• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 6, 2012

    These are my links for March 2nd through March 6th:

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: November 9, 2011

    These are my links for November 8th through November 9th:

    • Court will draw Texas map in boon to Democrats – In a boost to Democrats’ chances of retaking the House next year, federal judges in Texas will draw a map for the state’s 2012 congressional races.

      A Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday declined to sign off on redistricting plan spearheaded by the state Republican Party. The D.C. court ruled that the Republican line-drawers “used an improper standard or methodology to determine which districts afford minority voters the ability to elect their preferred candidates of choice.”

      The decision means the issue is headed for a lengthy court battle, which, in turn, means the map won’t be ready in time for the 2012 election. Because of this, the DC court tasked a panel of federal judges in San Antonio to draw an interim 2012 map — which could lead to significant Democratic gains — by the end of the month.

      “This most likely means three additional Democratic seats in Texas,” said former congressman Martin Frost (D), a victim of the GOP’s last redistricting map. “The GOP overreached one time too often in Texas.”

      Republicans had drafted a map on which they would likely win three of the four new seats the state is gaining in reapportionment — despite already having a 23-to-9 edge in the state’s congressional delegation and much of the state’s growth over the last decade occurring among minority communities.

      Democrats say a court-drawn map could net them an extra two or three seats in Congress, bringing their gains to three or four seats and reducing GOP gains to one or zero seats. Republicans expect the new map to include one new GOP seat and three new Democratic ones.

      Democrats nationally need to win 25 seats to retake the majority.

    • David Gregory: No “Grand Wizard” In GOP To Force Cain Out – On Wednesday’s “Today” show, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” David Gregory says there is no “Grand Wizard” right now in the GOP to “force” Cain out of the primary. Transcript below:

      Ann Curry, NBC News: “He’s not stepping down, continuing to suck the air out of the narrative the Republican party really wants to tell. Does the party now wish he would just go away?”

      David Gregory, NBC News: “Well there is no, you know, Grand Wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue. I’ve talked to Cain’s advisers in Iowa, they think their support is still strong there, that it’s not falling. There may be cracks in the foundation according to pollsters I’m talking to, that his numbers may be starting to shift but right now core support remains there.”

      UPDATE: David Gregory has apologized and tweeted the following: “‘Wizard’ remark this morning was a very poor choice of words. Did not mean to make that connection at all. Was not thinking. I apologize”

    • Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate – Voters in Ohio have approved a ballot measure intended to keep government from requiring Ohioans to participate in any health care system.

      The constitutional amendment passed is largely symbolic, coming in response to the 2009 federal health care overhaul, a provision of which mandates that most Americans purchase health care.

      Supporters hope it will prompt a challenge of the overhaul before the U.S. Supreme Court.

      The tea party and Republican groups backing the amendment say the Affordable Care Act was an overreach by the Obama administration and Congress.

      They hope approval of the ballot issue will bar Ohio from instituting a state-mandated health insurance program like that of Massachusetts.

      Opponents argued state law can’t trump federal law and that the amendment’s wording could unintentionally jeopardize state health programs.

    • Cain aide wrongly insists they’ve ‘confirmed’ accuser’s son works for POLITICO – Herman Cain campaign manager Mark Block, in an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News just now, insisted that a relative of the second woman to publicly accuse the candidate of sexual harassment in the 1990s works at POLITICO.

      “Her son works at POLITICO,” Block said of Karen Kraushaar, whose name POLITICO printed earlier today after other media outlets made her identity public.
      Continue Reading

      “I’ve been hearing that all day – you’ve confirmed that now?” Hannity asked.

      “We’ve confirmed that he does indeed work at POLITICO and that’s his mother, yes,” said Block.

      Block appeared to be referring to former POLITICO reporter Josh Kraushaar, who left for another outlet, National Journal, in 2010.

      Josh Kraushaar tweeted earlier in the day, apparently after getting questions, that he’s in fact not related to Karen Kraushaar, and simply has the same last name.

    • Herman Cain Accuser filed complaint in next job – A woman who settled a sexual harassment complaint against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain in 1999 complained three years later at her next job about unfair treatment, saying she should be allowed to work from home after a serious car accident and accusing a manager of circulating a sexually charged email, The Associated Press has learned.

      Karen Kraushaar, 55, filed the complaint while working as a spokeswoman at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Justice Department in late 2002 or early 2003, with the assistance of her lawyer, Joel Bennett, who also handled her earlier sexual harassment complaint against Cain in 1999. Three former supervisors familiar with Kraushaar’s complaint, which did not include a claim of sexual harassment, described it for the AP under condition of anonymity because the matter was handled internally by the agency and was not public.

      To settle the complaint at the immigration service, Kraushaar initially demanded thousands of dollars in payment, a reinstatement of leave she used after the accident earlier in 2002, promotion on the federal pay scale and a one-year fellowship to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, according to a former supervisor familiar with the complaint. The promotion itself would have increased her annual salary between $12,000 and $16,000, according to salary tables in 2002 from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

      Kraushaar told the AP she considered her employment complaint “relatively minor” and she later dropped it.

    • Craig Huey to Run for Office in 2012 – AD 66? » Flap’s California Blog – Craig Huey to announce candidacy for California AD-66? #tcot #catcot #teaparty
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: November 9, 2011 – The Morning Drill: November 9, 2011
    • Day By Day November 9, 2011 – Pussies | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 9, 2011 – Pussies #tcot #catcot
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-09 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-09 #tcot #catcot
    • Banning Soda at School Ineffective In Curbing Consumption? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Banning Soda at School Ineffective In Curbing Consumption?
    • Dilbert November 8, 2011 – The Lie » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert November 8, 2011 – The Lie
    • The Afternoon and Evening Flap: November 8, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Afternoon and Evening Flap: November 8, 2011 #tcot #catcot