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These are my links for January 5th through January 11th:

• Rush Loves Mitt; Hates Newt – Master-talk-master continues finger on the scale for frontrunner on Wednesday’s show.

  Praises the Bay Stater: “Romney gave what may be his best speech ever last night.”

  And/but: El Rushbo bashes Romney — GM/Obama comparison from CBS “This Morning” Wednesday interview.

  Pans Gingrich: “Newt is so ticked off over the negative ad campaign…that right now, he is solely focused on taking Romney out, making sure Romney doesn’t win this thing.”

• Gregory Flap Cole – Google+ – Iran: What me worry?

  From Michael Ramirez…… – Iran: What me worry?

  From Michael Ramirez……Michael Ramirez Cartoon

• Savings from ’3 strikes’ reform may be smaller than claimed | California Watch – Savings from California ’3 strikes’ reform may be smaller than claimed
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 11, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 11, 2012
• Will Mindful Eating Help Curb Obesity? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Will Mindful Eating Help Curb Obesity?
• Journalists’ campaign trail secrets revealed – The Washington Post – Journalists’ campaign-trail secrets revealed
• The Bain Capital Bonfire – About the best that can be said about the Republican attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital is that President Obama is going to do the same thing eventually, so GOP primary voters might as well know what’s coming. Yet that hardly absolves Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and others for their crude and damaging caricatures of modern business and capitalism.

  Bain’s business model is little more than “rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company,” says Mr. Gingrich, whose previous insights into free enterprise include years of defending the taxpayer-fed business of corn ethanol.

  A super PAC supporting the former House Speaker plans to spend $3.4 million in TV ads in South Carolina portraying Mr. Romney as Gordon Gekko without the social conscience. The financing for these ads will come from a billionaire who made his money in the casino business, which Mr. Gingrich apparently considers morally superior to investing in companies in the hope of making a profit.

  Mr. Perry, who has no problem using taxpayer financing to back his political allies in Texas, chimes in that “I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips, whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out. Because his company Bain Capital, with all the jobs that they killed, I’m sure he was worried he’d run out of pink slips.”

• President 2012: Conservatives Scrambling to Block Romney | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Conservatives Scrambling to Block Romney
• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2012/01/11/day-by-day-janaury-11-2012-reality-show/ – Day By Day Janaury 11, 2012 – Reality Show
• Riehl World View: Romney Has Lied, Maligned And Danced Away For Years, It’s Time He Paid For It – GOP will pay | RT @DanRiehl Romney Has Lied, Maligned And Danced Away For Years, It’s Time He Paid For It
• (404) http://t.co/DqN – RT @jpodhoretz: Romney may win the easiest nomination victory ever–even though he’s as weak a candidate as we’ve seen: …
• In Florida, Obama Trails Mitt By 3, Leads Rick By 2 – By Jim Geraghty – The Campaign Spot – National Review Online – Closer than you would expect RT @jimgeraghty In Florida, Obama Trails Mitt By 3, Leads Rick By 2 #tcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-11 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-11
• Log In – The New York Times – Log In – The New York Times
• Log In – The New York Times – Log In – The New York Times
• Log In – The New York Times – As Romney Advances, Private Equity Becomes Part of the Debate
• As Romney Advances, Private Equity Becomes Part of the Debate – A working paper released in September shows that private equity-owned companies shed slightly more jobs than similar companies, though the difference was quite small. In total, they shed about 1 percent more jobs.

  The study — by Steven J. Davis of the University of Chicago; John C. Haltiwanger of the University of Maryland; Josh Lerner of Harvard, and Ron S. Jarmin and Javier Miranda of the Census Bureau — looked at about 3,200 buyouts conducted between 1980 and 2005.

  It found that companies bought by private equity firms let go a larger proportion of workers than similar firms, shrinking their work forces about 6 percent more over a five-year window. But companies bought by private equity firms also tend to open more new branches, offices and factories and hire more new staff members, partly offsetting the job losses.

  Some economists also argue that private equity takeovers make good economic sense in the long term, even if they result in more layoffs in the short term, by making companies more efficient.

• Gingrich’s Own Close Tie to Buyout Industry – Newt Gingrich has ramped up his attacks on Mitt Romney as a heartless leveraged buyout executive for his years at Bain Capital, asking reporters in Manchester on Monday, “Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of other people and walk off with the money? Or is that, somehow, a little bit of a flawed system?”

  But Mr. Gingrich was himself on an advisory board for a major investment firm that had a similar business model, Forstmann Little, a pioneering private equity firm co-founded in 1978 by Theodore J. Forstmann that was, along with Mr. Romney’s Bain Capital and Henry R. Kravis’s Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts, among the leading private equity firms during the 1980s and 1990s.

  Forstmann Little earned billions of dollars in profits from its investments in companies including General Instrument and Gulfstream Aerospace. But the firm shut down most of its operations a decade ago after suffering losses from ill-timed bets on high-flying telecommunications companies at the height of that industry’s bubble.

  Mr. Gingrich’s involvement with the firm could complicate his attacks on Mr. Romney.

  Still, to be fair, Mr. Forstman bristled at some of the more aggressive tactics of his rivals, and once described them as “barbarians at the gate.” That phrase was used as the title of a bestselling book that detailed Mr. Forstmann’s buyout battle with Mr. Kravis for RJR Nabisco, a contest K.K.R. eventually won.

• President 2012: Mitt Romney Wins New Hampshire But…. | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Mitt Romney Wins New Hampshire But….
• Film Attacking Romney Leaked Early – Film Attacking Romney Leaked Early – 0n to South Carolina #tcot
• (500) http://flapsblog.com/?s=Romney+and+Kennedy&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter – Romney And Kennedy | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog:

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• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2012/01/10/president-2012-when-mitt-romney-came-to-town-or-will-come-crashing-down/ – President 2012: When Mitt Romney Came to Town or Will Come Crashing Down?
• The Wait Is Over: All Time Warner Cable Customers With HBO Can Now Use HBO GO/MAX GO « Time Warner Cable Untangled – RT @jeffTWC: The Wait Is Over: All Time Warner Cable Customers Can Now Use HBO GO/MAX GO – (Please RT)
• CA-26: Rep Elton Gallegly to Retire – Tony Strickland, Steve Bennett and Linda Parks to Run | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-26: Rep Elton Gallegly to Retire – Tony Strickland, Steve Bennett and Linda Parks to Run
• Day By Day January 10, 2012 – Horse | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day January 10, 2012 – Horse
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-10 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-10
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-09 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-09
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-08 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-08
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Harrah’s Laughlin – Eating dinner and then football or poker. What debate? (@ Harrah’s Laughlin w/ 2 others)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Arizona State line – On the way to Nevada! (@ Arizona State line)
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-07 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-07
• MapMyRUN – Map New Run – MapMyRUN – Map New Run:

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• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Santa fe, NM – Leaving Santa Fe in the morning. Laughlin and poker here I come. (@ Santa fe, NM)
• Unemployment Rate Drop Is for Real – now 8.5% – The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in December, while a broader measure dropped even further to 15.2% from 15.6% the prior month, both at their lowest levels since February 2009.

  While the unemployment rate has been falling in part due to people leaving the labor force, a large portion of this month’s number appears to come from people finding jobs.

  The unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks. The “actively looking for work” definition is fairly broad, including people who contacted an employer, employment agency, job center or friends; sent out resumes or filled out applications; or answered or placed ads, among other things. The rate is calculated by dividing that number by the total number of people in the labor force.

  In December, the household survey showed the number of people employed rose by 176,000, as the population increased by 143,000 over the month. So even though the labor force — the number of people working or looking for work — fell by 50,000, job growth is outpacing the increase in the population.

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-06 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-06
• Brown Seeks 7% California Spending Boost- Bloomberg – Brown Seeks 7% California Spending Boost
• Brown Seeks 7% California Spending Boost – Governor Jerry Brown proposed $92.6 billion in spending for the year starting in July, an increase of about 7 percent, which will count on voters approving $7 billion of higher taxes in November.

  The spending plan foresees a deficit of $9.2 billion through the next 18 months. Almost half of that is in the current fiscal year, he said. He called for $4.2 billion in cuts, mostly to welfare and programs for the poor. If the tax increase isn’t passed, Brown’s plan would cut another $4.8 billion in support for public schools and community colleges.

  California is Standard & Poor’s lowest-rated state, at A-, six levels below AAA. Moody’s Investment Service grades it A1, four steps below the top rating, tied with Illinois (STOIL1) for the worst credit rating among states.

• Small Business: Doctors going broke – Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke.

  This quiet reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties, including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists.

  Industry watchers say the trend is worrisome. Half of all doctors in the nation operate a private practice. So if a cash crunch forces the death of an independent practice, it robs a community of a vital health care resource.

  “A lot of independent practices are starting to see serious financial issues,” said Marc Lion, CEO of Lion & Company CPAs, LLC, which advises independent doctor practices about their finances.

  Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.

• Employers close door on smokers – More job-seekers are facing an added requirement: no smoking — at work or anytime.

  As bans on smoking sweep the USA, an increasing number of employers — primarily hospitals — are also imposing bans on smokers. They won’t hire applicants whose urine tests positive for nicotine use, whether cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or even patches.

  Such tobacco-free hiring policies, designed to promote health and reduce insurance premiums, took effect this month at the Baylor Health Care System in Texas and will apply at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, Ohio, when it opens this year.

• New Pentagon strategy stresses Asia, cyber, drones – President Barack Obama unveiled a defense strategy on Thursday that would expand the U.S. military presence in Asia but shrink the overall size of the force as the Pentagon seeks to reduce spending by nearly half a trillion dollars after a decade of war.

  The strategy, if carried out, would significantly reshape the world’s largest military from the one that executed President George W. Bush’s “war on terrorism” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  Cyberwarfare and unmanned drones would continue to grow in priority, as would countering attempts by China and Iran to block U.S. power projection capabilities in areas like the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

  But the size of the U.S. Army and Marines Corps would shrink. So too might the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the U.S. military footprint in Europe.

• Obama: the US can no longer fight the world’s battles – The mighty American military machine that has for so long secured the country’s status as the world’s only superpower will have to be drastically reduced, Barack Obama warned yesterday as he set out a radical but more modest new set of priorities for the Pentagon over the next decade.

  After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that defined the first decade of the 21st century, Mr Obama’s blueprint for the military’s future acknowledged that America will no longer have the resources to conduct two such major operations simultaneously.

  Instead, the US military will lose up to half a million troops and will focus on countering terrorism and meeting the new challenges of an emergent Asia dominated by China. America, the President said, was “turning the page on a decade of war” and now faced “a moment of transition”. The country’s armed forces would in future be leaner but, Mr Obama pointedly warned both friends and foes, sufficient to preserve US military superiority over any rival – “agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats”.

• Mitt Romney’s the nominee: The Republican primary race is over. – Is there anyone not annoyed by Mitt Romney’s narrow win in the Iowa caucus? Conservatives are disappointed because they recognize that the former Massachusetts governor, who used to be pro-choice and was for Obamacare before it was called that, is only pretending to be one of them. Seventy-five percent of Iowa’s Republican voters wanted someone further to the right. But because their votes were divided among too many weak and weird candidates, the only moderate running in their state came out on top.

  Liberals are bummed because Romney is the strongest potential challenger to President Obama. This shows up clearly in head-to-head polls, which put Romney tied with or slightly ahead of Obama, while other Republican contenders trail by 10 points or more. It was hard for Obama campaign officials to suppress their glee last month when Newt Gingrich, the only even remotely plausible alternative to Romney, briefly ran at the head of the pack. But even they knew this was a momentary aberration. Short of Republicans committing collective suicide by picking someone else, Democrats would like to see Romney win the nomination after a protracted, costly struggle that would deplete his financial resources, sully his image, and drag him further to the right. Today, that scenario looks less likely.

• Richard Cordray & the Use and Abuse of Executive Power – Some think me a zealous advocate of executive power, and often I am when it comes to national security issues. But I think President Obama has exceeded his powers by making a recess appointment for Richard Cordray (whom I respect and have no problems with as a nominee) to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Any private party can challenge this nomination by refusing to obey any regulation issued by the agency as the act of an unconstitutional officer. As a result, this may be the first time that Richard Epstein and I get to represent someone in court together!
• Day By Day January 4, 2012 – Bupkis | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day January 4, 2012 – Bupkis
• Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval – Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval
• Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval – Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval
• Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval – RT @gallupnews: Obama Begins 2012 at 46% Job Approval… #Obama #Gallup
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Alburquerque, NM – On to Santa Fe (@ Alburquerque, NM)
• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2012/01/05/flap-twitter-updates-for-2012-01-05/ – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-05
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Grants – Albuquerque here we come (@ Grants)

Tags: #tcot, Bain, Brown, California, Cordray, Defense, Gallup, Gingrich, GOP, Health, Limbaugh, Medicine, Obama, Obama.Defense, Perry, Pinboard Links, Romney, Smoking, The Morning Flap, Tobacco, Unemployment

These are my links for December 7th through December 8th:

• The Associated Press: Study: Twitter users tough on Republicans, Obama – The 2012 presidential contenders have had a rough go of it on Twitter, according to an analysis of the political conversation taking place on the popular social network.

  The study released Thursday by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found Twitter to be a hotbed of opinionated discussion about the campaign. But a majority of the candidates, including President Barack Obama, have received more negative than positive coverage on Twitter than in regular news coverage or blogs.

  Among the findings:

  —Texas Rep. Ron Paul has been more popular on Twitter than any of the other candidates, even though he’s received relatively limited press coverage. Fully 55 percent of tweets about Paul have been positive, the study found, compared with 15 percent that were negative.

  —Negative tweets about the rest of the Republican field have outweighed positive tweets by at least a 2-1 margin. Obama has fared even worse, with negative assessments outweighing positive by a 3-1 margin.

  —Tweets about three Republican candidates — Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign last Saturday — grew increasingly negative since October, the study found. Newt Gingrich, who has surged to the top of many polls in recent weeks, became the subject of more positive than negative tweets the week of Oct. 24.

  —Obama far outpaced the Republican field in the number of tweets about him. The Democratic president was the subject of about 15 million mentions, compared with Cain, who was the subject of 2.1 million tweets. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, placed third with 1.5 million. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was fourth with 1.4 million mentions.

  —The study found the language used on Twitter to be “very personal and pungent and even profane … leveling allegations that would be off-limits in more traditional news coverage.”

• Gallup Poll Shows Narrowing Enthusiasm Gap – Republicans are less enthusiastic about voting for president in 2012, according to a new Gallup survey released early Thursday, suggesting that the turnout advantage they enjoyed in last year’s midterm elections may be waning.

  Forty-nine percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting, compared to 44 percent who say they are less enthusiastic. In a mid-September survey, 58 percent of Republicans were more enthusiastic, while just 30 percent said they were less enthusiastic.

  While the gap may be narrowing, Democrats’ enthusiasm has not increased accordingly: 44 percent say they are more enthusiastic (compared to 45 percent in September), while 47 percent say they are less enthusiastic.

  Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport posits that the closing of the enthusiasm gap — from 13 points to 5 — “could reflect the intensive and bruising battle” for the GOP presidential nomination and “the rapid rise and fall of various candidates” therein. But if enthusiasm among Republicans continues to decrease, it could have effects beyond the presidential election, potentially threatening the GOP’s ability to take control of the Senate and maintain or increase its majority in the House.

• Abramoff says Gingrich was lobbying – Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff hit Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich for his claims that he did no lobbying on behalf of the mortgage and health care companies that paid him millions in consulting fees, calling the system of providing “strategic advice” corrupt.

  “I don’t want to say he’s lying, he may believe what he’s saying, but people have to understand that lobbying isn’t just going to meet with members,” Abramoff said.

  Abramoff served more than three years in prison following a conviction for corruption and fraud stemming from gifts he provided in exchange for votes to benefit Native American tribes and casinos.

• Democrats: Gingrich Negatives Could Mute Economy Negatives in 2012 – The suddenly plausible chance that Newt Gingrich could run against President Obama in next year’s election has Democratic strategists scrambling to determine which lines of attack would work best against the former speaker of the House.

  Their ideas are split into two strategic camps: Focus on his congressional career, which was marked by partisanship and, at times, his embrace of very conservative positions, or, highlight Gingrich’s tumultuous personal history and uneven temperament.

  A strategy focused on Gingrich the man would give Democrats a chance to shift the campaign away from a conversation about Obama’s handling of the economy, where he continues to receive low marks, to a battle of personalities. Gingrich’s history of adultery and his three marriages have already caused problems for him in the GOP primary, and those issues could linger into the fall. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released late last month showed that only 35 percent of a general-election audience holds a favorable view of him, while 42 percent hold an unfavorable view.

• DCCC Going On TV In OR-01 Special Election – Democrats Worried? – Anybody nervous?

  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is buying television advertising in Oregon’s First Congressional District, an indication that the race to sew up ex-Rep. David Wu’s old seat may not be in the bag.

  The Democratic ad attacks businessman Rob Cornilles (R) for alleged ties to the tea party movement, a theme that Democrats have been hammering throughout the special election. The ad buy will run beginning Thursday through the weekend, at a cost of $124,280 — a significant investment in the Portland media market.

  “In this environment, we’re not taking anything for granted especially when the Republican is an untrustworthy self-funder who is trying to rewrite his extreme Tea Party positions,” a DCCC spokeswoman said.

  The Democratic nominee, former state Sen. Suzane Bonamici, is up with her own advertisement, a positive ad that features Bonamici meeting voters and railing against debt and subsidies for oil companies. Bonamici’s ad was produced by Dixon Davis Media, the prominent Washington-based firm.

• Transcript of Washington Examiner interview with Mitt Romney – MARK TAPSCOTT: From the very beginning of this race you’ve drawn support from about 25 percent of Republican voters and there’s been a succession of “not Romney” shooting stars, if you will, who shot up and then down. What do you think is the reason you’ve stayed in this 25 percent area of support?

  MITT ROMNEY: I don’t know the answer, in part because I am not a political scientist, a pundit who evaluates why people move in one direction or another. I am a conservative business guy with a message to the American people that I think is compelling. And if so I’ll be the nominee and the president, and if not I’ll go back to business. And so I have theories that I hear various people say different things. I hear some say, ‘look, you’re well known,’ – I’m well known – ‘people know who you are, they saw you last time around, there’s an image of who you are, as other people come around they project on them a sense that they are exactly like who we are as voters, and we give them a lot of support, and then comes the agonizing reappraisal as we get to know them and their strengths and their weaknesses and their numbers may trail off. Some trail off more precipitously. Others will come off in a more gentle manner.’ But I stay about the same.

• MA-Sen Poll Watch: Elizabeth Warren soars 7 up over Scott Brown – Democrat Elizabeth Warren has opened up a lead against Republican incumbent Scott Brown for the first time in their U.S. Senate showdown, but a barrage of attack ads appears to have damaged Warren and Brown’s standing among Massachusetts voters, a new University of Massachusetts at Lowell/Boston Herald poll shows.

  Warren leads Brown by a 49-42 percent margin, outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. That number includes voters who say they are “leaning” for either candidate. But even without the “leaners,” Warren still leads by a 46-41 percent margin, barely within the margin of error.

• For Romney, Mormon question rears its ugly head in Iowa – For Romney, Mormon question rears its ugly head in Iowa

  Religion just got re-injected into the presidential race thanks to new ads from Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. But really, it never left.

  New polls in Iowa suggest Romney’s Mormon religion continues to be a sticking point among all-important evangelical Christians there. And that’s bad news for a Romney campaign that is trying desperately to prevent Newt Gingrich from scoring a big victory in the state’s caucuses.

  A new CNN/Time poll out Wednesday showed Romney trailing Gingrich 33 percent to 20 percent in the Hawkeye State. A look at the crosstabs suggests religion is a big reason why.

• Read his lips: John Sununu hates Newt Gingrich – With former Speaker Newt Gingrich surging in the polls, former Gov. Mitt Romney has finally decided it’s time to go on the offensive. One of the men Romney has lined up to attack Gingrich is former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu.

  The feud is not new.

  As a former chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, Sununu has a long-held grudge against Gingrich — who fought Bush’s budget deal that included raising taxes.

  Here’s an excerpt from a 1990 Fred Barnes article that describes a meeting for Bush’s re-election efforts:

  Sununu attacked congressional Republicans for abandoning the president. House Republican whip Newt Gingrich, who led the opposition to the budget deal, wasn’t invited to the meeting. But he was on Sununu’s and [former OMB director Richard] Darman’s mind. “You could see the Newt chip on their shoulders,” said one Bush adviser. “It was a strikingly bad discussion. The death embrace [of Sununu and Darman] grew tighter.”

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-08 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-08 #tcot #catcot
• December 4, 2011 Las Vegas Half Marathon Race Report and Recap | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – December 4, 2011 Las Vegas Half Marathon Race Report and Recap
• The Afternoon Flap: December 7, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Afternoon Flap: December 7, 2011 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Abramoff, Brown, DCCC, Democrats, Gingrich, GOP, Iowa, Mormon, Pinboard Links, Polling, Romney, Social_Media, Sununu, The Morning Flap, Twiiter, Warren, Wu

These are my links for October 3rd through October 4th:

• Jerry Brown vetoes home child-care labor bill – In a major blow to organized labor, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation today that would have let unions organize child-care providers who work out of the home.

  "Today California, like the nation itself, is facing huge budget challenges," Brown wrote in a veto message. "Given that reality, I am reluctant to embark on a program of this magnitude and potential cost."

  The veto was one of six announced today.

  Brown's veto comes after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed similar legislation three times. But labor unions who have long sought the right to organize California's more than 40,000 family child-care providers considered Brown, a Democrat, more likely to sign it.

  Assembly Bill 101 was sponsored by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union and amended at the legislative deadline to include language by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

  =======

  Kudos to Governor Jerry Brown for vetoing this ridiculous legislation that would organize your local babysitter into a union.

• Dan Walters: California must face hard truth about budget – We should make lowering fixed costs a first priority, meaning some serious pension reforms and a freeze on bond debt, including the tens of billions that have been authorized by voters but not yet sold.

  We should put the high-speed rail project on indefinite hold, since it would consume nearly $10 billion in bonds and lacks a credible financing plan, rewrite and perhaps suspend a pending water bond issue, and sell only those bonds whose need falls into the emergency category.

  Reality bites, but if we don't accept it, California could become the American Greece.

  ======

  Dan, Jerry Brown won't push reform. He will muddle along just like Arnold and then retire in 3 years.

• California’s cost of living going up – A new report out today finds that residents of many California counties have experienced double-digit increases in their cost of living since 2008.

  Dan Walters reports that the report from the Oakland-based Insight Center for Community Economic Development "provides statistical ammunition not only for advocates of raising minimum wages and other steps to aid the poor, but for conservative anti-tax groups, since the center found that taxes are the largest single element in living cost increases."

• foursquare – All checked in and ready to play (@ Rio Poker Room)
• foursquare – Checking in…. (@ Rio Hotel & Casino w/ 3 others)
• Herman Cain rises, Rick Perry slides in new CBS News poll – Political Hotsheet – CBS News – RT @jamiedupree: New CBS poll has Mitt Romney & Herman Cain tied at 17% each in GOP race with Rick Perry at 12%
• foursquare – Almost to the hills and then State Line Nevada (@ Baker, CA)
• foursquare – Stopped at Starbucks in Barstow. On way to Baker then Vegas (@ Mojave Desert)
• President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Rick Perry Collapses as Herman Cain Gains in Positive Intensity | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Rick Perry Collapses as Herman Cain Gains in Positive Intensity #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Dentistry is #12 of the 12 Slowest Growing Industries in America – Dentistry is #12 of the 12 Slowest Growing Industries in America
• California Seniors Dependent Upon Social Security Will Face Tough Times » Flap’s California Blog – California Seniors Dependent Upon Social Security Will Face Tough Times
• President 2012: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – “Now Is Not My Time” | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – “Now Is Not My Time” #tcot #catcot
• Cainmentum – Public Policy Polling – RT @ppppolls: North Carolina: Cain 27, Romney/Gingrich 17, Perry 15, Paul/Bachmann 6, Santorum/Huntsman 2:
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: October 4, 2011 – The Morning Drill: October 4, 2011
• Chris Christie not running for president in 2012, source says – The Washington Post – RT @washingtonpost: Chris Christie not running for president in 2012, source says
• Dilbert October 4, 2011 – Wrong? » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert's boss discusses indentured servitude with a buy-out….
  :
• Day By Day October 4, 2011 – Cake | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day October 4, 2011 – Cake #tcot #catcot
• Mitt Romney’s risky immigration play – Maggie Haberman – POLITICO.com – RT @maggiepolitico: Romney runs hard right on immigration, risks being stuck there. My story today
• Real Republicans Just Aren’t That Excited About Chris Christie – RT @businessinsider: Real Republicans Just Aren't That Excited About Chris Christie by @ZekeJMiller
• GOP 12: Perry continues to fall – RT @GOP12: Romney 25% Perry and Cain 16% Paul 11% Bachmann and Gingrich 7%
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-04 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-04 #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Romney 28% Vs. Cain 24% Vs. Gingrich 10% Vs. Perry 9% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Rick Perry has crash and burned in Florida. Here comes Cain!:
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Pennsylvania Teenager Tries to Extract His Own Teeth – Father Pleads Guilty to Reckless Endangerment – The court will put a bite into this father…..:
• School pensions: an argument for not bargaining? – As state and local governments in California face soaring public pension costs, unions insist that cost-cutting changes must be bargained, not imposed by legislation.

  But there is one major exception: schools.

  Teachers and non-teaching school employees in California are in unions that do not bargain pensions. Instead, their pensions are in big statewide pools that have some of the lowest costs for employers and some of the lowest pension formulas for retirees.

  Bargaining for pensions is used extensively only in California and a few other states. One of the first pension reform proposals to include ending bargaining came last month in Rhode Island, where bankrupt Central Falls is drawing national attention.

  The Rhode Island auditor general, Dennis Hoyle, said an end to bargaining for pensions and retiree health would make benefits more visible to the public, set a standard and avoid the tendency to save now by pushing employee costs into the future.

  In California, particularly in local government, critics say bargaining tends to result in pensions not based on what retirees need or on what governments can afford, but on pensions offered by other government employers.

  ======

  Read it all

• Koch responds to Bloomberg – Right Turn – The Washington Post – Koch responds to Bloomberg
• Flap’s Links and Comments for October 3rd on 08:00 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for October 3rd on 08:00 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, 12, Brown, California, California_Budget, Labor, Pensions, Pinboard Links, Walters

These are my links for August 19th through August 22nd:

• NLRB and Labor Department regulations spell trouble – An obscure federal body, the National Labor Relations Board, along with the U.S. Department of Labor recently proposed regulations that will dramatically change how union representation elections are conducted.
  If finalized, these rules will significantly reduce the availability of legal counsel for employers and will limit the ability of employers to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech.

  Here is how these rules working together will negatively affect businesses.

  One afternoon in 2012 a small-business owner receives notice from the NLRB that a local union has filed a petition for a unionization election. The owner had no idea that union activity was occurring and is shocked to learn that his whole world could dramatically change in just two weeks.

  The owner calls his long-time lawyer seeking legal advice on what he should do to keep the union out of his family business. The owner thinks he needs to give a speech to his employees and asks for help. The lawyer says, "Sorry, I'd love to help you edit a speech, but if I do so then, under the Labor Department's new 'persuader' regulation, I'll have to publicly disclose all of my labor relations clients and what they paid me last year. I can't do that because I'd lose them as clients."

  So, the business owner goes without legal advice. Since he hasn't been in this situation before, he doesn't know all the ways to get into trouble with the NLRB. He inadvertently commits a couple "unfair labor practices" by doing something as simple as disciplining an unruly employee.

  ======

  Read it all

• South Carolina Governor Haley: NLRB is a ‘rogue agency’ – Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday blasted the National Labor Relations Board as a “rogue agency” for taking action against Boeing Co. for allegedly union busting by building a $1 billion plant in South Carolina.

  Appearing on “Fox & Friends,” Haley said she strongly supports Boeing, which has been accused by the NLRB of locating the plant in South Carolina, where unions are weak, and shifting workers there to retaliate against employees in Washington state for past strikes at the aircraft maker’s facilities.

  Haley said she thinks the NLRB is out of bounds and wants to prevent the same thing from happening in other states.

  “I’m a governor that’s committed to making sure this doesn’t happen to other governors,” she said.

  Haley, a Republican, blamed President Barack Obama for the NLRB action against Boeing.

  “For a president who claims he’s about job creation, he’s done nothing but try to kill all our American jobs,” she said.

  Boeing, which is building the 787 Dreamliner at the South Carolina facility, has said there’s no basis for the NLRB case.

  ======

  Indeed they are.

• Political dispute over Boeing plant escalates – The Republican-led battle against the chief federal labor agency is escalating, with the head of a key congressional oversight panel and the top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board accusing each other of flouting constitutional and legal constraints.

  The fight is ostensibly over the NLRB's bid to prevent Boeing from opening a jet-manufacturing plant in South Carolina. But GOP lawmakers are portraying it as Exhibit A in their case against President Barack Obama's alleged regulatory overreach.

  The dispute began in April when NLRB acting general counsel Lafe Solomon said there was potential merit in a complaint by Boeing's main union that the aerospace giant built the North Charleston, S.C., factory in retaliation for past strikes at its large plant in Everett, Wash., near Seattle.

  Boeing says it decided to make 787 Dreamliner planes in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, because of legally protected business factors.

  Among the factors Boeing cites are the South Carolina state government's granting of $900 million in tax breaks, and concerns over delays in completing deliveries to airlines around the world that have ordered more than 800 of the next-generation aircraft.

  The dispute is now before NLRB administrative law judge Clifford Anderson. In June, he rejected Boeing's motion to dismiss it and is hearing evidence from the Chicago-based firm and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

  ======

  Read it all.

  As the Presidential campaign comes to South Carolina this will be an issue.

• Burbank Man Arrested for Feeding Pigeons Posing Risks to Airplanes at Bob Hope Airport » Flap’s California Blog – Burbank Man Arrested for Feeding Pigeons Posing Risks to Airplanes at Bob Hope Airport
• Welcome to Flap’s California Blog » Flap’s California Blog – Welcome to Flap’s California Blog
• North Carolina Free Clinic Treats About 2,700 Dental Patients | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – North Carolina Free Clinic Treats About 2,700 Dental Patients
• President 2012: Former New York Governor George Pataki to Run for President? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Former New York Governor George Pataki to Run for President? #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Convicted Murderer Charged With Soliciting Murder Over Loan for Dental Work – Convicted Murderer Charged With Solicitng Murder Over Loan for Dental Work
• Day By Day August 20, 2012 – Open Season | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 20, 2012 – Open Season #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day August 21, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 21, 2011 #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-21 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-21 #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 19th on 12:31 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 19th on 12:31 #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-20 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-20 #tcot #catcot
• Gregory Flap Cole: "@CEP_Observer You do know …" « Deck.ly – @CEP_Observer You do know I am no longer in private practice? Yes, they are and are important for screening… (cont)
• foursquare – Home after the long run. Now time for some Lock Up, Hard Time and Kool-Aid (@ Home)
• foursquare – Post 14 mile run with Alice, Tara, Nancy, and Mary (@ Ronnie's Diner w/ 3 others)
• Shocker: California State board finds very few pay tax on out-of-state goods – As Amazon.com gathers signatures to reverse a new online tax collection law, the state Board of Equalization said Friday that a mere 0.42 percent of personal income tax filers paid use tax on their 2009 out-of-state purchases.

  The board, which administers sales and use tax collection in California, issued a new four-page review of use tax behavior in 2009. The state collected $10.4 million in use tax payments from personal-income tax returns that year.

  Under long-standing California law, taxpayers are supposed to self-report use tax on remote purchases from out-of-state businesses, though very few do so. Democrats passed a different law in June that attempted to force out-of-state retailers like Amazon.com to collect those taxes.

  BOE researchers found that wealthier taxpayers participated in greater frequency and paid more use tax to the state. Their report showed that 1.12 percent of households making more than $100,000 in adjusted gross income paid use tax, compared to 0.15 percent of those reporting between $0 and $30,000. It also showed that those above $100,000 paid on average $311 in use tax, compared to $76 for those making between $0 and $30,000.

  ======

  What a shocker!

• Jerry Brown removing GOP appointees from key water panel – In his latest move to reverse GOP appointments, Gov. Jerry Brown will replace former Sen. Dave Cogdill and water agency leader Paul Kelley on a key panel that will shape decisions on water storage and a possible Delta canal, the governor's spokesman confirmed Friday.

  Cogdill was the chief GOP legislative negotiator on the historic 2009 water deal that placed an $11 billion bond on a future statewide ballot and reconstituted the California Water Commission. His subsequent appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the nine-member commission was considered part of the bipartisan deal struck that year by lawmakers and the former Republican governor.

  Kelley is a former Sonoma County supervisor and former director of the Sonoma County Water Agency. A Republican, he serves as president of the Association of California Water Agencies, a key player in the 2009 water talks.

  Brown and Republican lawmakers have been at odds, particularly since talks broke down over a state budget deal in June. Republicans have accused Brown of rescinding past promises made by Democrats in bipartisan agreements and see the Cogdill move as the latest example.

  ======

  So, what else is new?

  Jerry Brown is a cry-baby partisan who failed as Governor the forst time and is failing today.

• Older Americans with a College Education Have Better Emotional Health After Age 65? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Older Americans with a College Education Have Better Emotional Health After Age 65?
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: There is an APP for Your Dental Lab Prescription Dentists: Dental Rx – There is an APP for Your Dental Lab Prescription Dentists: Dental Rx

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Boeing, Brown, California, Haley, NLRB, Pinboard Links, Taxes, Water

These are my links for August 19th from 12:31 to 16:37:

• Shocker: California State board finds very few pay tax on out-of-state goods – As Amazon.com gathers signatures to reverse a new online tax collection law, the state Board of Equalization said Friday that a mere 0.42 percent of personal income tax filers paid use tax on their 2009 out-of-state purchases.

  The board, which administers sales and use tax collection in California, issued a new four-page review of use tax behavior in 2009. The state collected $10.4 million in use tax payments from personal-income tax returns that year.

  Under long-standing California law, taxpayers are supposed to self-report use tax on remote purchases from out-of-state businesses, though very few do so. Democrats passed a different law in June that attempted to force out-of-state retailers like Amazon.com to collect those taxes.

  BOE researchers found that wealthier taxpayers participated in greater frequency and paid more use tax to the state. Their report showed that 1.12 percent of households making more than $100,000 in adjusted gross income paid use tax, compared to 0.15 percent of those reporting between $0 and $30,000. It also showed that those above $100,000 paid on average $311 in use tax, compared to $76 for those making between $0 and $30,000.

  ======

  What a shocker!

• Jerry Brown removing GOP appointees from key water panel – In his latest move to reverse GOP appointments, Gov. Jerry Brown will replace former Sen. Dave Cogdill and water agency leader Paul Kelley on a key panel that will shape decisions on water storage and a possible Delta canal, the governor's spokesman confirmed Friday.

  Cogdill was the chief GOP legislative negotiator on the historic 2009 water deal that placed an $11 billion bond on a future statewide ballot and reconstituted the California Water Commission. His subsequent appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the nine-member commission was considered part of the bipartisan deal struck that year by lawmakers and the former Republican governor.

  Kelley is a former Sonoma County supervisor and former director of the Sonoma County Water Agency. A Republican, he serves as president of the Association of California Water Agencies, a key player in the 2009 water talks.

  Brown and Republican lawmakers have been at odds, particularly since talks broke down over a state budget deal in June. Republicans have accused Brown of rescinding past promises made by Democrats in bipartisan agreements and see the Cogdill move as the latest example.

  ======

  So, what else is new?

  Jerry Brown is a cry-baby partisan who failed as Governor the forst time and is failing today.

• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 18th through August 19th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 18th through August 19th #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Brown, California, Pinboard Links, Taxes, Water

These are my links for July 15th from 13:33 to 13:51:

• California Dream Act sent to Governor Jerry Brown – AB 130 and AB 131: California Dream Act of 2011
  Assemblyman Gil Cedillo

  The state senate passed and sent to Gov. Brown the first of two Dream Act bills by Assemblyman Cedillo allowing some undocumented college students to apply for private scholarships at California’s state colleges and universities.

  None of this money comes from the state budget; it’s from private donors who establish scholarships administered through UC, Cal State and community colleges.  To be eligible, students will have to meet the requirements for paying in-state tuition under AB 540, a 2001 law that applies to any student, citizen or not, who attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated or earned a GED.

  The bill passed by a vote of 26 to 11 along party lines, with one exception.  Republican State Senator Anthony Cannella voted with the majority.  In a prepared statement, Cannella said, “Having an educated workforce will be critical to the future strength and health of our economy, and giving eligible high-school graduates the opportunity to apply for private scholarship funds – at no cost to California taxpayers – is consistent with this goal.”

  It may also help that his district, which covers Merced, Monterey and Salinas, is more than 55 percent Latino. It also has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

  Cedillo’s companion bill, AB 131, faces a tougher road.  That one would let AB 540 students apply for state financial aid through the CalGrants program.  AB 131 was placed on the senate appropriations committee suspense file and won’t be considered until late August.

  Status:  On the Governor’s desk.  Gov. Brown hasn’t said whether he’ll sign AB 130, however, his spokesman says the Governor “continues to support the principles behind the Dream Act and will closely consider legislation that reaches his desk.”

  =======

  Open borders mentality is bankrupting California.

• State GOP chairman assails redistricting panel, threatens referendum – On the day when the Citizens Redistricting Commission had originally planned to put out a second draft of proposed political district maps, the panel Thursday found itself under sharp partisan attack from the state Republican Party, whose chairman asserted its process had been "overtaken by partisanship and incompetence."

  GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said the party will attempt to qualify a referendum for the ballot to overturn the commission's final maps if they "remotely resemble the most recent visualizations."

  Rather than formally release a second set of draft maps, commissioners have been working daily with their line-drawers to revise initial drafts in response to public comments. The modified maps, called "visualizations," are posted on the commission's website and will be the building blocks for the final plan, scheduled to be voted upon on July 28.

  Commissioner Angelo Ancheta of San Francisco, who is serving as chairman this week under the panel's rotating schedule of leadership, rejected Del Beccaro's assertion that partisan considerations are influencing the map-making process.

  ======

  Read it all.

  The reapportionment will end up in the California Supreme Court anyway.

  The California Citizen's Redistricting Commission is a colossal waste of time.

  The law should be changed to allow the California Supreme Court to do it directly.

• State Senate OKs bill to move California’s presidential primary to June – Californians won't choose their 2012 presidential nominees until June under legislation that's heading to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

  Assembly Bill 80, by Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong, would move the presidential primary from February of next year to June, consolidating it with the statewide primary election. The bill was approved by the state Senate on a vote of 34-3.

  Supporters said consolidating the two statewide elections would save state and local officials roughly $100 million. They also pointed out that national political parties have moved to impose sanctions on states that hold their primaries as early in the cycle as California had planned.

  "This is a bill where we're putting politics to the side. … We have to be fiscally prudent with the taxpayers' dollars," said Sen. Kevin DeLeón, D-Los Angeles, who presented the bill on the floor.

  The move was largely opposed by Republicans who said moving the date so late in the cycle would put Californian voters and issues on the back burner for candidates competing for their party's nomination, though some said they "reluctantly" decided to vote for the measure because of the cost savings involved. They said they would prefer to consolidate the primaries to one March date, a concession Republicans had sought during early budget negotiations.

  =======

  In 2008, it was decided by California anyway. Might as well move it back to June.

Tags: Brown, California, Dream_Act, GOP, Illegal_Immigration, Pinboard Links

These are my links for July 14th from 12:29 to 13:05:

• Althouse: Obama lied about a central fact about his own life which he used — powerfully — to push health care reform – "Book Challenges Obama on Mother’s Deathbed Fight," says the NYT, which, of course, isn't generally inclined to cast unnecessary aspersions on this President. "Lied" is my paraphrasing. The NYT wrote "mischaracterized."

  During his presidential campaign and subsequent battle over a health care law, Mr. Obama quieted crowds with the story of his mother’s fight with her insurer over whether her cancer was a pre-existing condition that disqualified her from coverage.

  In offering the story as an argument for ending pre-existing condition exclusions by health insurers, the president left the clear impression that his mother’s fight was over health benefits for medical expenses.

  But in “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother,” author Janny Scott quotes from correspondence from the president’s mother to assert that the 1995 dispute concerned a Cigna disability insurance policy and that her actual health insurer had apparently reimbursed most of her medical expenses without argument….

  The book came out in early May. The reason this article is hitting the front page today is that the NYT has been trying to extract a response from Obama.

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  Read it all

  Campaign fodder

• Jerry Brown signs bill requiring schools to teach gay history – Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring public schools to include the contributions of gay and lesbian people in their curriculum, making California the first state to adopt such a requirement.

  The legislation, authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, was approved in the Legislature along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. The governor's office announced this morning that Brown had signed the bill.

  Senate Bill 48 requires public instruction in social sciences to include the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, as well as people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.

  It would prohibit teaching from textbooks or other instructional materials that reflect adversely on people because of their sexual orientation.

  =======

  Now, the LEFT Nanny State is directing what can be taught in the public schools.

  Guess more home schooling and private schools in California.

  I doubt too many states will follow California's lead here.

Tags: Brown, Gay, Obama, Obamacare, Pinboard Links