Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

These are my links for May 18th through May 21st:

• Romney nearly matches Obama in April money-grabbing- No reported fundraisers for President Obama during this past weekend of G-8 and NATO summits. European leaders have enough trouble passing the beret for Greece.But we did get some new fundraising numbers that reveal a newfound money momentum for Republican Mitt Romney and the grassroots strategy of the Democrat who’d like to win reelection so he could have more flexibility offering missile defense concessions to the Russians.In April, with his  party’s nomination tied up, Romney and the Republican National Committee could focus on money-raising for the general election. They increased his money haul to $40.1 million, suddenly not far behind the $43.6 million that Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised. The incumbent’s total fell about $10 million from the previous month.

  Obama campaign officials naturally chose to distract attention from the drop and emphasize instead the large number of small donors he got, more than 430,000.

  But the decline appeared to confirm rumors and anecdotal evidence that Obama’s large-sum donors were less enthusiastic this time around and holding back the checks or reducing their size. One California Democrat said bundlers, who simply stacked the free-flowing checks in 2008, were now having to convince many to give.

• Cory Booker walks back criticism of Obama tactics as ‘nauseating’- Newark Mayor Cory Booker released a Web video Sunday emphasizing his support for President Obama and clarifying remarks he made earlier in the day where he criticized the president’s campaign tactics as “nauseating.”“I used the word ‘nauseating’ on Meet the Press because that’s really how I feel, when I see people in my city struggling with real issues,” said Booker in the video. “I get very upset when I see such a level of dialogue that calls us to our lowest common denominators and not the kind of things that can unify us as a nation and move us forward as a nation.”“I also expressed on Meet the Press my profound frustration with the kind of campaigning which I think is becoming too much of the norm in our nation, which is generally negative campaigning,” Booker continued.
  On NBC’s Meet the Press earlier on Sunday, Booker had strongly criticized an Obama campaign ad which attacked presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s tenure at private-equity firm Bain Capital.

  “This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides,” Booker said.

• Cory Booker commits the classic Washington gaffe – n Washington, there’s an old cliche: A gaffe is when a politician is accidentally honest.
  That’s what happened to Newark (N.J.) Mayor Cory Booker during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. Booker, who is widely regarded as a fast riser in Democratic politics, veered badly off message when he defended Bain Capital — the longtime employer of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney — and described the negative tone of the campaign as “nauseating”.
• Bain Capitalism 101- Watching Obama campaign ads or MSNBC, one could easily come to the conclusion that Bain Capital makes money by destroying the companies it owns. So for voters unsure about the business that Mitt Romney founded but still reluctant to trust the financial analysis offered by community organizers, some perspective might be helpful.The basic Obama-liberal critique goes like this: Bain buys a company, loads it with debt and then sucks out cash before foisting the wounded business upon an unsuspecting buyer or a bankruptcy court. In the risk-taking world of private equity such a scenario can certainly happen, and it’s true that Bain likes management fees and dividends as much as the next partnership
• How Another Electoral Split Decision Could Divide America – In looking ahead toward the November election, Republican strategists should take proactive steps to avoid a damaging, dangerous conclusion to the presidential race and to prevent the very real chance that Mitt Romney will win the Electoral College even while losing the popular vote badly to Barack Obama.
• Hillary Clinton will be the 2012 veep candidate – Washington Times- Show of hands: Who here still thinks Vice President Joseph R. Biden will be on the 2012 ticket?Really? All of you? So wrong. The Great One, Sir Barack Hussein Obama, will replace the bumbling, buffoonish Mr. Biden with Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, maybe at the Democratic convention, maybe just before, in a last-ditch effort to win re-election.The wild and crazy move is all the talk outside the Beltway. One state Democratic leader even tells me the bumper stickers are already printed, sitting in a warehouse in (where else?) Little Rock, Ark. Another party bigwig says she is “99.9 percent sure” the increasingly desperate president planned the whole thing from the beginning. (“C’mon, Hill, be Secretary of State for one term and I’ll make you veep the next!”)
• Obama Pursues Higher Tax Rates, Growth Be Damned- Over the past three years, Obama has pursued the goal of higher tax rates as relentlessly as Captain Ahab pursued the great white whale.Never mind that by some measures the United States, even with the “Bush tax cuts,” already has the most progressive tax system in advanced economies. About 40 percent of federal income tax revenues come from the top 1 percent.And we know from experience that when top rates are increased above Bill Clinton’s 39.6 percent, the intake is always less than projected. Since World War II, federal revenues have never risen much over 20 percent of gross domestic product, whether the top rate was 28 percent or 91 percent.

  The reason is that when rates get high enough, investors’ animal spirits (John Maynard Keynes’ term) are directed less at increasing productivity and creating wealth and more at avoiding taxes. And without increased productivity, you don’t get robust economic growth — which hurts everyone.

  There’s another problem. High tax rates mean a volatile revenue stream, as California Gov. Jerry Brown is finding out. When times are bad, revenues dry up just when government needs money. California’s budget deficit has zoomed from $9 billion to $16 billion in a few months.

• Will Harvard Law School Condemn Elizabeth Warren for Pow Wow Chow Plagiarism?- Breitbart reported on Friday that two of Elizabeth Warren’s recipe contributions to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin included word for word copies of a 1979 article written for the New York Times News Service by famous French cook Pierre Franey. Sunday morning, attention turned to Harvard Law School, where Ms. Warren has been employed as a professor since 1992.Plagiarism of an academic paper while employed by Harvard Law School, or while employed previously at another law school, would clearly be grounds for her dismissal under Harvard University’s code of conduct for professors. But does plagiarism of a 1984 cookbook when she was 35 years old and employed as a research associate and teacher at the University of Texas Law School constitute grounds for dismissal?
• Obama super PAC slump continues- The pro-Barack Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action is still struggling to keep up with GOP super PACs preparing to unleash millions of dollars in independent advertisements.Priorities USA Action raised $1.6 million in April, according to federal records released late Sunday. It’s the smallest haul the group has pulled in since the meager $59,000 the group raised in January.
• Hernandez faces two challengers for 48th District Assembly race- Two challengers are hoping for a chance to unseat incumbent Roger Hernandez, a Democrat who is running for re-election as a representative for the state’s 48th AssemblyDistrict.Hernandez previously represented the 57th District, before the 48th District was created under redistricting.Running against Hernandez is Republican Joe Gardner, a 57-year-old West Covina resident, and Covina resident Mike Meza, 60, who is running with no party affiliation.

  The 48th District,which hasa population of about 460,000, covers Duarte, Azusa, Glendora, Covina, West Covina, Baldwin Park, Irwindale, part of El Monte, and the unincorporated communities Charter Oak, Bassett and Valinda.

  The top two vote-getters in the June 5 primary election will advanceto the November election.

• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-21 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-21
• Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/amc/the_killing_sayonara_hiawatha?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the The Killing: Sayonara, Hiawatha sticker on @GetGlue!
• Finished the Pasadena Half Marathon with a PR! YAY! on Twitpic – Finished the Pasadena Half Marathon with a PR! YAY!
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-20 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-20
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-19 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-19
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Is Linda Parks a Republican? – CA-26: Is Linda Parks a Republican?
• Did Elizabeth Warren Plagiarize Her ‘Pow Wow Chow’ Recipes?- The credibility of Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren took another hit today as Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr released evidence that appears to confirm Ms. Warren may have plagiarized at least three of the five recipes she submitted to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin Candy Rowsey.Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members of the Cherokee tribe, are described in a New York Times News Service story as originating at Le Pavilion, a fabulously expensive French restaurant in Manhattan. The dishes were said to be particular favorites of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter.The two recipes, “Cold Omelets with Crab Meat” and “Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing,” appear in an article titled “Cold Omelets with Crab Meat,” written by Pierre Franey of the New York Times News Service that was published in the August 22, 1979 edition of the Virgin Islands Daily News, a copy of which can be seen here.

  Ms. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing is a word-for-word copy of Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe.

• Youngstown News, Biden snubs are getting old- For the past several months, editors and reporters with The Vindicator have asked the campaign of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to provide us access to the two officeholders if/when they come here.Our ultimate goal was an editorial board meeting, but even a few minutes for a one-on-one interview would be something.With Biden coming to Youngstown, the requests were made again, and politely denied — as they were during the 2008 campaign.

  I was told Biden couldn’t spare three to four minutes even though he ended up staying at M7 Technologies for about 90 minutes after his speech before going to his next campaign stop.

  Consolation prize

  As a consolation prize, the campaign offered me the job of being the local pool reporter.

  I initially declined because the job’s main responsibility is to spend a lot of time covering a secondary event — in this case, Biden’s visit to the Salem Fire Department — and share all the information you obtain with other reporters.

• California’s legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher – latimes.com – RT @LATPoliticsCA: California’s legislative analyst says deficit may be even bigger
• Flesh-Eating Bacteria Consumed Man’s Penis After Surgery, Says Lawsuit | Fox News Latino – Really! | RT @GayPatriot: DUDE!!!! –> Flesh-Eating Bacteria Consumed Man’s Penis, Says Lawsuit
• Jerry Brown to unveil $14-billion water project – latimes.com – Where is the money coming from? | Jerry Brown to unveil $14-billion water project #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 18, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 18, 2012
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Mitt Romney Unveils First General Election Television Ad – Mitt Romney Unveils First General Election Television Ad
• Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments- Bloomberg – Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments

These are my links for May 16th through May 17th:

• Romney presses Obama on debt with aid of prop clock- Mitt Romney continued to drive a debt-oriented message here on Wednesday morning, extending his “prairie fire” of debt metaphor with the assistance of a prop.In a nod to the independent voters who pushed the Sunshine State into the Democratic column in 2008, Romney noted that both parties were responsible for pushing the debt to the “incomprehensible” levels – which were represented on a giant prop debt clock behind him.
• Harvard’s ‘woman of color’- The curious case of the Native American roots — or lack thereof — of Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren just keeps getting curiouser.Now the New England Historical Genealogical Society, which originally announced they found evidence of Warren’s Cherokee heritage, has revised its finding.Tom Champoux, spokesman for the society, said “We have no proof that Elizabeth Warren’s great great great grandmother O.C. Sarah Smith either is or is not of Cherokee descent.”
• Dems in despair on Wisconsin- On Monday, local party officials began complaining bitterly about the lack of resources national Democratic groups are committing to the recall effort in Wisconsin. “We are frustrated by the lack of support from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association,” a top Wisconsin Democratic Party official told The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent.Back in January, the complaints were coming from the other end: National Democrats were irked that labor unions and others planned to spend tens of millions of dollars to recall Gov. Scott Walker —leaving less for President Obama’s re-election drive and congressional contests.But amid increasingly poor polling numbers for Walker’s challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Democrats and their allies at the national level seem to be re-thinking their commitment to the Wisconsin race. NBC’s Chuck Todd asked recently if the DNC would be sending more cash to help Barrett; the answer from Stephanie Cutter, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, was strongly noncommittal: “I don’t know the answer to that question, on the money.”

  A new Public Policy Polling poll shows Walker up on Barrett by 50 percent to 45 percent, the same margin PPP found a month ago, and similar to other recent polls.

• Why I Think Obama Is Losing- So what’s the answer? Obama’s big problem, I think, is that he is no longer the president he said he would be. Above all, he’s stopped trying to be that president.The astonishing enthusiasm for Obama in 2008 rested heavily on his promise to change Washington and unify the country. You can argue about whose fault it is that Washington is even more paralyzed by tribal fighting than before–in my view, it’s mostly (though not entirely) the GOP’s fault. For whatever reason, Obama failed to bring the change he promised. That would be forgivable, so long as he was determined to keep trying. But he isn’t determined to keep trying. His campaign message so far boils down to this: You just can’t work with these people. I tried, they’re not interested, so it’s war. If they want bitter partisan politics, they can have it.My instinct tells me this is a losing strategy.
• Health care reform: GOP preps plan for ruling on law- House Republican leaders are quietly hatching a plan of attack as they await a historic Supreme Court ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care law.If the law is upheld, Republicans will take to the floor to tear out its most controversial pieces, such as the individual mandate and requirements that employers provide insurance or face fines.
• Senate Democrats Achieve a New Standard of Irresponsibility- The Senate voted on five budgets today, at theinsistence of Republican senators. The result was revealing: no Senate Democrat voted in favor of any budget. This is consistent, of course, with the fact that the Democrat-led Senate has refused to adopt a budget, in violation of federal law, for the last three years. Still, it is a little shocking to see that not a single Democrat was willing to vote in favor of any budget, even the most irresponsible.President Obama’s budget fared the worst; it lost, 99-0. This means that the presidents FY 2013 budget has now been rejected by the House and Senate by a combined vote of 513-0. Earlier today, as Paul noted in a post a little while ago, Obama demanded a “serious bipartisan approach” to the nation’s budgetary crisis. Bipartisan? He can’t even get a single Democrat to support his radically irresponsible proposals.
• Obama budget defeated 99-0 in Senate- President Obama’s budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it.Coupled with the House’s rejection in March, 414-0, that means Mr. Obama’s budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year.Republicans forced the vote by offering the president’s plan on the Senate floor.

  Democrats disputed that it was actually the president’s plan, arguing that the slim amendment didn’t actually match Mr. Obama’s budget document, which ran thousands of pages. But Republicans said they used all of the president’s numbers in the proposal, so it faithfully represented his plan.

• Republicans Weigh Rev. Wright Attack Against Obama- A group of Republican strategists and a conservative billionaire have devised an advertising attack on President Obama that highlights his connection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a controversial figure in the 2008 campaign, The New York Times reports.The $10 million plan, which is still being weighed, was overseen by Republican media consultant Fred Davis and was commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, who is increasingly using his fortune to impact this year’s election. A super PAC affiliated with Ricketts played a major role in Nebraska’s Republican primary on Tuesday.“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” reads a proposal by the group, which was obtained by The Times.
• Scott Walker leads in new Wisconsin recall poll – The Washington Post – RT @FixRachel: Walker leads in new Wisconsin recall poll, GOP has edge in enthusiasm
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Flap Listed as 2012 Top Dentist in Social Media – Flap Listed as 2012 Top Dentist in Social Media
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 16, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 16, 2012
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Gregory Flap Cole Named Top Dentist in Social Media for 2012 – Gregory Flap Cole Named Top Dentist in Social Media for 2012
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 16, 2012 – Board Meeting – Day By Day May 16, 2012 – Board Meeting

These are my links for May 15th through May 16th:

• Regina’s Work in Progress: Environments Plus: We Are Attending NeoCon – RT @reginacordell: Environments Plus: We Are Attending NeoCon
• Romney Leads By 8 Points in North Carolina- Mitt Romney has moved out to an eight-point lead over President Obama in North Carolina after the two men were virtually tied a month ago.The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Tar Heel State shows the putative Republican nominee earning 51% of the vote to Obama’s 43%. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided
• California : The war of the few against the many – If there was a familiar feeling to Gov. Jerry Brown’s warning of a $16 billion hole in the 2012-13 budget and his release of an ostensibly severe spending plan, there should have been. It was quite similar to the spiels we’ve gotten almost every spring from governors for the past decade, whether it was Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gray Davis – a plea for higher taxes, a call for more cuts to health and welfare programs, small impositions on state workers, short-term accounting tricks, but no plan that leads to a downsized, sustainable state government without a structural deficit.
• Is Pennsylvania In Play for November? Maybe- I never include the Keystone State in my list of presidential swing states for November. Am I making a mistake? Possibly.There are plenty of reasons to leave the commonwealth of Pennsylvania off any list of the most competitive states that will decide the next president.While the 2000 national election split the country almost down the middle — then-Vice President Al Gore (D) beat George W. Bush (R) in the popular vote by one-half of 1 percent —Pennsylvania went for the Democrat by more than 4 points.
• Fordham piece called Elizabeth Warren Harvard Law’s ‘first woman of color’- Elizabeth Warren has pushed back hard on questions about a Harvard Crimson piece in 1996 that described her as Native American, saying she had no idea the school where she taught law was billing her that way and saying it never came up during her hiring a year earlier, which others have backed up.But a 1997 Fordham Law Review piece described her as Harvard Law School’s “first woman of color,” based, according to the notes at the bottom of the story, on a “telephone interview with Michael Chmura, News Director, Harvard Law (Aug. 6, 1996).”The mention was in the middle of a lengthy and heavily-annotated Fordham piece on diversity and affirmative action and women. The title of the piece, by Laura Padilla, was “Intersectionality and positionality: Situating women of color in the affirmative action dialogue.”
• Doug Hampton’s plea could hurt John Ensign- — An independent group favoring Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney is launching a $25 million, monthlong advertising campaign in 10 states against President Barack Obama, further escalating an expensive TV ad war in presidential battlegrounds six months before Election Day.Crossroads GPS plans to open the effort Thursday by spending $8 million on a TV ad that castigates Obama on the economy by using his own words against him.”We need solutions, not just promises,” says a 60-second commercial that’s to run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
• Crossroads GPS Launching New Anti-Obama Ad Campaign- — An independent group favoring Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney is launching a $25 million, monthlong advertising campaign in 10 states against President Barack Obama, further escalating an expensive TV ad war in presidential battlegrounds six months before Election Day.Crossroads GPS plans to open the effort Thursday by spending $8 million on a TV ad that castigates Obama on the economy by using his own words against him.”We need solutions, not just promises,” says a 60-second commercial that’s to run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
• Deb Fischer wins in Nebraska GOP Senate race – In a dramatic, come-from-behind dash to the finish line late Tuesday evening, state Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine laid claim to the Republican Senate nomination. Her late surge, perhaps unprecedented in modern-day Nebraska political history, upended a Senate race that appeared to be settled as recently as 10 days ago with the GOP prize within the grasp of Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. Fischer suddenly gained momentum with late endorsements from 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln, then rode the momentum of a weekend TV ad blitz mounted by Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts and his political action committee.
• Democratic Poll Shows Romney and Obama Nearly Tied in Wisconsin – A newly released PPP/Daily Kos poll shows President Obama and Mitt Romney locked in essentially a dead-heat in Wisconsin — where Obama beat John McCain by 14 percentage points in 2008. The poll (which was taken shortly after Obama came out in favor of redefining marriage) shows Obama with 47 percent support and Romney with 46 percent support. The previous PPP/Daily Kos poll from Wisconsin, taken a month ago, showed Obama leading Romney by 6 points (50 to 44 percent).
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-16 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-16
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS
• World News – Cross-border methamphetamine trade booms amid Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ – World News – Cross-border methamphetamine trade booms amid Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS
• World News – Cross-border methamphetamine trade booms amid Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ – RT @frontlinepbs: Mexico seized 22 #meth labs in 2007. That number increased to 206 in 2011.
• PJ Media – RT @PJTatler: Gallup: Obama Approval Rating Above 50%…in a Whopping 10 States #tcot
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS
• Deb Fischer wins Nebraska Senate race – David Catanese – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: Deb Fischer has won the Nebraska Republican Senate primary.
• Untitled (http://www.oregonlive.com/special/oregonian/meth/pdfs/1003meth_abuse.pdf) – RT @frontlinepbs: How does #meth purity affect abuse trends? @SteveSuo explains: His chart: #F …
• Interviews – Steve Suo | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS – RT @frontlinepbs: How does #meth purity affect abuse trends? @SteveSuo explains: His chart: #F …
• Analysis: Gay marriage decision not working in Obama’s favor so far – latimes.com – RT @latimes: Analysis: Gay marriage decision not working in Obama’s favor so far
• 2012 Edition — Top 10 Dentists in Social Media- You may be a dental expert when it comes to treatments and procedures, but does your expertise carry over into the social aspect of your practice? Are you a Facebook aficionado or are you still trying to figure out what a “tweet” even is? Last year, we compiled a list of who we thought were some of the top dentists in social media. These dentists go the extra mile to interact with their patients and spread the latest dental news, so we wanted to honor them again this year. With some new additions and some returning favorites, these dentists not only excel in the dental world, but the social media world as well. Check out why we chose these well-connected dentists to make the top 10 list this year. 1. Dr. Gregory Cole. Returning from lastyear is the California-based dentist and blogger, Dr. “Flap” Cole. Dr. Cole consistently updates his Flap’s Dentistry Blog with all the latest news in the dental industry and other current events in health (and that’s not even his only website!). His posts are very informative and thorough. He continues to be a part of the Twitter and Facebook community, updating frequently for more than 36,000 Twitter followers.
• Nebraska Secretary of State – Election Night Results – May 15th, 2012 – RT @michellemalkin: NE Secretary of State website with updated GOP primary results==>
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Michael Ramirez on the Obama Gay Marriage Flip Flop – Michael Ramirez on the Obama Gay Marriage Flip Flop
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012 Poll: Romney Leads Obama With Women – President 2012 Poll: Romney Leads Obama With Women
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: May 15, 2012 – The Morning Drill: May 15, 2012
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 15, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 15, 2012
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 15, 2012 – No Quarter – Day By Day May 15, 2012 – No Quarter

These are my links for May 14th through May 15th:

• Obama campaign: New York Times poll is ‘biased’- Obama campaign deputy manager Stephanie Cutter dismissed today’s CBS/New York Times poll showing that 67 percent of people believed Obama made his decision on gay marriage for political reasons. Only 24 percent said that Obama did it “mostly because he thinks it is right.”Host Chuck Todd asked Cutter about the poll, admitting that the methodology of the poll was different, because it was a callback poll. “Put those caveats aside thats a lot of people saying that he did this for political reasons,” Todd said, noting that it was a 3-1 margin.”We can’t put the methodology of that poll aside, because the methodology was significantly biased.” Cutter insisted on MSNBC this morning.

• Cell Phone Ban Keeps Obama Fundraisers Secret – In the latest attempt to crack down on potentially embarrassing digital leaks from presidential fundraisers, President Barack Obama’s campaign has begun asking donors attending small fundraisers with the president to turn over their cell phones before entering.
  Pool reporter David Nakamura of the Washington Post reported that at a $35,800 a head fundraiser at the home of Blackstone COO Hamilton “Tony” James in New York City Monday night, the 60 attendees were asked to place their phones in plastic bags by the door.
  An Obama aide called the move it “standard operating procedure,” but veterans of a range of other campaigns said they’d never heard of the practice, which is common in secure White House spaces where there are concerns of espionage, but unknown in contexts in which only political secrets are discussed. The new prevalence of sophisticated audio and recording capacities in mobile devices owned by virtually anyone wealthy enough to write a check to a political campaign, however, has put a new pressure on campaigns concerned with staying on a public message.
  The fundraising sessions are one of the last vestige of privacy for the president outside of the White House, and a rare opportunity for top donors to hear relatively unscripted remarks by the most powerful man in the world, and to ask him questions. Obama’s prepared remarks at the events are open press and covered by a small group of reporters, but the “press pool” is escorted out of the room before the Q&A period.
• Brace, brace. Dark times ahead as Greece heads for the exit – Mistakenly, they have convinced themselves that it won’t much matter if Greece leaves, and indeed that it might even help resolve the wider crisis to get rid of this persistent thorn in the flesh.
  Bring it on, they mutter callously; it will be a lot worse for them than for us. On one level, this is just bravado. It’s an attempt to put as nonchalant a face as possible on the now apparently inevitable. But they also seem to believe in their validity of their own analysis – that they have indeed used the past two years well, and are now fully prepared for a Greek exit.
  Believe it if you will. The ineptitude to date of the eurozone’s crisis response strongly suggests a different conclusion – both that the likely contagion from an exit has been hugely underestimated, and that by prompting a wider breakup, thereby tipping Europe into depression, it may end up as bad for everyone else as it is for Greece.
  The Greek problem has been consistently misdiagnosed and mismanaged right from the start. First there was the suggestion a year ago from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy that if Greece didn’t buckle under and agree austerity it might be chucked out. Markets reacted logically by selling bonds in any country that looked vulnerable, thereby making it much harder for all periphery governments to fund themselves.
• Jerry Brown vs. Chris Christie- In his January 2011 inaugural address, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared it a “time to honestly assess our financial condition and make the tough choices.” Plainly the choices weren’t tough enough: Mr. Brown has just announced that he faces a state budget deficit of $16 billion—nearly twice the $9.2 billion he predicted in January. In Sacramento Monday, he coupled a new round of spending cuts with a call for some hefty new tax hikes.In his own inaugural address back in January 2010, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also spoke of making tough choices for the people of his state. For his first full budget, Mr. Christie faced a deficit of $10.7 billion—one-third of projected revenues. Not only did Mr. Christie close that deficit without raising taxes, he is now plumping for a 10% across-the-board tax cut.
• One by One, Obama Targets ’08 Coalition for Boost- President Obama is attempting to shore up the 2008 coalition that helped him achieve a decisive victory over John McCain, but he is doing so in a more piecemeal way this time around.As an incumbent, Obama’s method is to target various constituencies — albeit ones that supported him four years ago — and make the sale with this argument: On the issues they care most about, he has advanced specific policies to help them, programs opposed by the Republican Party and its presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney.
• How Romney will respond to Obama’s Bain attack -
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-15 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-15
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrat Super PAC Spending More for Julia Brownley – CA-26: Democrat Super PAC Spending More for Julia Brownley
• Paul won’t campaign in any more states – The Hill’s Ballot Box – RT @StevenErtelt: BREAKING: Ron Paul calls it quits. Suspending campaign.
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Scott Walker Leads in New Poll: 52% Vs. 43% – Scott Walker Leads in New Poll: 52% Vs. 43%
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 14, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 14, 2012
• The Left Is Getting Clobbered on Twitter- We are in the early stages of the 2012 campaign season, with a lot of battlespace preparation going on. In the skirmishing so far, one perhaps surprising media advantage has become clear: the right is clobbering the left on Twitter.Maybe it’s because Twitter puts a premium on brevity and cleverness. I don’t know. But for some reason, it seems to be a natural medium for conservatives. We saw it when the Hilary Rosen interview (“Ann Romney never worked a day in her life”) prompted a Twitterstorm. We saw it again when #ObamaEatsDogs exploded, and when #Julia blew up in the White House’s face like an exploding cigar. Currently, the White House is promoting #AskMichelle, where loyal Democrats can go to ask the First Lady a question. Only nearly all of the questions have come from conservatives.
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: All Smiles Dental Files for Bankruptcy – All Smiles Dental Files for Bankruptcy
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 14, 2012 – Knockout – Day By Day May 14, 2012 – Knockout

These are my links for May 10th through May 14th:

• Three Different Ways to Look at the 2012 Campaign- Last week, I wrote about the standings in the presidential race and said it looked like a long, hard slog through about a dozen clearly identified target states, much like the contests in 2000 and 2004. Call it the 2000/2004 long, hard slog scenario.But I said there were other possible scenarios. I can think of three.
• California Deficit Swells to $16 Billion, Governor Says -
• Euro Officials Begin to Weigh Greek Exit as Euro Weakens -
• President Obama, the Auto Dealer Layoff King – By Jim Geraghty- The Obama campaign has decided that thisweek’s Bright Shiny Object TM will be the folks laid off while Mitt Romney was running Bain Capital.Because President Obama has never laid anyone off… oh, wait:

  President Obama’s auto task force pressed General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships without adequately considering the jobs that would be lost or having a firm idea of the cost savings that would be achieved, an audit of the process has concluded.

• Mitt Romney’s mantra: Avoid John McCain’s mistakes- Mitt Romney and his top aides are building a strategy, partly by design and partly because of circumstance, around what they consider John McCain’s disastrously run campaign in 2008.The strategy: whatever McCain did, do the opposite.
• Obama Ad To Attack Romney On Bain Years- A new ad critical of Mitt Romney’s years as the leader of a private equity firm is set to air in five battleground states starting on Monday, according to The Associated Press.The ad is part of a larger effort by the Obama campaign to attack one of Romney’s strengths: his business career. In addition to the two-minute ad, a longer six-minute web video can be found on a new interactive website, romneyeconomics.com, that criticizes Romney’s record. The Obama campaign will also hold a press conference call later Monday announcing the effort.The two-minute television ad focuses on the fate of a steel mill in Kansas City, Mo., allowing laid off workers to tell their stories. “They made as much money off of it as they could. And they closed it down,” says Joe Soptic, a steelworker for 30 years, in the ad. Jack Cobb, another worker, adds: “It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us.”

  The ad will air in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado.

• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – 8 miles are done = ready for Pasadena Half Marathon next Sunday. (@ Ronnie’s Diner)
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-13 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-13
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – With Alice, Tara and Bev after the Revlon run/walk. (@ Ronnie’s Diner w/ 3 others)
• Gregory Flap @ EIF Revlon Run Walk For Women LA – foursquare – With Alice, Tara, Nancy and Bev, walking to fight cancer (@ EIF Revlon Run Walk For Women LA w/ 79 others)
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-12 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-12
• Six in 10 Say Obama Same-Sex Marriage View Won’t Sway Vote – A majority of Americans, 60%, say President Barack Obama’s newly announced support for same-sex marriage will make no difference to their vote. Twice as many say it will make them less likely to vote for Obama as say more likely, though roughly half of the “less likely” group are Republicans who probably would not support Obama anyway.
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-11 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-11
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrats Continue to Pound Linda Parks – CA-26: Democrats Continue to Pound Linda Parks
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 10, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 10, 2012
• Gregory Flap @ Patsaouras Transit Plaza – Union Station – foursquare – Waiting to take Alice to her birthday office luncheon. (@ Patsaouras Transit Plaza – Union Station)
• Obama gay marriage support seen as world precedent – Yahoo! News – Obama gay marriage support seen as world precedent
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: May 10, 2012 – The Morning Drill: May 10, 2012

The Morning Flap: These are my links for May 7th through May 9th:

• Wave of violence in Germany over party’s use of anti-Muslim cartoons- GERMANY is beginning to regret its decision to allow a far-right political party to display anti-Muslim cartoons near mosques as part of an electioneering campaign.Spikes in violence at recent gatherings – including a major riot on Saturday that left two police officers seriously injured with stab wounds – have triggered fears of more bloodshed.Courts in Germany took the view that cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed and Allah – both outlawed under Islam – were acceptable in a country where freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution. But with resistance growing to the tactics of the radical Pro NRW party, Germany is looking to defuse tensions.More than 100 people were arrested at the protest in Bonn on Saturday where the police officers were stabbed in the legs; a further 27 officers were injured. One man has been charged with trying to incite the deaths of three policemen among the crowd of 600 Salafist Muslim demonstrators outside the King Fahd Academy in Bonn.The far-right Pro NRW party has said it intends to send activists to 25 mosques in the run-up to the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia on 13 May, staging protests in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Wuppertal and Solingen.
• Roots of Lugar’s Defeat Began Back Home – The tea party, an unsteady movement that was beginning to resemble a wayward ship in 2012, found its north star in Indiana on Tuesday night.
  State Treasurer Richard Mourdock defeated six-term Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary, a victory owing to the incumbent’s inept campaign, the outside groups that lashed him on the air, and a story about his out-of-state residency that would not go away. But well before those issues got a foothold, a grassroots-driven, local movement to unseat Lugar was well under way.
  Sixteen months ago, a collection of tea party organizers met in the city of Tipton. Their goal was to address flaws in the movement that were exposed in 2010, when infighting and competing agendas largely driven by national groups and consultants hindered its ability to make lasting gains. What resulted was “Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate,” a network of 60 tea party groups dedicated to retiring Lugar.
  “We didn’t have the unity [in 2010]. Once we built the foundation of unity, we went out and educated people about Lugar’s voting record,” said Monica Boyer, one of the group’s cofounders.
  The group endorsed Mourdock after a September straw poll showed that he was the preferred choice of conservative activists. National groups like the Tea Party Express that in 2010 were responsible for the rise of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Alaska had yet to enter fray in a major way. The national group FreedomWorks had met with Boyer’s organization, but it didn’t jump in with full force until Mourdock emerged as the consensus candidate.
• Elizabeth Warren Ancestor Rounded Up Cherokees For Trail of Tears -
• Will gay marriage haunt Obama in November?- Gay marriage is in the news — because Vice President Joe Biden put it there. He let the genie out of the bottle and got ahead of his boss on an issue the president has been trying to straddle for the last year and a half.President Obama’s coalition — minority voters and young voters — have very different views about gay marriage, evidenced in 2008 in California, when young voters came out to oppose an amendment that would ban gay marriage, while African Americans supported it.And then there’s the money, according to the Washington Post, one in six bundlers — the people who raise the big bucks for the Obama campaign — is gay. They are still raising money for a man who continues to twist himself into a pretzel over gay marriage, and whose White House still can’t figure out how to message it. Why? Because they believe wholeheartedly that he actually supports gay marriage, and if re-elected he will come out in full support of it and flip his position.
• Christie won’t say whether he’ll seek re-election -
• Why Dick Lugar lost -
• Lugar unloads on ‘unrelenting’ partisanship -
• Carville: Wake up Democrats; you could lose -
• Obama ‘disappointed’ by North Carolina same-sex marriage ban- President Obama’s campaign said he was “disappointed” that North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state.”The President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples,” Obama North Carolina campaign spokesman Cameron French said, in a Tuesday statement on the vote over Amendment 1.
• Lugar loss has lessons for Republicans, Democrats -
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 7 & 8, 2012 – Base Voters – Day By Day May 7 & 8, 2012 – Base Voters
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-08 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-08
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Day By Day May 6, 2012 – Phat Future – Day By Day May 6, 2012 – Phat Future
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama and Romney in a Dead Heat – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama and Romney in a Dead Heat
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012 Poll Watch: Race Close in 12 Swing States – President 2012 Poll Watch: Race Close in 12 Swing States
• Capitol Alert: Tobacco firms chip in another $15 million against Prop 29 – RT @CapitolAlert: Tobacco firms chip in another $15 million against Prop 29
• Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 7, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 7, 2012

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