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    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-31

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  • Keith Olbermann

    Update: Olbermann Responds – Keith Olbermann Fired by Current TV

    +++++ Scroll down for the Update +++++

    Not really surprising – Keith Olbermann is just too high maintenance.

    Current TV has fired Keith Olbermann, a network spokeswoman told TheWrap.

    The controversial news host has been at the fledgling cable channel for less than a year.

    Eliot Spitzer will replace Olbermann starting Friday night, the network announced.

    Olberman got into a contretemps with the network over his role during Republican primary election coverage last December. But the host has a history of butting heads with management and other bosses, starting with ESPN, including MSNBC and now with the leadership at Current.

    In its move on Friday, Current was clearly fed up with its star newsman.

     “Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it,” the network wrote in a letter to viewers published on its website.

    So long, Keith.

    You really won’t be missed and I hope you have some savings/investments, since I think you are pretty much finished in television.

    Update:

    Keith Olbermann responds:

    My full statement:

    I’d like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.

    Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I’ve been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.

    It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain. http://nyti.ms/HueZsa

    In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.

    Good luck, Keith, with that next job.

  • Keith Olbermann

    Keith Olbermann Fired by Current TV

    Not really surprising – Keith Olbermann is just too high maintenance.

    Current TV has fired Keith Olbermann, a network spokeswoman told TheWrap.

    The controversial news host has been at the fledgling cable channel for less than a year.

    Eliot Spitzer will replace Olbermann starting Friday night, the network announced.

    Olberman got into a contretemps with the network over his role during Republican primary election coverage last December. But the host has a history of butting heads with management and other bosses, starting with ESPN, including MSNBC and now with the leadership at Current.

    In its move on Friday, Current was clearly fed up with its star newsman.

     “Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it,” the network wrote in a letter to viewers published on its website.

    So long, Keith.

    You really won’t be missed and I hope you have some savings/investments, since I think you are pretty much finished in television.

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    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-30

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  • American Economy,  Polling

    Poll Watch: Oklahoma City Leads America in Job Creation for Metropolitan Areas – Pittsburgh Second

    According to the latest Gallup Poll.

    Oklahoma City, Okla., had the highest score on Gallup’s Job Creation Index among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas in 2011, followed by Pittsburgh, Pa., and several Southern metros. More than one in three workers in each of the top-performing metro areas said their employer was hiring or expanding the size of its workforce, but Oklahoma City led because of the relatively low percentage of workers (12%) who said their employer was letting workers go or decreasing the size of its workforce.

    The metro areas surrounding Richmond, Va., Nashville, Tenn., and Orlando, Fla., complete the top five large metro areas with the highest Job Creation Index scores.

    The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with U.S. workers conducted from January-December 2011. Gallup interviewed at least 698 respondents in each of the 50 largest metro areas in 2011, including 1,000 or more in 38 metro areas. Nationwide in 2011, an average of 31% of U.S. workers said their employer was hiring, while 18% said their employer was letting workers go, for a U.S. Job Creation Index score of +13.

    The top-performing large metro areas have above-average hiring levels combined with below-average levels of letting go, resulting in high Job Creation Index scores. On the other side of the spectrum, some metro areas have relatively low hiring combined with high levels of letting go, resulting in low Job Creation Index scores.

    Providence, R.I., Riverside, Calif., New York City, Sacramento, Calif., and Buffalo, N.Y., rank as the bottom five in net hiring among large U.S. metro areas.

    Read the rest of the polling report.

    Unfortunately, California and Nevada continue to struggle in the job hiring and letting go fronts.

    What are the implications?

    More employees will leave California for greener pastures in other less costly states, compounding on an already devastating California budget deficit.

    And, in Nevada, voters may seek their revenge by voting out President Barack Obama in this Electoral College key battleground state.

  • CA-26,  Julia Brownley,  Linda Parks

    CA-26: Democrat Assemblywoman Julia Brownley Picks Up Environmental Group’s Endorsement

    California Democrat Assemblywoman Julia Brownley and CA-26 Congressional Candidate

    This is an important endorsement for Brownley as it greatly undercuts the reason for Ventura County Supervisor Linda Park’s environmental base of support.

    The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV)—the non-partisan political arm of the environmental movement in California—today announced its endorsement of Julia Brownley for Congress in California’s 26th district, which encompasses most of Ventura County. CLCV cited Brownley’s strong environmental record and her courage to stand up to special interests as reasons for the endorsement. Based on her track record, Brownley received an impressive 99% lifetime score on CLCV’s Environmental Scorecard for her votes on priority environmental legislation while serving in the Assembly.

    “CLCV is proud to endorse Julia Brownley to become California’s Congressional Representative for the new 26th district,” said CLCV Political Director, David Allgood. “Julia Brownley has a long track record of leadership on protecting the environment and the public’s health and will be a powerful advocate for the residents of Ventura County in Congress.”

    “I’m honored to have the endorsement of the California League of Conservation Voters,” said Brownley. “As a member of Congress, I will continue to stand up to the special interests that threaten the quality of our air, water and coastline, and fight for a stronger national energy policy focused on conservation, alternative energy development, and green jobs.”

    In Ventura and Oxnard, where Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks is not as well known, Brownley will plaster Democratic and Independent voter’s mailboxes with this endorsement.

    How will Parks respond, if she does not have the campaign cash from any organized party or PAC?

  • CA-26,  Julia Brownley,  Linda Parks,  Tony Strickland

    CA-26: Handicapping Linda Parks and Tony Strickland

    Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks (NP) and California State Senator Tony Strickland (R)

    My friend Scott Lay over at Around The Capitol has his thoughts about the Democrats, Republicans and Linda Parks (No Party Preference) in the 26th California Congressional district.

    Remember the 26th CD has the following party registration numbers:

    • Dem: 40.9%
    • Rep: 35.2%
    • NPP: 19.0%

    CD26 is the kind of race that gives us political geeks the tingles. Republican State Senator Tony Strickland brings his patented Republican credentials into the district to face off against equally Democratic west side Assemblymember Julia Brownley. At least, that’s the way the DCCC and NRCC see the race. However, on the Democratic side, expect to hear Brownley labeled a “carpetbagger” by Garry South-advised David Cruz Thayne. However, with harbor commissioner Jess Herrera also playing for the anti-Brownley and Latino vote, expect them to split that vote and roll out the carpet for Brownley to reach November. Both, however, will probably take a share of the 19% indie vote.

    On the Republican side, moderate Republican and Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks decided to not try to out-Republican Strickland, and dropped her party registration and thus was allowed to file as “No Party Preference.” To reach the top-two among the six-candidates in the race, I would set the bar for Parks at around 35%, which will be extraordinaily difficult to achieve. In 2010, 40% of this district cast votes for Tony Strickland against John Chiang for Controller. The Democrats will get between 40-50% of the vote here, with the top candidate likely landing at around 30%.  If Strickland gets 30% and any Democrat hits 30%, which I see as likely, there just isn’t room for Parks in November.

    I agree in part, but Linda Parks is a dogged campaigner and will put her environmentally charged up foot soldiers to work. Her major problem is that there a lot of voters out of the “Green” Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village area. And, these other voters will be split between constituencies – the Democrats and Latino voters.

    California State Senator Tony Strickland will have the money and the organization from the GOP to easily survive the June Primary election. He appears to be raising money and coasting at present.

    But, Tony had better hope that Linda Park’s reluctance to pledge her Congressional organizational vote to Rep Nancy Pelosi will motivate enough Democrats to fund and organize for Democrat California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley.

    I do think Strickland would have a more difficult general election race against Parks than the Democrat, Brownley.

    If Linda Parks had re-registered as a Democrat, which she had been before moving to Thousand Oaks, I wonder if Julia Brownley would have entered the race? Oh well…..

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 29, 2012

    These are my links for March 28th through March 29th:

    • Blame Palin? ‘Kill Zimmerman’ Twitter Account Launched – Barack Obama has remained silent as the usual suspects have been busy stirring up hate aimed at George Zimmerman, the Florida Hispanic involved in the shooting death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Now the anger has taken a new twist, breaking out on Twitter with an account named “Kill Zimmerman.” It features an image of Zimmerman in crosshairs.
    • Report: Zimmerman Told Police Teen Punched Him Before Fatal Shooting – The core of Trayvon Martin’s story has been told again and again in recent days — about how the 17-year-old went out to a Sanford, Florida, convenience store, only to be killed on his way back to his father’s fiance’s home.

      Yet one month later, questions persist as to exactly how and why that happened. The man who admitted shooting the teen has not been charged in connection to the case, much to the dismay of Martin’s parents and thousands of strangers nationwide who’ve rallied behind them.

      On Monday, the story continued to gain both complexity, and clarity, thanks to details of the account that Martin’s shooter gave to police after the shooting.

      George Zimmerman’s description is outlined in an Orlando Sentinel article that cited “authorities” as the source of its information. The Sanford Police Department subsequently released a statement that, while condemning what it called”unauthorized leaks,” confirmed the newspaper account “is consistent with the information provided to the State Attorney’s office by the police department.”

      Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, told police he was on his way to the grocery store when he saw Martin, a black male, walking through his gated community, according to the Sentinel report.

      “Something’s wrong with him,” he told a 911 dispatcher, according to the contents of a call released last week. “Yep. He’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands.”

      The teen started to run, Zimmerman said. When he said he was following the boy, the dispatcher told him, “We don’t need you to do that.”

      Shortly afterward, neighbors began calling 911 to report an apparent altercation, then a gunshot.

      The Orlando Sentinel report fills in some blanks, purportedly from Zimmerman’s perspective, of what transpired in the meantime.

    • EXCLUSIVE: Robert Zimmerman interview – For the first time since that fateful night on February 26, the father of a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager sat down for a television interview.

      Robert Zimmerman, father of George Zimmerman, said he decided it was time to speak out for his son, against the advice of others. He shared with us what George said happened on the night that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin died.

      “It’s my understanding that Trayvon Martin got on top of him and just started beating him,” the 64-year-old Robert Zimmerman said.

      He said he felt his son has been portrayed in the wrong way. He also said he and his family have received death threats and asked that we not show his face on camera.

      Because there has been a lot of break-ins in the area, Robert said George thought it suspicious that someone would not be walking on the street or the sidewalk on a rainy night — that Martin would be walking between the town homes. He said after making those observations, his son decided to call the police.

    • San Francisco Plastic Bag Ban to Go National? – Hide your kids, hide your wife: the scourge of the grocery market remains on the lam. Fortunately, courageous legislators have assumed the burden of this great responsibility to ban plastic bags nationwide and, in the process, throttle the manufacturing sector.

      San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors earned the ignominy in 2007 of introducing the first legislative proscription of plastic bags in supermarkets and chain pharmacies. Last month, the same Board extended the landmark ban to all retail establishments and restaurants. North of 50 municipalities have taken similar action to eliminate the bags in the interim, either through an outright ban or taxes on those businesses that use them.

      “This effort’s no longer confined to San Francisco,” remarked an environmental politics watchdog with whom Capitol Confidential spoke. “How any nanny state legislation with roots in the City by the Bay can be seen as a legitimate tactic to be pursued in places like Texas is a truly frightening commentary on the nation’s political landscape.”

      By Big Government’s count, three state legislatures are considering statewide bans on these 100 percent recyclable shopping bags. Another 90 jurisdictions still are considering mirrored legislation.

    • Rubio: I’m not going to be vice president – For the record, it’s still no. But is Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio leaving his vice presidential options open? Consider how he answered the question Thursday to CNN.

      “My answer hasn’t changed on the vice presidential stuff. I know people keep asking me but my answer hasn’t changed,” Rubio told CNN one day after announcing his endorsement of GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney.

    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-29 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-29
    • Video: Rep Bobby Rush Wears a Hoodie in Congress – Kicked Off the Floor | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: Rep Bobby Rush Wears a Hoodie in Congress – Kicked Off the Floor
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-28 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-28
    • The Morning Flap: March 28, 2012 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: March 28, 2012
    • Day By Day March 28, 2012 – Made | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 28, 2012 – Made
    • AD-38: B.J. Atkins Republican Central Committee Member Calls on Patricia McKeon to Release Steve Cooley Documents » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: B.J. Atkins Republican Central Committee Member Calls on Patricia McKeon to Release Steve Cooley Documents
    • Justices poised to strike down entire healthcare law – The Supreme Court’s conservative justices said Wednesday they are prepared to strike down President Obama’s healthcare law entirely.

      Picking up where they left off Tuesday, the conservatives said they thought a decision striking down the law’s controversial individual mandate to purchase health insurance means the whole statute should fall with it.

      The court’s conservatives sounded as though they had determined for themselves that the 2,700-page measure must be declared unconstitutional.

      “One way or another, Congress will have to revisit it in toto,” said Justice Antonin Scalia.

      Agreeing, Justice Anthony Kennedy said it would be an “extreme proposition” to allow the various insurance regulations to stand after the mandate was struck down.

      Meanwhile, the court’s liberal justices argued for restraint. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the court should do a “salvage job,” not undertake a “wrecking operation.” But she looked to be out-voted.

    • Only On 2: Senator Sharon Runner Discusses Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant For 1st Time « CBS Los Angeles – Only On 2: Senator Sharon Runner Discusses Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant For 1st Time « CBS Los Angeles
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: March 28, 2012 – The Daily Extraction: March 28, 2012
    • Only On 2: Senator Sharon Runner Discusses Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant For 1st Time « CBS Los Angeles – Senator Sharon Runner Discusses Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant For 1st Time
    • Senator Sharon Runner Discusses Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant For 1st Time
    • Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/28/4372454/fletcher-leaves-gop-before-san.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mi_rss=Latest%20News) – RT @sacbee_news: APNewsBreak: Fletcher bolts GOP in San Diego