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The Morning Flap: May 7, 2012
These are my links for May 4th through May 7th:
- Germany says renegotiating EU pact ‘not possible’– The German government on Monday ruled out reworking the European Union’s fiscal pact despite calls to do so by French president-elect Francois Hollande.”It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference.He noted that 25 of the 27 EU member states had already signed the accord imposing strict budgetary discipline in March after major wrangling.
Hollande has called for a shift in strategy toward more growth-oriented measures including more public spending.
But Seibert said Merkel would not accept “deficit spending” to feed economic expansion, and believed in “growth through structural reforms” such as reducing the cost of job creation as pursued by Germany over the last decade.
Yet he dismissed suggestions that the apparently conflicting policies would put Merkel on a collision course with Germany’s closest ally, insisting she was ready for an open dialogue.
“We will see what proposals and ideas he has and go from there,” Seibert said, referring to Hollande.
He noted that Merkel was also a firm believer in promoting growth as a path out of the debt crisis.
“Growth is not a new issue but rather the second pillar of our fiscal policy, and not just since yesterday,” he said.
- Hollande faces battle with Berlin over growth– Fresh from the election campaign, president-elect Francois Hollande faces a new battle with France’s European partners, in particular Germany, to add a growth pact to balance the EU’s new compact on strict budgetary discipline.The handover of power by Nicolas Sarkozy should take place by May 15 at the latest, but the Socialist will immediately begin consultations with EU partners on his emblematic campaign initiative, according to his advisors.The goal is to advance the proposal on a growth compact to the stage of a memorandum that would be transmitted to European capitals for consideration by the end of the month.
The fiscal compact treaty requiring cutting deficits and debt was signed at the beginning of March by 25 EU states and has already been ratified by several.
- Socialist Hollande triumphs in French presidential poll– François Hollande has won France’s presidential election, giving the country its first Socialist president in almost two decades, exit polls showed Sunday.According to Ipsos polling institute, the left-wing candidate took 51.7% of the vote to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy’s 48.3%.Celebrations are underway at the iconic Place de la Bastille in central Paris, the same spot where the last Socialist to win a presidential election, François Mitterrand, celebrated his first victory back in 1981.
- Vice President Marco Rubio? –
- Twitter plays outsize role in 2012 campaign –
- Fortune 500 2012: Annual ranking of America’s largest corporations from Fortune Magazine –
- Schwarzenegger vs. GOP, for old times’ sake –
- Why the Obama Campaign Is So Confident About Beating Romney –
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/amc/the_killing_keylela?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the The Killing: Keylela sticker on @GetGlue!
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-06 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-06
- Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – Only 10 miles for me today, but it was sunny for a change. (@ Ronnie’s Diner w/ 2 others)
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-05 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-05-05
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » California FPPC’s Ann Ravel Backs Off Blogger Campaign Disclosure – California FPPC’s Ann Ravel Backs Off Blogger Campaign Disclosure
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » CA-26: Democrat Super PAC Up With Ad for Julia Brownley – CA-26: Democrat Super PAC Up With Ad for Julia Brownley
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Michael Ramirez: Barack Obama’s Forward? – Michael Ramirez: Barack Obama’s Forward?
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » In-Sen: Richard Mourdock Leads Sen. Richard Lugar By 10 Points – In-Sen: Richard Mourdock Leads Sen. Richard Lugar By 10 Points
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: May 4, 2012 – The Morning Flap: May 4, 2012
- Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Economic Growth Stalls as Unemployment Decreases to 8.1% – Economic Growth Stalls as Unemployment Decreases to 8.1%
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: May 4, 2012 – The Morning Drill: May 4, 2012
- Germany says renegotiating EU pact ‘not possible’– The German government on Monday ruled out reworking the European Union’s fiscal pact despite calls to do so by French president-elect Francois Hollande.”It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference.He noted that 25 of the 27 EU member states had already signed the accord imposing strict budgetary discipline in March after major wrangling.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 29th on 18:25
These are my links for March 29th from 18:25 to 18:34:
- California’s Red Lining – The San Diego GOP – The Sacramento Bee reports that only 31 percent of residents are registered Republicans and 44 percent Democrats.
No Republican holds a statewide office.
In 2010, Gov. Jerry Brown won 53.1 percent of the vote, while Sen. Barbara Boxer was reelected with 52.1 percent.
California has 34 Democrats in the House, compared with only 19 Republicans. Both of its senators are Democrats.
The California State Assembly roster has 52 Democrats out of 80 representatives, and the Senate roster lists 25 Democrats out of 40 State senators.
Conservative victories in San Diego also include passing, by nearly 75 percent, Proposition A, which is a countywide ban of project labor agreements. Nearby Oceanside and Chula Vista passed similar bans. The old rules allowed unions were to control municipal construction projects and avoid competition.Republicans lead in voter registration, too. According to a February 10 report, Republicans have 3,053 more registered voters in San Diego.
So what can the California Republican party learn from these victories?
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Read it all
- Shocker: Organized labor mulling its own California ballot measure on taxes – The California Labor Federation is considering a ballot initiative on taxes after budget talks between Gov. Jerry Brown and Republican lawmakers broke down this afternoon.
Art Pulaski, the federation's executive secretary-treasurer, said his organization has made no decision on an initiative but that, "We're certainly not going to sit back and watch the state fall apart."
He said, "We are going to move forward."
A voter initiative is one alternative Brown is considering to put tax extensions on a ballot without Republican support in the Legislature. The Democratic governor has not said how he might proceed.
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But, the unions and Democrats, particularly Jerry Brown wanted political cover from the GOP.
They could have done this from the beginning.
- Maher, Palin and Arianna – Hey, Arianna! Andrew Breitbart called Van Jones a “punk.” Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a “cunt.” Which one did you ban again?
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Yeah Arianna….is Maher off the front page?
- California’s Red Lining – The San Diego GOP – The Sacramento Bee reports that only 31 percent of residents are registered Republicans and 44 percent Democrats.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 15th on 10:28
These are my links for March 15th from 10:28 to 10:43:
- Process issue will define CA GOP or NOT – The passage last year of Proposition 14, which replaced part primaries with an "open" primary and run-off in California, has set off a bitter fight inside the California Republican Party, which heads into a convention this weekend in Sacramento girding for a procedural battle that will shape its identity.
The conservative party leadership, led by outgoing party Chairman Ron Nehring, has proposed that the party choose and designate a candidate despite the changed system, and that only the party choice be able to benefit from — among other things — crucial state party financial support.
Members of Congress and state legislators, meanwhile, are pushing back quite hard, as in an email earlier this month signed by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and others:
[Nehring's proposed] system forces endorsements – even when there are good Republicans running against good Republicans. Worse, should the "endorsed" candidate lose the June election, the actual winner is still not the official nominee of the GOP and could be denied any Republican resources. This is a disaster in the making!
The second option is an alternative bylaw amendment supported by a vast majority of the Congressional delegation as well as overwhelming majorities in the Senate and Assembly Caucuses that allows the Republican Party to endorse when special circumstances arise – when a Republican otherwise might not make it onto the November ballot or when liberal interest groups or labor unions are trying to elect a sham "Republican" candidate who will not vote for Republican principles.
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The real problem is that in California with the open primary and top two system of elections, there is really NO reason to be a registered member of a political party.
GOP Insiders want to preserve their power of the purse (for what it is worth since the Cal GOP is broke)and endorsements. Exisiting office holders don't want the smoke-filled room full of conservative activists calling the shots – as they routinely stack the County GOP Central Committees.
If the Ron Nehring proposal passes, there will be a flood of Republicans re-registering to Decline to State.
And, why not?
- Dan Walters: Brown-GOP budget talks hit a wall – Confusion reigned in the Capitol Monday over whether Gov. Jerry Brown's overtures to five Republican senators to support his budget plan had utterly failed, or whether suspension of their talks is merely a temporary setback.
Whatever the case, it appeared that Brown's hopes of placing $10 billion-plus a year in tax extensions on a June 7 special-election ballot had been dashed. Even if a budget agreement eventually emerges, the election will almost certainly be delayed.
That would seem to be a minor hiccup, but having an election on June 7 – before the summer doldrums set in – has been one of several conditions Brown hoped would give his plan its best chance of winning voter support.
He also wants at least a veneer of bipartisan support, no active business opposition, a simple yes or no on a single measure, and perhaps an all-mail election to create an optimal climate for what would be, under any circumstances, an iffy situation – asking voters to raise taxes by about $1,000 per family per year in the midst of the worst recession in 80 years.
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I doubt the tax extensions would pass in any case. The California economy sucks and unemployment is too high.
The Democrat welfare state has caught up with the taxpayer funders and the cuts will not be pretty.
But, hey Jerry Brown wanted this job.
- Process issue will define CA GOP or NOT – The passage last year of Proposition 14, which replaced part primaries with an "open" primary and run-off in California, has set off a bitter fight inside the California Republican Party, which heads into a convention this weekend in Sacramento girding for a procedural battle that will shape its identity.