• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 5th on 14:23

    These are my links for July 5th from 14:23 to 14:28:

    • Dilbert July 5, 2011 – Option? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert July 5, 2011 – Option? #tcot #catcot
    • President 2012: Behind the Scenes, Christian Right Leaders Rally Behind Rick Perry – In early June, TIME has learned, a group of prominent figures on the Christian Right held a conference call to discuss their dissatisfaction with the current GOP presidential field, and agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if he entered the race. Among those on the call were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; David Barton, the Texas activist and go-to historian for the Christian Right; and John Hagee, the controversial San Antonio pastor whose endorsement John McCain rejected in 2008.

      Religious conservatives have often played a substantial role in choosing past Republican nominees, but leaders on the Christian Right have been conspicuously quiet so far in this campaign season. Privately, however, they are enthusiastic about Perry and are encouraging the Texas governor to throw his ten-gallon hat into the ring.

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      Read it all….

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 5th on 13:30

    These are my links for July 5th from 13:30 to 13:36:

    • Battle over California’s Three Strikes Law reflected in faces of now-freed prisoners for life – he Three Strikes Law was passed by both the Legislature and voters in 1994 after several high-profile murders committed by ex-felons sparked public outrage. The most notorious case was the strangling of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was kidnapped in 1993 from her Petaluma home.
      Under existing law, the first two strikes have to be violent or serious crimes, as defined by the penal code. Sentences are doubled for the second strike. But only California, out of 24 states with similar laws, allows the third strike to be any felony.
      People have received life sentences for stealing socks, attempting to break into a soup kitchen to get something to eat, and shoplifting golf clubs.
      Proponents are still working out the initiative's language, but at the very least it would limit felonies that trigger the third strike to violent or serious crimes. A similar initiative in 2004 drafted by a different group was initially ahead in the polls, but lost by about 3 percentage points after opponents mounted a last-minute ad blitz aimed at convincing voters that the measure would spring 26,000 dangerous felons from prison.
      This time, advocates of changing the law will try to keep the focus on the plight of third-strikers locked up for minor crimes — and the millions of dollars it costs taxpayers to keep them in prison. Even by the most conservative estimate, at least 2,757 of the 8,764 third-strikers now in prison — 31 percent — committed relatively minor offenses

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      You know I have never been convicted of one serious felony, not less two and then commit a third crime of which I have been convicted.

      Please give me a break.

      I, frankly, don't care if these inmates have turned their lives around. If they have been convicted of three felonies, stay in prison.

      If the prisons are overcrowded, then start deporting the illegal aliens in then and close the Mexican border.

    • Dan Walters: California’s death penalty punishes taxpayers, not killers – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee – When Gov. Jerry Brown canceled construction of a very expensive ($400 million) death row at San Quentin Prison, it was a small victory for common sense.

      While California has hundreds of men and a few women awaiting execution for murder, reality is that few, if any, will actually be put to death, given the immense legal and operational impediments.

      But maintaining the fiction that California has a death penalty for heinous crimes is very expensive when state and local governments face yawning deficits and are slashing basic educational, social and public safety services.

      A recent study by federal appellate Judge Arthur Alarcon and Paul Mitchell, a Loyola Law School professor, found that California is spending $184 million a year more on its 700-plus death row inmates than it would be spending were they serving life terms without parole.

      Other studies come up with different numbers, but not very different, and whatever the cost, it's too much.

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      Read it all…..

      Walters is going soft in his old age.

      Place it on the ballot and I bet Californians will support the death penalty.

      One of the major causes of the California prison breakdown is the rampant illegal immigration problem. When they commit crimes here, they are imprisoned here, otherwise they are deported and the criminals come back to re-offend.

      My suggestion is to seal the border with Mexico and start deporting illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin.

      Then, the California prisons will NOT be overcrowded and the funds saved can be used for speedy and swift justice for the death penalty.

      Walters says grow up.

      I have a number of murdered victims that I have written about on this blog that would beg to differ and are still waiting for some justice.

  • American Economy,  Polling,  President 2012,  Unemployment Rate

    Poll Watch: Job Creation Index Edges Higher But Employers Still NOT Eager to Hire



    According to the latest Gallup Poll.

    Gallup’s Job Creation Index was at +15 in June. While this does not differ much from the +14 of May or the +13 of April, it is the highest since September 2008’s +16.

    The Job Creation Index has increased steadily if marginally in 2011. This continues a pattern that began after the Index matched its low point of -5 in April 2009, and is consistent with the improvement in the overall U.S. job situation over the past couple of years.

    Hiring has increased moderately in 2011.

    The Job Creation Index score of +15 in June is based on 33% of workers nationwide saying their employers are hiring and 18% saying their employers are letting workers go. Between 18% and 19% of workers have said their employers are reducing staff size throughout the first half of 2011. However, there has been a slight increase in the percentage saying their companies are hiring employees and expanding their workforces, from 29% in January to 33% in June.

    Here is the graph.

    And, what about regional job creation? Hiring patterns are similar.

    So, what does this all mean?

    Job creation is slow and has remained so. With vast numbers of unemployed Americans, it is doubtful that robust job growth will be realized before the Presidential race for 2012 begins after this summer.

    President Obama will have to run on this record of anemic job growth and high unemployment.

    Gallup’s Job Creation Index, at +15 for June 2011, is much improved over June 2010’s +8 and June 2009’s -3 readings. One reason for this improvement, according to employee reports, is that the nation’s employers are holding on to their workers; the percentage currently letting people go is just about where it was in June 2008. Additionally, the percentage reporting their employer is hiring has increased slightly during the first half of 2011.

    However, companies are still not in a hurry to hire. The percentage saying their employers were hiring in June is down seven points from January 2008, when the recession was just getting underway. New jobs are being created at an anemic pace compared with what is needed to lower the U.S. unemployment and underemployment rates. These job creation trends are consistent with Gallup’s recent unemployment report that shows the current job situation has seen little year-over-year improvement.

    These job creation findings are also consistent with the recent trend in jobless claims, whose four-week average is currently 426,750. This is better than the year-ago numbers, but — like the job creation trend — is not enough of an improvement to support a decline in the unemployment rate. In this regard, the modest improvement in Gallup’s Job Creation Index over recent months is also consistent with the consensus among economists that there will be essentially no change when the government reports the June unemployment rate on Friday.
    Right now, Gallup’s job data suggest that job market conditions are slightly more positive than the government’s numbers show. Although economists declared the recession over two years ago, job growth has a long way to go, with the current Job Creation Index nowhere near the +26 seen just as the recession was beginning in January 2008.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 5th on 12:09

    These are my links for July 5th from 12:09 to 12:12:

    • Double Standards at MSNBC – So here we are in a brand new week and Mark Halperin, a senior political analyst at Time magazine and a regular contributor on MSNBC, is still suspended for calling President Obama a “di**” on Morning Joe.

      Never mind that Halperin thought he was on a seven-second delay and that his remark would never be heard by the public. Never mind, too, that he immediately apologized, on the air. The White House press secretary called MSNBC to complain and, poof, Halperin was gone. Suspended indefinitely.

      MSNBC issued a statement saying, “Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House, and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air.”

      Really? When did MSNBC start to care about what is and what is not appropriate when it comes to commenting on a sitting president of the United States? And when did the network start to strive for a high level of discourse?

      I offer up two words to show how self-serving and disingenuous the MSNBC statement is: Keith. Olbermann.

      Perhaps the MSNBC suits missed the show when Olbermann, talking about then-President Bush, said, “You’re a fascist! Get them to print you a T-shirt with ‘fascist’ on it!”

      Maybe they also missed the one when Olbermann said President Bush was guilty of “murderous deceit” and then, working himself up into a frenzy, looked into the camera and yelled at the president to “shut the hell up.”

      Or how about the time this popped up on the screen while Olbermann was ranting about President Bush: “Pathological presidential liar or an idiot in chief?”

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      But, it was Booooosh…..

    • Entitlement Bandits – Medicare and Medicaid Fraud – The budget blueprint crafted by Paul Ryan, passed by the House of Representatives, and voted down by the Senate would essentially give Medicare enrollees a voucher to purchase private coverage, and would change the federal government’s contribution to each state’s Medicaid program from an unlimited “matching” grant to a fixed “block” grant. These reforms deserve to come back from defeat, because the only alternatives for saving Medicare or Medicaid would either dramatically raise tax rates or have the government ration care to the elderly and disabled. What may be less widely appreciated, however, is that the Ryan proposal is our only hope of reducing the crushing levels of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.
       
      The three most salient characteristics of Medicare and Medicaid fraud are: It’s brazen, it’s ubiquitous, and it’s other people’s money, so nobody cares.

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      Read it all

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 5th on 03:11

    These are my links for July 5th from 03:11 to 11:14:

  • Amazon Tax,  Internet Sales Taxes

    California and Amazon.Com Dancing Around the Collection of Internet Sales Taxes

    I doubt Amazon.com et. al. will voluntarily surrender to the newly enacted California legislation.

    Amazon.com Inc. is sticking by its vow not to collect California sales tax on Internet purchases — and state officials must decide what to do about it.

    But the showdown over the new tax collection law that took effect Friday could be months away. Companies don’t send the taxes to the state until the end of each quarter, which means the California Board of Equalization won’t know officially about Amazon’s refusal to collect them until Oct. 1.

    The tax-collecting agency said Amazon accounts for about half the Internet sales in California from large out-of-state firms that, prior to the new law, did not have to collect sales tax for the state. It said the new law would capture about $317 million a year in sales taxes that previously went uncollected.

    Amazon, based in Seattle, has said repeatedly that it would not collect the California sales tax, calling it an unconstitutional infringement on interstate commerce.

    Such defiance sets up a major legal battle by this fall, though Amazon could first challenge the law in court, as it has in New York. It has lost a trial court ruling there and has an appeal pending.

    Amazon is “going to fight in every state where it can fight,” said Tracey G. Sellers, managing director of the Tampa, Fla., office of tax firm True Partners Consulting. “It’s going to be years before this whole issue is settled” in the courts.

    Amazon declined to say whether it would sue to overturn the new California statute, though state officials expect a lawsuit.

    As, I said before, ONLY the lawyers are going to get rich in litigating this legislation and California will NOT realize ANY additional tax revenue.

    Plus, after many years of litigation, the federal law and court decisions are pretty clear – Amazon wins and the California taxpayers will lose with wasting tax dollars on litigation.

    Stay tuned…..

  • Craig Huey,  Janice Hahn

    CA-36: California Early Voting Forecasts a Close Race for Craig Huey Vs. Janice Hahn

    Los Angeles City Council Member Janice Hahn and GOP Congressional Nominee and businessman Craig Huey

    As, I have said before, this will be a tight race and I would not be surprised if Craig Huey pulls the upset.

    Early Republican turnout in the special election for an open Southern California House seat is keeping pace with Democrats, indicating that Craig Huey may be on the verge of a midsummer surprise.

    According to a Friday tally compiled by the registrar’s office and provided to POLITICO by the Huey campaign, Republican ballots are trailing Democratic ballots in the 36th Congressional District by just 692 votes.

    The early vote tabulations as of Friday, by party:

    Republican/Libertarian – 13,343

    Democratic/Green – 14,035

    Non-affiliated – 5,512

    While it’s impossible to know how many early voters crossed their own party affiliation, the numbers are the latest evidence that Huey is running a much closer race with Democrat Janice Hahn than most expected.

    It’s an difference of just 2 percent, and it has Huey’s campaign invigorated as they head into the final stretch before the July 12 runoff.

    Notes a Huey adviser, “It’s very tight.  We lost in absentees in the primary and beat her at the polls on election day.”

    The Hahn campaign responded by saying that the Decline to State or Non-affiliated voters should break 70-30% for Hahn, but I think that is a real reach.

    The fact remains that Huey will run a good GOTV (Get Out the Vote) campaign for this summer-time special election and Republicans/Libertarians/conservatives, while a minority in the district, WILL turn put to vote.

    One week to go and this race is very close.

  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day July 5, 2011 – What’s At Steak



    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    I wouldn’t necessarily call President Obama “DEAD MEAT” in the 2012 Presidential race. But, his economic record is very poor and American voters may be looking for a change. Millions of unemployed voters do not make for a happy electorate.

    The next issue of the debt ceiling will be interesting. Should the GOP compromise a little and let the Democrats off of the hook, they will lose the compelling argument to replace Obama and his ObamaCare. Of course, this will be risky with the GOP being blamed for a ever more disastrous economy.

    I don’t think this demagoguery will stick.

    The Republicans should ignore appeasers like David Brooks writing in the New York Times, stay the course and RIGHT the economy.

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    The Day By Day Archive

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 4th through July 5th

    These are my links for July 4th through July 5th: