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California Rep. Kevin McCarthy

These are my links for July 19th through July 23rd:

• California King – Majority whip Kevin McCarthy wants to make sure the GOP will keep control of the House- California has not gone Republican since perestroika, and Representative Kevin McCarthy acknowledges that Mitt Romney is unlikely to end the losing streak. But McCarthy, the House’s easygoing majority whip, would like to pick up a few congressional seats on the Left Coast.So for the past year, the conservative from California’s Central Valley has mentored a slew of Golden State contenders, many of whom he has known for decades. “It’s like the Blues Brothers,” McCarthy chuckles. “We are putting the band back together.”McCarthy, the former Republican leader of the state assembly, has quietly recruited and advised several of his former Sacramento colleagues, such as state senators Tony Strickland and Doug LaMalfa, who are now mounting House campaigns in toss-up districts.McCarthy’s push, however, is more than a pet project; it is a critical part of securing the Republicans’ House majority. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, has underscored that the “road to the majority runs through California.”
• Poll Watch: Majority of voters blame President Obama for bad economy- Two-thirds of likely voters say the weak economy is Washington’s fault, and more blame President Obama than anybody else, according to a new poll for The Hill.It found that 66 percent believe paltry job growth and slow economic recovery is the result of bad policy. Thirty-four percent say Obama is the most to blame, followed by 23 percent who say Congress is the culprit. Twenty percent point the finger at Wall Street, and 18 percent cite former President George W. Bush.The results highlight the reelection challenge Obama faces amid dissatisfaction with his first-term performance on the economy.The poll, conducted for The Hill by Pulse Opinion Research, found 53 percent of voters say Obama has taken the wrong actions and has slowed the economy down. Forty-two percent said he has taken the right actions to revive the economy, while six percent said they were not sure.

  Obama has argued throughout the presidential campaign that his policies have made the economy better. He says recovery is taking a long time because he inherited such deep economic trouble upon taking office in 2009.

• The Medicaid Albatross- It’s no secret that the states are in as much budget trouble as the federal government. Doubters should read a new report from a group headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch. By this account, states face four insistent forces: pension underfunding of at least $1 trillion; rapidly rising Medicaid spending; possible cuts in federal aid that provides $1 in $3 of state spending; and weak growth of tax revenues that, in 2011, remained 7 percent below their pre-recession peak.What looms are higher state taxes and reduced services, affecting schools, police, parks, prisons, public universities, roads and social services. Up to a point, cuts may not do much damage; every government has waste. But we are rapidly passing this point.
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-23 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-23
• Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet?- A telling moment in the presidential race came recently when Barack Obama said: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” He justified elevating bureaucrats over entrepreneurs by referring to bridges and roads, adding: “The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all companies could make money off the Internet.”It’s an urban legend that the government launched the Internet. The myth is that the Pentagon created the Internet to keep its communications lines up even in a nuclear strike. The truth is a more interesting story about how innovation happens—and about how hard it is to build successful technology companies even once the government gets out of the way.For many technologists, the idea of the Internet traces to Vannevar Bush, the presidential science adviser during World War II who oversaw the development of radar and the Manhattan Project. In a 1946 article in The Atlantic titled “As We May Think,” Bush defined an ambitious peacetime goal for technologists: Build what he called a “memex” through which “wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.”
• The Sadness in Aurora – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Sadness in Aurora
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-23 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-23
• Political Cartoons / The sad darkness in Aurora….. – The sad darkness in Aurora…..
• Day By Day July 22, 2012 – Riveting – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day July 22, 2012 – Riveting
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s California Blog
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-22
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – 9 miles are finished. Here with Alice, Nancy, Tara and Mary (@ Ronnie’s Diner)
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-21 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-21
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-21 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-21
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-20 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-20
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-20 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-20
• ilive.to – better live streaming platform – Updated link for Live Stream for tonight’s show: #BB14
• ilive.to – better live streaming platform – RT @BigBrotherLeak: Need a live stream for tonight’s show? Here you go – #BB14
• CDC: Whooping cough rising at alarming rate in US- The U.S. appears headed for its worst year for whooping cough in more than five decades, with the number of cases rising at an epidemic rate that experts say may reflect a problem with the effectiveness of the vaccine.Nearly 18,000 cases have been reported so far – more than twice the number seen at this point last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. At this pace, the number for the entire year will be the highest since 1959, when 40,000 illnesses were reported.
• YouTube Decides Obama Singing Al Green Is Fair Use; Restores All The Videos- Earlier this week, we wrote about BMG issuing a takedown to YouTube over a Mitt Romney advertisement that used a clip of President Obama singing one line of an Al Green song. As we noted at the time, this seemed like a clear fair use case. Also, people pointed out that it was clearly an attempt to stifle speech since BMG only went after the Romney commercial, and not the original clips of Obama singing. Realizing this, BMG then also issued takedowns for those videos. If YouTube wanted to retain its DMCA safe harbor provisions, it is supposed to keep those videos down for 10 days and then it could (but does not need to) restore them. However, Google has jumped the gun and restored the videos already (you can see it here), saying that the company made a determination that the content does not violate copyright laws.At this point, the ball is back in BMG’s court. Technically, it can now file a lawsuit against the uploaders of the video if it wants (so, the Romney campaign, the Associated Press and others). Also, it could potentially try to go after Google itself, claiming that the safe harbors no longer apply due to the early reposting. Of course, one would hope that BMG realizes that pursuing any of these strategies would lead to ridicule and, quite possibly, a court issued rebuke for wasting their time with a bogus copyright claim. Unfortunately, for reasons that remain a mystery to me, when it comes to copyright claims, many copyright holders fail to recognize this kind of likely outcome ahead of time.
• Bay Area Drivers Could Be Tracked By GPS, Taxed Per Mile Driven- Bay Area drivers could one day be tracked using a GPS-like device in their cars and taxed per miles driven – a scenario which is part of a proposed long-range study aimed at finding ways to reduce traffic and pollution, while also raising revenues.Members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments are scheduled to vote on Thursday on whether or not to authorize a study of the proposal. Under the plan, drivers would have to install  trackers in their vehicle and officials would tax drivers for every mile they travel.
• Poll Watch: Mtt Romney Should Release More Tax Returns – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Mtt Romney Should Release More Tax Returns
• USDA partnering with Mexico to boost food stamp rolls- The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.“USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance,” the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance” web page. “Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”
• Video: President Obama Has A Lot on His Plate – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: President Obama Has A Lot on His Plate
• Video: President Obama You Are Killing Us Out There – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: President Obama You Are Killing Us Out There
• The Morning Flap: July 19, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 19, 2012
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: July 19, 2012 – The Daily Extraction: July 19, 2012
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 19, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 19, 2012
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 19, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 19, 2012
• Economic Fears Hurting Obama, Poll Indicates – NYTimes.com – Economic Fears Hurting Obama, Poll Indicates

Tags: bb14, California, CDC, Google, GOP, Internet, McCarthy, Medicaid, Mexico, Obama, Pertussis, Pinboard Links, Polling, Romney, Taxes, The Morning Flap, USDA, YouTube