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California Senator Dianne Feinstein

These are my links for January 23rd through January 24th:

• Feinstein, Conn. Senators Set To Propose Assault Weapons Ban – Connecticut’s two U.S. senators are joining forces with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other key senators, proposing a retooled federal ban on assault weapons in the wake of the deadly Newtown school shooting.Sen. Richard Blumenthal told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the proposed legislation, to be unveiled Thursday in Washington, D.C., will more narrowly define what’s considered an assault weapon under a resurrected ban. The bill, he said, will also prohibit high-capacity magazines, limiting them to a capacity of up to nine rounds of ammunition.Blumenthal said the legislation is “one of the most significant” bills to be introduced following the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It also marks the first bill that Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy have worked on together as senators.
• Video: No Budget, No Pay – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: No Budget, No Pay #tcot
• If you want bigger government, you need to side with big business | WashingtonExaminer.com – If you want bigger government, you need to side with big business #tcot
• Why Democrats Should Fear Filibuster Reform – The latest word out of the Senate is that if Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn’t accede to changes in the filibuster rules over the next few days, Harry Reid will invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and change the rules with 51 votes. The most likely outcome would be outlawing the filibuster on motions to proceed, thereby forcing senators to take to the floor to filibuster bills, “Mr. Smith”-style.This move, and the overwhelming progressive enthusiam for it, are head-scratchers. Over the short-to-medium term (and no one can really see beyond that), the filibuster probably helps the Democrats more than it helps the Republicans.  Before going any further, let me make clear that the following argument is couched purely in terms of political advantage and ability to move the agenda. I think there’s a lot to be said for what we might call the small-”c” conservative arguments for the filibuster: requiring 60 votes creates the need for some sort of consensus before legislation moves through, and the chances of a destabilizing period of time where parties trade majorities and implement wildly divergent agendas willy-nilly are greatly diminished. In that sense, the filibuster helps the entire country, and both parties should be pleased with it.
• Whole Foods’ CEO Mackey Is Right — ObamaCare Is Like Fascism – In 2009, when Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in a Wall Street Journal op-ed compared the health care “public option” then under consideration by Congress to socialism — a nationalized economic system wherein the government owns the means of production — hardly anyone batted an eyelash.Sure, at the time, the left-wing site Daily Kos called for a boycott. And a Facebook group at the time managed to find a couple hundred users angry about the characterization. Whole Foods set up a special forum for customers to express their views on the op-ed.But it was hardly the response Whole Foods got when on Jan. 16 in an NPR interview, Mackey was asked a follow-up question on what he thought about the current law.After all, the “public option” was never adopted. What came afterward, now known in popular vernacular as ObamaCare, was a mishmash of mandates, regulations and price controls — but fell short of an outright nationalization of the insurance industry.

  That was when Mackey used the F-word. No, not that one. The other one.

• Untitled (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/23/antibiotic-resistant-diseases-apocalyptic-threat?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Antibiotic-resistant diseases pose ‘apocalyptic’ threat, top expert says #tcot
• If you want bigger government, you need to side with big business – The media too often see Washington battles as Big Business vs Big Government. This is usually not the case. Often it’s Big Business & Big Government vs. Small Business.Brookings scholar and Clinton, Gore, Mondale advisor William Galston wrote a piece today telling liberals that they need to side with Big Business over small business if they really want to increase the government’s role in the economy. Writing in The New Republic, Galston writes:The Obama administration will need to recognize the fervent opposition of small businesses to its priorities, while taking advantage of large corporations’ willingness to cooperate.Galston is exactly correct about the alignment of interests. Big Business tends to do well when government intervenes. Small business dies.
• The California Flap: January 24, 2013 – Flap’s California Blog – The California Flap: January 24, 2013 – the morning’s California political headlines
• Optimistic State of the State address expected from governor – latimes.com – Optimistic State of the State address expected from governor
• Cal lawmakers propose 72-hour posting of bills before final votes – latimes.com – Cal lawmakers propose 72-hour posting of bills before final votes
• Capitol Weekly: The battle for CEQA – The battle for CEQA
• Day By Day January 24, 2013 – Same Ol – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day January 24, 2013 – Same Ol #tcot
• Bobby Jindal speaking truth to GOP power – RT @TheFix Bobby Jindal tries a bit of tough love for his party.
• GOP Plots Path Back to Powers – With President Obama’s second inauguration still ringing in their ears, Republican national party leaders are hunkering down for three days of soul-searching.The presidential election was the toughest, but not the last indignity. Congressional Republicans were backed into a corner during the negotiations to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff and forced to accept tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. Still seeking leverage, GOP leaders are backing off a showdown over the debt ceiling. At Monday’s swearing-in, President Obama stuck it to the opposition party by laying out an unapologetically liberal agenda for the next four years.The most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll pegged the Republican Party’s unfavorable rating at 49%, its highest point since 2008. The most obvious hurdle will be improving the party’s image among minorities, women and young voters, who comprise a growing share of the electorate and rejected Republican nominee Mitt Romney as out of date and out of touch.
• Rush Limbaugh was right about Obama – There should have been something for everyone in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address. For liberals, a full-throated call to arms. For conservatives, vindication.Obama settled once and for all the debate over his place on the political spectrum and his political designs. He’s an unabashed liberal determined to shift our politics and our country irrevocably to the left. In other words, Obama’s foes — if you put aside the birthers and sundry other lunatics — always had him pegged correctly.
  Continue ReadingIf you listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, you got a better appreciation of Obama’s core than by reading the president’s friends and sophisticated interpreters, for whom he was either a moderate or a puzzle yet to be fully worked out.
• The GOP Gets Fiscally Tough – House Republicans appear to have gotten some of their mojo back. GOP leaders say they will insist that automatic spending cuts (the “sequester”) scheduled to begin on March 1 will be made and that the House will adopt a budget resolution that would lead to a balanced budget within ten years without raising any more taxes. Just a few months ago, they were singing a different, less fiscally tough tune.On Wednesday, the House suspended the limit on the nation’s debt ceiling. That gives Republican lawmakers nearly four months to sort out what they will demand in exchange for raising it and puts that potentially market-spooking debate off until after budget battles over the scheduled sequester cuts and the expiration on March 27 of a continuing resolution to fund the government. Republicans view the political terrain on those issues as more favorable than that of any confrontation with President Obama and Harry Reid’s Senate over further spending cuts.
• John Boehner: Obama wants to ‘annihilate’ GOP – President Barack Obama is aiming to “annihilate” the GOP during the president’s second term, House Speaker John Boehner says.“And given what we heard yesterday about the President’s vision for his second term, it’s pretty clear to me that he knows he can’t do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans,” Boehner (R-Ohio) said at a gathering of the Republican-oriented Ripon Society on Tuesday, a day after President Barack Obama’s second Inaugural address. “So we’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this Administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party. And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal — to just shove us into the dustbin of history.”
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-23 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-23
• The California Flap: January 23, 2013 – Flap’s California Blog – The California Flap: January 23, 2013
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-22 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-01-22
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-23 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-01-23 #tcot
• Capitol Alert: Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for CA office – Capitol Alert: Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for CA office #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-23 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2013-01-23
• Capitol Alert: Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for CA office – Capitol Alert: Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for CA office #tcot
• Capitol Alert: Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for CA office – Ex-Treasury official Neel Kashkari mulling run for California office
• Capitol Alert: Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong – Capitol Alert: Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong #tcot
• Panetta to lift ban on women in combat – Women in all branches of the military soon will have unprecedented opportunities to serve on the front lines of the nation’s wars.Leon Panetta, in one of his last acts as President Obama’s defense secretary, is preparing to announce the policy change, which would open hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule banning women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta’s decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.
• Capitol Alert: Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong – Capitol Alert: Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong #tcot
• Capitol Alert: Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong – Sacramento GOP consultant files suit against Lance Armstrong
• Court: Putting Prop. 30 on top of ballot was illegal | CalWatchDog – Court: Putting Prop. 30 on top of ballot was illegal
• Conn Carroll: Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | WashingtonExaminer.com – Conn Carroll: Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | #tcot
• Majority of senators back Keystone XL pipeline – Yahoo! News – RT @StewSays: Reuters: Majority of senators back Keystone XL pipeline #bipartisan #KXL4jobs #jobs
• Conn Carroll: Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | WashingtonExaminer.com – Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | #tcot
• Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | WashingtonExaminer.com – Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | #tcot
• Union rosters fall in labor fight states – Kevin Robillard – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: Union rosters fall in labor fight states, @PoliticoKevin reports:
• Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | WashingtonExaminer.com – Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | #tcot
• Why Benghazi Hasn’t Brought Down Hillary Clinton–and Won’t – It’s not that Clinton is blameless for the Benghazi disaster. The attack in Libya cost the lives of four Americans, including a beloved ambassador. It wrecked the aspirations of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who withdrew from consideration as secretary of State. It probably wrecked the aspirations of the president, who seemed like he wanted to nominate Rice. But even if it was Clinton’s State Department that was unprepared, the word “Benghazi” is unlikely to chase the 65-year-old into her next life of books, high-end speeches, public service, needed rest, grandmotherhood (should she be so lucky), and perhaps another run for president.Why is Hillary so invincible now? She prevailed on Benghazi by having taken so many bullets that she became bulletproof, like her husband. At a certain point you’re like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, just letting them bounce off you. Perhaps if Clinton wasn’t on her way out of office, the debacle might have damaged her more. She’s also mastered the art of damage control.
• Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? | WashingtonExaminer.com – Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? #tcot
• Day By Day January 23, 2013 – The Dog Whisperer – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day January 23, 2013 – The Dog Whisperer #tcot
• Will the Democratic Party survive Obama? – Republicans currently control the governors mansion and legislatures of 25 states representing 53 percent of the American population. The Democratic Party enjoys similar control of just 13 states representing just 27 percent of the population. With Obama out of the picture, it is hard to see how Democrats can add to those numbers.
• Untitled (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll030.xml) – RT @jamiedupree: Full debt limit vote now posted at – GOP 199-33 in favor, Dems 86-111
• Sen. Durbin: Democrats lack votes to pass talking filibuster reform – Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a leading liberal, said Wednesday Democrats do not have enough votes to implement the talking-filibuster reform.He said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has suggested a package of more modest reforms to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). They include proposals to eliminate filibusters on motions to proceed to new business and to speed the process for sending legislation to conference negotiations with the House.
• It makes a difference, Secretary Clinton – RT @conncarroll: WaPo: “It makes a difference, Secretary Clinton”
• 9 Things You Want to Know About Hillary Clinton’s Testimony–and 1 You Need to Know – NationalJournal.com – RT @nationaljournal: A guide to Hillary Clinton’s testimony: What you want to know and what you need to know
• Untitled (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jan/21/friends-remember-bob-larkin-long-time-republican/?partner) – Untitled (… #tcot
• Hillary Clinton Fails in Benghazi Senate Hearing – Flap’s Blog – Hillary Clinton Fails in Benghazi Senate Hearing #tcot
• Untitled (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jan/21/friends-remember-bob-larkin-long-time-republican/?partner=RSS&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Friends remember Bob Larkin, long-time Republican and Simi Valley activist
• Capitol Alert: Assembly Democrat wants grocery store ban on plastic bags – Assembly Democrat wants grocery store ban on plastic bags
• Amazon to build huge distribution center in Tracy – ContraCostaTimes.com – Amazon to build huge distribution center in Tracy
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Will ObamaCare Result in Less Dental Coverage for Patients? – Will ObamaCare Result in Less Dental Coverage for Patients?

Tags: #tcot, bipartisan, Boehner, Business, Delicious Links, Democrats, Durbin, Feinstein, Filibuster, GOP, Government, Guns, Hillary_Clinton, jobs, KXL4jobs, Libya, Limbaugh, Mackey, McConnell, Obama, Obamacare, Panetta, Reid, The Morning Flap