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Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney

These are my links for February 15th through February 16th:

• Mitt Romney Responds to Sarah Palin’s Criticism That He Isn’t Conservative Enough – Romney referred to Santorum as a lobbyist who also worked in Congress, contrasting that with his business background. In recent weeks social issues have taken the forefront of the campaign but Romney said, “I’m going to continue talking about what it takes to get the economy going. I know some people want to talk about other issues but frankly the issue that is beneath much of what’s happening in this country is the need to get our economy going again …”

  Former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, recently stated that Romney isn’t conservative enough. When asked about this, he responded, “I’m not quite sure what she’d be referring to. I’m pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, I believe in the Second Amendment. As governor, I balanced the budget every year I was in office, put in place a 2 million dollar rainy day fund, cut taxes 19 times.”

  The GOP candidate went on to explain, “I think living life tends to make you more conservative. And if you’ve been in the business world, you can’t help but be conservative because if you don’t balance your budget in business, you go out of business.”

• Romney doesn’t rule out Santorum as veep – Mitt Romney, whose campaign is preparing a multi-million dollar wave of negative advertising to persuade voters that Rick Santorum should not be president, says he is open to the possibility of choosing Santorum to be his running mate should Romney win the Republican nomination.

  Romney appeared on Fox News Wednesday morning and was asked, “You and Rick Santorum, we haven’t seen you go head-to-head yet…In the big picture, could you see a scenario where you two team up?”

  “Oh, I think it’s always possible to have people come together in our party, whether it’s Rick and I, or others in the party, who knows?” Romney responded. “It’s a little early to tell something like that, but we have similar views on issues — very different backgrounds.”

  Romney’s “very different backgrounds” description of Santorum points to an argument Romney plans to use through the February 28 primaries in Michigan and Arizona and on through Super Tuesday on March 6. Santorum has no executive experience — “hasn’t run anything,” Romney will say — and is not qualified to be president. Romney, on the other hand, has run private businesses, the 2002 Olympics, and the state government in Massachusetts during his one term as governor.

• Illegal Population Stops Declining under Obama – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon release its new estimate of the illegal immigrant population in the United States as of January 1, 2011. (All DHS estimates are for January 1.) Based on a preliminary analysis of some of the same data DHS uses, the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 10.9 million (± 200,000) illegal immigrants lived in the United States on January 1, 2011. If this estimate turns out to be similar to the DHS estimate, it means that the illegal immigrant population stopped declining after President Obama took office after declining by 1 million during the last two years of the Bush administration ? 2007 to 2009.

  DHS estimated that the number of illegal immigrants declined by 1 million during the last two years of the Bush administration, from 11.8 million in 2007 to 10.8 million in 2009. The decline was caused by a combination of a weak economy and stepped-up enforcement.

  Based on data collected by the Census Bureau, the Center for Immigration Studies estimates an illegal population of 10.9 million (± 200,000) at the start of 2011, which is very similar to DHS estimate’s of 10.8 million for both January 1, 2009 and 2010.

  In contrast, DHS estimates the illegal immigrant population declined by 180,000 from 2007 to 2008 and declined a further 850,000 from 2008 to 2009.

  Our new estimate of the illegal immigrant population, if correct, means that the Obama administration has failed to significantly reduce the illegal immigrant population.

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Federal Trade Commission Issues a Stay in North Carolina Mall Teeth Whitening FLAP – Federal Trade Commission Issues a Stay in North Carolina Mall Teeth Whitening FLAP
• Day By Day February 16, 2012 – Home Delivery | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day February 16, 2012 – Home Delivery
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-16 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-16
• Henninger: What Would Clint Eastwood Do? – WSJ.com – Henninger: What Would Clint Eastwood Do? -
• Meet the ObamaCare Mandate Committee – WSJ.com – Meet the ObamaCare Mandate Committee -
• Dem poll: Obama beats Mitt in N.H., voters turn on state GOP – POLITICO.com – RT @aburnspolitico: RT @JamesPindell: Dem poll: Obama beats Mitt in N.H., voters turn on state GOP #nhpolitics
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-16 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-02-16
• The Tattooist | Gary Varvel | The Indianapolis Star | IndyStar.com – The Tattooist by Gary Varvel
• New Jersey Dentist Patrick Bamgboye Investigated After Second Child Dies in His Care | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – New Jersey Dentist Patrick Bamgboye Investigated After Second Child Dies in His Care
• Untitled (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/santorum-and-the-chiropractor-lawsuit/) – Rick Santorum’s Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
• Untitled (http://twitter.com/Wilk2012/status/169898220401606657/photo/1) – RT @Wilk2012: Just had a fab lunch w/local insurance agents. Henry Rodriguez is with “Like a good Neighbor…”
• OMB director undercuts legal case for Obamacare | Campaign 2012 | Washington Examiner – OMB director undercuts legal case for Obamacare
• President 2012 Video: Santorum Bites the Dust With Comments on Contraception | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Video: Santorum Bites the Dust With Comments on Contraception
• Sen Barbara Boxer Video: Insurance Rights TRUMP Religious Rights | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Sen Barbara Boxer Video: Insurance Rights TRUMP Religious Rights
• Lance Armstrong Foundation Donates $1.5 Million to Raise California Tobacco Tax » Flap’s California Blog – Lance Armstrong Foundation Donates $1.5 Million to Raise California Tobacco Tax
• President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Santorum 39% Vs. Romney 27% Vs. Gingrich 15% Vs. Paul 10% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Santorum 39% Vs. Romney 27% Vs. Gingrich 15% Vs. Paul 10%
• Did Mitt Romney’s Dog Seek Asylum In Canada? | Politicker – Did Mitt Romney’s Dog Seamus Seek Asylum In Canada
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: February 15, 2012 – The Morning Drill: February 15, 2012
• Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn Blames Smokeless Tobacco for Oral Cancer | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn Blames Smokeless Tobacco for Oral Cancer
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: February 15, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: February 15, 2012
• The Morning Flap: February 15, 2012 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: February 15, 2012

These are my links for July 21st from 10:33 to 10:37:

• PPIC Report: Unauthorized Immigrants in California – Estimates for Counties – California has more unauthorized immigrants than any other state, about 2.6 million of the nation’s 11
  million; they make up 7 percent of the total California population and 9 percent of the state’s labor force. For
  decades, unauthorized immigrants have been a part of California: in many industries in the economy and in
  rural and urban communities.
  But recent and comprehensive information about the numbers and location of this population within
  California—at the county and sub-county level—does not exist. That this wide information gap exists is
  doubly surprising given the amount of energy spent and attention paid to this issue by policymakers and the
  public over those same decades.
  This report is the first to use a new source of administrative data at the local level to produce comprehensive
  and systematic sub-state estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population in California.
  We find that unauthorized immigrants live in every county in the state, primarily but not only in highly
  agricultural or highly urban areas. As in the country as a whole, unauthorized workers here reside not just in
  traditional immigrant communities, but have found homes throughout all regions of the state.

  ========

  Read it all

• PPIC Illegal Immigration Report by Hans Johnson and Laura Hill – Despite a recent decline, the number of illegal immigrants in the United
  States remains high, and illegal immigration remains one of the most
  divisive issues in the nation. Illegal immigrants make up about 28 percent
  of all foreign-born U.S. residents and slightly less than 4 percent of the
  nation’s total population. The vast majority of immigrants in California are
  legal residents. But as the state with the most illegal immigrants, California
  has a critical stake in how well this issue is understood. The purpose of
  this At Issue is to provide basic information on illegal immigration and the
  debate surrounding it. Because illegal immigrants are not directly identified in censuses and national surveys, the information provided here is
  based on the best available estimates. These estimates are consistent
  across sources and are regarded by research experts as the most accurate available.
• New studies find California’s illegal immigrant population shrinking – Using the new methodology, Hill and Johnson pegged the state's illegal population at 2.9 million in 2008 (it's since declined slightly) and did a region-by-region breakdown. While Los Angeles County, the state's largest with nearly 10 million people, also has the state's largest number of illegal immigrants, nearly a million, several rural counties have larger illegal proportions.

  Monterey and San Benito counties have the highest concentration at 13.5 percent, the research determined, with Imperial County at 12.8 percent, Napa County at 12 percent and Santa Clara County at 10.2 percent all in double-digits. The smallest illegal populations, proportionately, are in remote mountain counties.

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  Read it all

These are my links for July 15th from 13:33 to 13:51:

• California Dream Act sent to Governor Jerry Brown – AB 130 and AB 131: California Dream Act of 2011
  Assemblyman Gil Cedillo

  The state senate passed and sent to Gov. Brown the first of two Dream Act bills by Assemblyman Cedillo allowing some undocumented college students to apply for private scholarships at California’s state colleges and universities.

  None of this money comes from the state budget; it’s from private donors who establish scholarships administered through UC, Cal State and community colleges.  To be eligible, students will have to meet the requirements for paying in-state tuition under AB 540, a 2001 law that applies to any student, citizen or not, who attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated or earned a GED.

  The bill passed by a vote of 26 to 11 along party lines, with one exception.  Republican State Senator Anthony Cannella voted with the majority.  In a prepared statement, Cannella said, “Having an educated workforce will be critical to the future strength and health of our economy, and giving eligible high-school graduates the opportunity to apply for private scholarship funds – at no cost to California taxpayers – is consistent with this goal.”

  It may also help that his district, which covers Merced, Monterey and Salinas, is more than 55 percent Latino. It also has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

  Cedillo’s companion bill, AB 131, faces a tougher road.  That one would let AB 540 students apply for state financial aid through the CalGrants program.  AB 131 was placed on the senate appropriations committee suspense file and won’t be considered until late August.

  Status:  On the Governor’s desk.  Gov. Brown hasn’t said whether he’ll sign AB 130, however, his spokesman says the Governor “continues to support the principles behind the Dream Act and will closely consider legislation that reaches his desk.”

  =======

  Open borders mentality is bankrupting California.

• State GOP chairman assails redistricting panel, threatens referendum – On the day when the Citizens Redistricting Commission had originally planned to put out a second draft of proposed political district maps, the panel Thursday found itself under sharp partisan attack from the state Republican Party, whose chairman asserted its process had been "overtaken by partisanship and incompetence."

  GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said the party will attempt to qualify a referendum for the ballot to overturn the commission's final maps if they "remotely resemble the most recent visualizations."

  Rather than formally release a second set of draft maps, commissioners have been working daily with their line-drawers to revise initial drafts in response to public comments. The modified maps, called "visualizations," are posted on the commission's website and will be the building blocks for the final plan, scheduled to be voted upon on July 28.

  Commissioner Angelo Ancheta of San Francisco, who is serving as chairman this week under the panel's rotating schedule of leadership, rejected Del Beccaro's assertion that partisan considerations are influencing the map-making process.

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  Read it all.

  The reapportionment will end up in the California Supreme Court anyway.

  The California Citizen's Redistricting Commission is a colossal waste of time.

  The law should be changed to allow the California Supreme Court to do it directly.

• State Senate OKs bill to move California’s presidential primary to June – Californians won't choose their 2012 presidential nominees until June under legislation that's heading to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

  Assembly Bill 80, by Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong, would move the presidential primary from February of next year to June, consolidating it with the statewide primary election. The bill was approved by the state Senate on a vote of 34-3.

  Supporters said consolidating the two statewide elections would save state and local officials roughly $100 million. They also pointed out that national political parties have moved to impose sanctions on states that hold their primaries as early in the cycle as California had planned.

  "This is a bill where we're putting politics to the side. … We have to be fiscally prudent with the taxpayers' dollars," said Sen. Kevin DeLeón, D-Los Angeles, who presented the bill on the floor.

  The move was largely opposed by Republicans who said moving the date so late in the cycle would put Californian voters and issues on the back burner for candidates competing for their party's nomination, though some said they "reluctantly" decided to vote for the measure because of the cost savings involved. They said they would prefer to consolidate the primaries to one March date, a concession Republicans had sought during early budget negotiations.

  =======

  In 2008, it was decided by California anyway. Might as well move it back to June.

These are my links for May 17th from 15:55 to 15:58:

• Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district – Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.

  That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.

  Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers.

  Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare.

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  Read it all

  Good ol' Democrats gaming the system with corrupt practices – shocker.

• University Insiders: Illegal Immigrants Get Affirmative Action – This week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill to require the state's public universities to give undocumented aliens — generally illegal — in-state tuition privileges.

  The bill, known as the Dream Act, is already the law in ten other states, including California, New York, Texas and Illinois.

  But critics argue that the bill will give illegal aliens better treatment than Americans and legal immigrants — thanks to existing diversity policies at universities.

  University of Maryland (College Park) computer science Prof. James Purtilo told FoxNews.com that, during his time as an associate dean, he frequently saw admission officers favor students because of their “undocumented” status.

  "They favor students with special circumstances. 'Undocumented alien' would be one of these special circumstances… They help fill out the diversity picture for the admissions office."

  ======

  Read it all.

  In state tuition and admissions preferences paid for by American citizens and legal permanent residents.

  Unfair?

  You bet.

These are my links for May 6th from 07:41 to 07:50:

• Republicans and Immigration – The Stupid Party – The standard line among the high-immigration right (earnestly, if insincerely, seconded by their fellow-travelers on the left) is that Republican opposition to open immigration is driving otherwise-conservative immigrant (and/or Hispanic) voters into the arms of the Democratic party. Some new research suggests it’s actually the other way around. Far from Republican anti-immigration views pushing immigrants further toward the Democrats, it’s immigrant anti-Republican views that push Republicans further toward restriction.

  =====

  Read it all.

  Clueless and Stupid are indeed the words to use about the GOP and illegal immigration.

• Charge of the Latino Brigade – Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result: A few days ago I wondered whether President Obama, faced with knowledge that his immigrant legalization plan now has no chance of passing, would

  a) recognize that [his] political strategy for winning Latino votes has hit a dead end; or b) organize another White House conference!

  We now know the answer. … I’m searching for the right metaphor for the absurd political strategy Obama is pursuing. Is it performance art? Camusian heroism? Pickett’s Charge? The Charge of the Light Brigade? He’s asking Latino leaders and voters to join him for one more futile straightahead push, knowing that it’s futile and knowing they know it’s futile. And he expects them to reward him for it. …

  True, it’s not Obama’s fault that amnesty is dead. The way to get amnesty (as Lawrence O’Donnell once pointed out to me) has been clear for years: gain support for legalizing the current wave of illegal immigrants by demonstrating that you can and will prevent the next wave of illegal immigrants. The reason Latino leaders won’t take this deal is equally obvious: they don’t want to prevent the next wave of illegal immigrants–at least of Latino illegal immigrants. If they did, they’d have their amnesty by now.

  =====

  Race-based politics at its worst – color me cynical that there will ever be another immigration bill.

  There might be E-Verify but not soon.