-
Flap’s Links and Comments for April 25th on 15:13
These are my links for April 25th from 15:13 to 15:45:
- President 2012: Karl Rove warns candidates about late start – For a long time, it's been the cool-candidate thing to take your time coming to a 2012 decision.
Casualness may soon be a casualty, Karl Rove said today on Fox.
"There gets to be a point at which you don't have enough time to raise the money you need, and you don't have enough time to get organized as deeply as you need to be organized for these contests.
That period is probably sometime in June or July."
=====
No later than Memorial Day.
BTW Ron Paul is announcing tomorrow in Iowa.
- Online Sales Tax a Bad Deal for California – In California there are 25,000 thriving small businesses known as “affiliate marketers” and right now the very existence of this industry is being threatened by misguided legislation; in these economic times can California afford to lose 25,000 more businesses?
The supposition of AB 153 (Skinner) and SB 234 (Hancock) is that by implementing an “affiliate nexus” tax, California will collect additional sales tax revenue. That is simply not true.
What is true is that if these bills pass, California affiliate marketers will have their incomes devastated, and the state will collect no new sales tax dollars.
Affiliate marketers are California companies that earn income from ads placed on their websites. In 2009, California affiliate marketers earned $1.6 billion and paid $124 million in state income taxes (plus business taxes, employment taxes, etc). Legislation such as AB 153 and SB 234 guarantees elimination of these fiscal contributions.
Proponents allege that because out-of-state retailers place ads on California-owned websites they should collect sales tax. But placing an ad on a website does not constitute a “nexus,” nor does it obligate out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax in California.
This holds true for California retailers that advertise in other states – they are not obligated to collect sales tax in states simply because they advertise there.
=====
Read it all.
And, it is a very bad idea.
- President 2012: Karl Rove warns candidates about late start – For a long time, it's been the cool-candidate thing to take your time coming to a 2012 decision.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for April 18th on 18:41
These are my links for April 18th from 18:41 to 18:49:
- Speaker John Boehner asks Dem Nancy Pelosi to join him in cutting funds from the DoJ to defend DOMA – Speaker John Boehner asked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's for her support to cut funds for the Department of Justice and use them to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.
In a letter sent to Pelosi (D-Calif.) Monday, Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote that the funds Justice would have used to protect the law should be used by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) to protect the act.
"The burden of defending DOMA, and the resulting costs associated with any litigation that would have otherwise been born by DoJ, has fallen to the House," Boehner wrote. "Obviously, DoJ’s decision results in DoJ no longer needing the funds it would have otherwise expended defending the constitutionality of DOMA. It is my intent that those funds be diverted to the House for reimbursement of any costs incurred by and associated with the House, and not DoJ, defending DOMA."
The speaker also argued the funds Justice would have used to defend DOMA should be used by BLAG so that taxpayers aren't burdened with the additional expenses.
=====
Yeah and pigs fly.
By the way, Nancy Pelosi represents most of San Francisco where a large gay population resides.
- Illinois-based Amazon affiliates go dark because of Amazon Internet Sales Tax – JEREMY HOBSON: Today is the day thousands of retailers in Illinois had been dreading. That's because they'll lose their affiliation with online retailers like Amazon and Overstock.com, thanks to a new state sales tax for online purchases.
But as Tony Arnold reports from Chicago Public Radio, Amazon and others have already found a way around the tax.
TONY ARNOLD: Brad Wilson runs the aptly named BradsDeals.com — a coupon web site based in downtown Chicago.
BRAD WILSON: Ultimately, Amazon and Overstock hold the trump card in this situation.
Wilson says after today — Amazon will boycott business with BradsDeals — and roughly 9,000 other retailers in Illinois to skirt the tax. Illinois residents can still go online and get the latest best seller from Amazon, they just won't be getting that book from any Amazon affiliate in Illinois.
WILSON: We're looking at a lot of options that I wouldn't want to have ever had to think of, unfortunately.
Wilson says he's considering picking up shop and relocating to another state to make up for the money he'll lose. He wouldn't say how much.
One Amazon affiliate — FatWallet.com — has already moved its headquarters from Illinois to Wisconsin which doesn't have the online tax. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
Meantime, Overstock.com's president Jonathan Johnson confirmed his company plans to cut off Illinois affiliates on May 1st. Others like Zappos and Shoes.com are planning a similar move.
=====
Just like they will do in California if the California Democrats have their way with imposing a California based Amazon Tax.
- Speaker John Boehner asks Dem Nancy Pelosi to join him in cutting funds from the DoJ to defend DOMA – Speaker John Boehner asked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's for her support to cut funds for the Department of Justice and use them to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for April 18th on 10:17
These are my links for April 18th from 10:17 to 11:28:
- President Barack Obama coming to Reno on Thursday – President Barack Obama is making a three-day swing to explain his vision for reducing the national debt and it concludes Thursday in Reno.
The White House issued a press release that day Obama will come to Reno to discuss " the ways the leaders in Washington can come together and meet the expectations of the American people."
It follows town hall meetings on Tuesday in northern Virginia and on Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif.
======
Hitting all of the key battleground states – Virginia and Nevada.
Plus, fundraising in California.
Obama does know how to run a campaign. Too bad he sucks as a President.
- Former Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey writing tell-all book – Due Out in May – When a book is called "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," you can guess it's not a happy story.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster announced Monday that it had signed up "Blind Allegiance," a long-rumored tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey. The imprint, Howard Books, will release Bailey's book May 24. Excerpts from an early draft were leaked to reporters earlier this year.
Bailey worked with Palin while she was governor of Alaska and when she was John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.
Howard Books is calling "Blind Allegiance" a "chilling expose." Author Ken Morris and Alaska political blogger Jeanne Devon helped write the book.======
Now, this should be interesting summer reading – but only if Sarah is running.
- Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Election Snafu Is a National Wake-Up Call – It's been over a decade since the Bush-Gore recount in Florida was supposed to spur a wholesale modernization of our election systems. But a stunning mistake made by a Wisconsin county clerk in a nationally watched state Supreme Court race reminded us of how far we have to go.
Wisconsin voters went to the polls on April 5 in an election that could have flipped the state Supreme Court's majority from conservative to liberal. On the morning of April 6, liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg declared victory by a margin of some 200 votes. But the next day Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced that she had excluded some 14,000 votes from the city of Brookfield when she gave her final tally to the Associated Press on election night. The revised tally put conservative incumbent David Prosser more than 7,000 votes ahead of Ms. Kloppenburg, and he has since been verified the clear winner.
Ms. Nickolaus's error could have been easily avoided through transparency. She had ended the prior clerk's practice of reporting election results for individual cities because it was "not her responsibility" and she didn't "have the staff to enter all the data"—an absurd statement given that many smaller counties post such data on their websites. Many states, such as Kentucky, offer user-friendly websites to track returns statewide.
Not so in Wisconsin—and if we don't view this month's mess as a wake-up call, we'll have only ourselves to blame if next year's presidential election turns into a rerun of Florida 2000. Americans know it could happen: The Brookings Institution reports that in a 2004 poll of 37 nations, Americans were more likely than citizens of any country save Russia to say that their elections are "very dishonest."
Mexico—which has a national photo ID requirement for voting—spends roughly 10 times more per capita than the U.S. and has virtually eliminated charges of voter fraud or incompetence. We can vastly improve our system with much smaller investments.
- Why California Should Tax Online Sales? Or Not… – On this “Tax Day” and throughout the year, millions of Californians do their part to sustain the schools, health care, public safety, and other foundations of a healthy state. But projections show today’s collection will come up at least $1 billion short of what is due because most Californians won’t add the sales tax they owe on online purchases to the bottom of their California income tax form. With the state once again facing tough budget times, these dollars could go a long way to close our gaping budget gap.
Most Californians may not realize that if a retailer fails to collect the sales tax due on a book, a pair of shoes, or other purchase made online, the purchaser still owes the tax. This requirement is nothing new – it’s been part of state law since 1935. The hitch comes in trying to collect the tax. In fact, only 1 percent of those who buy online from out-of-state companies like Amazon.com currently pay the taxes due. As online sales soar, they also take a big, and growing, bite out of the state’s revenue collection.
=======
There is NO good reason and these leftists use the fairness argument to justfy their redistribution schemes and the right of the state to YOUR money.
One problem which I have written about extensively is the loss of jobs and the fact the state of California really won't realize any more revenue.
Oops….
- President Barack Obama coming to Reno on Thursday – President Barack Obama is making a three-day swing to explain his vision for reducing the national debt and it concludes Thursday in Reno.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for April 12th on 00:41
These are my links for April 12th from 00:41 to 08:32:
- California courts: A judicial fight may be averted – William Vickery's announcement that he would retire as the chief administrator of the California judicial system may cool off a red-hot political fight that pits judges against judges.
Officially, Vickery, the top executive at the Administrative Office of the Courts, or AOC, was merely fulfilling a previously made decision to step down. But it occurred as Vickery was receiving big-time heat from rebellious judges, the state auditor's office and legislators over management issues, especially a much-troubled, very costly computer system.
To critics, the California Court Management System is symbolic of efforts by the recently retired Supreme Court chief justice, Ron George, to centralize judicial management, bypassing locally elected judges.
Rebel judges created the Alliance of California Judges and are sponsoring legislation that would affirm the right of local courts to manage their affairs. The AOC, under Vickery, has been organizing opposition to Assembly Bill 1208 by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier.
When State Auditor Elaine Howle issued a highly critical report on the computer system, it gave the rebels more ammunition.
"AOC has consistently failed to develop accurate cost estimates," Howle said. "Projected in 2004, the AOC's earliest available cost estimate for the system was $260 million, an amount that grew substantially to $1.9 billion based on the AOC's January 2010 estimate. Over the same period, complete deployment to the superior courts has been postponed by seven years, from fiscal year 2008-09 to fiscal year 2015-16."
After the report was issued, several legislators called for Vickery to resign.
The computer system was to be George's crowning legacy, along with a $5 billion courthouse construction project. Both legacies, however, are tarnished by their implementation.
======
Former chief Justice Ronald George was an idiot and everyone is glad he is gone (retired.
The California court system is a disgrace, costs too much money and needs to live within its means.
I say cut their bloated budgets and pare back the judge's salaries.
- Amazon Tax: The Internet Tax Mirage – Governor Pat Quinn recently added to his reputation as America's most taxing politician by signing a law applying the state's 6.25% sales tax to Internet purchases made in Illinois. Within hours, Amazon, the online book and merchandise seller, announced it would discontinue using any of its 9,000 Illinois small business affiliates to avoid having to collect the tax. Congratulations, Governor.
The issue of whether and how states should tax Internet sales is back as one of the hottest in state legislatures. Colorado, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island already impose some version of what has become known as the "Amazon tax," and at least a dozen other deficit-plagued states are advancing similar bills. This political brawl unites liberals with brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, against taxpayers and such online retailers as Amazon and Overstock. Internet sales reached $165 billion last year and have been growing by nearly 15% annually.
The first issue is whether the Amazon tax is constitutional. New York's law is now being challenged in court as a violation of the Supreme Court's landmark 1992 Quill decision. In that case the High Court ruled that a state cannot impose a tax on a company if it does not have a physical presence in that state.
This decision originally applied to mail order sales, but the same principle applies to firms that sell over the Internet. If the company does not have an office, store or warehouse inside a state, the state cannot compel the firm to collect sales tax. Illinois and others are trying to broaden the concept of physical presence to include doing business with any affiliate inside the state's borders, such as online advertisers.
The Quill standard may be the last line of defense against what would become a raid by governments at all levels on interstate online commerce. One virtue of the U.S. federal system is that it allows states to compete on tax policies. The courts should insure that a firm has a genuine physical presence in the state—not merely an online presence—to impose its taxing power. States retain the right to collect a "use tax" from their residents who make purchases from out-of-state companies or over the Internet.
Even if the courts rule against online sellers, states are fantasizing if they believe this tax will raise as much money as they hope. As in Illinois, Amazon has announced that it will cease doing any business with affiliates in any state that imposes this tax, and the firm hasn't been bluffing. So far it has closed its affiliate program in every state with the tax, except New York (where the law is under challenge).
Paul Dion, head of Rhode Island's revenue analysis office, says that "To date nobody has come forward to remit sales tax to us under that [online sales tax] statute." North Carolina's tax office reports that the state had raised all of $4.6 million as of January from the new tax, a small fraction of what legislators predicted. A study by the Tax Foundation has found that because of the retaliatory steps taken by Amazon, Rhode Island and North Carolina may have lost money because online marketing companies have closed down, or relocated outside the state.
======
The Amazon Tax will NOT solve the states budget problems and will lead to a loss of jobs.
How stupid do these states have to be?
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-04-12 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-04-12 #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Links and Comments for April 11th on 16:35 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for April 11th on 16:35 #tcot #catcot
- Dilbert April 9, 2011 – The Parallel Universe | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert April 9, 2011 – The Parallel Universe | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
- California Federation of Teachers Adopt Resolution of Support for Convicted Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – California Federation of Teachers Adopt Resolution of Support for Convicted Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal | Flap's …
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: Three Upper Molars and Sinus Perforation – (500)
- California courts: A judicial fight may be averted – William Vickery's announcement that he would retire as the chief administrator of the California judicial system may cool off a red-hot political fight that pits judges against judges.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for March 24th on 08:00
These are my links for March 24th from 08:00 to 09:50:
- How television created and then killed Sarah Palin’s political prospects – It was television that destroyed Sarah Palin, just as it made her. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – the arrival of Palin as a major political figure in 2008 was an emanation of the reality-TV culture, anchored in the belief that ordinary or “everyday” people, inarticulate though they may be, and with all the baggage of messy personal lives, are truly compelling public figures. Palin was the political equivalent. A figure who refracts national identity as it is shaped by the culture’s most powerful medium. Authentic, populist and dismissive of sophistication in thought and action.
Then, television duly destroyed the Palin authenticity. The arc of her national political career began with a defining speech at the Republican National Convention in September, 2008, and ended in November, 2010, a few episodes into Sarah Palin’s Alaska. The show, a cringingly inevitable reality-TV series, gave her a huge platform and she blew it. If her exposure on TV in 2008 brought out the authenticity, the show brought out Palin’s inner princess. She talked about being a mom 87 times an episode (I’m exaggerating , but only a little) and made dubious attempts to make political parables linking her family, the outdoors and wildlife. It was ego unbounded. And this after quitting her job as governor of Alaska.
======
Interesting enough Sarah Palin's next career will most probably be on television. - Why is Jon Huntsman running for president? – This is like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) without the war record and without the bona fides on national security. And speaking of which, Huntsman’s hiring “key members from McCain’s team at the helm.” That alone is enough to freak out many in the base, who came to detest the McCain campaign crew for incompetency and disloyalty to its VP pick.
I’m trying to figure out who a “Huntsman voter” is. Rudy Giuliani attracted moderates before his campaign imploded (fizzled, actually). But he led New York through Sept. 11, governed like a no-nonsense fiscal conservative and offered up conservative positions on school choice, health care and tax policy. And he never served in a liberal president’s administration. Perhaps there is an untapped segment of the electorate to the left of Giuliani who doesn’t think that poorly of Obama. Unfortunately for Huntsman, they likely are Democrats.
You do have to wonder how Huntsman, an intelligent man with business experience, was sold on taking the plunge. And you really have to wonder how thrilled his family will be if he decides to risk a chunk of the family fortune.
======
Good question – because he has the massive fortune to do so?
- California must enforce ‘use’ law — now – Or Support Internet Taxes – So be it. Holding affiliates hostage in a desperate effort to continue tax-exempt merchandizing shouldn't be condoned. Barnes & Noble, which does collect the sales tax, has offered to pick up some of the Amazon affiliates. Other online retailers could, too.
If the tax-free e-tailers retained their affiliate marketers and began collecting the taxes, Skinner estimates, her bill would net between $250 million and $500 million annually for the bleeding state general fund.
But California this year will be stiffed much more: $1.7 billion in taxes that should have been paid on Web purchases, according to a University of Tennessee study.
Another bill, by state Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), would grant the Board of Equalization more power to force tax collections. She estimates it could gain the state more than $1 billion annually.
A key backer is Democratic equalization board member Betty Yee.
"Amazon used to argue that it didn't have the capability to collect the taxes, given the various different tax rates," she says. "They can track individual consumer preferences about products but can't track sales taxes? That's kind of crazy."
Runner says, "The only way to solve this problem is with a national solution. You can't do it piecemeal."
Perhaps. But a lot of California retailers could fold before the feds ride to their rescue. Meanwhile, deficit-plagued states are denied the taxes they're owed.
Sacramento politicians should move swiftly to protect local businesses and demand the state's legal share. They should get off their inertia.
=====
George Skelton, the LA Times Columnist is an old tax and spend liberal who never met a tax he didn't like.
He supports the loss of jobs to California affiliates of Amazon.com and Overstock.com.
I suggest that those affiliates cancel their paid subscriptions to the Los Angeles Times.
Oh wait, they already read the rag for free on the internet.
Internet taxation is a bad policy for California and America.
- How television created and then killed Sarah Palin’s political prospects – It was television that destroyed Sarah Palin, just as it made her. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – the arrival of Palin as a major political figure in 2008 was an emanation of the reality-TV culture, anchored in the belief that ordinary or “everyday” people, inarticulate though they may be, and with all the baggage of messy personal lives, are truly compelling public figures. Palin was the political equivalent. A figure who refracts national identity as it is shaped by the culture’s most powerful medium. Authentic, populist and dismissive of sophistication in thought and action.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for March 22nd on 09:10
These are my links for March 22nd from 09:10 to 09:12:
- Can California tax Internet purchases? – California's severe budget squeeze and a stagnant economy have rekindled a political war over how Internet purchases should be taxed – if, indeed, they could be taxed.
California already has one of the nation's highest sales tax rates, approaching 10 percent in some communities. But it's applied only to transactions inside the state or to mail order and Internet sales when the seller has a "physical presence" in the state.
The latter condition – decreed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992 – is the rub.
Technically, Californians who buy from distant sellers are supposed to pay an equivalent "use tax" on state income tax returns. Few do, and enforcement is virtually impossible.
That would seem to be that, but the potential revenue gain – officially at least a few hundred million dollars a year – and pressure from brick-and-mortar merchants about untaxed competition have sparked efforts to mine the Internet and mail sales vein.
The situation's bête noire is Amazon, the huge Internet seller of almost everything. New York seized upon Amazon's use of affiliated sellers as the "physical presence" or "nexus" that would require it to collect sales taxes. But the New York law is tied up in the courts, and Amazon has threatened to cancel affiliate relations in any state that follows suit.
Some California legislators want to emulate New York, prompting Amazon to issue a declaration that it not only opposes four pending taxation bills as violating the Supreme Court decision, but "would be compelled to end its advertising relationships with well over 10,000 California-based participants in the Amazon associates program." Overstock.com issued a similar warning.
======
Read it all.
- Levin 1, Wehner 0 – Advantage, Levin. Even if you don’t believe the seemingly apocryphal stories about Reagan regretting the 1986 bill, it clearly failed. (The amnesty part worked. The border enforcement part was blocked.) It’s one thing to say Reagan supported this policy the first time. It’s another to claim he would have supported making the same mistake a second time–and that this is the “conservative” approach. … P.S.: It’s particularly disingenuous for Wehner to claim that Bush “never supported” a Reagan-like “amnesty.” The main difference between Reagan’s approach and Bush’s is that Reagan was honest enough to call it what it was (“amnesty”). Bush and his apparatchiks preferred poll-tested confections like “path to citizenship.” … Also, Bush’s amnesty was bigger. …
=======
Bush's Amnesty Plan or Path to Citizenship would have been a MAJOR disaster.
Reagan's "Amnesty" was bad enough – Mark Levin was correct.
- Can California tax Internet purchases? – California's severe budget squeeze and a stagnant economy have rekindled a political war over how Internet purchases should be taxed – if, indeed, they could be taxed.
-
Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th from 08:46 to 09:15
These are my links for February 28th from 08:46 to 09:15:
- Social media not so hot on the Hill – It raises the question: Are lawmakers putting too much time — or staff resources — into social media?
Currently, only 8 percent of American adults who use the Internet use Twitter, according to a December 2010 study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
“The ease at which constituents can communicate with their member has really diluted the quality of communications overall,” said one legislative director quoted in the study. “We get way too many e-mail inputs that forward the congressman some e-mail or YouTube link with ‘Is this true?’ as the only message.”
But that hasn’t stopped new members such as Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from embracing as many social media outlets as possible.
“We have Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook — we’re trying to be in any medium we can,” said his spokeswoman, Stefani Zimmerman. “If it means he’s going to stay up an hour later checking his Facebook, that’s what he’s going to do.”
+++++++
Read it all.
Probably because the Reps and Senators REALLY don't want to hear a critique of their jobs in real time.
Social media also makes them more accountable to others outside their district who may fund opposition party candidates or a primary challenge.
The Emperor Has No Clothes with social media.
- Speaker John Boehner rips bid to regulate Internet – House Speaker John A. Boehner lashed out against efforts to regulate Internet traffic before an audience of evangelical Christian media leaders and pointedly responded to President Obama by comparing the challenge of the burgeoning national debt to the Sputnik-era space race.
In a speech to religious broadcasters that received a sustained ovation at his conclusion, he said free expression is under attack by a power structure in Washington populated with regulators who have never set foot inside a radio station or a television studio.
“We see this threat in how the FCC is creeping further into the free market by trying to regulate the Internet,” Mr. Boehner said.
“The last thing we need, in my view, is the FCC serving as Internet traffic controller, and potentially running roughshod over local broadcasters who have been serving their communities with free content for decades,” he said to loud applause from members of the National Religious Broadcasters, a trade group holding its annual convention here.
+++++++
Read it all
The Obama Administration is going into overdrive to regulate more of the economy, including the internet.
- Cuban vs. Bissinger: NBA owner and journalist have Twitter smackdown – What happens when a billionaire entrepreneur and NBA team owner uses Twitter to criticize an outspoken Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist?
Followers of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and author and Daily Beast columnist Buzz Bissinger found out Sunday. The result: A profanity-laced, 86-tweet rant by Bissinger that took place over a span of four hours. The two then set up — using Twitter, of course — a face-to-face meeting for Tuesday.
It started Sunday when Cuban tweeted that Bissinger was "a coward." The tweet was sent in response to Bissinger's Feb. 17 column titled "NBA All-Star Game: White Men Can't Root." The piece doesn't mention Cuban, but argues that there's a race problem between the NBA and its white fans.
"Are whites losing interest in a game in which the number of white American players not only continues to dwindle, but no longer features a superstar?" Bissinger wrote. "Yes."
After Cuban's "coward" comment, Bissinger rattled off a couple dozen tweets and responded to users in true Bissinger form (plenty of cursing).
Cuban eventually returned to Twitter with a comment directed at Bissinger's column: "Yr editor asked you to write about a topic you dont know & had no interest in researching…"
At this point Daily Beast editor, and former Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz chimed in: "Hey, @mcuban, I asked @buzzbissinger to write *something* about basketball, but he chose the racial topic, knowing it'd be controversial."
+++++++
Ha Ha!
I blocked Mark Cuban early in Twitter adoption.
As Yoda would say: A JERK he is.
- Chris Christie on Wisconsin, Scott Walker and Collective Bargaining – Asked if Gov. Scott Walker has "gone too far," Christie responded:
Bob, let me tell you what — what went on in New Jersey. My predecessor, Governor Corzine, stood on the front steps of the Capitol at a public-sector union rally and said, "I'll fight to get you a good contract." And I thought to myself, watching that, who's he fighting with? Once he says that, the fight's over. What I believe in is true adversarial collective bargaining. And so, every state is different. I'm not going to micromanage Wisconsin from Trenton, New Jersey. I know Scott Walker. I like him. And I trust him. And I think he believe he's doing what's in the best interest of Wisconsin, the same way I'm going to do what I think needs to be done for New Jersey, which is, to reform the pension system and roll back health benefits for public-sector workers, to put them more in line with the rest of the population in New Jersey, to put us on a long-term path to fiscal stability.
But aren't collective bargaining rights inviolate? Christie, a former U.S. attorney reminds us:Now listen. All these rights are legislatively created. They didn't come down from tablets at the top of a mountain. And so, political things change and go back and forth. And every state is going to make their own determination on that. Wisconsin is in the middle of making that determination. As you know, Bob, there are plenty of states in America where that right doesn't exist. And so, each state has to make their own determination on that.
But it's not the legal precision of the answer that is exceptional. What stands out is his utter candor. I frankly can't imagine another politician debunking the notion that public employees have a God-given right to collectively bargain.
+++++++
Read it all.
Agreed
- Social media not so hot on the Hill – It raises the question: Are lawmakers putting too much time — or staff resources — into social media?
-
Egypt’s Internet Goes Offline And Congress Readies Obama “Kill Switch” Legislation
I don’t think after the events in Egypt this past week that this legislation has much of a chance of passing.As Egypt’s government attempts to crackdown on street protests by shutting down internet and mobile phone services, the US is preparing to reintroduce a bill that could be used to shut down the internet.
The legislation, which would grant US President Barack Obama powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet, would soon be reintroduced to a senate committee, Wired.com reported.
It was initially introduced last year but expired with a new Congress.
Senator Susan Collins, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that unlike in Egypt, where the government was using its powers to quell dissent by shutting down the internet, it would not.
“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency,” Collins said in an emailed statement to Wired. “It would give our nation the best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat.”
The proposed legislation, introduced into the US Senate by independent senator Joe Lieberman, who is chairman of the US Homeland Security committee, seeks to grant the President broad emergency powers over the internet in times of national emergency.
I don’t want President Obama, Susan Collins or Joe Lieberman having control of my access to a “free press” which today includes the internet.
More communication and connectivity is better for liberty and freedom, than less.
Hands off.
-
Day By Day by Chris Muir August 29, 2009 – This Site Closed
Yes, Chris, isn’t the emergency internet take-over bill in line with Obama’s game plan to neutralize any dissent to his “Hope and Change?”I mean Obama already has NBC and ABC in his hip pocket – one example being their refusal to accept anti-Obamacare television ads.
This kind of government power grab of the internet is just plain scary.
Previous:
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Internet, Day By Day
-
John Culberson Watch: Ordering the Tide to Stop
Representative John Culberson, R-Texas interviews Representative Brian Bilbray, R-California and live video streams in apparent violation of House of Representative rules.Flap was away last week when this twitter flap surfaced between John Culberson and the Democrat House leadership. Otherwise, Flap would certainly have jumped into the fray – which by the way is ongoing.Texas Rep. John Culberson uses his Blackberry to post blurbs about his work onto Twitter, a social networking site on the Internet. The Internet has set him free from unfair media reports and other barriers between him and his constituents, enabling him to better represent them in Congress, he says.
But Culberson’s actions have put him in possible violation of House rules that appear to ban blogging or other work-related activities on non-House Web sites.
Current rules “have been interpreted to prohibit (House) members from posting official content outside of the House.gov domain,” Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., chairman of the Congressional Commission on Mailing Standards, better known as the franking committee, wrote in a report late last month.
In a series of recommendations sent to House Administration Capitol Security Subcommittee Chairman Robert Brady, Capuano said some rules are necessary so as not to mix House official messages with commercial or political campaign material.
“Members of Congress who use taxpayer money to communicate with constituents should be held to the highest possible standard of independence — and the appearance of independence,” he said last week.
“Official content” — like video — that is posted outside the House.gov domain should be clearly marked, should not appear alongside commercial or campaign content and should contain an exit notice for people linking out from the House.gov domain, Capuano recommended.
And, does anyone expect these rules which equal censorship and a violation of the First Amendment will pass a federal court Constitutional review?
But, if the Democrats think their AS(S)inine rules will pass Constitutional muster, Flap says bring it on. A federal appeals court WILL laugh these arguments to prohibit speech from the Halls of Congress out of court.
How is this speech useful or relevant?
For example, Flap received a tweet from @JohnCulberson yesterday afternoon reporting a personal attack House Floor fight between Reps. Silvestre Reyes and Pete Hoekstra. Flap was instantly able to tune into C-Span and watch Steny Hoyer, Democrat House Majority Leader take to the floor and make a complete ass of himself in order to quell the disturbance.
Yes. This is inside political baseball but will certainly add context and immediate information to the public in the workings of THEIR government.
Isn’t government, as invisioned by the Founders, required to be transparent?
The Democrats will relent on the rules or NOT enforce them. In the meantime follow @JohnCulberson and Representative Bob Latta – @BobLatta
Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will NOT be able to order the tide to stop.
Technorati Tags: John Culberson, Bob Latta, Twitter