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The Morning Flap: July 18, 2012

The Morning Flap links for July 17th through July 18th:

  • Arpaio calls Congress to move on Obama eligibility– At the conclusion of a press conference led by Cold Case Posse chief investigator Michael Zullo that detailed the reasons the long-form birth certificate of President Barack Obama is a forgery, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said it’s time for a higher authority to investigate the issue.Mr. Arpaio said he would like Congress … “someone” … to look at the material his investigative team had gathered. As he had told WND earlier: “Although I am having a difficult time deciding who to forward this information to given the fact that the obvious choices report directly to the president, I cannot stand by and hold on to information that threatens to weaken national security.”The press conference held Tuesday clarified some of the issues discussed in an earlier press conference held in Phoenix on March 1, at which the Cold Case Posse presented its initial findings of a six-month-long investigation into the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. “I cannot in good faith report to you that these documents are authentic,” Mr. Arpaio said at the time.
  • Arpaio: Obama birth record ‘definitely fraudulent’– Investigators for an Arizona sheriff’s volunteer posse have declared that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is definitely fraudulent.Members of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s posse said in March that there was probable cause that Obama’s long-form birth certificate released by the White House in April 2011 was a computer-generated forgery.Now, Arpaio says investigators are positive it’s fraudulent.Mike Zullo, the posse’s chief investigator, said numeric codes on certain parts of the birth certificate indicate that those parts weren’t filled out, yet those sections asking for the race of Obama’s father and his field of work or study were completed.

    Zullo said investigators previously didn’t know the meaning of codes but they were explained by a 95-year-old former state worker who signed the president’s birth certificate. Zullo said a writer who published a book about Obama’s birth certificate and was aiding investigators let them listen in on an interview he conducted of the former state worker.

    The Obama campaign declined to comment on Arpaio’s allegations.

  • President Obama’s jobs panel missing in action– President Barack Obama’s Jobs Council hasn’t met publicly for six months, even as the issue of job creation dominates the 2012 election.At this point, the hiatus — which reached the half-year mark Tuesday — might be less awkward than an official meeting, given the hornet’s nest of issues that could sting Obama and the council members if the private-sector panel gets together.
  • Romney Shreds Obama Economic Philosophy in Southwest PA Stop– Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney contrasted his economic philosophy with that of President Obama by using the President’s own statements against him during a campaign stop in southwest Pennsylvania Tuesday afternoon.Standing in front of a large sign that read “Obama’s Upside-Down Economy” at Horizontal Wireless Services in Irwin, Romney addressed a speech Obama made last week in Roanoke, VA where he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,” while speaking on the role of government-funded infrastructure in U.S. commerce.“I’ve got to be honest: I don’t think anyone could have said what he said who had actually started a business or been in a business,” Romney said. “In my own view, what the president said was both startling and revealing.”Romney countered Obama’s statement with his own five-point plan to mend the U.S. economy, including loosening regulations on coal, oil and natural gas, improving international trade policies, balancing the federal budget, improving the education system and encouraging “economic freedom.”
  • Romney: Obama Trying To Change ‘The Nature Of America’– Mitt Romney repeatedly seemed to question whether President Barack Obama believed in the American dream in an energetic campaign speech Tuesday, calling his rival’s approach to leadership “foreign” and accusing him of trying to change “the nature of America.””President Obama attacks success and therefore under President Obama we have less success, and I will change that,” Romney told more than 1,000 cheering supporters at an oil and gas services company in suburban Pittsburgh, after the president told a Virginia audience Friday that all Americans benefit from government investment in infrastructure and education.
  • Romney on Tax Returns: ‘I’m Simply Not Enthusiastic about Giving Them Hundreds or Thousands of More Pages to Pick Through, Distort, and Lie About’ – Earlier today, Mitt Romney spoke with NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE about life on the trail, his meeting with Dick Cheney, and his upcoming trip to Europe. He called from western Pennsylvania, where he will later hold a rally at a wireless company.
  • Obama Kills Welfare Reform– Determined to destroy Bill Clinton’s signature achievement, President Barack Obama’s Administration has opened a loophole in the 1996 Welfare Reform legislation big enough to make the law ineffective. Its work requirement — the central feature of the legislation — has been diluted beyond recognition by the bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services.On Thursday of last week, HHS issued regulations that modified — gutted — the work requirement. Its new regulations allow the states to substitute education programs for work to get welfare benefits. The regs say that “vocational educational training or job search/readiness programs count as well” in meeting the basic condition that recipients work in order to receive welfare benefits.
  • Romney Should Release the Returns – Mitt Romney is steadfastly resisting calls to release additional years of his personal tax returns, arguing — not without good reason —that this demand is part of a fishing expedition by the Obama campaign, which hopes to exploit Romney’s personal wealth and successful business career as part of a class-warfare election strategy. Romney argues that whatever he releases will not be enough to satisfy the Obama campaign and its factota in the media, who are, once again, proving their bias and double standards. Romney is right, but he should release the returns anyway. Let them go fish.
  • Letters to Leon Panetta– A bipartisan group of Senators is urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide more than $300 million in promised funding needed for modernizing the aging U.S. nuclear weapons complex.Separately, two senior House Republicans want Panetta to explain whether U.S. intelligence estimates of when Iran will have long-range missile capabilities changed and whether U.S. missile defense plans are adequate to counter them.The senators—led by Senate minority whip Jon Kyl and including six Republicans, one Democrat, and one Independent—stated in a June 29 letter that the president’s budget for nuclear weapons fell $370 million short of the amount required under 2010 legislation.
  • Cheney, Lockheed CEO deliver dire warnings of impact of automatic cuts– Former Vice President Cheney made a rare trip to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to give House and Senate Republicans a dire assessment of what $500 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget would mean for national security.Cheney’s appearance came amid a concerted lobbying push from the defense industry, which is trying to persuade Congress to act now on the sequester by warning the cuts will lead to massive job losses
  • Christie, Priebus raise cash for Romney in North Carolina– ABC’s affiliate in Raleigh reports that Chris Christie and Reince Priebus raised at least $187K for Mitt Romney at a high-priced fundraiser in North Carolina last night.Their star power attracted about 75 guests. It was a who’s who of big name conservatives from the multi-millionaire Art Pope to Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison.The cost to hear Christie and Preibus speak was between $2,500 and $75,000 per couple.
  • Christie reportedly eyed for RNC convention keynote– The word is going out quietly to Republican activists across New Jersey: If you’re going to the GOP convention in Tampa next month, be sure to be there by Tuesday night, Aug. 28, because Gov. Chris Christie is going to be giving the keynote speech that night.“We’ve been told that’s the night to be there, that’s when the governor is going to speak. They’re saying he’s the keynoter,” one top party activist told The Post yesterday.
  • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-18 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-18
  • Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s Comments On His Home, California – Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania? –
  • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Afternoon Drill: July 17, 2012 – The Afternoon Drill: July 17, 2012
  • Crony Capitalism With Barack Obama and Steve Westly – Flap’s Blog – Crony Capitalism With Barack Obama and Steve Westly
  • Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania? – Flapsblog.org – Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania?
  • (404) http://t.co/k13 – RT @ppppolls: Obama’s approval numbers in Iowa have flipped from narrowly positive (49/46) to narrowly negative (47/49): …
  • Obama leads in Iowa – Public Policy Polling – RT @ppppolls: Our newest Iowa poll finds Barack Obama leading 48-43, down from a 51-41 advantage on our May poll there:
  • Obama has investments in companies that ship jobs overseas | WashingtonExaminer.com – RT @philipaklein: New post: “Obama has investments in companies that ship jobs overseas”
  • President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 48% Vs. Romney 46% – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 48% Vs. Romney 46%
  • Gallup: U.S. Unemployment Down to 7.9% in Mid-July – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Gallup: U.S. Unemployment Down to 7.9% in Mid-July
  • The Morning Flap: July 17, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 17, 2012
  • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 17, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 17, 2012