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Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts

These are my links for May 21st through May 22nd:

• Targeting John Roberts – The left tries to intimidate the High Court on ObamaCare- You can tell the Supreme Court is getting closer to its historic ObamaCare ruling because the left is making one last attempt to intimidate the Justices. The latest effort includes taunting Chief Justice John Roberts that if the Court overturns any of the law, he’ll forever be defined as a partisan “activist.”Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy recently took the extraordinary step of publicly lobbying the Chief Justice after oral argument but before its ruling. “I trust that he will be a Chief Justice for all of us and that he has a strong institutional sense of the proper role of the judicial branch,” the Democrat declared on the Senate floor. “The conservative activism of recent years has not been good for the Court.”
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 22, 2012 – Choice – Day By Day May 22, 2012 – Choice
• Men Should Skip Common Prostate Test, Panel Says – WSJ.com – RT @WSJ: Influential health panel recommends against PSA prostate cancer tests for men -
• Romney and the Right- This November, millions of conservatives will find themselves in the familiar position of holding their noses to vote for a problematic Republican presidential candidate, because the alternative is far worse.Although conservatives don’t exactly have fond memories of the candidacies of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole in 1996 and Senator John McCain in 2008, the almost certain nomination of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has its own sting.In 2010, tea-party energy swept a new generation of conviction conservatives into statehouses, governors’ mansions, and the U.S. Congress. Many on the right held out hope that the big payoff would be putting a principled conservative in the White House.
• Timing May Be Key in Romney’s VP Announcement- t Romney deliberates on his most important pre-convention political decision, the identity of whomever he selects as a running mate isn’t the only choice he and the vetting team must make.The timing of that vice-presidential unveiling can have a major impact on the race, as the experience of his 2008 predecessor demonstrated fully.
• Obama Thinks He’s the Fairness Czar- Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., came across as a moderate, sensible Democrat when he said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that negative political ads are “nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright.”Booker, a Barack Obama surrogate, later tried to walk back his comments. He posted a video in which he explained that he was expressing his frustration with negative campaigning when he spoke out, effectively undermining the president’s re-election narrative. (Booker also referred to the biggest non-story in politics last week, about a political consultant who recommended that a super PAC use Wright in an anti-Obama ad. That ad didn’t get made.)
• Obama Campaign Does Damage Control After Dems Question Anti-Bain Strategy- The Obama campaign is in full damage-control mode one day after Newark Mayor Cory Booker publicly derided Democrats’ assault on presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney over his record at Bain Capital.Chief Obama strategist David Axelrod today publicly rebuked Booker, a popular and high-profile surrogate for the campaign, saying he was “just wrong.”"I love Cory Booker. He’s a great mayor. If I were, if my house was on fire, I’d hope he were my next door neighbor,” Axelrod said on MSNBC, referring to Booker’s rescue of a neighbor last month.

  “I agree with what he said later. I think this was a legitimate area for discussion,” Axelrod said of Booker’s subsequent comments clarifying the issue.

  As for the criticism that the Team Obama’s Bain attack is part of “nauseating” political discourse with which Booker has become “very uncomfortable,” Axelrod said, “on this particular instance he was just wrong.”

• ABC/WashPost Poll: Obama Still Under 50 – Among Adults – By Jim Geraghty – The Campaign Spot – National Review Online – RT @jimgeraghty: In ABC/WashPost poll, married women swung heavily towards Romney in the past month:
• Hamid Karzai blows top over Dana Rohrabacher- Afghan President Hamid Karzai says Rep. Dana Rohrabacher will be banned from entering his country until the congressman “changes his tongue” and stops criticizing Afghanistan.“A democratically elected congressman of the United States of America should not be talking of an ethnic divide in Afghanistan, should not be interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, should not be asking the Afghan people to have a federal structure as against what the Afghan constitution has asked for, should not be speaking disrespectfully about the Afghan people or the various ethnic groups in Afghanistan,” Karzai said in an interview with CNN. “If an Afghan did that from Afghanistan, how would you react to him in America?”
• Medscape: Medscape Access – RT @Medscape: Vitamin D Supplementation and the Allergy Pandemic
• Sarah Palin: ‘Shame’ Cory Booker backed down- Sarah Palin is applauding Cory Booker’s criticism of the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital as “candid,” adding that it was a “shame” that the Democratic mayor retreated from his initial remarks that have touched off a firestorm.“It was a shame to see Cory kind of back down from what his answer was, which was so candid,” Palin told Sean Hannity of Fox News on Monday
• Poll: Obama, Romney in Dead Heat – Steven Shepard – NationalJournal.com – RT @HotlineSteve: .@ABC/@washingtonpost poll shows Obama, Romney tied overall and on handling the economy:
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-22 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-22
• El Monte school district moving to dismiss employees who have been on paid leave for months- After 10 months of investigation, the local high school district is winding down its inquiries into a dozen employees accused of stealing.Four of the El Monte Union High School District employees no longer work for the district, for undisclosed reasons, and the school board is still figuring out what to do about eight other employees, according to Superintendent Nick Salerno and Thomas Madruga, the district’s attorney.Most the workers in question were on the district’s maintenance/facilities staff.

  Several of the 12 employees have been on paid leave since late June or early July of last year. Officials would not reveal exactly how many.

  The school board was briefed about the workers during a closed-session portion of a May 2 board meeting, according to Madruga. And resolutions for the remaining employees could come soon, he said.

  Sources inside the district said the board rejected a proposal that would have let two of the employees come back to work, after facing a few days of unpaid leave as discipline.

  Madruga and Salerno said the charges relate to accusations of theft that were brought to the attention of the district at the end of the last school year.

  Some of the allegations were small, such as taking home the last few sheets of a roll of paper towels, according to Salerno and Madruga.

  But others involved using the district’s lines of credit to acquire personal property.

  “I mean costly equipment, major equipment,” Salerno said.

  Some of the employees were accused of using district finances to buy a motor home.

  Salerno said that district officials learned that a culture of taking things from the district had taken hold among a handful of employees in the district’s maintenance staff.

  He said as far as he knew, the practices had been going on for decades.

  “There seemed to be this small circle who accepted this stuff and thought it was OK,” he said.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Washington Dental Service’s CEO James Dwyer Apologizes for Calling Dentists Not Working Hard Enough – Washington Dental Service’s CEO James Dwyer Apologizes for Calling Dentists Not Working Hard Enough
• Home – SGVTribune.com – Annual Pasadena Marathon comes off without a hitch -
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Obama’s Bain Capital Attacks on Romney Backfiring? – Obama’s Bain Capital Attacks on Romney Backfiring?
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: May 21, 2012 – The Morning Drill: May 21, 2012
• Annual Pasadena Marathon comes off without a hitch – SGVTribune.com – RT @SGVTribune: Annual Pasadena Marathon comes off without a hitch
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 21, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 21, 2012

Tags: Afghanistan, Bain, Booker, El_Monte_Union_High_School_District, Karzai, Obama, Obamacare, Palin, Pinboard Links, Roberts, Rohrabacher, Romney, Salerno, SCOTUS, The Morning Flap

These are my links for May 2nd through May 3rd:

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Obama’s Russia Reset: Russia Threatens Strike on Missile Defense Sites – Obama’s Russia Reset: Russia Threatens Strike on Missile Defense Sites
• After A Twitter Win, Romney Meets The Online Right – At the Republican National Committee yesterday, conservative online writers and bloggers who arrived to meet with Romney were also shown a chart that seemed to explain the Romney campaign’s new warmth toward them. The chart (resembling, a source said, the one produced by Twitter above) illustrated the role a hyperactive conservative Twitterverse played in turning Hilary Rosen’s jab at Ann Romney into a great campaign moment for the Republican.
  The event, two bloggers told BuzzFeed, was organized by Patrick Hynes, a veteran online GOP consultant. It featured some friction on issues like health care, but a broader sense that ranks are closing against the common enemies of Obama and the liberal media.
  “It was facing reality — what are we going to do?” asked one attendee. “Everybody agrees with Romney that, policy-wise, Obama is a disaster and a threat.”
  The meeting, which included writers from RedState and Breitbart.com as well as a list of conservative publications reported by Huffington Post — National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Powerline, Townhall,, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media (though not, as an early report had suggested, the conspiracist site WorldNetDaily). RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.
  Notably, the meeting also included some grassroots bloggers with no real institutional ties to the Washington Republican Establishment, including the Twitter virtuoso Ace of Spades and John Hawkins of Right Wing News.
• Mitt Romney Meets With Conservative Media Off The Record – In an effort to reach out to conservative media, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and wife Ann met for two hours Wednesday with several dozen conservative bloggers, reporters and columnists in an off-the-record gathering at a private Washington, D.C. club, according to attendees.

  Romney, who struggled with some members of the conservative media during the Republican primary, is banking on their support in his campaign against President Barack Obama, regardless of whether they were previously in his corner or not.

  The attendees came from numerous conservative sites and right-of-center publications, including National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Human Events, RedState, Right Wing News, Powerline, Townhall, Ace of Spades, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier and PJ Media. RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.

• I would not have gone, so it’s a good thing you didn’t invite me – I never get invited to anything.  Not that I would go, anyway.  I have much more important things to do.

  Via Ben Smith, Buzzfeed Politics, After A Twitter Win, Romney Meets The Online Right:

  At the Republican National Committee yesterday, conservative online writers and bloggers who arrived to meet with Romney were also shown a chart that seemed to explain the Romney campaign’s new warmth toward them. The chart (resembling, a source said, the one produced by Twitter above) illustrated the role a hyperactive conservative Twitterverse played in turning Hilary Rosen’s jab at Ann Romney into a great campaign moment for the Republican….

  The meeting, which included writers from RedState and Breitbart.com as well as a list of conservative publications reported by Huffington Post — National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Powerline, Townhall,, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media (though not, as an early report had suggested, the conspiracist site WorldNetDaily). RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.

  Notably, the meeting also included some grassroots bloggers with no real institutional ties to the Washington Republican Establishment, including the Twitter virtuoso Ace of Spades and John Hawkins of Right Wing News.

• Flapsblog Posts / Hype and Blame…pretty much says it all.. – Hype and Blame…pretty much says it all..
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012: Republicans Call Obama’s Campaign – Hype and Blame – President 2012: Republicans Call Obama’s Campaign – Hype and Blame
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Linda Parks Again Refuses to Say With Which Party She Will Caucus If Elected to Congress – CA-26: Linda Parks Again Refuses to Say With Which Party She Will Caucus If Elected to Congress
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: May 3, 2012 – The Morning Drill: May 3, 2012
• Barry’s Imaginary Girlfriend – There has been a lot of hilarity today over the revelation that the “New York girlfriend” who plays a significant role in Barack Obama’s autobiography Dreams From My Father did not, strictly speaking, exist. Rather, she was a composite or “compression” of several girlfriends that Obama now says he had after he graduated from college. To be fair, Obama wrote in the introduction to his book that “some of the characters that appear are composites of people I’ve known,” so the reader was forewarned. Whether a typical reader would have imagined that the “New York girlfriend” was such a composite, and that various incidents attributed to Obama’s relationship with her never happened, I don’t know.

  The revelation comes from a forthcoming biography of Obama by David Maraniss that is excerpted in next month’s Vanity Fair. Like most Vanity Fair articles it is just about interminable, and I haven’t yet had time to read it all. But already, several interesting points emerge.

  There actually was a New York girlfriend. Her name is Genevieve Cook, and Maraniss interviewed her for his book. Not only that, she kept a journal that included the time when she dated Obama, from which Maraniss quotes. She is by no means hostile to Obama, but her account of their relationship diverges from his, in Dreams From My Father, in a number of ways.

• Obama’s Afghan Partnership Puts Symbolism Over Substance- Bloomberg – Obama’s Afghan Partnership Puts Symbolism Over Substance
• Warren: I used minority listing to share heritage – Make friends – Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, fending off questions about whether she used her Native American heritage to advance her career, said today she enrolled herself as a minority in law school directories for nearly a decade because she hoped to meet other people with tribal roots.

  “I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off,” said Warren.

  The Harvard Law professor argued she didn’t use her minority status to get her teaching jobs, and slammed her Republican rival U.S. Sen.Scott Brown for suggesting otherwise.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 3, 2012 – Twice – Day By Day May 3, 2012 – Twice
• Obama’s Afghan Partnership Puts Symbolism Over Substance – Perhaps the biggest surprise of President Barack Obama’s appearance in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday wasn’t the trip itself, but his use of the occasion to make a head-scratching speech and sign a strategic partnership accord that raises more questions than it answers.
  “Over the last three years, the tide has turned,” the president said. “We broke the Taliban’s momentum.” This triumphant note jars against a Pentagon report released this week, which warned that “the insurgency remains a resilient and determined enemy and will likely attempt to regain lost ground and influence this spring and summer.”
  Obama can be forgiven for wanting to put the best spin on the situation to Americans, but the Afghans present were probably not convinced about the tide’s turning. Civilian casualties have risen in the last year, and within hours of Obama’s departure, a suicide attack in Kabul killed at least seven. The most important audience might have been the U.S.’s allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, who needed to be assured of the White House’s intentions in Afghanistan before a NATO summit meeting this month in Chicago.
  Which brings us to the ostensible reason for Obama’s trip, the agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a “legally binding executive agreement, which does not require it to be submitted to the Senate” for approval, according to White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. What it will require from Congress, however, is annual funding of an unspecified amount to support Afghan security forces after the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops in 2014 — shaky ground on which to base an important national security priority. Congress is easily distracted, the Treasury will be stretched thin for years to come, and the U.S. annual contribution will run to the billions, not hundreds of millions, of dollars.
• John Yoo’s Vindication – How baseless was the persecution of John Yoo by the white-shoe legal elite, which peddled the claims of a terrorist in order to harass the Bush Administration lawyer for his national-security views? So baseless that even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown the case out.

  On Wednesday a unanimous three-judge panel in the famously liberal appeals court dismissed the civil lawsuit brought by Jose Padilla, whose lawyers have besieged former Bush officials since his criminal conviction in a plot to detonate a dirty bomb on American soil.

• Cheer Up! Romney Rebounding in Swing States – By Jim Geraghty – The Campaign Spot – National Review Online – RT @jimgeraghty: In swing states, most want Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare: 51-38 in FL, 51-37 in OH, 46-43 in PA.
• Presidential Swing States (FL, OH & PA) Poll * May 3, 2012 * Romney Bounces Back In Two Of – Quinnipiac University ? Hamden, Connecticut – RT @TheFix: New Quinnipiac polls out! FL: Romney 44, Obama 43. OH: Obama 44, Romney 42. PA: Obama 47, Romney 39.
• The dangerous new Obama book – Glenn Thrush and Dylan Byers – POLITICO.com – RT @TheFix: Why the White House is worried about @davidmaraniss’s new Obama book. #campaignreads
• Poll: Romney Ties Obama in Two Big Swing States – Ohio & Florida – Mitt Romney now runs neck-and-neck with President Obama in electoral-vote-rich Ohio and Florida, according to the latest installment of the Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll, another sign that the two candidates begin the general election campaign locked in a tight battle for the White House next year.

  In both states, the race has tightened since the previous poll conducted in late March. In Pennsylvania, Obama leads Romney in the race for the Keystone State’s 20 electoral votes, the poll shows, putting the president is in a slightly stronger position there compared to the previous survey.

  Romney’s rise in two of the three critical states is fueled by voters’ perceptions of the economy. Voters in Florida and Ohio think the former Massachusetts governor would do a better job with the economy, while Pennsylvania voters are split evenly on the question. And only a slight majority of voters in each state thinks the economy is beginning to recover.

• Da Asks Court To Order The Execution Of Two Death Row Inmates – LOS ANGELES District Attorney Steve Cooley asked the Los Angeles Superior Court today to order the execution of two long-time Death Row inmates with a court-approved single-drug protocol currently used in other parts of the country.

  In motions filed by Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee, the court was asked to order the executions of Mitchell Carleton Sims, 52, and Tiequon Aundray Cox, 46, each of whom have been on San Quentins Death Row for a quarter of a century.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-03 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-03
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: May 2, 2012 – The Daily Extraction: May 2, 2012
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama Surges to an 8 Point Lead – President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama Surges to an 8 Point Lead
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012: Super PAC Restore Our Future Ad Buys Reveal States Which Are in Play for Mitt Romney – President 2012: Super PAC Restore Our Future Ad Buys Reveal States Which Are in Play for Mitt Romney
• First Read – Poll: Walker deadlocked versus Barrett in Wisconsin recall – RT @DomenicoNBC: Poll: Walker deadlocked versus Barrett in Wisconsin recall
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 2, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 2, 2012

Tags: Afghanistan, Bloggers, Brown, campaignreads, Cooley, Death_Penalty, Obama, Pinboard Links, Polling, Romney, Terror, The Afternoon Flap, Warren, Yoo

These are my links for May 1st through May 2nd:

• New York Post Mocks Obama’s Afghanistan Trip – Two schools of thought: Obama is at risk of being seen as politicizing national security. Or, any day spent talking about Osama Bin Laden, and not the economy, is a good one.

• The curious resignation of Richard Grenell – The political world is buzzing over the sudden resignation of Richard Grenell, the former spokesman for John Bolton at the UN who had signed on to serve as foreign policy spokesman for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Grenell was scheduled to begin work Tuesday, May 1.  Instead, he resigned before starting the job.

  The news was broken Tuesday morning by Jennifer Rubin, a pro-Romney blogger at the Washington Post.  The headline of Rubin’s report said the openly gay Grenell had been “hounded from [the] Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives.”  Rubin cited articles in National Review and the Daily Caller which she said “reflected the uproar by some social conservatives over the appointment.”

  Some publications on the left picked up on Rubin’s report and suggested that Grenell had been driven from his job by, among others, Bryan Fischer, a top official at the social conservative American Family Association.  Fischer is perhaps best known for a series of inflammatory statements about gays, Muslims, Mormons, and others.  Last October, Fischer was scheduled to speak after Romney at the Values Voter summit in Washington.  Knowing Fischer’s record, and already concerned by anti-Mormon comments from another attendee, Robert Jeffress, Romney decided to use his speech to condemn Fischer, although not by name.

• El Monte Union board to vote on layoffs, administrative pay cuts – Board members Wednesday will vote on a resolution eliminating 21 classified staff positions in the El Monte Union High School District as part of a county-mandated Fiscal Stabilization Plan.

  The district is facing a potential $6.2 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, which amounts to approximately 7 percent of the district’s total annual expenditures of about $90 million.

  Also as part of the Fiscal Stabilization Plan, board members will also vote on a 2 percent salary reduction for classified administrators, including a pay cut for the district’s assistant superintendent of personnel and its chief business official. Board members already approved the pay cuts for certificated administrators and the superintendent.

  El Monte Union’s construction management company Del Terra will also present an update on projects taking place within the district.

  The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. at South El Monte High School’s Professional Development Center, 1001 Durfee Ave.

• Transcript: Obama hails ‘light of a new day’ in Afghanistan – Good evening from Bagram Air Base. This outpost is more than 7,000 miles from home, but for over a decade it has been close to our hearts. Because here, in Afghanistan, more than half a million of our sons and daughters have sacrificed to protect our country.
  Today, I signed an historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries — a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future in which the war ends, and a new chapter begins.
  Tonight, I’d like to speak to you about this transition. But first, let us remember why we came here. It was here, in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden established a safe-haven for his terrorist organization. It was here, in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda brought new recruits, trained them, and plotted acts of terror. It was here, from within these borders, that al Qaeda launched the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children.
• Pro-Romney Super Pac Spending $4 Million on Swing State Ads – A super PAC supporting Mitt Romney is gearing up to spend nearly $4 million in a group of key swing states, Politico reports.

  Restore our Future is targeting ads in Ohio ($501,000), Iowa ($395,000), Virginia ($241,000), Colorado ($299,000), Nevada ($275,000), Florida ($857,000), North Carolina ($652,000), Michigan ($452,00) and New Hampshire ($225,000), according to a GOP source that revealed the figures to Politico.

  The ads will air in the period between May 3 and May 1

• A Giant Leap for Richard Nixon – Imagine if President Nixon had decided to base his 1972 re-election campaign on the boast that he landed on the moon. His predecessors tried and failed for eight years. It wasn’t an easy decision–what if something went wrong? But that’s why you hire a president, to make those gutsy calls. Which path would George McGovern have taken?

  That’s analogous to President Obama’s effort to campaign on the killing of Osama bin Laden. His absurd braggadocio is turning one of the few successes to occur under his leadership into a political liability.

  Last week the Obama campaign released an advertisement featuring Bill Clinton (the president who actually did pass up opportunities to get bin Laden) praising Obama’s leadership and suggesting that Mitt Romney would have let bin Laden go. Nonsense, Romney replied: “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order,” the New York Times quotes him as saying. (James Fallows, who worked in the Carter White House, grudgingly confirms Romney’s surmise.)

• Blahous and Capretta: Exposing the Medicare Double Count – One of the enduring mysteries of President Obama’s health law is how its spending constraints and payroll tax hikes on high earners can be used to shore up Medicare finances and at the same time pay for a massive new entitlement program. Isn’t this double counting?

  The short answer is: Yes, it is. You can’t spend the same money twice. And so, thanks to the new health law, federal deficits and debt will be hundreds of billions of dollars higher in the next decade alone.

  Here’s how it works. When Congress considers legislation that alters taxes or spending related to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, the changes are recorded not just on the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund’s books, but also on Congress’s “pay-as-you-go” scorecard.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012: Obama Spikes the Ball in Afghanistan – President 2012: Obama Spikes the Ball in Afghanistan
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 1, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 1, 2012

Tags: Afghanistan, El_Monte_Union_High_School_District, Grenell, Medicare, Obama, Obamacare, Pinboard Links, Romney, SuperPACS, Talamantes, The Morning Flap

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama

These are my links for March 12th through March 13th:

• Protests, attacks hit Afghanistan in wake of massacre – Thousands of people took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday to protest the killing of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, burning an effigy of Barack Obama and calling for the killer to be tried in Afghanistan.

  Demonstrators in the city of Jalalabad chanted “Death to America — Death to Obama” and blocked the main highway to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported.
  “Jihad (holy war) is the only way to get the invading Americans out of Afghanistan,” one banner read, according to the newspaper.

• Specter says Obama ditched him after he provided 60th vote to pass health reform – Former Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) writes in a new book that President Obama ditched him in the 2010 election after he helped Obama win the biggest legislative victory of his term by passing healthcare reform.

  Specter also claims that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not uphold his promise to grant him seniority accrued over 28 years of service in the Senate as a Republican.

• California’s Greek Tragedy – WSJ.com – Long a harbinger of national trends and an incubator of innovation, cash-strapped California eagerly awaits a temporary revenue surge from Facebook IPO stock options and capital gains. Meanwhile, Stockton may soon become the state’s largest city to go bust. Call it the agony and ecstasy of contemporary California.

  California’s rising standards of living and outstanding public schools and universities once attracted millions seeking upward economic mobility. But then something went radically wrong as California legislatures and governors built a welfare state on high tax rates, liberal entitlement benefits, and excessive regulation. The results, though predictable, are nonetheless striking. From the mid-1980s to 2005, California’s population grew by 10 million, while Medicaid recipients soared by seven million; tax filers paying income taxes rose by just 150,000; and the prison population swelled by 115,000.

  California’s economy, which used to outperform the rest of the country, now substantially underperforms. The unemployment rate, at 10.9%, is higher than every other state except Nevada and Rhode Island. With 12% of America’s population, California has one third of the nation’s welfare recipients.

• McGurn: Bill Maher’s ‘Fatwa’ – WSJ.com – ‘I don’t like fatwas.”

  The words come from Bill Maher. The HBO comedian was tweeting his disapproval of the campaign to deprive Rush Limbaugh of his sponsors. Especially distressing for Mr. Maher is that the campaign continues even though Mr. Limbaugh has apologized for his rude remarks about the Georgetown Law student who had testified before Congress on behalf of the contraceptive mandate.

  Mr. Maher’s “defense,” of course, may have more to do with self-defense. For in the midst of the ritual denunciations of Mr. Limbaugh, it has emerged that liberals—Mr. Maher included—have long called conservative women things far more vulgar. That has led to embarrassing explanations of why Mr. Maher gets a pass, and whether the super PAC backing President Obama should return the million dollars that Mr. Maher has donated.

• Republican Donors in Limbo – The extended Republican presidential primary has left many GOP donors paralyzed — unsure of whether to invest in the upcoming battle against President Barack Obama or focus on Congressional races.

  Party insiders increasingly believe that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will win the nomination, a development that would likely open the donor spigot for the general election. But a victory by former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) or ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) would probably have the opposite effect. A GOP money machine skeptical of the party’s White House prospects would likely spend instead on House and Senate races as the best hope for a November gain.

• A Mere 80% Say They’re Not Better Off Than Four Years Ago –
• Did GDP and the Unemployment Rate Become De-linked? –
• Father And Daughter Run 100th Marathon Together –
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-13 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-13
• AD-38: Scott Wilk Wins Santa Clarita Valley Republican Assembly Straw Poll » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Scott Wilk Wins Santa Clarita Valley Republican Assembly Straw Poll
• President 2012 Poll Watch: New York Times/CBS Poll Has Obama at 41 Per Cent Approval | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: New York Times/CBS Poll Has Obama at 41 Per Cent Approval
• Red meat is blamed for one in 10 early deaths – Small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami can increase the likelihood of dying by a fifth, researchers from Harvard School of Medicine found. Eating steak increases the risk of dying by 12%.
  The study found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.
  The scientists said that the government’s current advice that people should eat no more than 2.5 ounces (70 grams) a day, around around the level the average Briton already consumes, was “generous”.
  Dr Frank Hu, co-author of the study, said: “Given the growing evidence that even modest amounts of red meat is associated with increased risk of chronic disease and premature death, 2.5 ounces (70 grams) per day seems generous. The bottom line is that we should make red meat only an occassional rather than regular part of our diet.”
  Red meat often contains high amounts of saturated fat, while bacon and salami contain large amounts of salt. Replacing red meat with poultry, fish or vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods cut the risk of dying by up to one fifth, the study found.
• Steve Schmidt: Putting Palin on the ticket taught me there are worse things than losing – Via Mediaite, Exhibit A in why John Podhoretz’s review of “Game Change” is titled “Back Stab.” Actually, scratch that; this is Exhibit Z. Schmidt’s getting more attention for it now because the movie’s getting attention but he’s been dumping on Palin publicly for more than two years and privately for who knows how long. (Leaks from unnamed staffers began less than a week after election day and Palin allies inside the campaign warned weeks earlier that they were coming.) This is his job now, I think — doing sporadic cable-news cameos as some sort of RINO Dr. Frankenstein who created a grassroots monster and has to atone by killing it. Michael Goldfarb, who left the Weekly Standard to join the McCain campaign’s communications team, has had enough:
• Back Stab – Sarah Palin as portrayed by her disloyal staff. – Nicolle Wallace was the onetime consultant to CBS News and media aide to George W. Bush who was assigned to work with Sarah Palin after the Alaska governor was chosen as John McCain’s running mate. It was Wallace who assured the McCain campaign that her dear friend Katie Couric, a committed liberal with a history of interviewing Republicans and conservatives in a quietly nasty way, was the right journalist to conduct a major early interview with the extremely conservative vice-presidential nominee.

  Palin has only herself to blame for how horribly she came off, but as she was the most hotly sought-after interview in the world at the time, the McCain campaign could have picked and chosen and been cleverly calculating about which journalist would win the prize. Wallace was responsible for one of the great blunders in political advance work of modern media history.

  Now, imagine you’re making a movie about the Palin story, one that demonstrates a modicum of sympathy for Sarah Palin’s excoriation at the hands of the media. (I know, I’m talking crazy, but go with me here.) In such a movie, Nicolle Wallace’s catastrophic guidance could have been portrayed in several ways. It could have been played as a simple goof, a wrongheaded political calculation. Or as an example of a kind of golly-gee naïveté, with Wallace being snowed by a seductive Couric. Or as a careerist move killing two birds with one stone, with Wallace seeking to stay in the good graces of her former colleague Couric despite several years of working for Republicans.

• Michael Goldfarb’s response to ‘A game changer for Palin’s image?’ – I can’t speak to the film, because I can’t bring myself to watch it.

  Other loyal McCain staffers I’ve spoken to have had the same reaction. While a few senior aides from the McCain campaign collaborated with the authors of Game Change and painted a picture of John McCain and Sarah Palin as so craven or ill-informed or incompetent that no handler could have gotten them elected, the reality is that John McCain was the better man and would have made a better president.

  We lost that campaign partly because of events beyond our control, and partly as a result of bad counsel given by the same people who are apparently so flatteringly portrayed in this movie. John McCain deserved better than to be betrayed by his own top aides, and true to form he has honorably stuck by Gov. Palin even as she’s been smeared in the press over and over again by the same self-serving former staffers. I only hope that the Romney campaign takes notice of what’s happened here.

  Halperin and Heilemann have gotten a $5 million contract to do the same thing to Romney that they did to McCain, and they will no doubt be looking for Romney aides the same way a con artist searches for his mark – seeking the emotionally vulnerable, the weak, the insecure, the ones who value the approval of MSNBC analysts more than the respect of their own campaign staff. Unfortunately, every Republican campaign has them – and given the opportunity Halperin and Heilemann are certain to reoffend.

• AD-38: Patricia McKeon Upgrades Website and Lists Endorsements » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Patricia McKeon Upgrades Website and Lists Endorsements
• Villaraigosa declines to back any of three competing tax initiatives – latimes.com – RT @LATPoliticsCA: Villaraigosa declines to back any of tax initiatives on ballot
• President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Approval Rate Reaches 49 Per Cent and Trending Upward | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Approval Rate Reaches 49 Per Cent and Trending Upward
• Center-right leaders, Bush alums form religious conscience group – A collection of prominent center-right leaders, including multiple top Bush administration officials, have founded a new advocacy group to advocate for measures exempting religious organizations from federal rules governing contraception coverage, POLITICO has learned.

  Among those involved in planning the group are former presidential adviser Mary Matalin, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, former RNC Chairman and Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, former Rep. Bill Paxon, former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn and New York Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik.

  Their 501(c)4 organization, Conscience Cause, is aimed at “stopping the implementation of a Department of Health and Human Services regulation which would compel people and organizations to pay for drugs and services that violate their faith,” according to a statement shared with POLITICO.

  Both Nicholson and Flynn are former ambassadors to the Vatican; Flynn is the lone Democrat in the group, though he has endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

• College board says it is addressing probation issues – The board that oversees Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges has drafted a letter to the commission that put the colleges on probation, outlining what it has done to improve and what more it plans to do.

  The Ventura County Community College District board is set to vote on the letter Tuesday..

  “We’re trying to specifically respond to their concerns, to show them what we’re doing,” said board President Stephen Blum. “We realize we can’t just tell them what we’re going to do. We have to do what we say we’re going to do. I see this as one of our first steps.”

  The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges put the three campuses on probation last month, citing problems on the board. The commission noted one trustee’s “disruptive and inappropriate behavior.” Although he is not named in the letter, that trustee is Art Hernandez, who represents Oxnard.

• Gawker more acceptable than conservative talk radio for advertisers? – Given all the attacks on advertisers who advertise on the Rush Limbaugh show or other conservative talk radio shows, one has to wonder why the companies below — who are highlighted on Gawker Media’s advertising page — do not apply such standards of civility and civil discourse to Gawker Media?

  Of particular interest was Ford Motor Company, which was included in a list of companies which allegedly had instructed Premier Networks not to run its ads on conservative talk radio for fear of controversy.  I have e-mailed Ford both to confirm it will not advertise on conservative talk radio and that it advertises on Gawker Media sites, but have not heard back.

  At the end of the day, the point is not that advertisers should quite Gawker, it’s that there is a complete double standard.  Sexualized, unapologetic attacks on conservative women simply are part of the accepted landscape.

• California revenues 3.2 percent shy in February – California revenues missed the mark in February by 3.2 percent, or $146.3 million, state Controller John Chiang said Monday.

  Chiang, who manages the state’s cash, said the shortfall was likely due to a spike in tax refunds going out earlier than expected in February. Income tax receipts were 5.7 percent, or $99.9 million, below the Department of Finance’s projection.

  Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers are anxiously awaiting tax receipts from March and April, two significant revenue months as taxpayers file their returns. The Democratic governor has proposed a budget to close a $9.2 billion deficit, but the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has suggested that Brown’s estimates are overly optimistic and that the deficit is likely higher than that figure.

  Though lawmakers have begun to review Brown’s budget in committee, they do not plan to take significant steps on the plan until late spring, closer to the June 15 deadline. Democratic leaders have said they want to see what tax revenues will be like in March and April before deciding how much to cut and where.

• CA-Sen: California Republican Party Endorses Elizabeth Emken for U.S. Senate Race | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-Sen: California Republican Party Endorses Elizabeth Emken for U.S. Senate Race
• Contact | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – @MarkStandriff The website is probably overloaded. You can go here and find my direct text address: First #. Thanks!
• ASICS Support Your Marathoner – 2012 Honda Los Angeles Marathon – Everyone here is the direct link to the Support Your Marathoner Page for me:
• ASICS Support Your Marathoner – 2012 Honda Los Angeles Marathon – @MarkStandriff Mark, is it the support your marathoner link?
• Flapsblog.com Readers: Please Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Readers: Please Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon
• AD-38: Los Angeles County Republican Party Makes NO Endorsements in Assembly Race » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Los Angeles County Republican Party Makes NO Endorsements in Assembly Race
• Social Demographics: Who’s Using Today’s Biggest Networks – More than 66% of adults are connected to one or more social media platforms, but who exactly are these people?

  The infographic below, created by Online MBA, breaks down the demographics, including education level, income, age and gender of social media users, along with other miscellaneous facts.

  Some sites’ users are more demographically alike than others. One thing is the same for most social sites — college students, or those who have completed some college, represent the majority on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg and Reddit. Among Facebook users, 57% have completed some college, and 24% have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Although, people 45 and older make up 46% of Facebook users.

  Social media sites are also seeing a gender split — women use social media more than men. More women are on Facebook and Twitter. About 57% of Facebook and 59% of Twitter users are women.

  Women gravitate toward Pinterest and young, techie men hang out on Google+. Pinterest has the heaviest gender imbalance — 82% of users are women, who pin crafts, gift ideas, hobbies, interior design and fashion. On the other spectrum, Google+ is dominated by men (71%) and early adopters, engineers and developers. About 50% of Google+ users are 24 or younger.

  LinkedIn reports an even ratio of men and women — 49% over age 45 — who use the site to connect with other business professionals.

  Most people use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, and more are doing so while on the go. About 200 million Facebook users check their Timelines from their mobile devices every day.

• Justice Dept opposes Texas voter ID law – The Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday objected to a new photo ID requirement for voters in Texas because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification.
  Texas is the second state in recent months to become embroiled in a court battle with the Justice Department over photo ID requirements for voters.
  The Justice Department said Texas officials failed to show that the newly enacted law has neither a discriminatory purpose nor effect.
  The department had been reviewing the law since last year and discussing the matter with state officials. In January, Texas officials sued U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking a court judgment that the state’s recently enacted voter ID law was not discriminatory in purpose or effect.
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: March 12, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: March 12, 2012
• The Morning Flap: March 12, 2012 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: March 12, 2012
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Dayton Ohio Veterans Administration Dental Clinic Has $6.6 Million in Outstanding Malpractice Claims – Dayton Ohio Veterans Administration Dental Clinic Has $6.6 Million in Outstanding Malpractice Claims
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: March 12, 2012 – The Morning Drill: March 12, 2012

Tags: Afghanistan, California, California_Budget, Contraception, Denton, Diet, Fluke, Gawker, GDP, GOP, Health, Holder, Limbaugh, Maher, Marathon, McCain, Obama, Palin, Pinboard Links, Polling, Red_Meat, Romney, Running, Schmidt, Social_Media, Specter, Texas, The Morning Flap, Unemployment, VCCCD, Ventura_County, Wallace

A Newt Ginrich – Rick Perry GOP Ticket?

These are my links for March 9th through March 12th:

• President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Too close to call in Alabama and Mississippi – Tuesday looks like it’s going to be a close election night in both Mississippi and Alabama. In Mississippi Newt Gingrich is holding on to a slight lead with 33% to 31% for Mitt Romney, 27% for Rick Santorum, and 7% for Ron Paul. And Alabama is even closer with Romney at 31% to 30% for Gingrich, 29% for Santorum, and 8% for Paul.

  Gingrich and Santorum are both more popular than Romney in each of these states. In Mississippi Gingrich’s net favorability is +33 (62/29) to +32 for Santorum (60/28) and +10 for Romney (51/41). It’s a similar story in Alabama where Santorum’s at +32 (63/31), Gingrich is at +26 (58/32), and Romney’s at only +13 (53/40).

  The reason Romney has a chance to win despite being less popular in both states is the split in the conservative vote. In Mississippi 44% of voters describe themselves as ‘very conservative’ and Romney’s getting only 26% with them. But he’s still in the mix because Gingrich leads Santorum only 35-32 with them. In Alabama where 45% of voters identify as ‘very conservative,’ Romney’s at just 24%. But again he remains competitive overall because his opponents are so tightly packed with those voters, with Santorum at 37% and Gingrich at 31%.

• Doonesbury strip on Texas abortion law dropped by some US newspapers – Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau has defended his cartoon strip about abortion, which several US newspapers are refusing to run, saying he felt compelled to respond to the way Republicans across America are undermining women’s healthcare rights.

  The strip, published on Monday and scheduled to run all week, has been rejected by several papers, while others said they were switching it from the comic section to the editorial page.

  In an email exchange with the Guardian, Trudeau expressed dismay over the papers’ decision but was unrepentant, describing as “appalling” and “insane” Republican state moves on women’s healthcare.

• Gingrich, Perry deny they seek a joint ticket – Newt Gingrich’s spokesman on Sunday dismissed speculation about a potential Gingrich-Rick Perry ticket being announced before the Republican National Convention in August, saying the two camps have not discussed the idea “at any level.”

  A report by Fox News cited “sources close to the Gingrich campaign” saying preliminary conversations about such a ticket have begun with the hopes that pairing the former Speaker of the House and the Texas governor might unite evangelical, tea party and other conservative voters.

  But Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said no one in the campaign has reached out to Perry’s camp about a shared ticket.

• Campaign 2012, 6th Congressional District: No cakewalk election for Rep. Spencer Bachus –
• Former Sarah Palin Adviser Says ‘Game Change’ Was ‘True Enough to Make Me Squirm’ –
• McCain slams ‘Game Change’ movie –
• Reid: Kerrey ‘promised nothing’ to run –
• Grayson Involved In Crash With Lynx Bus - –
• Amid anger over Afghan killings, U.S. faces growing public weariness about war –
• Speaking With the Speaker –
• Untitled (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/election-expectations-move-obamas-way-yet-rising-gas-prices-fuel-gop-pushback/) – WaPo/ABC poll: Americans by a broad 65-26 percent disapprove of how the president is handling the price of gas
• Traitor Jane Fonda Wants Rush Limbaugh Kicked Off the Radio – Really? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Traitor Jane Fonda Wants Rush Limbaugh Kicked Off the Radio – Really?
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-12 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-12
• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News – Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News
• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News – Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News
• Many California Election Filing Deadlines Extended to Wednesday » Flap’s California Blog – Many California Election Filing Deadlines Extended to Wednesday
• Untitled (http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ccrov/pdf/2012/march/12083em.pdf) – The 2012 filing deadline was extended in dozens of seats w/ no incumbent. Here’s the full list:
• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News – Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News
• Candidate-filing deadline extended in 3 Ventura County districts – The secretary of state has determined that the deadline for candidates to file to run for office will be extended until Wednesday in three political districts that include portions of Ventura County — the 26th Congressional District, the 19th Senate District and the 38th Assembly District.

  State law provides for such extensions whenever an incumbent eligible to run for re-election decides not to do so.

• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News – Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News
• Maxwell Keith – Attorney for Two of Charles Manson Family Has Died | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Maxwell Keith – Attorney for Two of Charles Manson Family Has Died
• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News – Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles
• Iron Dome Foils 90 Percent of Missiles – The Iron Dome system has intercepted 90 percent of missile attacks on urban centers during the latest rocket bombardment from Gaza.

  The expensive systems were inaugurated last year amid controversy over its worth. A primitive Kassam rocket costs terrorists only a few hundred dollars while each Iron Dome anti-missile missile costs $50,000.

  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated Saturday night, “We will continue to improve home front defense including by means of additional Iron Dome systems, the effectiveness of which was shown again over the weekend.”

• Nicolle Wallace On Sarah Palin ‘Game Change’ Movie – By Nicolle Wallace

  “Game Change” is not a movie about Sarah Palin. And it’s definitely not about staffers like me.

  It’s a film about the vast, murky gray area in which the majority of politics takes place. I’m not talking about what you see on television: the speeches, the rallies, the debates. I’m talking about the man-in-the-mirror moments, the decision-making that takes place behind closed doors, with the counsel of very few men and women, and with high stakes and irreversible consequences.

  Watching “Game Change” is like reliving the most tumultuous professional roller coaster ride on which I’ve ever been. It brought back the highs – Palin’s surprise selection and her glorious moment on stage at our national convention – and the now well-documented lows.

  In the end, it’s also a film about how far great men like John McCain are willing to go in order to serve the country they love. Ultimately, every candidate makes the same calculation he did: ”Whom can I select to help me win, and will that person make a good governing partner if we prevail.”

  Movies like “Game Change” bring politics to life in an important way by showing the human beings behind the headlines and the caricatures. And on the eve of another national presidential contest, it’s probably a good idea to remind ourselves that all our candidates are human.

• Video: Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Video: Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon
• Beautiful day in Austin. Really like this place! #sxsw – RT @LizMair: Beautiful day in Austin. Really like this place! #sxsw
• Day By Day March 11, 2012 – Off Course | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 11, 2012 – Off Course
• Bennett faces 3 challengers; no takers against Long and Zaragoza – Bennett faces 3 challengers; no takers against Long and Zaragoza
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-11 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-11
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-11 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-11
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-10 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-10
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-10 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-10
• Dodgers FYI: Clayton Kershaw effective in spring debut – latimes.com – RT @latimesbaseball: Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw effective in spring debut
• ‘Hack’ allows first-gen iPad owners to install iPhoto (hands-on video) | The Verge – ‘Hack’ allows first-gen iPad owners to install iPhoto (hands-on video)
• California lawmaker drops bid to oust Fish and Game commissioner – latimes.com – RT @LATPoliticsCA: California lawmaker drops bid to oust Fish and Game commissioner
• Why Job Growth Is Likely to Slow – If you looked only at the monthly jobs report, you could start getting pretty optimistic about the American economy. The largest, broadest survey of employment — a survey of businesses — shows the best job growth in more than five years over the last 12 months, with the pace mostly accelerating in recent months. The other survey that the Labor Department does — of households — shows even faster job growth, suggesting that the business survey may be understating the economy’s strength.

  But the jobs report isn’t the only measure of economic activity, and another major measure — of gross domestic product — doesn’t look quite so cheerful. The most likely situation is that job growth will slow in coming months, economists say, which will make President Obama’s economic narrative a bit more complicated than it now is.

  On Friday, Macroeconomic Advisers, one of the most closely watched forecasting firms, reduced its estimate of economic growth in the current quarter to an annual rate of 1.8 percent, from 2 percent. And 1.8 percent growth does not generally lead to very strong job growth. In the fourth quarter of last year, by comparison, the economy grew 3 percent.

  Beyond the current quarter, forecasters expect the economy will grow at an annual rate of 2 to 2.5 percent for the rest of the year, according to Bloomberg.

• Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12 – Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12
• Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12 – Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12
• CA-25: Dante Acosta to Run for Congress Against Rep Buck McKeon | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-25: Dante Acosta to Run for Congress Against Rep Buck McKeon
• Gloria Allred Loses Her Mind – Wants Rush Limbaugh Prosecuted | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Gloria Allred Loses Her Mind – Wants Rush Limbaugh Prosecuted
• Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12 – Wisconsin Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12
• Yes, Scott Walker has governed as he campaigned – With the recall effort against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker heating up, Democrats are recycling the old claim that somehow Walker’s public union reforms came out of nowhere once he took office.

  Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that one of the Democrats hoping to challenge Walker, Kathleen Falk, “repeatedly accused Walker of being dishonest during his 2010 campaign, citing as a prime example his decision to all but eliminate collective bargaining for most public workers even though he didn’t talk about it during his run for office.”

  To be sure, the eventual budget repair bill did include measures that weren’t specifically proposed during the campaign, but it’s typical to campaign on broad outlines and fill in the specifics when elected. The bottom line is that Walker’s reforms shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody. For more, check out this still relevant February 2011 Stephen Hayes piece.

• Wisconsin Elections board wants recalls on May 15, June 12 – The head of the Wisconsin state elections board recommended Friday that any recall elections against Gov. Scott Walker and five other Republicans be held on May 15 and June 12.

  Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy said in a memo to the full board that those dates make the most sense given the work that remains to be done verifying signatures on recall petitions and other timing concerns related to the proximity of the April 3 presidential primary election.

  The full board was to discuss the issue Monday and if it agrees, ask a Dane County judge for more time on Wednesday.

  The attorney for Democrats who launched the recall efforts said he would oppose the request in court.

  “That seems totally unreasonable and unnecessary and it would change the character of the election,” attorney Jeremy Levinson said. Democrats have consistently argued the recalls should be held as soon as possible.

  Republican Party spokesman Ben Sparks refused to comment on the proposed election dates. Instead, he reiterated the party’s position that multiple recalls be held on the same dates to cut down on election expenses. The elections board has also advocated for scheduling only two election dates.

  Under the judge’s order currently in place, any primary elections would take place May 1 and the general election would happen May 29.

• Obama Photo of the Day | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Obama Photo of the Day
• The real unemployment rate? It sure isn’t 8.3% – Even if it were a legit number, the 8.3% February unemployment rate, released today by the Labor Department, would be simply terrible—and unacceptable. It would still extend the longest streak of 8%-plus unemployment since the Great Depression. The U.S. economy hasn’t been below 8% unemployment since Obama took office in January 2009. And back in May 2007, unemployment was just 4.4%.

  But, unfortunately, the true measure of U.S. unemployment is much, much worse.

  1. If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office—65.7% then vs. 63.9% today—the U-3 unemployment rate would be 10.8%.

  2. But what if you take into the account the aging of the Baby Boomers, which means the labor force participation (LFP) rate should be trending lower. Indeed, it has been doing just that since 2000. Before the Great Recession, the Congressional Budget Office predicted what the LFP would be in 2012, assuming such demographic changes. Using that number, the real unemployment rate would be 10.4%.

• President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Beating Romney in Four Key Battleground States of VA, FL, OH, NC | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama Beating Romney in Four Key Battleground States of VA, FL, OH, NC
• Bill O’Reilly | Anita Dunn PR Firm | Sandra Fluke | The Daily Caller – O’Reilly: Former Obama adviser Anita Dunn’s PR firm representing Sandra Fluke

Tags: Abortion, Afghanistan, Alabama, Bachus, Boehner, California, Doonesbury, Economy, Gingrich, Grayson, Israel, Kerrey, McCain, Missile_Defense, Nebraska, Noonan, Obama, Palin, Perry, Pinboard Links, Polling, Reid, Romney, Santorum, sxsw, The Morning Flap, Unemployment, Ventura_County, Walker, Wallace, Wisconsin

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, flanked by his wife Karen, right, and daughter Elizabeth, addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012

These are my links for February 9th through February 13th:

• Congressman wants Afghanistan study group – Citing an Army lieutenant colonel’s claims that there is no progress being made in Afghanistan, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to create an independent study group to review U.S. strategy in the sandbox.

  In a letter dated Friday, Wolf wrote he is deeply troubled by the conclusions reached by Lt. Col. Daniel Davis and asks Panetta to immediately create an Afghanistan/Pakistan Study Group.

  In 2010 and 2011, Davis traveled to Afghanistan on assignment with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, an organization tasked with getting urgently needed equipment to soldiers in the field.

  “What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground,” Davis wrote in an opinion piece titled “Truth, lies and Afghanistan,” published online Feb. 5 by Armed Forces Journal.

  Rather than the gradual progress described by top U.S. officials, Davis wrote he saw, “the absence of success on virtually every level.”

  During a yearlong deployment that began in late 2010, Davis wrote, his job sent him around the country to talk, travel and patrol with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces. It was his fourth combat deployment, and his second in Afghanistan.

  Davis wrote a classified and unclassified report. He has not released either report publicly. On his website, he says he will publish the full unclassified version as soon as Army public affairs completes its review and grants permission for release.

  On Feb. 10, Rolling Stone magazine published a copy of the unclassified version on its website.

  Davis has provided the reports to members of Congress — both Democrats and Republicans, senators and House members. He has also sent his reports to the Defense Department’s inspector general.

  He declined to comment for this story.

  The Pentagon maintains that the security environment in Afghanistan continues to improve.

  During a briefing this week, Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, described steady progress in the country, from local and national government to the development of Afghan security forces. Responding to a question about Davis’ report, Scaparrotti said, “it’s one person’s view of this,” adding that he thought the Defense Department’s outlook is accurate.

  Wolf has written similar letters to Panetta over the past several months.

  The congressman is the author of the legislation that created the Iraq Study Group and has been pushing for the Obama administration to conduct a similar review of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Santorum surges into the lead – Public Policy Polling – Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP’s newest national poll. He’s at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

  Part of the reason for Santorum’s surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney’s favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That’s a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28).

  Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as ‘very conservative,’ he’s now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney. Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.
  It used to be that Gingrich was leading with all these groups and Romney was staying competitive enough with them to hold the overall lead. No more- a consensus conservative candidate finally seems to be emerging and it’s Santorum.

• Labor unions left sour with President Obama set to sign FAA funding bill – Labor’s division over the bill funding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has helped clear the way for President Obama to sign it.

  Unions are split in their opposition to the measure, with some fearing its provision on union election rules endangers organizing.

  Union officials say they were kept in the dark about the negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that helped pass the bill.

• Does Indiana Need a Pro-Teapot Museum GOP Senator? – By Jim Geraghty – The Campaign Spot – National Review Online – RT @jimgeraghty: In Indiana’s GOP Senate primary, Richard Mourdock releases new statewide ad hitting Lugar on earmarks:
• Day By Day February 12, 2012 – Logic | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day February 12, 2012 – Logic
• Romney and Birth Control: a Shift – WSJ.com – RT @LizMair: Rough news day for Mitt Romney on many counts, but especially this one:
• Shrinking Senate Hopes – for 2012 – Three other Democratic seats are vulnerable. No state has trended Republican in recent years more than Missouri. John McCain narrowly beat Obama in Missouri in 2008. Roy Blunt won the open Senate seat there in 2010 by 14 percentage points. So it’s no surprise that Democratic senator Claire McCaskill is in deep trouble this year. The Republican Senate primary is August 7.

  Wisconsin is more Democratic, but it offers Republicans a great opportunity. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic candidate, is gay, liberal, and a zealous campaigner. Either of the GOP candidates, former governor Tommy Thompson or ex-House member Mark Neumann, could beat her. When Neumann gave up his House seat in 1998 to run (unsuccessfully) for the Senate, by the way, he was replaced by Paul Ryan.

  In Hawaii, Democrat Dan Akaka is stepping down after three terms, and there’s only one Republican with a realistic chance of winning his seat, former governor Linda Lingle. Fortunately for Republicans, Lingle is running. She didn’t have to buck a Democratic tide in a presidential year when she won the governorship in 2002 and 2006. With Obama, a native of Hawaii, leading the ticket, she’ll have to overcome a strong partisan headwind.

  Where does this leave us? Duffy projects a Republican gain of three to six seats. The Rothenberg Report says two to five. A year ago, I’d have said four to seven. Today, three to six seems about right, with emphasis on the three. But my rule of politics is that the future is never a straight line projection of the present. In November, Republican prospects may look better—or worse.

• Canada’s Harper talks oil with China as U.S. faces $4 gas | Washington Examiner – RT @mtapscott: Canada’s Harper talks oil with China as U.S. faces $4 gas | Washington Examiner: #TCOT #TEAPARTY #SG …
• AD-38: California Assemblyman Cameron Smyth Endorses Scott Wilk for Assembly » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: California Assemblyman Cameron Smyth Endorses Scott Wilk for Assembly
• Media Matters | Sources | David Brock | The Daily Caller – Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House & news organizations
• SNL Parodies of Clint Eastwood’s Half Time in America Are Really Stupid | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – SNL Parodies of Clint Eastwood’s Half time in America Are Really Stupid
• Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » Occupy Oakland Burns The American Flag For The Third Week In A Row… – Occupy Oakland Burns The American Flag For The Third Week In A Row…
• Merkel taking Europe in wrong direction: Soros – Merkel taking Europe in wrong direction: George Soros
• Greek lawmakers approve austerity bill as Athens burns
  | Reuters – Greek lawmakers approve austerity bill as Athens burns
• Day By Day February 11, 2012 – Listing | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day February 11, 2012 – Listing
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-12 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-12
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-12 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-12
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap’s Badges :: Greasy Spoon – I just unlocked the “Greasy Spoon” badge on @foursquare! Bring on the burgers!
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – Finished @LAMarathon 20 miler! Yay! (@ Ronnie’s Diner w/ 6 others)
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-11 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-11
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-11 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-11
• The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn’t Want You to Read – Earlier this week, the New York Times’ Scott Shane published a bombshell piece about Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis, a 17-year Army veteran recently returned from a second tour in Afghanistan. According to the Times, the 48-year-old Davis had written an 84-page unclassified report, as well as a classified report, offering his assessment of the decade-long war. That assessment is essentially that the war has been a disaster and the military’s top brass has not leveled with the American public about just how badly it’s been going. “How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?” Davis boldly asks in an article summarizing his views in The Armed Forces Journal.

  Davis last month submitted the unclassified report –titled “Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leader’s Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort” – for an internal Army review. Such a report could then be released to the public. However, according to U.S. military officials familiar with the situation, the Pentagon is refusing to do so. Rolling Stone has now obtained a full copy of the 84-page unclassified version, which has been making the rounds within the U.S. government, including the White House. We’ve decided to publish it in full; it’s well worth reading for yourself. It is, in my estimation, one of the most significant documents published by an active-duty officer in the past ten years.

• Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: February 10, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: February 10, 2012
• Poll Watch: Americans View China as Leading Economic Power | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Americans View China as Leading Economic Power
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Afternoon Drill: February 10, 2012 – The Afternoon Drill: February 10, 2012
• Teachers union defends endorsement of Falk – The state’s largest public teachers union is standing behind its endorsement of Kathleen Falk for governor despite controversy among Democrats and some union members.

  Some complained the endorsement came too early: A recall election hasn’t been ordered, and many expect other prominent candidates to join the race. Others felt the unions shouldn’t play kingmaker before a primary or give the impression that the election is about only collective bargaining rights.

  Mary Bell, Wisconsin Education Association Council president, said she understood the passionate feelings but said the recommendation was made with input from union leaders throughout the state.

  “It’s not surprising,” she said. “Our members have a lot invested in what’s happening.”

  Though acknowledging other candidates may enter the race, Bell said she is confident the former Dane County executive is the best choice to beat Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

  Bell said the short and uncertain time frame of a recall made it necessary to put out a recommendation early.

  Mike Tate, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the party is proud to work closely with organized labor – which he called “the backbone” of the party – though he said the election is about much more.

  “A million Wisconsinites signed a recall petition; each one has their own reason,” he said. “There’s a number of reasons to recall Scott Walker.”

  He shrugged off the significance of the WEAC decision.

  “Unions make endorsements,” Tate said Thursday. “That’s what they do.”

• Day By Day February 10, 2012 – The Useful | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day February 10, 2012 – The Useful
• Here’s A Peek At What Falk As Governor Would Look Like – Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

  Kathleen Falk, the candidate from WEAC, says she wants to “undo the harm” that Governor Walker has done and is apparently willing to devastate Wisconsin in order to advance her agenda.

  Want to see what “undoing the harm” would look like?

  A year ago Pat Quinn, the ultra-liberal Governor of Illinois, faced many of the same challenges that Scott Walker faced. Instead of standing up to public employee unions and reining in spending, Quinn pushed for massive tax increases and business as usual.

  So how did that work out?

  In contrast to Governor Walker (who has an approval rating over 50%), Quinn has an approval rating of 30%! That’s right! 30%.

  Let’s be real clear. Kathleen Falk is a slightly more opportunistic version of Pat Quinn with a Madison mailing address. The policies of Quinn have decimated Illinois. There’s absolutely no reason to think that they’d work any better in Wisconsin under Kathleen Falk.

  Want to see what Wisconsin would look like one year after Kathleen Falk became Governor? Just look at Illinois today.

  It’s not a pretty sight.

• Nearly 1 in 20 US adults over 50 have fake knees – Nearly 1 in 20 Americans older than 50 have artificial knees, or more than 4 million people, according to the first national estimate showing how common these replacement joints have become in an aging population.

  Doctors know the number of knee replacement operations has surged in the past decade, especially in baby boomers. But until now, there was no good fix on the total number of people living with them.

  The estimate is important because it shows that a big segment of the population might need future knee-related care, said Dr. Daniel Berry, president of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and chairman of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was not involved in the research.

• Medscape: Medscape Access – Midlife smoking in men linked to more rapid cognitive decline in later life i
• Majority of Search Queries Go Mobile By 2016 — Bernstein – Peter Kafka – Mobile – AllThingsD – RT @allthingsd: Here’s What Apple and Google Are Fighting Over: Search Goes Mobile By 2016 -by @pkafka
• Report: Adelson done giving to Gingrich as funding dries up – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room – Report: Sheldon Adelson done giving to #Gingrich as funding dries up #tcot #GOP12
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-10 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-10
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-10 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-10
• ObamaCare: The Catholic Epiphany | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – ObamaCare: The Catholic Epiphany
• AD-38: Patricia McKeon to Address Simi Valley Moorpark Tea Party » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Patricia McKeon to Address Simi Valley Moorpark Tea Party » Flap’s California Blog
• Untitled (https://plus.google.com/105353644409523560325/posts/VtTyPoGT4nP) – Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass it to find out what is in it,” referring to the Health Care bill
• AD-38 Video: Rep Buck McKeon Doesn’t Want to Answer Questions About Defense Contractors Contributing to His Wife Patricia McKeon’s Assembly Campaign » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38 Video: Rep Buck McKeon Doesn’t Want to Answer Questions About Defense Contractors Contributing to His Wife…
• AD-38: Patricia McKeon to Address Simi Valley Moorpark Tea Party » Flap’s California Blog – (500) …
• (500) http://flapsblog.org/2012/02/09/ad-38-patricia-mckeon-to-address-simi-valley-moorpark-tea-party/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ad-38-patricia-mckeon-to-address-simi-valley-moorpark-tea-party&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter – AD-38: Patricia McKeon to Address Simi Valley Moorpark Tea Party
• President 2012: The GOP Presidential Delegate Calculator | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: The GOP Presidential Delegate Calculator
• Obama administration reaffirms support for California high-speed rail – latimes.com – Obama administration reaffirms support for California high-speed rail
• Carmen Trutanich will run for L.A. district attorney – latimes.com – Carmen Trutanich will run for L.A. district attorney
• How the housing settlement might affect you | HealthyCal – How the housing settlement might affect you
• Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: February 9, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: February 9, 2012
• Sen Jim DeMint Video: Brokered GOP Convention Possible | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Sen Jim DeMint Video: Brokered GOP Convention Possible
• Poll Watch: 22 Per Cent of Americans Satisfied With the Way Things Are Going | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: 22 Per Cent of Americans Satisfied With the Way Things Are Going
• President 2012 Ohio Poll Watch: Santorum Tied With Obama While Romney Trails | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Ohio Poll Watch: Santorum Tied With Obama While Romney Trails
• Updated: President 2012 Video: Mitt Romney’s Greatest Hits | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Updated: President 2012 Video: Mitt Romney’s Greatest Hits
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Tom’s of Maine to Award Five $20K Grants to Non-Profit Dental Clinics – Tom’s of Maine to Award Five $20K Grants to Non-Profit Dental Clinics

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