• Pinboard Links,  The Afternoon Flap

    The Afternoon Flap: July 30, 2012

    Ann Romney, former Poland President Lech Walesa and Mitt Romney

    These are my links for July 27th through July 30th:

    • A Trip to Poland, With an Eye on Swing States– Mitt Romney’s arrival in Poland on Monday provides an opportunity for the Republican candidate to embrace the ideals and values of one of America’s closest allies in front of a global audience.His campaign hopes they are watching in the Rust Belt.Mr. Romney arrived in Gdansk for the start of two days of talks with Polish leaders, to be capped off by remarks from Warsaw on Tuesday. Aides have signaled that he will focus on the relationship between the two countries and strategic concerns about Russia.But at home — where votes count — the trip’s imagery may be more important than the specifics of Mr. Romney’s policy pronouncements.
      Polish voters make up large chunks of the electorate in several swing states that Mr. Romney must win if he wants to capture the White House in November. His campaign is clearly hoping that the high-profile visit this week will help woo those voters.
    • Walesa Endorses Romney– Lech Walesa today endorsed Mitt Romney for president, saying he hoped the Republican presidential candidate is “successful.”From the pool report:Flash: Lech Walesa, the Nobel Prize winner and former Polish president, has effectively endorsed RomneyYour pool was brought in at the end of the meeting and heard Walesa say the below thru a translator:

      Walesa: “I wish you to be successful because this success is needed to the United States, of course, but to Europe and the rest of the world, too. Gov Romney, get your success — be successful!”

    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 30, 2012 – Flapsblog.org – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 30, 2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 30, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 30, 2012
    • Poll Watch: Presidential To Do List – Jobs and Government Corruption – Poll Watch: Presidential To Do List – Jobs and Government Corruption
    • Day By Day July 30, 2012 – Normal – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day July 30, 2012 – Normal
    • Cheney: Obama Worse Than Carter – One of Our Weakest Presidents – Cheney: Obama Worse Than Carter – One of Our Weakest Presidents
    • Obama Canceled Bin Laden Raid Three Times at Urging of Valerie Jarrett – Obama Canceled Bin Laden Raid Three Times at Urging of Valerie Jarrett
    • 2012 Campaign Very Different Than Kerry vs. Bush– Does the 2012 campaign look a lot like the 2004 campaign? Many Democrats think so.And there are some resemblances. As in 2004, current polling suggests a close race and shows only about a dozen states in contention.As in 2004, the incumbent has been running negative ads against the challenger, hoping to disqualify him as Bill Clinton disqualified Bob Dole in 1996. Many Democrats think that Barack Obama’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business career will have the same effect that they think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads had on John Kerry in 2004.But, as William Galston of the Brookings Institution, an alumnus of the Clinton White House, writes in The New Republic, “the evidence in favor of all these propositions is remarkably thin.”

      Galston points out that in 2004 no single issue was as prominent as the economy is this year and that on most significant issues George W. Bush had a clear edge by the end of the campaign. He cites polling evidence that the Swift Boat ads hurt Kerry less than did Bush ads replaying his March statement that “I did actually vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

      Also, he points out that many more voters this year think the nation is seriously off on the wrong track and that the economy is in trouble. Obama’s job rating now is weaker than Bush’s was then.

      Galston, as usual, is on target. His analysis tracks with the statement of Democratic pollster Peter Hart (for whom I worked from 1974 to 1981) that Obama’s chances are “no better than 50 percent.”

    • GOP 12: VIDEO: McCain hammers Cheney for Palin comments – RT @CPHeinze Wow — McCain pulls out the torture card on Dick Cheney after being asked about his Palin comments.
    • U.S. crackdown on online-poker companies forces many players to flee the country– From his oceanfront balcony, Tyler Forrester glanced out at the Pacific surf on the beach. Palm trees rustled in the breeze.“Tough life I’m living,” Forrester said, cackling at his own humor.Forrester, 28, makes his living in a bedroom before two computer monitors playing online games of Texas Hold ’Em for hours on end. He’s a professional poker player, and a very successful one at that.Forrester, who grew up in Dillon, Mont., is one of probably 150 American professional online-poker players who flooded Costa Rica after U.S. federal prosecutors went after the founders of the three largest online-poker companies.
    • Paul Ryan’s Influence on the G.O.P. – ne day in March, 2009, two months after the Inauguration of President Obama, Representative Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, sat behind a small table in a cramped meeting space in his Capitol Hill office. Hunched forward in his chair, he rattled off well-rehearsed critiques of the new President’s policies and America’s lurch toward a “European” style of government. Ryan’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all died before their sixtieth birthdays, so Ryan, who is now forty-two, could be forgiven if he seemed like a man in a hurry. Tall and wiry, with a puff of wavy dark hair, he is nearly as well known in Washington for his punishing early-morning workouts as he is for his mastery of the federal budget. Asked to explain his opposition to Obama’s newly released budget, he replied, “I don’t have that much time.”
    • Cheney: Obama worse than Carter, ‘one of our weakest presidents’– Former Vice President Dick Cheney, in his first interview since a heart transplant operation in March, blasted President Obama calling him “one of our weakest presidents.”“Obviously, I’m not a big fan of President Obama,” said Cheney in an excerpt from an interview with ABC News aired Monday on “Good Morning America.” “I think he’s been one of our weakest presidents. I fundamentally disagree with him philosophically, be hard put to find any Democratic president I disagree with more.”Asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl if Obama was “worse than Jimmy Carter in your perspective,” Cheney responded “yes.”
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30
    • Bill Clinton to Have Marquee Role at Democratic Convention– Former President Bill Clinton is set to play a central part in the Democratic convention, aides said, and will formally place President Obama’s name into nomination by delivering a prime-time speech designed to present a forceful economic argument for why Mr. Obama deserves to win a second term.The prominent role of Mr. Clinton, which is scheduled to be announced on Monday, signals an effort by the Obama campaign to pull out all the stops to rally Democrats when they gather for their party’s national convention in Charlotte, N.C. An even more important audience will be the voters across the country who will see the address carried by television networks
    • Voters say Romney, Obama equal on issues of character– Mitt Romney holds thin advantages over President Obama on leadership, personal values and honesty, according to a new poll for The Hill.The poll, conducted for The Hill by Pulse Opinion Research, suggests voters see little difference between the candidates on character issues that Democrats have cited as key to Obama’s appeal.It found 48 percent of voters consider Romney the stronger leader, compared to 44 percent who favored Obama.
    • Americans Want Next President to Prioritize Jobs, Corruption – Creating good jobs, reducing corruption in the federal government, and reducing the federal budget deficit score highest when Americans rate 12 issues as priorities for the next president to address. Americans assign much less importance to increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and dealing with environmental concerns.
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – As if these taxes will do anything RT @CapitolAlert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Cheney: Choosing Sarah Palin as Vice President Nominee Was a Mistake – Cheney: Choosing Sarah Palin as Vice President Nominee Was a Mistake
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29
    • Sports / Muhammed Ali at the 2012 London Olympics – Muhammed Ali at the 2012 London Olympics
    • Sports / Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte shows off his American flag grills and gold medal after winning the Men’s 400m Individual Medley for the U.S. at the London 2012 Olympics Aquatic Center. – Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte shows off his American flag grills and gold medal after winning th
    • Sports / My Great Aunt Babe and the Javelin at 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She wins the Gold Medal – My Great Aunt Babe and the Javelin at 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She wins the Gold Medal
    • Sports / A photo of my Great Aunt Babe during the 1932 Olympics. She won gold in the javelin. – A photo of my Great Aunt Babe during the 1932 Olympics. She won gold in the javelin.
    • Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – 10 miles finished and now we eat! (@ Ronnie’s Diner)
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28
    • Romney screwed up in London. Does it matter?– What’s undeniable: former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s trip to London did not go as planned. Let’s review:* He called security problems for the Olympics “disconcerting.” The gaffe led to jabs from Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Romney, who has promised a “No Apologies” approach to the world, was forced to repeatedly backtrack.* He talked about his meeting with the leader of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service. Such meetings are normally kept secret.* Anonymous officials snarked to the Daily Mail that Romney was a “total car crash,” “worse than Sarah Palin,” and “apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity.”

      * The trip spawned a trending Twitter topic: #romneyshambles.

      What’s less clear: whether anyone (outside of the “small island” of England) cares.

      “We’re not worried about overseas headlines. We’re worried about voters back here at home in America,” Louisisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Thursday in Romney’s defense. He makes a good point.

    • Destinations / 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London before night fall… – 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London before night fall…
    • Political Cartoons / Eat more beef? – Eat more beef?
    • Team Romney Readies For “Saturday Obama Surprise”– After a disastrous 48-hour news cycle in London, the Romney campaign “wants the world to know” that they are prepared for a “Saturday Obama Surprise,” of unknown specifications.”We want to communicate to the world that we are ready for whatever they throw at us,” a Romney adviser told BuzzFeed unsolicited. “After poor economic numbers today, we are preparing for them to throw out absurdities, distractions, and anything else they can to divert from the economy.”When asked why Romney’s camp expected a sneak attack from the Obama campaign, the advisor said their guard was up because of “how they’ve conducted themselves in the past.”So far, the campaign’s preparations have entailed assembling an army of surrogates to fill the message void while Romney is out of the country, unable to attack Obama himself because “politics end at the water’s edge.”
    • The Opening Hypocrisies – However, especially in turbulent and chaotic times, when nations are choosing whether to pursue freedom or religious zealotry, civil war or reconciliation and respect for human rights or inhumanity, I wish we’d stop perpetrating the idea that all you have to do to be part of the “international community” is to show up. No, to be part of the “global community” and to encourage “common humanity and universal ideals” countries must foster liberty, abhor violence, practice tolerance and defend human rights. We shouldn’t blur the distinction between those who uphold those values and those who threaten them.
    • Untitled (http://atdhenet.tv/45736/watch-olympics-2012-opening-ceremony) – Watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies here: and no it is not NBC – sheesh
    • AD-48: Independent Mike Meza Endorses Republican Joe Gardner – AD-48: Independent Mike Meza Endorses Republican Joe Gardner
    • Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention – NYTimes.com – Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention
    • Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention– Over at the back door of the 2001 Odyssey, a limo-size tent with flaps — especially designed for discretion and camera-shy guests — is ready to go up. Déjà Vu is welcoming extra “talent” from around the country in its V.I.P. rooms.And Thee DollHouse is all Americana: women plan to slip out of red, white and blue corsets and offer red, white and blue vodka. The headliner that week is expected to bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain ex-governor from a wilderness state, known for her strong jaw and devotion to guns and God.“She’s a dead ringer for her,” said Warren Colazzo, co-owner of Thee DollHouse. “It’s just a really good gimmick to get publicity.”As Tampa gears up for the Republican National Convention, the biggest party it has ever held, the city and its businesses are primping and polishing for the August arrival of tens of thousands of visitors. Like it or not — mostly not, for city officials — Tampa’s well-known strip clubs have joined the welcome wagon.
    • PETA: Let’s bet on Chuck Grassley’s death– Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is chewing out the Agriculture Department for promoting “Meatless Mondays” for their employees, promising to eat more meat to make up the difference — a move PETA says it will counter by taking “informal bets” on when the Republican senator will die.“Shame USDA. One has to wonder whether the Dept of Ag supports Iowa farmers since it is promoting ‘meatless Monday’ for USDA employees,” Grassley said Wednesday night on Twitter. “I will eat more meat on Monday to compensate for stupid USDA recommendation abt a meatless Monday.”
    • Preisdent 2012 Poll Watch: Romney Leading Obama by 5 Points Nationally – President 2012 Poll Watch: Romney Leading Obama by 5 Points Nationally
    • The Morning Flap: July 27, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: July 27, 2012
    • Log In – The New York Times – Once a Rebel, McCain Now Walks the Party Line
    • Marco Rubio to raise cash for Mitt Romney in Texas– Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will head to Texas next month to raise cash for Mitt Romney.Rubio, a rising Republican star, and Romney’s brother, Scott, will headline two fundraising events for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee on Aug. 15 in San Antonio, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.On behalf of the Romney Victory Fund, the two will host receptions at the Marriott Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio. Guests can get a photo with Rubio and Scott Romney for $5,000 per person. The general reception costs $250 per person.Later that night, Rubio and Scott Romney will be on hand at a $25,000-per-couple dinner at the San Antonio home of Nancy and Edward Steves, who previously backed the failed presidential campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

      The fundraising trip will come two-and-a-half weeks after Rubio stumps for Romney this weekend at the senator’s former elementary school in Las Vegas.

      Saturday’s visit to Ronnow Elementary School, where Rubio attended as a child, represents the first solo campaign event for the vice presidential prospect. In recent days, close Rubio allies — former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Romney adviser Al Cardenas — have urged the presidential hopeful to tap the freshman senator for the No. 2 job.

      But most pundits believe Romney will go with a safer pick, such as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.

    • Mitt Romney Namedrops Marco Rubio On Piers Morgan, Fueling Veep Speculation– Mitt Romney randomly mentioned Sen. Marco Rubio during a Piers Morgan interview, reigniting speculation that the Florida Republican will be the former Massachusetts governor’s running mate.n an advance clip posted on CNN from an interview airing Thursday night, Romney mentioned Rubio while discussing folks who “attack success.” The pushbacks against supposed attacks on achievement has been Romney’s answer to President Barack Obama and his surrogates’ attempts at labeling him as “out of touch” with middle-class America.In addressing the attacks, Romney, with wife Ann in tow, said, “I heard Marco Rubio the other day. He said, you know, we were poor living in Miami. We saw these homes across town. My parents never said to us, ‘Gee, why don’t those people gives us some of what they have?’
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      “They said, instead, ‘Aren’t we lucky to live in a country where with education and hard work we might be able to achieve that ourselves?'”
      Speculation around Romney’s veep pick is heating up with the Republican National Covention in Tampa, Fla., just over a month away, when the presumptive nominee will be take up the party’s standard.

    • Once a Rebel, McCain Now Walks the Party Line– As Election Day edges close and most members of Congress yearn to flee Washington, Senator John McCain of Arizona is more present than ever.Only there is a new iteration of the Republican lawmaker and defeated presidential candidate who has been a constant in the capital even as he regularly transforms himself. Absent is the maverick who bucked his party on the environment and campaign finance, and verbally towel-snapped Republicans and Democrats alike on the Senate floor.Gone, too, is the far-right leaning Mr. McCain of 2010, who found himself in a primary fight back home that caused him to retreat from his stances on immigration and global warming.Mr. McCain instead appears to have entered Version 3 of his long and multipronged Senate career — partisan warrior and party stalwart. He takes to the Sunday TV talk shows, the Senate floor and the Capitol hallways that are filled with more reporters than mosquitoes at a garden party to press his party’s agenda on taxes, military spending and national security.
    • Pentagon official says civilian workforce could get layoff notices 4 days before election– Tens of thousands of civilian employees in the Defense Department could receive warnings about potential layoffs four days before the November election if impending spending cuts aren’t averted, hitting presidential battleground states such as Virginia and Florida hard.The alerts would come in addition to any that major defense contractors might send out at the same time to their workers under an often-overlooked law, a prospect that is unnerving the White House roughly three months before voters go to the polls.
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 27, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 27, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 24, 2012

    Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. AP Photo

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

    • Democratic Sen. Feinstein suggests some leaked info came from the White House– The Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that the White House appears to be responsible for some leaks of classified information.”I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a World Affairs Council forum.The California lawmaker said she was certain that President Barack Obama, who receives a daily intelligence briefing, isn’t disclosing secret information, but she was uncertain about others at the White House. “I don’t believe for a moment that he goes out and talks about it,” she said.Republicans have criticized the disclosures, arguing that members of the Obama administration were intentionally leaking classified material to enhance the president’s reputation in an election year. Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed two attorneys to lead the investigation into who leaked information about U.S. involvement in cyberattacks on Iran and about an al-Qaida plot to place an explosive device aboard a U.S.-bound airliner.That hasn’t satisfied some Republicans who have pressed for a special prosecutor.
    • Feinstein: Someone at White House is behind recent intel leaks– Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday that someone at the White House was responsible for the recent leaks of classified information.“I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks,” Feinstein said in an address at the World Affairs Council, The Associated Press first reported.Feinstein said she was certain that President Obama had not disclosed any of the classified intelligence, but believed others in the administration were responsible.
    • Obama’s Bain attack isn’t working – President Obama may have spent $38.2 million on television ads attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital in June, but according to a new Gallup poll, the campaign isn’t working. USA Today reports that by a more than 2-1 margin, 63%-29%, those surveyed say Romney’s background in business, including his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital, “would cause him to make good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation’s economic problems over the next four years.” Comparing pre-Bain attack numbers to post-Bain attack numbers, USA Today reports that back in February, 53 percent of Americans said Romney “had the personality and leadership qualities a president should have.” Now 54 percent do.
    • Presidential busts: The worst of all: Barack Obama (2009-?)– He took office at a time when the U.S. economy was on its worst slide in 75 years, but pushed policies using borrowed money that were more meant to preserve government jobs than broadly help the private sector where the great majority of Americans work, ensuring the jobs crisis continued.He railed against the heavy spending and big deficits of his predecessor, but blithely backed budgets that had triple the deficits ever seen in American history.He promised a smart, sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system, but ended up giving us a Byzantine mess promoted to the public with myths: that offering subsidized care to tens of millions of people would save money; that people would keep their own doctors; that access to care wouldn’t change; and that rationing would never happen.
    • What Still Shocks Me About ObamaCare | RealClearPolitics– Amid the huge response — both triumphant and agonized — to the Supreme Court’s preservation of Obamacare, I was surprised at how little attention was being paid to that law’s core purpose: to strongly control health care costs where government funding is involved, as it increasingly will be.What still shocks me about this law is the government’s interference with the doctor-patient relationship. Many government bureaucracies will not pay for doctor-prescribed treatments costing more than a predetermined figure. And none of these bureaucracies’ members will have actually seen the individual patient.
    • Exercise Adds Almost 4 Years to Life Span– Regular physical activity adds about four years to life expectancy, and endurance exercise during leisure time seems to be better at extending life than physical activity done as work, according to a new research review published in the Journal of Aging Research. German researchers gathered well-designed studies on one of the most basic, but important, questions in health: Does physical activity increase life expectancy? In reviewing the results of the studies, they found the answer was an unequivocal yes. Among the studies, there was a wide range of extra years found for active versus nonactive people, from less than half a year in one study to close to seven years in another. When the results of the studies were combined, the researchers wrote,”The median increase of life expectancy of men and women in the eight studies presenting data on both sexes amounted to 3.7 years each.”
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24
    • Sally Ride – R.I.P. – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Sally Ride – R.I.P.
    • For the Olympics, Twitter and NBC Form Partnership– As athletes parade into London’s Olympic Stadium this Friday, Twitter Inc.’s Olympic hopes will play out in a spartan office in Boulder, Colo.There, a handful of people will spend 20 hours a day to help corral millions of Twitter messages from Olympic athletes, their families, fans and NBC television personalities into a single page on Twitter.com.Twitter’s Olympics hub, part of a partnership between the San Francisco company and Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA -2.52% NBCUniversal that will be announced as early as Monday, is one of the first times Twitter will serve as an official narrator for a live event. NBC will tout the website with on-air promotions and links to athlete interviews or video clips.With the partnership, Twitter hopes to use the Olympics as a launch pad into a more sustainable business. Twitter, which allows people to post 140-character messages called tweets, has built up more than 140 million monthly users and has become a go-to resource for people to find news or to gab about “American Idol.”But executives want the six-year-old service to find a larger audience, especially amid doubts about Twitter’s ability to become a serious money maker.
    • Obama Campaign’s Spending Rate Worries Some Democrats– The Obama campaign has been spending heavily on payroll, television ads and polling for months, hoping to tarnish Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the eyes of voters at an early stage of the general-election showdown.But some Democrats worry that the overhead built by the Obama camp over the past 15 months will prove impossible to sustain. Unless fundraising picks up, the Obama campaign may enter the season’s final stretch confronting hard choices: paring salaries, scaling back advertising or pulling out of swing states in a bid to control costs, these Democrats say.
    • Minnesota Poll: Obama’s Lead Cut in Half Since Last Poll– In the election for President of the United States, three months till voting begins, Barack Obama captures the North Star State’s 10 electoral votes, defeating Mitt Romney 46 percent to 40 percent, according to a SurveyUSA poll for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis / St. Paul.Romney and Obama are effectively even among male voters. All of Obama’s advantage comes from female voters, where Obama leads by 14 points. Romney edges Obama among Minnesota’s Independents, but not by enough to offset Obama’s 2:1 advantage among Minnesota’s moderates. Romney leads in Northeastern Minnesota, but Obama leads in the rest of the state.Voters are divided over whether job creation or health care is the most important issue facing Minnesotans. Importantly: those who say health care is most important split evenly between Obama and Romney. Those who say job creation is most important split evenly between Obama and Romney. Neither candidate has an advantage on these issues in Minnesota.Romney voters are divided on which Republican Romney should pick as his running mate. 36% name former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. 29% name Florida’s U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.
    • The Morning Flap: July 23, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 23, 2012
  • Babe Didrikson Zaharias,  Olympics

    Can Female Athletes Compete in the Olympics Against Men?



    My Great Aunt Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias
    breaking the world and Olympic record in the 80 meter hurdles at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics

    Well, it is an Olympic year and the age old debate rears its head again: Can female athletes compete against men?

    As a member of the Texas Christian University rifle team, junior Sarah Scherer competes against some of the best female—and male—shooters in the country. But when she competes in the second round of the Olympic trials at Camp Perry, Ohio, this weekend, she’ll only be competing against other women.

    Why is that? Is it still unfair for men and women to compete against one another—even in sports where size and strength matter little? Or is it just latent sexism?

    Shooting is a sport that certainly requires more brain than brawn. Keen sight, breathing control and trigger squeeze are among the qualities that make an Olympic-caliber shooter. Yet, most shooting competitions remain segregated.

    It wasn’t always this way. For decades men and women regularly shot against one another in international competitions. But in 1976, American Margaret Thompson Murdock tied for the gold at the Montreal Olympics in the small-bore rifle against teammate Lanny Bassham. When the judges examined the targets more closely, Bassham was awarded the gold, but Thompson’s performance was enough to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee—primarily from Eastern European teams—to segregate the sport.

    Currently, male and female Olympians only compete head-to-head in equestrian and sailing. There are also mixed events in badminton, luge and tennis. But there are clearly other sports where it is apparent that female athletes could compete with the men if they had the opportunity.

    Read the entire excellent post.

    In my Great Aunt’s day, Babe was restricted even to the number events in which she could compete. Most sports pundits at the time and subsequently have speculated that she could have won more than the three Olympic medals in the mere three events in which she competed.

    Representing her company in the 1932 AAU Championships, she competed in eight out of ten events, winning five outright, and tying for first in a sixth. In the process, she set five world records in the javelin throw, 80-meter hurdles, high jump and baseball throw in a single afternoon. Didrikson’s performances were enough to win the team championship, despite her being the only member of her team.

    It really is time to open up competition in the Olympics and within reason. I don’t suppose we will be seeing men and women competing against each other in the shot put, boxing or wrestling.

    But, in other sports, why not?