional District 36 have a very important decision to make on July 12, and I encourage citizens to have their voices heard by voting in the runoff,” she said.

    And the game is on.

    But Huey will face an uphill task in a Democratic-leaning district that heavily favored Barack Obama in the last presidential election.

    Democrats already appeared confident. Just minutes after Bowen’s concession, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that House Democrats “look forward to welcoming Councilwoman Hahn to Congress.”

    “California’s 36th District is staunchly Democratic. President Obama, Governor Brown, Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and Congresswoman Harman each carried this district by significant margins,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement. “We are confident that Janice Hahn will succeed Congresswoman Harman and in Janice California’s 36th District will have an outstanding advocate in Congress.”

    Craig will have have the support of the national conservative movement and the entire Republican Congressional Delegation. Moreover, he will be able to conjur up California and the National Tea Party organizations.

    Watch for a brutal and hard fought campaign.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 14:11

    These are my links for May 19th from 14:11 to 14:16:

    • Did Mitch Daniels Previously Support the Individual Mandate? – The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein highlighted today a passage from a 2003 news story which indicated that Mitch Daniels supported an individual health care mandate at the time. From the South Bend Tribune:

      The candidate [Mitch Daniels] said he favors a universal health care system that would move away from employee-based health policies and make it mandatory for all Americans to have health insurance.

      Daniels envisioned one scenario in which residents could certify their coverage when paying income taxes and receive a tax exemption that would cover the cost.

      “We really have to have universal coverage,” Daniels said.

      Under his plan, Daniels said, the nation could get away from the inefficient and unfair way in which health care is provided to those who are uninsured, many of whom end up in emergency rooms or “at clinics like this one.”

      Jane Jankowski, a spokeswoman for Daniels, said that the governor does not support an individual mandate.

       “Governor Daniels favors giving every American a tax credit individually so they can purchase insurance that is right for them,” Jankowski told National Review Online. “He believes nearly all would use it, so coverage would be nearly universal. He does not support a mandate.”

      Jankowski added that opposition to an individual mandate “has always has been the governor’s position.”

      ======

      Read it all….

      I believe the answer is no…

    • Mitch Daniels’ Office On Health Care Reform: The Governor Is ‘Against The Mandate’ – Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel's office is downplaying, if not fully disregarding, a 2003 story that claims he favored requiring all Americans to purchase health service as a means of achieving universal coverage.

      "Governor Daniels is against a mandate," his spokesperson, Jane Jankowski, emailed the Huffington Post on Thursday afternoon."He favors giving every American a tax credit individually so they can purchase insurance that is right for them. He believes nearly all would use it, so coverage would be nearly universal."

      Jankowski's comments come hours after the Huffington Post highlighted a clip from Daniels' 2004 gubernatorial run that stated he supported the same type of compulsory insurance that Republicans have deemed an unconstitutional component of President Obama's health care law.

      The video provides yet another clear indication that a principle once popular in conservative circles — the individual mandate — has now become poisonous.

      Daniels has pursued other, less noteworthy policies similar to Obama's approach to health care law, including a tax on cigarettes as a means of generating revenue for health care coverage elsewhere and the expansion of Medicaid to individuals well above the poverty level.

      As for the broader components of reform, Jankowski sent over an excerpt from an interview Daniels gave to radio talk show host Michael Smerconish on Thursday:

      =====

      Read it all

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 10:50

    These are my links for May 19th from 10:50 to 12:53:

    • Mitch Daniels: Israeli-Palestinian conflict not central in Arab Spring – Mitch Daniels made a rare foray into foreign policy Thursday, arguing that the current climate in the Arab world has "little or nothing to do" with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

      Daniels, who is close to deciding on a White House campaign and recently said he's "probably not" ready to debate President Barack Obama on foreign policy, made the comments on Michael Smerconish's radio show, the same day that Obama gave a major address on Middle East policy.

      Continue Reading
      Asked what approach he'd bring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Daniels said: “I think that the — this may sound funny — but, the Arab-Israeli dispute, which has gone on for generations now and may go on for future generations, is not nearly so central to the events in that part of the world as sometime we treat is as.

      "I’m not saying it’s not worth continuing to work on," the Indiana governor added, "but what is going on in the Arab world these days has little or nothing to do with Israel or Palestine, it has to do with tyrannical regimes which have really stifled prospects for their people who are now restless for a better life. I think that should be encouraged. I think that tyrants who suppressing this human urge to greater freedom and prosperity ought to be sanctioned at a minimum. … I don’t think right now it pays very much of a dividend to try to cut the Gordian Knot of Israel and Palestine."

    • President 2012: Revving His Engines? Mitch Daniels Jump-Starts His Fundraising – While he has been publicly noncommittal about running for president next year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has quietly reignited his fundraising machine.

      Beginning late last year, the two-term Republican flipped the switch on a long-dormant political committee, Aiming Higher, that is qualified to accept donations in unlimited amounts. Since late last year, he has raked in more than $675,000 in contributions from individuals and organizations across the country, including $250,000 from the American Federation for Children, a group that promotes school vouchers. Meanwhile, Daniels's better-known political fundraising arm, the Aiming Higher PAC, raised $2.2 million last year, when the term-limited Daniels was not on the ballot.

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      Read it all…..

      Daniels is gearing up

    • The Colbert Super-PAC – Colbert is right on target with his satire.  Free speech is such a headache when everyone gets to participate!  Especially evil corporations, which spend huge amounts of money to manipulate politics for their own interests… in sharp contrast to noble left-wing organizations, which spend huge amounts of money to manipulate politics for the good of all mankind. 

      What chance does an innocent mind have against that ocean of corporate political cash?  How can we tolerate such distractions from the vital messages conveyed by important left-wing campaigns filled with millionaire celebrities?  The messages built directly into the popular entertainment that spills from millions of theater screens, television sets, magazine pages, and music downloads are not enough to raise public awareness to the level of true enlightenment. 

      We should absolutely have draconian laws to prohibit corporations from influencing public opinion.  Except for media corporations.  They should be the only corporations allowed to have any influence, and theirs should be unlimited.  Why not?  They don’t have agendas or anything. 

      Well, most of them don’t.  There are just too darned many media corporations influencing opinion these days.  You’ve got sinister operations like Fox, and then you’ve got virtuous White House-approved truth tellers, like Comedy Central and al-Jazeera.  Fox routinely crushes its competition in the ratings, so its influence is obviously an unfair and dangerous exercise of evil corporate power.  Look at how many helpless viewers wander into their clutches, night after night, to be exposed to all those dangerous ideas!

      =====

      Read it all….

      ZING….

  • Craig Huey,  Debra Bowen,  Janice Hahn

    CA-36 Update 2 : Craig Huey Upsets Democrat Debra Bowen and Faces Janice Hahn in Run Off in July – Results Friday

    *****Update*****

    More results tomorrow, Friday.

    Who will compete in the runoff to replace former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) won’t be determined until at least Friday, when workers finish counting the estimated 9,811 remaining ballots, L.A. County elections officials said Wednesday.

    The top finishers late Tuesday night were Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and conservative businessman Craig Huey, with 13,137 and 11,648 votes, respectively. But Secretary of State Debra Bowen trailed Huey by just 206 votes.

    But, nevertheless, Democrat California Secretary of State has started raising money for a possible recount.

    The link for Los Angeles County elections is here.

    Republican Craig Huey on election night, May 18, 2011

    There continue to be around 9,800 uncounted ballots but here are the results so far:

    Here is the link to the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office, where you can watch the updated totals.

    Democrat Janice Hahn appears headed to a second round of balloting for the vacant 36th Congressional District seat, though her challenger for the July 12 runoff is yet to be determined.

    Hahn, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, was the top vote-getter in yesterday’s special election to replace Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, who retired in late February. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Hahn led the field of 16 candidates with 24.66 percent of the vote.

    Hahn’s chief Democratic rival, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, trailed conservative website publisher Craig Huey for the No. 2 spot by roughly 200 votes. Huey, who lent his campaign $500,000, posted an edge of less than one percentage point over the Marina Del Rey Democrat, leading 21.87 percent to 21.48 percent.

    Stay tuned…..

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012:Mitch Daniels to Headline National Republican Senatorial Committee Event Next Week – Presidential Announcement?

    I would think that Mitch will make the announcement next week that he is a candidate for President.

    Mitch Daniels is expected to be the special guest at a National Republican Senatorial Committee event in Washington next week, just as he’s deciding whether to run for president, POLITICO has learned.

    According to the invitation, Daniels will appear at the May 25 event as the star attraction.

    The invitation lists NRSC head Sen. John Cornyn, Indiana Sen. Dan Coats and others as the hosts.

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    Updated: President 2012 Video: Mitch Daniels at the Ripon Society – Far From Devastating

    *****Update*****

    Philip Klein over at the Washington Examiner refutes Jennifer Rubin’s “devastating” Mitch Daniels post.

    The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin is no fan of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, and last night she posted a two-year old video clip of him that she claimed was “devestating.”

    What was so awful about it? (…)

    Daniels went on to speak about the debt and Obama’s spending binge.

    “The American people’s skepticism about debt and deficits I think is at an all time high, not only because of what they’re seeing in the public sector – most states, the federal government – but think about their lives,” he said. “Americans just came through a period where either they or their neighbors, or a business they were involved in, saved too little, borrowed too much, spent too much, didn’t work out too well. That door is about to be thrown wide open by the policies of this administration.”

    He was even optimistic about the ability of Republicans to win over the youth vote.

    “I just do not see in Americans today, the young people in particular, an embrace of collectivism, of statism,” Daniels said. “Quite the contrary. Almost to a fault, they insist on individual choice and almost limitless freedom. And I don’t think they’re going to be naturally herded together by government however charismatically it is presented. Into unions, or mass transit, or in any other fashion that infringes on what they see as their God-given right to make their own choices.”

    Keep in mind that at the time he was making these remarks, there was plenty of reason for GOP pessimism — Obama’s approval rating was still at a resilient 60 percent it was several months before Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell had won their governorships.

    Far from being “devastating,” the video actually makes Daniels come across as a mainstream (and prescient) conservative who predicted that the Republican Party could win by emphasizing solutions to real world problems and limited government principles.

    Refreshing to see another conservative pundit agreeing with me over Jennifer Rubin’s obvious dislike of Daniels.

    First Half of Governor Mitch Daniels’ Address to The Ripon Society on June 10. 2009.

    Jennifer Rubin over at the Washington Post has the hatchet out yet again for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. This time it is over a speech delivered in 2009.

    This devastating clip from a Ripon Society speech demonstrates why conservatives mistrust Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels:

    Here is the clip which is part two of Daniel’s speech delivered almost two years ago (and note before the 2010 midterm elections when the GOP won back the House):

    Second half of Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels’ address to The Ripon Society, June 10, 2009

    It is very noteworthy that Jennifer does not date the video or mention the date anywhere in the text of her post. Doesn’t that lead the reader to believe that it was delivered recently?

    When Daniels says the GOP should avoid wedge issues, that means the entire debate must conform to what the Democrats will tolerate: The whole concept of a wedge issue should be foreign to us if we really want to come back. That is not what the partys base wants to hear. They want to set the agenda, not capitulate before beginning the bargaining. More than any single issue, it is this attitude that will be an anathema to the Republican primary electorate. Daniels is also, not to be too indelicate, boring.

    Well, we all know that Rubin, the former California Labor attorney, turned pundit, is pushing Paul Ryan and Chris Christie to run for the Presidency. But, she shouldn’t let her preferences to cloud or obfuscate Daniel’s record.

    Listen to Daniel’s speech – all of it and let me know if this is a “devastating clip?”

    Perhaps, I am being “moderate” or naive but I thought one of the first tenants of elected politics is to NOT alienate voters. I think that is what Mitch is saying here. The RIGHT Ideas and issues are what determines your success at the polls.

    Since I have run and held office in California and Rubin hasn’t, perhaps Mitch and I understand this just a little more.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 08:41

    These are my links for May 19th from 08:41 to 09:58:

    • Oklahoma anti-meth activist want ban on allergy pills – Starkey, who describes himself as an average Oklahoman who is furious about meth labs, said he watched two friends ruin their lives with the drug. He said too often innocent people can be burned in a meth fire.

      Starkey, 51, of Claremore, is self-employed and has a 4-year-old child, and says he knows he does not have funds to fight pharmaceutical company lobbyists. A similar proposal to ban dry tablet allergy pills did not advance in the Oklahoma Legislature this year.

      “I’m after the shake and bake meth labs. I can’t save the world, but a lot of money is wasted on meth lab cleanup,” Starkey said.

      Woodward said in 2010 there were 818 meth labs busted in Oklahoma.

      In central and western Oklahoma, law enforcement agencies mostly battle the Mexican meth known as “ice,” which is mass-produced in Mexico.

      But, the small “shake and bake” meth labs cause a lot of collateral damage to houses, apartments and other buildings.

      The bureau spent $800,000 cleaning up meth labs in 2010, Woodward said.

      Woodward said he hopes Starkey’s efforts pay off.

      “We don’t have to guess about whether this will work, we know it will work,” Woodward said.

      =======

      It is a start and when the federal government gets serious about border control with Mexico then we can further go after the problem.

    • Latest numbers reveal two-tier California – A quarter-century ago, I wrote a series of articles about California's megatrends that transmogrified into a book, "The New California: Facing the 21st Century."

      My chief premise was that intertwining cultural, demographic, economic and political forces were radically transforming the state.

      I quoted one academic study that saw "the possible emerging of a two-tier economy with Asians and non-Hispanic whites competing for high-status positions while Hispanics and blacks struggle to get low-paying service jobs."

      Last week's release of detailed 2010 census data and this week's unveiling of a massive statistical study of Californians' educations, incomes and health confirm that what was theory in 1985 has become reality.

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      Read it all….

      Yes, and the two tiers have existed for some time now.

    • Obesity May Raise Risk of Prostate Cancer Spread – Obesity and prostate cancer may be a bad combination, new research suggests. The risk of the cancer spreading is more likely in both obese and overweight men, researchers found.

      "We found that overweight men were three times more likely to have their cancer spread," says Christopher J. Keto, MD, a urological oncology postdoctoral associate at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

      "Obese men were five times more likely than normal-weight men to have their cancer spread," he tells WebMD.

      The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Washington, D.C.

      The findings are consistent with previous research that showed a link between obesity and poorer outcomes in prostate cancer patients.

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      Read it all