• Barack Obama,  Mitt Romney,  Polling,  President 2012

    President 2012 Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 46 Vs. Barack Obama 44%



    According to the latest Fox News Poll.

    Republican Mitt Romney holds a slim edge over President Obama in a head-to-head matchup, a Fox News poll released Thursday shows. In addition, the poll finds the president’s job rating has dropped to its lowest point of the year.

    In a presidential matchup, Romney tops Obama by 46-44 percent if the election were today. 

    As with every Romney-Obama matchup in the past six months, the race is so tight that it is within the poll’s margin of sampling error. This, however, is only the second time the Fox News poll shows Romney on top. The first time was November 2011, when he was also up by 2 percentage points.

    The poll was conducted Monday through Wednesday. On Tuesday, Rick Santorum suspended his presidential bid — giving Romney a clear path to the Republican nomination. 

    More Republicans (42 percent) than Democrats (32 percent) or independents (34 percent) say they are “extremely” interested in the upcoming presidential election.

    Even so, the strength of party support in the matchup is dead even: 85 percent of Democrats back Obama and 85 percent of Republican back Romney.

    Among the highly sought after group of independents, the poll found 43 percent back Romney and 37 percent Obama. Nearly one in four independent voters (21 percent) is undecided or won’t vote for either of the major party candidates.  Last month, independents split evenly between Obama and Romney at 40 percent each. In February, Romney had a 9-point advantage. 

    The poll shows the gender gap may not solely be a problem for the Republican candidate. Women are more likely to back Obama (by 49-41 percent), while men are even more likely to give their support to Romney (by 52-38 percent). The 2008 Fox News national exit poll showed women voted for Obama over Republican John McCain by 13 percentage points (56-43 percent). Historically, exit poll results show women have consistently backed the Democrat over the Republican in presidential elections.

    Now that Mitt Romney has clinched the Republican nomination, it is game on.

    The Hilary Rosen flap may indeed hurt Obama enough that his female support may wane and any gender gap to his advantage may narrow.

    Stay tuned…

  • Charles Manson

    Video: Charles Manson Parole Hearing – Parole Denied

    The 2011, aged 77 Charles Manson

    No surprise that parole was denied.

    A prison panel denied parole Wednesday to mass murderer Charles Manson in his 12th and probably final bid for freedom.

    Manson, now a gray-bearded, 77-year-old, did not attend the hearing where the parole board ruled he had shown no efforts to rehabilitate himself and would not be eligible for parole for another 15 years.

    “This panel can find nothing good as far as suitability factors go,” said John Peck, a member of the panel that met at Corcoran State Prison in Central California.

    Also playing heavily into the board’s decision was something Manson had said recently to one of his prison psychologists that Peck read aloud.

    “‘I’m special. I’m not like the average inmate,”‘ Peck said. “‘I have spent my life in prison. I have put five people in the grave. I am a very dangerous man.”‘

    Peck then spoke for the record directly to Manson, who will receive a transcription of the proceedings: “This panel agrees with that statement.”

    The panel deliberated for 20 minutes before making its decision.

    Here is the video:

    There will probably be no more parole hearings for Charles Manson which is just fine with me and most Californans.

    Manson is lucky to be alive, as he really should have been executed decades ago, except for a legal loophole.

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: April 12, 2012

    These are my links for April 11th through April 12th:

    • Ann Romney Fights Back: Debuts on Twitter to Counter DNC Advisor’s Insult – Ann Romney’s debut on Twitter couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

      Ann’s first tweet came just moments after Democratic strategist and DNC adviser Hilary Rosen lobbed an insult at Ann Romney, suggesting that the 64-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 16 had never held a job.

      “Guess what, his wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” said Rosen, who was being interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the “war on women.”

      And then, just like that, a familiar name popped up on Twitter: @AnnDRomney.

      “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” Ann tweeted.

      The Romney campaign confirmed to ABC News that the account belongs to Ann Romney.

      The tweet came just as husband Mitt wrapped up a second day of campaigning that all but entirely focused on the “war against women,” packing events with female business leaders and accusing the Obama administration’s economic policies of hurting women.

      “I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a tweet.

      Top Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod also tweeted his disapproval: “Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.”

      video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

    • Democrat’s comment about Ann Romney creates firestorm on Twitter – Democratic Strategist Hilary Rosen generated instant bipartisan criticism Wednesday night for her statement that Ann Romney has “actually never worked a day in her life.”

      The reaction on Twitter from high level politicos was instant and virtually unanimous: Rosen had gone too far.

      Rosen’s comment also prompted Ann Romney herself to make her twitter debut.

      “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys,” Romney tweeted. “Believe me, it was hard work.”

      Rosen, also a CNN political contributor and a working mother, made her comments on CNN’s “AC360.”

      “What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” Rosen said.

    • Hilary Rosen: Ann Romney and Working Moms – My Twitter feed was on fire after an appearance last night on CNN’s AC360, where I said that I thought it was wrong for Mitt Romney to be using his wife as his guide to women’s economic struggles when she “had never worked a day in her life.” Oh my, you should read the tweets and the hate mail I got after that. The accusations were flying. I don’t know what it means to be a mom (I have 2 children). I obviously don’t value the work that a mother does and how hard it is (the hardest job I have ever had); and I absolutely hate anyone who doesn’t have the same views as I do (hate is a strong word).

      Spare me the faux anger from the right who view the issue of women’s rights and advancement as a way to score political points. When it comes to supporting policies that would actually help women, their silence has been deafening. I don’t need lectures from the RNC on supporting women and fighting to increase opportunities for women; I’ve been doing it my whole career. If they want to attack me and distract the public’s attention away from their nominee’s woeful record, it just demonstrates how much they just don’t get it.

    • President Obama: Quoting Reagan out of context – The Washington Post – President Obama: Quoting Reagan out of context – The Washington Post
    • Caffeine Helps Muscles in Morning Workouts | News – RT @runnersworld: Drink that pre-workout java: Study finds caffeine improves AM muscle performance.
    • A graphic of the Twitter aftermath following Hilary Rosen’s jab at Ann Romney – RT @jamiedupree: A graphic of the Twitter aftermath following Hilary Rosen’s jab at Ann Romney
    • President Obama: Quoting Reagan out of context – The Washington Post – President Obama cited two specific Reagan speeches — one (June 28, 1985) in which Reagan quoted from a letter he had received from a wealthy executive and another (June 6, 1985) in which he said it was “crazy” for some multimillionaires to pay zero in taxes.

      Why did Reagan give those speeches? Contrary to Obama’s suggestion that he was specifically arguing for a new tax provision aimed at the superwealthy, Reagan was barnstorming the country in an effort to reduce taxes for all Americans, mainly by cutting rates, simplifying the tax system and eliminating tax shelters that allowed some people to avoid paying any taxes at all.

      In other words, Reagan was pushing for a tax cut for everyone, not just an increase on a few. (The highest tax bracket at the time was 50 percent.) He even wanted to cut the tax rate on capital gains from 20 percent to 17.5 percent.

    • This Will Be The Highest Stakes Poker Game In History – A never-before-seen $1 million buy-in tournament at the World Series of Poker this year will generate the richest top prize in poker history at more than $12 million —and potentially more if additional players get in.

      Series officials planned to announce Thursday that 30 players are committed to participate in the Big One for One Drop starting July 1 in Las Vegas

    • Running Tips – Tips For Post Race DepressionThe Streaking Runner – RT @Racerunningtips: Running Tips – Tips For Post Race Depression
    • Stuart Varney is Furious about the Misleading Information on the Buffett Rule
      – YouTube
      – RT @Varneyco: I have never seen Stuart this angry. He’s furious about misleading media reports on the Buffett Rule:
    • Democrat Hilary Rosen Sparks Twitter Uproar Over Ann Romney Comments – Alexandra Jaffe – NationalJournal.com – RT @nationaljournal: Ann Romney joins Twitter, responding to an attack from a Democratic strategist.
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-12 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-12
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26 Video: Linda Parks Up First With Television Ads – CA-26 Video: Linda Parks Up First With Television Ads
    • Dem senator: Buffett Rule ‘isn’t going to balance the budget’ – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room – RT @StewSays: (The Hill) Dem senator: Buffett Rule ‘isn’t going to balance the budget’ #BuffettTax
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012 Colorado Poll Watch: Obama Leading Romney 53% Vs. 40% – President 2012 Colorado Poll Watch: Obama Leading Romney 53% Vs. 40%
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: April 11, 2012 – The Morning Flap: April 11, 2012
    • Google+ gets major redesign with simpler UI and more customization – Google announced this morning that Google+ is set to receive a massive redesign over the next few days that will make it easier to use and much more intuitive. The company has been innovating quickly with its social network, and this is just another example of their commitment to the platform.

      For starters, the main page has seen a complete overhaul. Rather than your tabs bring up top as well as along the side, you’ll get icons along the left panel. These are also customizable, so if you don’t want the Games icon, you can simply move it. There are also quick actions that you can access for each icon by hovering over them.

      Posting photos and videos is getting an upgrade as well. Larger content will appear in your Stream now whether you’re sharing it yourself or viewing pictures from your friends. Google is adding a feature that they’re calling ‘cards’, which are streams of conversations that you can join. There will also be an activity drawer to highlight important content.

    • Great news: Subprime lending escalating again – Hey, who’s up for the hair of the dog that nearly destroyed the American financial system in 2008?  The good news is that the sudden increase in subprime lending hasn’t hit the mortgage market yet.  The bad news is that it’s hitting just about everywhere else:

      But as financial institutions recover from the losses on loans made to troubled borrowers, some of the largest lenders to the less than creditworthy, including Capital One and GM Financial, are trying to woo them back, while HSBC and JPMorgan Chase are among those tiptoeing again into subprime lending.

      Credit card lenders gave out 1.1 million new cards to borrowers with damaged credit in December, up 12.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to Equifax’s credit trends report released in March. These borrowers accounted for 23 percent of new auto loans in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 17 percent in the same period of 2009, Experian, a credit scoring firm, said.

      Consumer advocates and lawyers worry that the financial institutions are again preying on the most vulnerable and least financially sophisticated borrowers, who are often willing to take out credit at any cost.

    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: via @flap
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Plasma-rich Growth Factor Can Help Cancer IV Bisphosphonate Using Patients With Tooth Extractions – Plasma-rich Growth Factor Can Help Cancer IV Bisphosphonate Using Patients With Tooth Extractions
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: New Epidemiology Study Links Dental X-Rays and Brain Tumors – New Epidemiology Study Links Dental X-Rays and Brain Tumors
  • Twitter

    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-12

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