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Flap’s Links and Comments for June 16th on 14:01
These are my links for June 16th from 14:01 to 16:38:
- Dilbert May 30, 2011 – Preemptive Strike | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert May 30, 2011 – Preemptive Strike #tcot #catcot
- President 2012 Poll Watch: Any Republican 44% Vs. Barack Obama 39% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Any Republican 44% Vs. Barack Obama 39% #tcot #catcot
- CA-36: Craig Huey Says Janice Hahn is Fanning the Flames of Inflammatory Web Video | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-36: Craig Huey Says Janice Hahn is Fanning the Flames of Inflammatory Web Video #tcot #catcot
- Capitol Alert: Controller John Chiang delays decision on legislator pay – RT @CapitolAlert: Controller John Chiang delays decision on legislator pay #catcot
- Flap’s Links and Comments for June 16th on 05:01 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for June 16th on 05:01 #tcot #catcot
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Dilbert May 30, 2011 – Preemptive Strike
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President 2012 Poll Watch: Any Republican 44% Vs. Barack Obama 39%
According to the latest Gallup Poll.Forty-four percent of registered voters say they are more likely to vote for “the Republican Party’s candidate” and 39% for Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, according to Gallup’s June update. The current five-percentage-point edge for the generic Republican is not a statistically significant lead, and neither side has held a meaningful lead at any point thus far in 2011.
These results are based on a June 9-12 Gallup poll. The competitiveness of the race is underscored by the fact that Obama’s re-election prospects on this measure did not appear much better in May, when his approval rating rose to the 50% level. Now that the rally in support for Obama is essentially over, the president appears to be in a slightly weaker position but still very competitive with his as-yet-unnamed opponent.
Voters’ uncertainty about what they might do in the 2012 election is also apparent in the 18% who do not have a preference for Obama or the Republican at this point.
Well, it is better to be a GOP Presidential candidate than the incumbent President?
It appears so which is good news for Mitt Romney et. al..
But, independents are moving towards the Republicans. This is a danger sign to the President.
But, alas the election is a long way off and the corolation so far out is dubious at best.
So, what does this all mean?
The current political environment shows that President Obama may be in for a tough re-election race – no matter who the GOP nominates.
Presidential preferences long before an election can give an indication of the current political environment, but their relationship to the eventual election outcome shows how much that environment can change in the months leading up to the election. If the election were held today, Obama would appear to be in a tough fight for re-election with a fairly close division in registered-voter preferences between the president and a generic Republican.
Regardless of whom Republicans nominate, if national conditions improve, as was the case from 1983 to 1984 and 1995 to 1996, Obama could win re-election easily. If they do not, as occurred between 1979 and 1980, or get worse, as happened from 1991 to 1992, he could be vulnerable to defeat by whomever the Republicans nominate.
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CA-36: Craig Huey Says Janice Hahn is Fanning the Flames of Inflammatory Web Video
LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn hearts gangsters. Learn more here.Fanning the flames in order to raise campaign cash.Meanwhile, Republican Craig Huey accused Hahn of fanning the flames of an inflammatory web video that portrayed her as a stripper that let gang members out of prison.
“The only one keeping this vile video alive is Janice Hahn. She is the one circulating it and she is even using it to raise money. It is disgusting that she would stoop so low. The only plausible explanation is that she is frantic about her prospects of winning,” said Huey consultant Dave Gilliard.
Noooo, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn would never do that, now would she?
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Flap’s Links and Comments for June 16th on 05:01
These are my links for June 16th from 05:01 to 12:47:
- Video: Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes California Budget – Now What? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes California Budget – Now What? #tcot #catcot
- YouTube
– ?Budget Veto? – RT @JerryBrownGov: Today I vetoed the state budget (video): - Photo of the Day: Weiner’s Done | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Photo of the Day: Weiner’s Done #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: U.K. National Health Service Promotes Dentist Campaign with Bad Nashers Video – U.K. National Health Service Promotes Dentist Campaign with Bad Nashers Video
- President 2012: Mitt Romney Says He is Unemployed Too | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Mitt Romney Says He is Unemployed Too #tcot #catcot
- Mohamed Geele Who Attacked Danish Muhammed Cartoonist Kurt Westergarrd Faces Additional Prison Sentence in Appeals Court | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Mohamed Geele Who Attacked Danish Muhammed Cartoonist Kurt Westergarrd Faces Additional Prison Sen… #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 16, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 16, 2011 #tcot #catcot
- Amazon Internet Sales Tax Legislation Passes as Part of California Budget | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Amazon Internet Sales Tax Legislation Passes as Part of California Budget #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: June 16, 2011 – The Morning Drill: June 16, 2011
- CA-36: Janice Hahn Hearts Gangsters In New Video – Give Us Your Cash, B–ch! | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – RE: I love the way you hop from Craig Huey – Janice Hahn post to post on flapsblog.com saying the same old misinforme…
- Day By Day June 14, 2011 – Decaf Please | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day June 14, 2011 – Decaf Please #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Links and Comments for June 15th through June 16th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for June 15th through June 16th #tcot #catcot
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Video: Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes California Budget – Now What?
I am returning Senate Bill 69 and Assembly Bill 98 without my signature
Brown announced the veto in a press release Thursday. “Unfortunately, the budget I have received is not a balanced solution,” his statement said. “It continues big deficits for years to come and adds billions of dollars of new debt. It also contains legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings. Finally, it is not financeable and therefore will not allow us to meet our obligations as they occur.”
Read the governor’s official veto message here.
The plan contains higher taxes, billions of dollars in delayed payments to schools, and various accounting maneuvers to balance the books. Brown had previously warned that he would not sign a budget containing such accounting gimmicks.
Democratic leaders in the Assembly and Senate said the plan they passed Wednesday was crafted without input from the administration.
It is unclear whether state lawmakers will receive their paychecks in the wake of the veto. Under a law passed by voters last year, legislators lose pay if they fail to send the governor a budget by June 15. Lawmakers said Wednesday they believe the budget they passed meets that test, but Controller John Chiang, California’s chief financial officer, will decide whether to issue their paychecks.
Brown’s veto is the latest twist in a budget process that has been just as divisive and partisan as it was under his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The ball is back in the California’s Legislature’s court, which I am positive they do not appreciate, especially if the California Controller decides to withhold their paychecks.
The Democrats who control the Legislature will either have to make more cuts or make some sort of deal with the Republicans to raise revenue – but in return for something. The likelihood of a deal with the GOP is extremely unlikely.
Plus, the unions who own the Democrats don’t want a tax election before 2012, because they wish to use their campaign cash to win a 2/3’rds super majority in the Legislature at the November 2012 general election.
So, it is the Schwarzenegger years all over again = budget gridlock and accounting tricks. But, Brown vetoed THAT budget today – so, what is next?
All eyes and ears in the California Legislature today will be on California Controller John Chiang to see if they get paid.
Bet they move fast, if their paychecks are withheld.
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Photo of the Day: Weiner’s Done
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President 2012: Mitt Romney Says He is Unemployed Too
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney watches a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox, Wednesday, June 15, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Florida
I think Mitt should stay away from the jokes.Mitt Romney sat at the head of the table at a coffee shop here on Thursday, listening to a group of unemployed Floridians explain the challenges of looking for work. When they finished, he weighed in with a predicament of his own.
“I should tell my story,” Mr. Romney said. “I’m also unemployed.”
He chuckled. The eight people gathered around him, who had just finished talking about strategies of finding employment in a slow-to-recover economy, joined him in laughter.
You know, Mitt is just awkward in mingling with regular voters. He probably should avoid the chit chat and the joking type banter.
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Mohamed Geele Who Attacked Danish Muhammed Cartoonist Kurt Westergarrd Faces Additional Prison Sentence in Appeals Court
A court in Denmark has found a Somali man guilty of attempted terrorism for trying to kill a cartoonist whose portrayal in 2005 of the prophet Mohammad, led to outrage in the muslim world.Wow, the prosecutor says nine years is not enough for this miscreant.An appeals court has begun a trial against a Somali man convicted of terrorism for breaking into the home of a Danish cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.
The prosecutor on Wednesday asked the Western High Court to raise Muhideen Mohammed Geelle’s prison sentence to 12 years from the nine years given by a lower court in February. A verdict is expected next week.
The caartoon:
Previous:
Mohamed Geele Who Attacked Danish Muhammad Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard is Convicted
Danish Muhammad Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s Atacker, Mohamed Geele Goes on Trial
Danish Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard to Face His Attacker in Court
The Muhammad Cartoon Archive -
Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 16, 2011
A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.Well, California has a “balanced” budget, albeit a Democrat majority vote one and questionably balanced. It will be within the purview of California State Controller John Chiang to decide whether the passed budget legislation is indeed balanced or he is empowered by California law to ding (meaning withhold) the paychecks of California Legislators.
California Governor Jerry Brown continues (supposedly) to negotiate with the Republicans in order to schedule a tax election or pass tax extensions to make budget revenues easier for him and the majority Democrats. No deal so far.
Brown who can either sign, allow it to become law or veto the budget has scheduled a High Noon 12 PM PDT news conference and we will all learn more then – if it doesn’t leak out before = likely. Brown has 12 days to take or not take action.
So, on to the links.
California Democrats pass budget with taxes, cuts and tricksDemocratic lawmakers passed a rare on-time state budget Wednesday over Republican objections, but the plan — balanced with a blend of taxes, cuts and clever accounting — faces an uncertain fate at the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown.
After warning for months that devastating cutbacks to schools and public safety would occur without the renewed taxes that Brown has sought but has been unable to sell to Republicans, Democrats averted the most severe reductions.
But they did so by returning to old strategies that have papered over California’s deficits for years: delaying the payment of billions in bills, skipping debt repayments and penciling in money that may not materialize.
Using their new authority to pass a budget on a majority vote — and under threat of lost pay if a spending plan was not approved by Wednesday — the Democrats pushed through provisions to hike car registration fees and local sales tax rates and force online retailers, such as Amazon.com, to collect sales tax.
The plan would also cut more deeply into higher education, the courts and local law enforcement.
“It is not perfect. It is Plan B,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who nonetheless called the package “worthy of the governor’s signature.”
Democrats said they hoped Brown would continue to negotiate with Republicans for the taxes he wants, to make some of their cutbacks unnecessary. But their blueprint puts Brown in a political pickle. It asks him to break two pledges central to his campaign for governor: no new taxes without voter approval and no more smoke-and-mirrors budgeting.
Brown has not said whether he will sign the document; he has 12 days to decide.
Fight Breaks Out on California Assembly Floor During Budget Debate
A fight broke out Wednesday on the Assembly floor as Assemblyman Warren Furutani confronted Assemblyman Don Wagner over comments deemed offensive.
The two members jawed angrily in each other’s faces before Furutani, D-Gardena, appeared to give Wagner a shove, prompting several colleagues to separate them in the final minutes of the day’s budget session.
The dispute brought the house to a standstill for a couple of minutes during debate over a controversial redevelopment plan.
The two-bill proposal compels redevelopment agencies to backfill state coffers and give money to local governments under threat of elimination. Wagner, R-Irvine, testified that it was comparable to a shakedown scheme and referred to the popular HBO show, “The Sopranos.”
That prompted Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, to demand an apology for the Sopranos reference “as a proud Italian American.”
Wagner retorted that he’d “apologize to any Italian Americans who are not in the Mafia and engaged in insurance scams,” setting off a murmur among lawmakers.
Minutes later, Furutani and Wagner were in each other’s faces and had to be broken up by three other lawmakers. The back of the Assembly chamber was soon flooded with legislative aides who came to see the commotion.
The budget bills Democrats approved Wednesday include a combination of tax and fee increases, spending cuts and revenue assumptions. Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown previously took steps to reduce the state’s deficit by $11.4 billion, primarily through spending cuts.
Here are some of the key provisions of the latest bills:
Taxes and fees:
— $12 annual fee on car registrations to pay for Department of Motor Vehicle services. The department’s costs previously were covered by a voter-approved increase in the vehicle license fee increase that expires July 1.
— $150 annual fee on homes in rural areas that depend on the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for wildfire protection.
— A quarter-cent local sales tax. A 1 percent increase in the state sales tax is scheduled to expire June 30, so consumers would see a net reduction of three-quarters of a cent in the sales tax they pay on goods.
— Requiring online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect California sales taxes, a change projected to net $200 million annually.
Additional spending cuts:
— University of California, $150 million.
— California State University, $150 million.
— California courts, $150 million.
— County offices of education, $50 million.
Field Poll: California voters favor revamping “three-strikes” law
Most California voters see a court order to reduce the state’s prison population by 30,000 inmates as a serious problem, and nearly three out of four say it is time to revamp the state’s “three-strikes” law, a Field Poll out today finds.
The poll comes on the heels of last month’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ordering California to address its prison overcrowding problem, and 79 percent of those surveyed said the matter is serious.
But there were not similar margins of support for Gov. Jerry Brown’s plans to transfer lower-risk inmates from prisons to county jails.
The poll found 51 percent of voters support the plan, with 37 percent saying it is a bad idea. Yet less than a majority of voters would support an extension of temporary tax increases to pay for it, the poll found.
The most significant finding came when voters were asked whether the state’s three-strikes law, which passed in 1994, should be modified to allow judges and juries more discretion when sentencing a criminal for a third felony.
The poll found 74 percent of voters would support allowing that discretion to ease prison overcrowding, with 24 percent opposed.
Enjoy your morning!