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These are my links for January 4th through January 7th:

• Democrats look for up to $1 trillion in new tax revenues this year – Democrats say they want to raise as much as $1 trillion in new revenues through tax reform later this year to balance Republican demands to slash mandatory spending.Democratic leaders have had little time to craft a new position for their party since passing a tax deal Tuesday that will raise $620 billion in revenue over the next ten years.The emerging consensus, however, is that the next installment of deficit reduction should reach $2 trillion and about half of it should come from higher taxes.
• Despite New Health Law, Some See Sharp Rise in Premiums – Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.
• Red state Senate Dems face tough early votes – “I think you need to put everything on the table,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D, told ABC News ‘ George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday, “but what I hear from the administration – and if the Washington Post is to be believed – that’s way, way in extreme of what I think is necessary or even should be talked about. And it’s not going to pass.”The Washington Post article Heitkamp was referring to, reported that President Obama would soon seek to pass legislation “that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks, and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors.” And Obama wants all of this “by the end of January” according to The Boston Herald.While this ambition agenda and timing may be music to blue state Democrat ears, it can only be a headache for red state Democrats like Heitkamp … and she isn’t even up for reelection this cycle. A total of seven Democratic Senators from states that Mitt Romney carried in 2012 are up for election in 2014. And six of those Senators (Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Mary Landrieu, D-La., Max Baucus, D-Mont., Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Jay Rockefeler, D-W.V.) hail from states that Romney carried by double-digits. Only North Carolina’s Kay Hagan will face an electorate that Obama even came close to winning in 2012 (Romney +2) … and the only other Democrat on the ballot statewide in North Carolina in 2012 lost by 11.
• Hagel’s Mideast blunder–not on Israel – Does Kaplan really think there is any case that the situation after Petraeus’ surge isn’t much better than the situation that would have existed if there had been no surge? I doubt it. And remember, Hagel didn’t just oppose the surge. He declared that it was “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam”– the sort of emotionalized MSM-pleasing misjudgment that seems to have endeared him to so many GOP colleagues (who, as Marc Ambinder notes, ”think he’s a showboat and turncoat”).Can’t Obama find a “anti-Israel” … Likud-skeptical figure who didn’t flamboyantly and self-righteously get wrong the most important military decision since the original 2003 Iraq invasion (which Hagel, by the way, voted to authorize)? Sure, Hillary and Kerry opposed the surge too. But not everyone did–not even everyone who opposed the war. Gen. Anthony Zinni, for example, isn’t someone likely to please Bill Kristol and AIPAC–but after opposing Bush’s invasion he had the balls to say that a surge was worth trying.
• Six Reasons Obama Chose Chuck Hagel – Back at the 2004 Republican convention, when then-Sen. Chuck Hagel was weighing whether to run for president, he paid a call on the Iowa delegation. His obligatory joke about his devotion to ethanol went over well. But then, to the puzzlement of some in the room, he started talking to his conservative breakfast audience about the United Nations and the need for multilateralism in tackling world problems.Needless to say, that wasn’t quite what we were hearing from the convention stage, or for that matter from anyone else in the GOP. Hagel didn’t run for president. But as it turns out, his remarks ended up laying groundwork for a different kind of future – as a potential defense secretary in the Obama administration.There are well known controversies associated with Hagel’s expected nomination, involving everything from climate change and gay rights to Israel, Iraq and Iran. But unlike the case of U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, who withdrew as a potential secretary of state nominee amid criticism from Republicans, President Obama is pressing forward with Hagel.
• LA Times – Critics slam Chuck Hagel’s likely nomination as Defense secretary #tcot
• Bill Kristol’s big plans start with Hagel nomination – Kenneth P. Vogel – POLITICO.com – RT @DHBerman Bill Kristol-linked group planning a “substantial” paid-media campaign opposing the Hagel DOD nomination
• Video – Fla. Governor Jeb Bush Considering Run for President – Video – Fla. Governor Jeb Bush Considering Run for President #tcot
• Bill Kristol’s big plans start with Hagel nomination – Bill Kristol’s big plans start with Hagel nomination #tcot
• Critics slam Chuck Hagel’s likely nomination as Defense secretary – With former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense secretary imminent, conservatives denounced his views on Israel and Iran as out of step with mainstream foreign policy, underscoring the difficulty he is likely to face winning Senate confirmation.An administration official said Sunday that Hagel — a decorated Vietnam veteran, a Republican and a former two-term senator from Nebraska — would be nominated Monday to succeed Leon E. Panetta. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House planning.
• Obama Expected to Pick Chuck Hagel for Defense Post – When President Obama nominates Chuck Hagel, the maverick Republican and former senator from Nebraska, to be his next secretary of defense, he will be turning to a trusted ally whose willingness to defy party loyalty and conventional wisdom won his admiration both in the Senate and on a 2008 tour of war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• JOHN BRENNAN TAPPED TO LEAD CIA – President Barack Obama will announce Monday that he’s nominating the White House’s point person on counterterrorism, John Brennan, to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, White House officials told POLITICO.Brennan, a 25-year veteran of the CIA, currently holds the title of Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. He’s expected to appear with Obama later Monday at a White House event where the president will also announce his nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to be the next defense secretary.
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-06 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-06
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-06 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-06
• Boehner Coup Attempt Larger Than First Thought – A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, but participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor vote, CQ Roll Call has learned.A group of disaffected conservatives had agreed to vote against the Ohio lawmaker if they could get at least 25 members to join the effort. But one member, whose identity could not be verified, rescinded his or her participation the morning of the vote, leaving the group one person short of its self-imposed 25-member threshold. Only 17 votes against Boehner were required to force a second ballot, but the group wanted to have insurance.
• Poll: Few people know obesity can cause more harm to health than just heart disease, diabetes – The Washington Post – Poll: Few people know obesity can cause more harm to health than just heart disease, diabetes #tcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Parents of Marissa Kingery Sue Others in Dental Procedure Death – Parents of Marissa Kingery Sue Others in Dental Procedure Death
• Mexican drug gangs dig into mining industry – On October 7, Mexican marines swooped in on one of the most powerful men in organised crime. But as the navy triumphantly announced the death of Heriberto Lazcano, leader of the Zetas gang, there was puzzlement over where he had been found. Far from the Zeta’s strongholds and practically unprotected, he had been watching a baseball game in the small mining village of Progreso.Theories abounded as to what exactly Lazcano had been doing in Progreso, a one horse town in the wide open spaces of the sorthern state of Coahuila. Humberto Moreira, ex-governor of Coahuila says that he has the answer: “Heriberto Lazcano changed from being a killer, kidnapper and drug dealer to something still more lucrative: mining coal. That’s why he lived in the coal region, in a little village called Progreso.”Speaking to Al Jazeera, Moreira says that the Zetas gang is fast discovering that illegal mining is an even more lucrative venture than drug running.
• White House to Go on Offense for Hagel Pick – WSJ.com – So what? Hagel’s Done RT @ZekeJMiller: White House to Go on Offense for Hagel Pick – via @WSJ
• Sen. Ted Cruz: “I’m A Conservative Because Conservative Policies Work” – SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TEXAS): The reason why I’m a conservative is because conservative policies work and they improve opportunities. They are the avenue for climbing the economic dream. And what I have been talking about for many years is opportunity conservatism, that every policy should focus like a laser on easing the means of ascent up the economic ladder. That we should be championing the 47%, to take that now infamous comment.Look, the great thing about Americans — Americans don’t want to be dependent upon government. Dependency saps the spirit, it doesn’t work. Americans want to stand on their own two feet and the best way to do that is to have policies that allow entrepreneurs and small business to thrive and to create jobs and advance the American dream.
• Social Security – It’s Worse Than You Think – CONGRESS and President Obama have pushed through a relatively modest stopgap measure to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” but over the coming years, the United States will confront another huge cliff: Social Security.In the first presidential debate, Mr. Obama described Social Security as “structurally sound,” and Mitt Romney said that “neither the president nor I are proposing any changes” to the program. It was a rare issue on which both men agreed — and both were utterly wrong. For the first time in more than a quarter-century, Social Security ran a deficit in 2010: It spent $49 billion dollars more in benefits than it received in revenues, and drew from its trust funds to cover the shortfall.Those funds — a $2.7 trillion buffer built in anticipation of retiring baby boomers — will be exhausted by 2033, the government currently projects. Those facts are widely known.

  What’s not is that the Social Security Administration underestimates how long Americans will live and how much the trust funds will need to pay out — to the tune of $800 billion by 2031, more than the current annual defense budget — and that the trust funds will run out, if nothing is done, two years earlier than the government has predicted.

• Feud over Obama health care reforms to intensify in coming months – The spotlight on President Obama’s health care overhaul will intensify in coming months as states and businesses gear up for sweeping changes that could determine whether the public embraces the president’s signature legislative achievement or decries it as government overreach.After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the new health care law, the politics evolved from arguments over the reforms’ constitutionality to a debate over whether the massive system can be implemented effectively.The president has long assured critics that once the reforms are fully enacted, the public will embrace them. Yet, while voters gave Obama a second term in November, polls show they are wary of the looming changes. A Rasmussen poll last month showed that nearly half of the respondents expect the health care system “to get worse over the next couple of years.”
• The Education of John Boehner – GOP willingness to let the spending sequester take effect – What stunned House Speaker John Boehner more than anything else during his prolonged closed-door budget negotiations with Barack Obama was this revelation: “At one point several weeks ago,” Mr. Boehner says, “the president said to me, ‘We don’t have a spending problem.’ “I am talking to Mr. Boehner in his office on the second floor of the Capitol, 72 hours after the historic House vote to take America off the so-called fiscal cliff by making permanent the Bush tax cuts on most Americans, but also to raise taxes on high earners. In the interim, Mr. Boehner had been elected to serve his second term as speaker of the House. Throughout our hourlong conversation, as is his custom, he takes long drags on one cigarette after another.Mr. Boehner looks battle weary from five weeks of grappling with the White House. He’s frustrated that the final deal failed to make progress toward his primary goal of “making a down payment on solving the debt crisis and setting a path to get real entitlement reform.” At one point he grimly says: “I need this job like I need a hole in the head.”
• McConnell: Any gun proposals will take back seat to solving country’s financial problems – The Washington Post – RT @washingtonpost: McConnell: Any gun proposals will take back seat to solving country’s financial problems
• Getting around Prop. 13 | prop, tax, percent – Opinion – The Orange County Register – Getting around California Proposition 13
• Video: Pelosi: More tax revenues must be part of next deficit deal – Pushing back against the Republicans’ deficit-reduction strategy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this weekend that more tax revenues – not just spending cuts – must be a part of Congress’s effort to rein in deficits.Pelosi said the tax hikes in the recent “fiscal-cliff” deal are a start, but don’t go far enough to generate the revenues the government needs to run the country effectively.
• Video: There Would Be A Revolution in this Country If the Government Confiscated Guns – Video: There Would Be A Revolution in this Country If the Government Confiscated Guns #tcot
• Day By Day January 6, 2013 – The Law: Bend it like Becket – Day By Day January 6, 2013 – The Law: Bend it like Becket #tcot
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-05 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-05
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-04 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-04
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-05 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-05 #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-05 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-05
• @ToddKincannon/TwitterGulagDefNet4 on Twitter – RT @ToddKincannon: #TGDN Please follow ALL: | | | | …
• @ToddKincannon/TwitterGulagDefNet3 on Twitter – RT @ToddKincannon: #TGDN Please follow ALL: | | | | …
• @ToddKincannon/TwitterGulagDefNet2 on Twitter – RT @ToddKincannon: #TGDN Please follow ALL: | | | | …
• @ToddKincannon/TwitterGulagDefNet5 on Twitter – RT @ToddKincannon: #TGDN Please follow ALL: | | | | …
• What is #TGDN ? « Foolish Reporter’s Foolish Thoughts on the Foolish State of Things – RT @ToddKincannon: Hey #TGDN, read this please! RT @FoolishReporter
• Todd Kincannon (ToddKincannon) on Twitter – @gkenn99 Follow and check it out….
• The Twitter Gulag Defense Network #TGDN – the New TCOT?  | Iron Mill News Service – RT @Politisite: the New #TCOT ? The Twitter Gulag Defense Network #TGDN
• @ToddKincannon/TwitterGulagDefNet1 on Twitter – Click these 4 links & follow ALL #TGDN members: & & &
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – 15. 4 miles finished for marathon training. Now, some carbs! (@ Ronnie’s Diner w/ 2 others)
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-04 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-04 #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-04 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-04
• Genetically modified food labeling measure to qualify for Washington state ballot – A measure to require special labeling of genetically modified foods appeared virtually certain to qualify for the ballot in Washington state on Friday, two months after voters in California rejected a similar initiative.Sponsors of the measure turned in petitions signed by an estimated 350,000 registered voters – at least 100,000 more signatures than required – on Thursday, a day ahead of deadline, said David Ammons, a spokesman for the Washington secretary of state.The submission all but assures that the GMO-labeling initiative would be certified by the secretary and sent on to the state legislature, which could adopt the measure or leave it to a popular vote on the November 2013 election ballot, Ammons said.
• Early flu season accelerates; no peak yet, CDC says – Vitals – Early flu season accelerates; no peak yet, CDC says #tcot
• Video: Arnold on Chris Christie and his Water Retention Problem – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: Arnold on Chris Christie and his Water Retention Problem #tcot

Tags: #tcot, Boehner, Brennan, Bush, CIA, Cruz, Debt-Limit, Delicious Links, Democrats, Drugs, GMO, GOP, Hagel, Iraq, Kristol, Mining, Obama, Obamacare, Pelosi, Senate, Sequester, Taxes, TGDN, The Morning Flap

These are my links for August 26th through August 29th:

• A Short Primer on the National Debt – With the national debt certain to be a front-and-center issue in the 2012 campaign, it is important to understand the true measure of its size. That size seems to vary considerably in news reports. Some news organizations use the debt held by the public, others use total debt. Still others report total future liabilities of the federal government, without making clear what, exactly, that means.

  So, a few definitions. The total national debt of the United States is the sum of all federal bills, notes and bonds that have been issued by the Treasury and not yet redeemed. The publicly held debt is the sum of the Treasury securities held by individuals, financial institutions and foreign governments. (That's not just the Chinese, by the way. Both Great Britain and Japan are also major holders of U.S. debt, as are many other countries in lesser amounts.)

  The intra-governmental debt is the sum of Treasury bonds held by agencies of the federal government, principally the so-called Social Security Trust Fund. The liabilities equal the future pensions, health care, Social Security payments, etc., that are promised under current legislation.

  But while the Treasury securities bear the full faith and credit of the United States and any failure to pay the interest or redeem the principal in a timely fashion would be a default, the liabilities are liabilities only so long as current law remains unchanged. If, for instance, Congress were to adjust the formula by which Social Security cost-of-living increases were calculated or change the age of eligibility, future federal liabilities would shrink by trillions of dollars instantly.

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• An Open Letter to GOP NLRB Member Brian Hayes: Please Resign Immediately  – Dear Member Hayes:

  Our nation stands at the precipice of disaster, its future generations are indebted due to the overindulgent spending of politicians from both political parties. Our unemployment is untenably high, our welfare roles expanded beyond reason, both with no signs of easing. Meanwhile, our nation’s job creators are burdened with an over-regulating, activist government whose sole existence at this point is to appease special constituencies. It is for these reasons, and more, that you are urged to resign your position as a member of the National Labor Relations Board.

  Given last year’s Supreme Court decision in New Process Steel, you know that the National Labor Relations Board must have three members to effectuate its rulings and decisions. You may recall the reason for the New Process Steel decision stemmed from Senate Democrats’ purposeful and calculating decision not to allow President Bush’s nominees to be confirmed as members to the National Labor Relations Board, as well as the blocking of any recess appointments.

  With the expiration of Chairman Liebman’s term this past weekend, the NLRB is once again down to three members—two union appointees (newly appointed Chairman Mark Pearce and Member Craig Becker) and yourself.  If you resign your position, the NLRB will become incapacitated—unable to wreak any more havoc on America’s job creators. Moreover, as long as Congress does not go into recess, thereby depriving the President the ability to recess appoint any more union extremists, America’s employers may begin to breathe with some ease again and, as a result, begin to create jobs.

  With NLRB Member Becker’s recess appointment expiring in January, as long as Congress does not go into recess, the NLRB will be incapacitated anyway following the expiration of Becker’s recess appointment. However, the destruction that the union activists at the NLRB are capable of doing between now and January is without precedent, as evidenced by last Thursday’s NRLB mandate on all NLRB-covered employers to post union notices in their workplaces (or, as penalty, be charged with an unfair labor practice) that you and others have stated is without Congressional authority.

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• California Amazon.com Internet Sales Taxes – The Week to Come » Flap’s California Blog – California Amazon.com Internet Sales Taxes – The Week to Come
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Social Media Drills Bakersfield Pediatric Dentist Dr. Dove – Social Media Drills Bakersfield Pediatric Dentist Dr. Dove
• Day By Day August 28, 2011 – Cat Chow | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 28, 2011 – Cat Chow #tcot #catcot
• Dilbert August 28, 2011 – Honest Opinion » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert August 28, 2011 – Honest Opinion
• California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap's Blog – Fullosse…
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-28 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-28 #tcot #catcot
• California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap's Blog – Fullosse…
• California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – RE: I have heard from quite a number of folks about them leaving California for greener, lower taxed and lower regula…
• Arrogant Democrat Legislators Propose Changes to California Initiative Process » Flap’s California Blog – Arrogant Democrat Legislators Propose Changes to California Initiative Process
• Dilbert August 27, 2011 – Crimes » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert August 27, 2011 – Crimes
• Day By Day August 27, 2011 – Cookin’ With Grease | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 27, 2011 – Cookin’ With Grease #tcot #catcot
• foursquare – Post six miles with Alice and Tara (@ Ronnie's Diner)
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-27 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-27 #tcot #catcot
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Gregory Flap Cole – Google+ – Looks like Facebook is on total tilt of Google+…. so much… – Looks like Facebook is on total tilt of Google+…. so much so they are changing their UI to match (or exceed) Googl…
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – California State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy – Capitol Weekly: Big Daddy
• Capitol Weekly: State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout – California State Democratic Party targets mail vote to boost L.A. turnout
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 26th on 18:21 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 26th on 18:21 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Boeing, debt, Debt-Ceiling, Debt-Limit, NLRB, Pinboard Links

These are my links for August 2nd through August 4th:

• Sarah Palin Hacker Moves to Halfway House – The man convicted of hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail account was released from federal prison and is now spending time in a halfway house.

  David Kernell left a fenceless minimum-security federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, where inmates are put to work on landscaping and building maintenance for between $0.12 and $0.40 per hour for the halfway house, according to a Tennessee television station.

  Kernell was convicted last year of breaking into to Palin's Yahoo e-mail account during the 2008 presidential election. He outsmarted Yahoo's password reset system by correctly answering questions using information about Palin that was easily available on the Internet — a technique that criminals continue to use to break into those accounts. Apparently it took Kernell minutes to look up her birth date, Zip code and where she met her husband Todd (Wasilla High School).

  When they don't make any money from the crime, it's unusual for first-time hackers with no criminal records to get a prison sentence, but Kernell's case wasn't exactly typical. Palin and her eldest daughter Bristol testified during the trial, and prosecutors argued that a stiff sentence would deter further hacking during presidential elections.

  Kernell is now in the custody of the Nashville Community Corrections Office, and is set to finish his sentence on Nov. 23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

• Don’t Hollow Out the Military – The fiscal profligacy of President Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill may tempt Republicans in Congress to agree to deep — and, in General Dempsey’s words, “high risk” — defense cuts today in exchange for long-term reductions in entitlements down the road. This would be a mirage.

  America’s defense is too important to become a political football in the budget battles. Rather, any cuts in defense spending should be the result of a careful, dispassionate assessment of the risks we and our allies face. A global risk assessment should inform a defense strategy that adequately manages those risks, and such a strategy should lead to a budget that can keep America safe.

  Making portentous decisions on any other basis risks gravely weakening our defenses and demonstrating to foes and friends alike a lack of resolve that ensures we will face more of the former with fewer of the latter. As history has repeatedly shown, such weakness only serves to invite aggression. The mortal threats that result would certainly prove far costlier than the defenses that would have prevented them.

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• Lemonade Crackdown – By Iain Murray – In the past couple of months, police have put children’s lemonade stands out of business in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. (There’s a great map, with links to the news stories, here.)

  The kids have been taught a lesson, but it’s one we should learn, too: You can’t be an entrepreneur in modern-day America without bureaucrats giving you permission in the first place.

  The costs of regulation today amount to $10,000 per employee per year for small businesses in the U.S. That’s why the advert where a little girl borrows her father’s phone to help run her lemonade stand and ends up running a multinational just can’t happen. The bureaucrats just wouldn’t let her do it without jumping through the costly bureaucratic hoops first.

  That’s why businesses aren’t hiring. That’s why unemployment is still at 10 percent (except around the bureaucrats’ nirvana of Washington, D.C., where it’s 4 percent). That’s why the president’s revenues have dried up.

  If we want to get America back to work, we need to lighten up on the lemonade stands, lighten up on small businesses, and stop the bureaucrats destroying free enterprise.

• The Government War On Kid-Run Concession Stands – August 1, 2011 – Police officers in Coralville, Iowa, ordered at least three different sets of children to quit selling lemonade during the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa unless they first got a vendor’s permit and a health inspection. This is the first known example of a coordinated set of shutdowns at a single time.
  July 19, 2011 – McAllen, Texas shuts down girls’ lemonade stand for failure to obtain food permit, may assess grandmother $50 fine.
  July 17, 2011 – Police in Appleton, Wisconsin inform children that despite legally selling lemonade and cookies in their front yard during an annual city festival for the past six or seven years, a new city ordinance bans these sales in order to protect licensed vendors from competition.
  July 15, 2011 – Cops in Midway, Georgia shut down a lemonade stand some kids were running in their own front yard, saying the kids had to obtain a peddler’s license, a food license, and pay $50 per day for a temporary business permit.
  June 16, 2011 – County Inspector in Maryland closes kids’ lemonade stand, fines parents $500.

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• Northern California mother faces murder charge over Meth breast milk – Prosecutors in Northern California have upgraded charges against a woman accused of feeding her son methamphetamine-laced breast milk to murder, rather than manslaughter.
  Six-week-old Michael Acosta III was taken to the hospital after he stopped breathing last November and was pronounced dead. Investigators determined his mother, Maggie Jean Wortman, had breastfed the child while she had drugs in her system.
  After a preliminary hearing last month, a judge ordered Wortman to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.
  Humboldt County prosecutors say evidence introduced during that hearing led to the upgraded charges this week. Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin told the Times-Standard of Eureka (http://bit.ly/r746ea ) that Wortman's recklessness warranted the murder charge.
  Defense attorney M.C. Bruce says the facts don't support that. He plans to seek to have the charge reduced.
• President 2012: Does Jon Huntsman Have No Choice But to Dump John Weaver? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Does Jon Huntsman Have No Choice But to Dump John Weaver? #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 Florida Poll Watch: Obama 44% Vs. Romney 44% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Florida Poll Watch: Obama 44% Vs. Romney 44% #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Mitt Romney Signs National Organization of Marriage Pledge | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Mitt Romney Signs National Organization of Marriage Pledge #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: August 4, 2011 – The Morning Drill: August 4, 2011
• Study: Healthy eating means spending more at store – Yahoo! News – Study: Healthy eating means spending more at store – Yahoo! News:

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• President 2012 Poll Watch: GOP Insiders Like Romney and Perry | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: GOP Insiders Like Romney and Perry #tcot #catcot
• Poll Watch: U.S. Unemployment Rate Unchanged in July – 8.8% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: U.S. Unemployment Rate Unchanged in July – 8.8% #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Turmoil in the Jon Huntsman Campaign Focuses on John Weaver | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Turmoil in the Jon Huntsman Campaign Focuses on John Weaver #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day August 4, 2011 – On the House | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 4, 2011 – On the House #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-04 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-04 #tcot #catcot
• Obama: Still the Alinskyite – By Stanley Kurtz – The Corner – National Review Online – Obama: Still the Alinskyite – By Stanley Kurtz – The Corner – National Review Online
• Obama: Still the Alinskyite – By Stanley Kurtz – The Corner – National Review Online – Obama: Still the Alinskyite – By Stanley Kurtz – The Corner – National Review Online
• California Redistricting Via an Interactive Map: See Your New Legislative and Congressional Districts | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – California Redistricting Via an Interactive Map: See Your New Legislative and Congressional Districts #tcot #catcot
• Obama: Still the Alinskyite – By Stanley Kurtz – The Corner – National Review Online – Obama: Still the Alinskyite
• Six GOP senators want deficit committee to meet in public – Six Republican senators on Wednesday called on Senate leaders to ensure that a new congressional deficit-reduction committee meets in public and before television cameras.

  The 12-member super committee, comprised of an equal number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, was created by the debt-limit legislation signed into law Tuesday, and is responsible for identifying $1.2 trillion in spending cuts by Thanksgiving. But the law doesn’t require the committee’s meetings to be open to the public.

  In their letter, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), John Boozman (Ark.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), and David Vitter (La.) urged Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to make sure members of the public receive advanced notice of meetings, are able to attend them and can watch live broadcasts.

  Reid, McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will each appoint three members to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction.

  ======

  Read it all…..

• Obama: Still the Alinskyite – Obama is a bad negotiator because Alinskyite’s don’t negotiate, they intentionally polarize. As for their own groups, here they try to placate all factions and hide their own goals. That about describes Obama’s performance on the debt deal, which included a dollop of both of these stances.

  I’ve laid it all out in Radical-in-Chief, from standard Alinskyite operating procedure, to Obama’s own use of it in Chicago, to the contradictions inherent in the attempt to apply these lessons to the presidency. As far as I can tell, Obama is still moving according to this Alinskyite template. In his own words, it was his true political education. It’s still the key to what he’s up to.

  ======

  Read it all

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: U.S. Department of Agriculture Recalls 36 Million Pounds of Cargill Ground Turkey Due to Salmonella Outbreak Link – U.S. Department of Agriculture Recalls 36 Million Pounds of Cargill Ground Turkey Due to Salmonella Outbreak Link
• Dilbert August 3, 2011 – Grandpa Box | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert August 3, 2011 – Grandpa Box #tcot #catcot
• Democrats Turn to Federal Internet Sales Tax Legislation for New Revenues After Debt Limit Battle | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Democrats Turn to Federal Internet Sales Tax Legislation for New Revenues After Debt Limit Battle #tcot #catcot
• Shocker: California Group Warning About Identity Theft and Signing Initiative or Referendum Petitions Files as a Campaign Committee | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Shocker: California Group Warning About Identity Theft and Signing Initiative or Referendum Petiti… #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Will Rick Perry Flop Against Obama in the General Election? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Will Rick Perry Flop Against Obama in the General Election? #tcot #catcot
• Unemployment rose in nearly all US cities – FoxNews.com – Unemployment rose in more than 90 percent of U.S. cities in June #tcot
• President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama 47% Vs. Romney 46% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama 47% Vs. Romney 46% #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day August 3, 2011 – Boner Up | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 3, 2011 – Boner Up #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Patient Claims Dentist Burned Her while Watching Soap Opera on Treatment Room Television – Patient Claims Dentist Burned Her while Watching Soap Opera on Treatment Room Television
• President 2012: Obama Heads Off to Chicago Birthday-Themed Fundraiser While Approaching Jimmy Carter Territory | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Obama Heads Off to Chicago Birthday-Themed Fundraiser While Approaching Jimmy Cart… #tcot #catcot
• Senate Democrats Continue the Federal Aviation Administration Shutdown | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Senate Democrats Continue the Federal Aviation Administration Shutdown #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 3, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 3, 2011 #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: August 3, 2011 – The Morning Drill: August 3, 2011
• Video: MoveOn.Org and Ventura County Democrats Protest Rep Elton Gallegly Over Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Deal | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video MoveOn.Org and Ventura County Democrats Protest Rep Elton Gallegly Over Bipartisan Debt Ceil… #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 Video: Sarah Palin Rips Mitt Romney Over Finger in the Wind Position on Debt Limit Deal | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Video: Sarah Palin Rips Mitt Romney Over Finger in the Wind Position on Debt Limit Deal #tcot #catcot
• Dilbert August 2, 2011 – Standards? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert August 2, 2011 – Standards? #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day August 2, 2011 – Remember | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 2, 2011 – Remember #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 1st through August 2nd | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 1st through August 2nd #tcot #catcot
• To Hell with You People – By Jonah Goldberg – The Corner – National Review Online – To Hell with You People – By Jonah Goldberg – The Corner – National Review Online
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: August 2, 2011 – The Daily Extraction: August 2, 2011
• Former California Dentist Tony Protopappas Who Killed Three Patients Is Paroled | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Former California Dentist Tony Protopappas Who Killed Three Patients Is Paroled
• To Hell with You People – By Jonah Goldberg – The Corner – National Review Online – Jonah Goldberg : To Hell with You People Re: Giffords and "Civility"

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Alinsky, Debt-Ceiling, Debt-Limit, Government, Kernell, Methamphetamine, Obama, Palin, Pinboard Links

These are my links for July 28th from 20:53 to 20:57:

• Ron Paul: "Default Is Coming" – Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) explains why default by inflation is worse than default by not raising the debt ceiling.

  Rep. Paul also talks about how the devaluing of the U.S. has led to record prices in gold bullion.

  "Default is coming. The only argument that's going on now is how to default, not send the checks out or just print the money. In all countries our size, they always print the money," Paul said.

  "They're going to raise the debt limit, and then they're going to print the money, and then they'll default by inflation, and that's much more dangerous than facing up to the facts of what's happening today."

  ======

  Go and watch the video.

• We’ve Been Played for Saps, Folks: Boehner Bill Will Become Reid Bill – So Dingy Harry can take the Boehner bill and tweak it and rewrite it, make additions to it, take some things out of it, play with it however he wants, and get enough votes from Democrats since it becomes the Reid bill, and then it gets sent back to Boehner in the House looking nothing like his bill, but the rationale for passing the Boehner bill in the House is we've got to do this, the time is up, we're not going to get blamed. So if Reid monkeys around with the bill that he gets from Boehner, and it passes in the Senate, with whatever changes that are not favorable to us, of course, they throw it back in Boehner's lap, and then the pressure is going to be back on Boehner. Okay, do you sign the Reid bill? Do you pass it? Do you get your guys to vote for it and send it to Obama, basically a Democrat bill. That is what a lot of people — and I sign on to the theory, too — this is one of the traps that's being set. The Boehner bill is essentially being used to be a foundation for a nonexistent as of yet Reid bill. And thereby the Boehner bill becomes the Reid bill, therefore Democrat bill all in the absence of an Obama plan. No Obama plan at all in this.
  There's no Obama bill. There's nothing set down on paper. So the Reid bill will become the Obama bill.

  ======

  Rush is correct.

  Read it all

• Debt ceiling vote postponed by Boehner, who will try again Friday – Speaker John Boehner postponed the planned House vote on a debt-limit increase late Thursday night, casting new doubt on Congress’ ability to avert a default and further exposing a deep philosophical divide in the Republican Conference.

  Four-and-a-half hours after the vote was supposed to begin on the House floor, Republicans announced they would start again in the morning, but the end game remains unclear on this trillion-dollar package. The House Rules Committee was expected to meet later Thursday night to issue a rule that would allow the GOP to bring a new bill to the floor quickly on Friday if the final votes can be secured.

  ======

  I understand there will be a sweetener added tomorrow, the Balance Budget Amendment in some form.

  It might be best to just let the Boehner Plan die, so that Reid will not be able to gut it and return it to the House.

Tags: Boehner, Debt-Ceiling, Debt-Limit, Limbaugh, Paul, Pinboard Links

And, here I thought Dingy Harry “The Iraq War is Lost” Reid was a deal maker?

Default, here we come….

Tags: American Economy, Debt-Limit, Harry Reid, John Boehner