Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

These are my links for December 1st through December 6th:

• Senate Republican filibuster blocks Obama D.C. Circuit nominee Caitlin Halligan – Tuesday’s vote is notable in that it marks the second time that Senate Republicans have blocked an Obama judicial nominee. In May, Republicans filibustered Obama’s nomination of Goodwin Liu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit following a protracted battle over what GOP senators cited as the University of California at Berkeley law professor’s liberal views.

  Six years ago, a bipartisan “Gang of 14” senators negotiated an agreement aimed at preventing filibusters of judicial nominees except under what they termed “extraordinary circumstances.” On Tuesday, as in May’s vote on Liu, the four Republican members of that group who remain in the Senate – Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) – voted “no,” a sign that Republicans as well as Democrats have now come to view filibusters of judicial nominations as fair game.

• Glenn Beck the latest GOPer to take on Gingrich – Conservative radio host Glenn Beck became the latest Republican to go after newly minted presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich Tuesday.

  After saying the radio segment would not be a “gotcha interview,” Beck aggressively questioned the former House speaker over issues including climate change and health care reform.

  Gingrich somewhat famously recorded a public service announcement in 2008 with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about steps to combat climate change, something Beck in the interview called “the dumbest moment.” In response, Gingrich toed the line on the issue, saying he believed “in the environment in general,” and that evidence exists on both sides of the climate change argument.

  “I never believed in Al Gore’s fantasies,” Gingrich said, before adding that he worked against cap and trade legislation as a member of Congress.

  Criticism of his long record in public office has increased with his recent rise in polling of Republican voters, something Beck perpetuated during his questioning over Gingrich’s stance on health care, and more specifically the changes to Medicare he would or would not support.

  Gingrich said he promotes a practical approach to changing the program, instead of completely overhauling or dismantling it, as some, including House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan and Beck have suggested.

  “I think what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes, better solutions, better options, not one where you suddenly impose upon,” Gingrich said. “I’m against ‘ObamaCare,’ which is imposing radical change and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change.”

• Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich – Before Republicans put Newt Gingrich at the top of their party, they should consider what happened the last time he led it.
  In the mid-1990s, Gingrich was the de facto head of the Republican Party. He helped lead it to victory in the congressional elections of 1994, which brought about real accomplishments such as welfare reform. But once he attained power, both his popularity and that of his party started to plummet. In the aftermath of his leadership, a Republican was able to take the presidency only by pointedly distancing himself from Gingrich.
  Conservatives who dislike George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism have Gingrich to thank for it. After Gingrich lost the budget battles with President Bill Clinton, it took 15 years for any politician to take up the cause of limited-government conservatism that he had discredited.
  Although Gingrich isn’t solely responsible for the Republican policy defeats of those years, his erratic behavior, lack of discipline and self-absorption had a lot to do with them. He explained that one reason the federal government shut down in 1995 was that he was angry that Clinton had snubbed him during an international flight. The Clinton White House then released pictures of the two men gabbing on the plane. Later negotiations didn’t go well, with Gingrich saying, “I melt when I’m around him.”
• Poll Shows Age Gap in G.O.P. on Immigration – With immigration now a front-burner issue in the Republican presidential contest, a new poll shows a substantial age gap among Republican voters over whether there should be a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally.

  A majority – 57 percent — of Republicans who are 65 and older say that tighter border security and tough law enforcement should be the only focus of immigration policy, with no path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, a nonpartisan group in Washington. Only about one-quarter of this group, or 24 percent, favor combining strict enforcement with a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

  Among Republicans who are younger than 30, the poll found, 42 percent favor a combined approach of tough enforcement against illegal immigration with a path to citizenship, while 30 percent wanted only enforcement. Among these younger Republicans, another 26 percent said that opening a path to citizenship should be the immigration priority, with or without tougher enforcement.

  The poll showed other differences. Among Republican voters who agreed with the Tea Party, 52 percent favored a policy based only on tougher enforcement. Among Republicans who disagreed with the Tea Party or had no opinion, 36 percent wanted only enforcement, while 44 percent favored policies pairing enforcement with a path to citizenship.

• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2011/12/06/president-2012-gop-poll-watch-gingrich-37-vs-romney-22-vs-paul-8-vs-perry-7/ – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Gingrich 37% Vs. Romney 22% Vs. Paul 8% Vs. Perry 7% #tcot #catcot
• Bachmann: Newt Gingrich is a frugal socialist – Responding to Newt’s justification of his support of the Prescription Drug entitlement that was passed under the Bush administration, Bachmann said:

  It doesn’t help to have a frugal socialist. That’s really what we’re talking about is managing socialism and trying to be a frugal socialist.

  Beck, recognizing that a headline had just been made sought to clarify, asking Bachmann “Did you just say that Newt Gingrich is a socialist?” Bachmann responded:

  What I’m saying is that – I’m saying a frugal socialist, yes! Because you’re looking at proposals and programs that are in effect redistribution of wealth and socialism-based, and are we going to have real change in the country or are we going to have frugal socialists?

• Why Newt Gingrich is an easy target—John Podhoretz – One of the pithiest quotes in American history may also be the dumbest: “There are no second acts in American lives.”

  F. Scott Fitzgerald said it and promptly died before he could have a second act — but he would have had one, because that’s what tends to happen to famous and accomplished people in the United States. It’s happening to Newt Gingrich right now.

  For those of us who live and breathe politics and make our livings in and around it, the words “Newt Gingrich” mean something entirely different than they do to the Republican primary voters who are now shifting over to him in droves.

• President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Gingrich Leading in Yet Another Poll | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – RE: Good question. But, Gingrich’s baggage has been around for a long time.
• Dilbert December 4, 2011 – Carpool Poser » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert December 4, 2011 – Carpool Poser
• President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Gingrich Leading in Yet Another Poll | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Gingrich Leading in Yet Another Poll #tcot #catcot
• Osteoporosis drugs helped astronauts, scientists say – Researchers have confirmed that five astronauts who stayed long term at the International Space Station were able to prevent bone-density loss by taking osteoporosis drugs.

  Astronauts in a weightless environment usually lose 5 to 7 percent of their bone density in six months even while exercising two hours a day. In the study conducted by researchers of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tokushima University and others, five astronauts who stayed in space for up to 163 days exercised daily and took bisphosphonates used to treat osteoporosis once a week during their stay on the space station. As a result, researchers found almost no bone-density loss in the astronauts.

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: December 6, 2011 – The Morning Drill: December 6, 2011
• Day By Day December 6, 2011 – Proud | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day December 6, 2011 – Proud #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-06 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-06 #tcot #catcot
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Starbucks – On the way home from Vegas (@ Starbucks)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Cancun Resort – Soon will leave Las Vegas to return home in Thousand Oaks (@ Cancun Resort)
• foursquare :: Cancun Resort :: Las Vegas, NV – I just ousted Ryry as the mayor of Cancun Resort on @foursquare!
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-05 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-05 #tcot #catcot
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Cancun Resort – Up, Starbucks completed & ready for Las Vegas Half Marathon. #rnrlv #stripatnight (@ Cancun Resort)
• First Read – Gingrich takes control in Iowa – RT @ZekeJMiller: NBC Marist poll in NH: Romney 29, Gingrch 23, Paul 16, Huntsman 9.
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-04 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-04 #tcot #catcot
• The Cain Solutions – RT @katieharbath: now up
• The Cain Solutions – RT @katieharbath: now up
• (500) http://www.hermancain.com/livestream – RT @THEHermanCain Team HC: Livestream coverage of Mr. Cain’s announcement begins at 1:00 pm ET. #tcot
• Barbour Says Perry Still Has a Chance – Barbour Says Perry Still Has a Chance
• Romney and Gingrich, from bad to worse – Republicans are more conservative than at any time since their 1980 dismay about another floundering president. They are more ideologically homogenous than ever in 156 years of competing for the presidency. They anticipated choosing between Mitt Romney, a conservative of convenience, and a conviction politician to his right. The choice, however, could be between Romney and the least conservative candidate, Newt Gingrich.

  Romney’s main objection to contemporary Washington seems to be that he is not administering it. God has 10 commandments, Woodrow Wilson had 14 points, Heinz had 57 varieties, but Romney’s economic platform has 59 planks — 56 more than necessary if you have low taxes, free trade and fewer regulatory burdens. Still, his conservatism-as-managerialism would be a marked improvement upon today’s bewildered liberalism.

• Barbour Says Perry Still Has a Chance – Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) tells the New York Times that it’s not clear Mitt Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee.

  Said Barbour: “I don’t think it’s clear. I think people make the mistake of writing off Rick Perry and believe he can’t come back. He’s got a mountain to get over, but I don’t think it’s impossible. Both Newt and Romney have a lot of support, but I don’t think it’s a two-man race. I think Perry could get back in it with Gingrich and Romney. I can’t look you in the eye and say nobody else can come up. You’ve got to learn your lesson this year not to say that about anybody.”

  He added: “I haven’t decided who is the best nominee for the party. I can see how either one of them could be the best nominee. But I think it is premature to write off Perry. He is a very successful governor. This is very unpredictable. I’ve never seen a nomination on our side like this.”

• Mitt Romney looks to outlast and outwork Gingrich to GOP nomination – The Romney campaign believes organization will be particularly critical because of changes in the nominating process. In the past, the winner of a state — or, in some cases, the top vote-getter in each congressional district — won all the delegates. But in 2012, most of the 30 states that hold contests before April 1 will award delegates proportionally. The ones that will come after will still be winner-takes-all.

  That means a candidate could lose a number of states but still remain competitive in the race to gain the majority of the 2,427 delegates at stake.

  As a reminder to take the long view, Romney’s political director, Rich Beeson, walks around headquarters carrying a matrix in his pocket charting which states award delegates proportionally and which are winner-takes-all.

  “We’re not Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Beeson said. “We don’t have the luxury to just do one thing and do it right.”

• Day By Day December 3, 2011 – Weaning | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day December 3, 2011 – Weaning #tcot #catcot
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Cancun Resort – Drinking Starbucks with Alice listening to the Las Vegas wind. (@ Cancun Resort)
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-03 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-03 #tcot #catcot
• yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/ntl8kej Shared by Flap – At Las Vegas Rock and Roll Expo
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Sands Convention Center – Rock and Roll Expo is very big and full of runners #rnrlv (@ Sands Convention Center w/ 21 others)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Sands Expo Convention Center Hall B – At the Rock and Roll Expo #rnrlv (@ Sands Expo Convention Center Hall B)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap’s Badges :: Overshare – I just unlocked the “Overshare” badge on @foursquare!
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ The Palazzo Resort Hotel & Casino – Almost at the Rock and Roll Expo #rnrlv (@ The Palazzo Resort Hotel & Casino w/ 5 others)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Mandalay Bay Casino – Where the half marathon will start on Sunday night #rnrlv (@ Mandalay Bay Casino)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ M Resort Spa Casino – We have arrived in Vegas. Heading to Rock n Roll Expo #rnrlv (@ M Resort Spa Casino w/ 2 others)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ I See Vegas!! – I see it (@ I See Vegas!!)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Almost Vegas Baby! – Almost…. (@ Almost Vegas Baby!)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap’s Badges :: Mall Rat – I just unlocked the “Mall Rat” badge on @foursquare! Time for a fancy pretzel.
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Primm Fashion Outlet – On our way to Las Vegas Rock n Roll Expo #rnrlv (@ Primm Fashion Outlet)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Baker, CA – Civilization? (@ Baker, CA)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Zzyzzx, Solve For Z – On the road to Vegas (@ Zzyzzx, Solve For Z)
• foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Starbucks – On the way to Vegas with Tara and Alice (@ Starbucks)
• President 2012: The Question – Mitt or Newt? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: The Question – Mitt or Newt? #tcot #catcot
• U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 % From 9% – But…. | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 % From 9% – But…. #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-02 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-12-02 #tcot #catcot
• Unauthorized Immigrants: Length of Residency, Patterns of Parenthood – Nearly two-thirds of the 10.2 million unauthorized adult immigrants in the United States have lived in this country for at least 10 years and nearly half are parents of minor children, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

  These estimates are based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2010 Current Population Survey, augmented with the Center’s analysis of the demographic characteristics of the unauthorized immigrant population using a “residual estimation methodology”1 that the Center has employed for many years.

• Leno Ad
  – YouTube – I like this ad from Rick Perry Can Perry make a come back, if Newt heads downward in the polls?

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Bachmann, Barbour, Beck, Dentistry, Filibuster, Gingrich, Halligan, immigration, Perry, Pinboard Links, rnrlv, Romney, Senate, stripatnight, The Afternoon Flap, Will

These are my links for November 15th through November 17th:

• Berkeley police break up Occupy Cal; tents removed, 2 arrested – Police moved in early Thursday to break up the Occupy Cal protest at UC Berkeley, arresting at least two protesters.

  Scores of officers conducted the raid, removing the tents and clearing the area.

  On Tuesday, more than 1,200 singing, sign-waving students and faculty members rallied for much of the day on Sproul Plaza, a site of the 1960s Free Speech Movement.

  At one point, the demonstrators chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, police violence has got to go,” a reference to an incident last week in which baton-wielding police officers stopped an Occupy camp from being set up on the campus. Dozens of protesters were arrested in last week’s confrontation, and several were injured.

• Protesters prepare to take over downtown L.A. intersection – Organizers of a demonstration planned Thursday morning in downtown Los Angeles say protesters are prepared to be arrested by police for committing acts of civil disobedience — including shutting down an intersection.

  The march, which is timed to coincide with other demonstrations across the country to protest the imbalance of wealth and power in the country, is set to begin at 7 a.m. at Bank of America Plaza on Hope Street. It will then make its way through the Financial District to the corner of Figueroa and 4th streets, where demonstrators plan to shut down traffic by erecting tents in the middle of the street.

  Jacob Hay, a leader of the coalition of labor and community groups that helped organize the march, said the group has secured police permits, but that protesters are prepared to be arrested for blocking traffic.

• Perry challenges Pelosi to debate part-time Congress plan – Rick Perry has challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to debate him next week about his plan for a part-time Congress.

  In a letter to Pelosi (D-Calif.) obtained by The Hill, the Texas governor wrote: “I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo.

  “I think it would be a tremendous service to the American people to see a public airing of these differences,” he continued. “Let the people decide. If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.”

• San Franciso police arrest 100 in Bank of America protest – Protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement seized a Bank of America branch in the city’s financial district Wednesday, a demonstration that forced jittery customers and employees to flee and ended in nearly 100 arrests.

  It took about 40 police officers in riot gear nearly four hours to clear the bank, but no one was injured. Police said many of those arrested were UC Santa Cruz students who were protesting fee increases and budget cuts.

  Police removed the protesters methodically, placing them in plastic handcuffs, citing them for misdemeanor trespassing and sending them off in police wagons for further processing.

• Wall Street clashes start Occupy’s day of action – Police arrested protesters who sat on the ground and blocked traffic into New York’s financial district on Thursday, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide.

  Police in riot helmets hauled several protesters to their feet and handcuffed them one block from Wall Street.

  “All day, all week, shut down Wall Street!” the crowd chanted.

• Occupy Wall Street protesters vow to wear suits, blend in and get revenge for the Zuccotti Park raid – Occupy Wall Street hoped to show there was life after Zuccotti Thursday by staging a series of marches and rallies – starting with a sneak attack on the Stock Exchange itself.

  As the city braced for a “sizeable” crowd, observers on both sides said the scale of the protest would show whether the two-month-old movement could regain momentum after Tuesday’s demoralizing defeat.

  OWS hoped anger over the NYPD raid that razed their iconic tent city at Zuccotti Park would breathe new life into a cause that had begun to sputter.

  The “day of action” is to begin early, with protesters converging on Wall Street camouflaged in business suits hoping to blend in with office workers trooping out of the subway.

• Zuccotti Park protester Nkrumah Tinsley arrested after threatening to burn down city – A protester was arrested in Zuccotti Park Wednesday after he threatened to fire bomb the city — and his rant went viral on YouTube, police said.

  Nkrumah Tinsley, 29, was busted after cops saw a video of him claiming he would torch the city during Thursday’s mass protest posted online, police said.

  “On the 17th (of Nov.), we’re going to burn New York City to the f—ing ground,” an angry Tinsley told a crowd of demonstrators in the video posted on Tuesday.

  “In a few days, you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”

  When officers from the NYPD’s intelligence division saw the video, they immediately began working on trying to identify the raging man, police said.

  “We didn’t want him out there [Thursday]. We wanted him in our custody,” said Paul Browne, top spokesman for the NYPD. “He was specific as to date, location and method for the fire bombing …maybe it was just a rant, but we didn’t want to take that chance.”

  Cops later spotted Tinsley at Zuccotti Park Wednesday and collared him about 5 p.m., police said. He was charged with making terroristic threats.

• Romenesko Leaves Poynter After Conflict Over Quotes – Jim Romenesko, the blogger who developed a large and loyal following by chronicling and summarizing news in the media world, quit his post on Thursday evening after a bizarre spat with the institute that hosts his writing.

  An editor at Poynter, which purchased Mr. Romenesko’s blog 12 years ago, had questioned his failure to use quotation marks when summarizing articles in his daily round-ups of media stories — summaries that Mr. Romenesko never claimed credit for as his original work.

  In an e-mail to the institute on Thursday night, Mr. Romenesko said, “I’ve had a great dozen years at Poynter, and I look forward to my next chapter.”

• Felix • A couple of points about Romeneskogate, for those who aren’t completely bored of it by now – The original Julie Moos post was highly misleading in one respect — she made it seem as though Romenesko hadn’t blockquoted two full paragraphs in this post, when in fact he had used blockquote. I know Moos was misleading because Jack Shafer said that she “pointed to a recent example from Romenesko’s work in which he ran whole sentences from a Chicago Tribune story in his summary of it without placing the words in quotation marks or block quotation”. I suspect that the problem here is that Poynter’s CSS has problems with blockquotes-within-blockquotes, but in any case Moos should have been much clearer that only a minority of the text in question was outside quote marks or blockquotes.
  Justin Peters managed to commit exactly the same sin that Moos did, when he reminisced about freelancing on Today’s Papers. “I knuckled down and found a way to say things in my own words, because I am a journalist, and that is my job,” he writes, managing to to completely miss the point of what an aggregator does. It’s not the job of a journalist, saying things in his own words: instead, it’s the job of a curator, linking to great content. If Peters thinks that Romenesko’s job was that of a journalist, writing things in his own words, he’s missing the point entirely.
• Holding aggregators to journalistic standards – Moos is using the standards of original journalism, here, to judge a blogger who was never about original journalism. Copy-and-pasting other people’s stories is what Romenesko did, at high volume, and with astonishing speed and reliability, for many years. And the media community, including Poynter, loved him for it.

  Moos might have “spent weeks in 2004 developing explicit publishing guidelines with the understanding and expectation that they would be adopted”, but guidelines are always reverse-engineered from already-existing best practice. And Romenesko is a shining example of best practice in the aggregation world. If he’s violating the guidelines, then it’s the guidelines which are at fault, not Romenesko.

  Petty bureaucrats like Moos love to codify things, so that they can cite chapter and verse when telling people off. But if you’re running a grown-up media organization, please: follow Paton’s lead, and not Moos’s. Journalists will behave unethically, sometimes. When they do, they should be reprimanded or even fired. But basic common sense is always the best guide to whether a journalist has done something wrong. And when Julie Moos presumes to judge Jim Romenesko by the standards of a Moos-written rulebook, it’s right and proper that the wrath of the Twittersphere come down on her as a result.

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Connecticut Mall Teeth-Whitening Entrepreneurs Sue the Connecticut Dental Commission – Connecticut Mall Teeth-Whitening Entrepreneurs Sue the Connecticut Dental Commission
• Wisconsin’s Governor: Recall Drive Is About Unions Seeking ‘Power’ – Many of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s citizens may be signing petitions for his recall in reaction to the battle he led earlier in the year to weaken his state’s public-employee unions.

  But Walker doesn’t appear to be backing off one inch from his stance that he did what was right for his state.

  Indeed, in a conversation with Tell Me More host Michel Martin, Walker essentially blamed outside agitators in organized labor for the recall effort.

  He accused his political foes of really being after “power” while presumably camouflaging their true intent with platitudes about workers’ rights, among other things.

  Unions are in particular coming after him, Walker said, because the new budget law he and the the Republican-controlled state legislature in Madison enacted, gave workers a choice about whether or not to belong to a union.

• California Appeals Court Rules: Cell Phones at Red Lights Are Not OK » Flap’s California Blog – California Appeals Court Rules: Cell Phones at Red Lights Are Not OK
• The Cease and Desist Letter From the Smile Center of San Antonio and Dr. Stephen Simpton | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Cease and Desist Letter From the Smile Center of San Antonio and Dr. Stephen Simpton #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Updated: The Cease and Desist Letter From the Smile Center of San Antonio and Dr. Stephen Simpton – The Cease and Desist Letter From the Smile Center of San Antonio and Dr. Stephen Simpton
• CA-26: Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett to Announce Candidacy for Congress | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-26: Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett to Announce Candidacy for Congress #tcot #catcot
• Is the Gingrich Bubble Already Popping? – Is the Gingrich Bubble Already Popping?
• Gingrich Said to Be Paid $1.6M by Freddie Mac- Bloomberg – Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac
• Is the Gingrich Bubble Already Popping? – Joe Klein says news of Newt Gingrich’s ties to Freddie Mac threaten to halt his recent recent rise in the polls.

  “You must understand: to Republican stalwarts, a relationship with Freddie Mac is the moral equivalent of satanism. Gingrich was a paid helper — and, believe me, he didn’t get paid $1.6 million to lecture the organization on the failures of government intervention in the market — in a ‘socialist’ effort to make home-buying easier for people who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to afford houses, an effort that famously went off the rails when the government began supporting sub-prime and other highly questionable mortgages.”

  “In other words, Gingrich was supporting — the best guess was that Gingrich was hired to win some Republican support for Freddie — the very sort of program that he routinely excoriates. This sort of hypocrisy is astounding but, sadly, not unknown to Newt. After all, this was the guy who led the Republican Impeachment of Bill Clinton while having an extra-marital affair of his own.”

• Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac – Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement.

  The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse.

  Gingrich’s business relationship with Freddie Mac spanned a period of eight years. When asked at the debate what he did to earn a $300,000 payment in 2006, the former speaker said he “offered them advice on precisely what they didn’t do,” and warned the company that its lending practices were “insane.” Former Freddie Mac executives who worked with Gingrich dispute that account.

  Gingrich’s first contract with the mortgage lender was in 1999, five months after he resigned from Congress and as House speaker, according to a Freddie Mac press release.

  His primary contact inside the organization was Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist, and he was paid a self- renewing, monthly retainer of $25,000 to $30,000 between May 1999 until 2002, according to three people familiar with aspects of the business agreement.

• Poll Watch: Americans Favor Repealing ObamaCare 47% Vs. 42% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Americans Favor Repealing ObamaCare 47% Vs. 42% #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Has the MAGIC Mouthwash to Fight Tooth Decay Arrived? – Has the MAGIC Mouthwash to Fight Tooth Decay Arrived?
• Dilbert November 16, 2011 – Goals for the Year » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert November 16, 2011 – Goals for the Year
• U.K Doctors Call for Car Smoking Ban | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – U.K Doctors Call for Car Smoking Ban
• Day By Day November 15, 2011 – Rule | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 15, 2011 – Rule #tcot #catcot
• Untitled (http://www.businessweek.com/pdf/poll11-16-11.pdf) – RT @ByronYork: Bloomberg NH: Romney 40, Paul 17, Gingrich 11, Cain 8, Huntsman 7, Perry 3, Bachmann 2, Santorum 1.
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-16 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-16 #tcot #catcot
• AD-66: Huey, Mintz and Muratsuchi Will Face Off In 2012 South Bay Assembly Race » Flap’s California Blog – AD-66: Huey, Mintz and Muratsuchi Will Face Off In 2012 South Bay Assembly Race
• Amazon.com: Gregory Cole: Flap’s Wish List – I just wished for: ‘Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement’ by Michael… via @amazon
• Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement – Due Out in March | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement – Due Out in March #tcot #catcot
• Terror three plead not guilty – 38-year-old Iraqi-Kurd Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, Uzbek David Jakobsen, 33, and alleged Uighur (China) mastermind 40-year-old Mikael Davud, pleaded not guilty to planning an assault using explosives on Danish paper Jyllands-Posten at today’s opening of their trial in Oslo District Court.
  All also denied their guilt relating to charges of trying to obtain bomb ingredients, as well as plotting to assassinate Danish cartoonist and author of the contentious Prophet Mohammed caricatures, Kurt Westergaard.
  Police Security Service (PST) officials arrested now indicted Bujak, Jakobsen, and Davud  in Norway and Germany last year on suspicion of planning to blow up the Chinese Embassy in Oslo.
  The case is also believed to be connected with plans to bomb a New York subway and a shopping mall in Manchester, UK, in 2009.
  According to NRK, Prosecutor Geir Evanger said today that, “There is no doubt that David Jakobsen ordered hydrogen peroxide at a pharmacy on Jernbanetorget [in Oslo] on 02 September 2009. There is [also] no doubt that this can be used to make explosives.”
  “He picked it up on 04 September, and the bottle was handed over to Mikael Davud in his Oslo apartment the same evening. However, police had already replaced the contents of the bottle contents with something harmless,” he continued.
  All three men also have suspected links with al-Qaida. Officials believe Mr Davud had travelled to Pakistan and was trained by the extremist group how to make explosives, as well as agreeing he would commit acts of terror.
  “He made a deal with Bujak and Jakobsen to hit Jyllands-Posten’s offices when he came back to Norway,” alleged Geir Evanger.
• Gallegly Has Decision To Make – Last November voters elected Elton Gallegly to a 13th term in the US. House of Representatives.

  Today the 24th District Representative told Key News he was humbled by phone calls urging him to run again.

  But redistricting being challenged in Federal court puts his Simi Valley hometown in the 25th district represented by Republican Buck McKeon.

  McKeon has already announced his run for re-election.

  Now Gallegly must decide whether to run against McKeon in the 25th or run again in the 24th, something he can legally do.

  To make an informed decision the Congressman wants to see what happens with the Federal lawsuit challenging redistricting.

  Members of the Camarillo Los Posas Republican Womans Federated group hope he will continue to represent them.

  Many business owners hope so too.

  Although would be challengers are anxious to see Gallegy will do, he has time to decide.

• 3 plead not guilty as terror trial opens in Norway – Three men accused in Norway of an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad pleaded not guilty Tuesday to terror charges as their trial began.

  The trial of Mikael Davud, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak and David Jakobsen is being seen as a key test of Norway’s anti-terror laws. The men had been under surveillance for more than a year when authorities moved to arrest them in July 2010.

  Norwegian investigators, who worked with their U.S. counterparts, say the defendants were building a bomb in a basement laboratory — a plot linked to the same al-Qaida planners behind 2009 schemes to blow up New York’s subway and a British shopping mall.

  The men deny the terror charges. Prosecutors must prove they worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered by Norway’s anti-terror laws.

  Prosecutor Geir Evanger told the Oslo district court that Davud, the alleged ringleader, received explosives training in Pakistan. They said he conspired with al-Qaida operatives to attack the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper, whose 12 cartoons of Muhammad triggered furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006.

• Herdt: Opportunity knocks; is anyone home? – In the national struggle for control of Congress next year, both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that Ventura County’s new 26th Congressional District will be an important battlefield.

  It has all the key elements: voter registration that is closely divided, a healthy percentage of independents and a history of split results.

  It has all the elements, that is, except for this: very few warriors.

  There are two announced Democratic candidates, Moorpark City Councilman David Pollock and Westlake Village businessman David Cruz Thayne. Most observers are waiting for another to emerge — Supervisor Steve Bennett, or perhaps Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, or perhaps some other surprise candidate with proven fundraising ability.

  There are no announced Republican candidates because everyone is waiting on Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, to publicly reveal his intentions.

  The growing frustration over that uncertainty last week led Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, to issue what appeared to be a calculated poke at Gallegly to make up his mind. McKeon told his hometown newspaper that “as near as I can pin him down,” Gallegly intends to run in the 25th District against McKeon.

  Gallegly actually lives in the 25th District, but his Simi Valley home is only a couple hundred yards from the boundary, and most of the 26th District is made up of areas he now represents. As long as the 26th District remains an option for Gallegly, other Republicans are frozen out by the political protocol that frowns on challenging an incumbent in a primary.

• AD-66: Craig Huey Will Run for California State Assembly » Flap’s California Blog – AD-66: Craig Huey Will Run for California State Assembly
• Grow Elect and Rebuilding the California Republican Pary By Electing Local Latinos » Flap’s California Blog – Grow Elect and Rebuilding the California Republican Pary By Electing Local Latinos
• Why Do Two-Thirds of Online U.S. Adults Use Social Media? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Why Do Two-Thirds of Online U.S. Adults Use Social Media?
• President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: As Cain Crashes – Newt Rises | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: As Cain Crashes – Newt Rises #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 GOP California Poll Watch: Gingrich 33% Vs. Romney 23% Vs. Cain 22% Vs. Perry 6% Vs. Paul 5% » Flap’s California Blog – President 2012 GOP California Poll Watch: Gingrich 33% Vs. Romney 23% Vs. Cain 22% Vs. Perry 6% Vs. Paul 5%
• Day By Day November 14, 2011 – School’s Out | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 14, 2011 – School’s Out #tcot #catcot
• Election 2012: Generic Presidential Ballot – Rasmussen Reports™ – RT @RasmussenPoll: Election 2012: Generic Republican 46%, Obama 42%…
• (404) http://t.co/tTc – RT @AP: AP Video: Sen. John McCain, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spar over decision to pull all U.S. troops from Iraq: …
• » Sen. Feinstein Loaded up on Biotech Stock Just Before Company Received $24 Million Gov’t Grant – Big Government – RT @AndrewBreitbart: Sen. Feinstein Loaded up on Biotech Stock Just Before Company Received $24 Million Gov’t Grant:
• President 2012: Rick Perry Proposes Making Congress Part-Time and Ending Lifetime Tenure for Federal Judges | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Rick Perry Proposes Making Congress Part-Time and Ending Lifetime Tenure for Feder… #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: November 15, 2011 – The Morning Drill: November 15, 2011
• The Morning Flap: November 15, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 15, 2011 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, blogging, Freddie_Mac, Gallegly, Gingrich, journalism, Jyllands-Posten, Norway, Occupy, Occupy Wall Street, Pelosi, Perry, Pinboard Links, Poynter, Romenesko, Walker, Westergaard, Wisconsin

These are my links for November 10th through November 14th:

• CHELSEA CLINTON TO SHARE “MAKING A DIFFERENCE” STORIES FOR “NBC NIGHTLY NEWS” AND “ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS”- Chelsea Clinton is teaming up with “Rock Center with Brian Williams” and “NBC Nightly News” as a Special Correspondent, the network announced today. Clinton’s role with the shows and the network will be to highlight stories within the “Making a Difference” franchise.”Making a Difference” segments have a history of profiling organizations and individuals who represent the best of what works in the United States and around the world, frequently emphasizing stories about everyday people doing extraordinary things. Clinton’s dedication to public service, solution-based advocacy and focus on empowering people across the country and around the globe resonates with the purpose and content of “Making a Difference.” Her position with NBC News will still allow Clinton to continue her work with the Clinton Foundation and her studies in parallel.

  “Chelsea is a remarkable woman who will be a great addition to NBC News. Given her vast experiences, it’s as though Chelsea has been preparing for this opportunity her entire life,” said Steve Capus, President of NBC News. “We are proud she will be bringing her considerable, unique talents and dedication to NBC News.”

  “Our Making a Difference segments have become a signature of the broadcast. They adhere to a simple goal of highlighting the good works being done across the country and around the world,” said Brian Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor of Nightly News and Rock Center. “Chelsea Clinton has led a remarkable life. She possesses an uncommon understanding of humanity — on city streets, across this country and around the globe. We are so excited she’s joining us to tell the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

• Friday question answered – The Pros and Cons of Newt Gingrich- Yet there are still conservatives entranced with his patter and admiring of his intellect. PBS727 declares, “You bet he can. Strongest candidate out there. To hell with with his personal baggage. Just look at [Bill] Clinton, [John F.] Kennedy.” Carldahlmann argues: “Gingrich knows history, and he knows Congress. He’s smart and quick — he would kill Obama in any debate. In spite of his personal baggage, I think he’d make a dynamite President, and would create a very effective troika with Boehner and McConnell — this would be the Democrats’ worst nightmare, which is why I like it.”I agree that Gingrich will benefit for some time from Herman Cain’s and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s woes. It is ironic that the feisty base, which wants to fight, fight, fight against the Democrats, would consider the last GOP speaker of the House to get badly rolled by the White House. But in short order not only his personal baggage but his embrace of decidedly unconservative ideas and ethical problems will become a turnoff for many evangelicals, the group the not-Romney candidate must capture. For all of his flash and humor, Gingrich remains a loose cannon and an inconsistent conservative — not exactly what the not-Romney crowd is looking for.
• Democrats obsessed with Romney?- Borrowing the title from a popular new wave song from the 1980s, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is out Monday with an email that highlights the numerous recent attacks on the Republican presidential candidate by national Democrats.In an email with the heading “You’re My Obsession,” the Romney campaign states that “President Obama’s political machine has developed an obsession with attacking Governor Romney.”

  The former Massachusetts governor, who’s making his second bid for the White House, has been at or near the top of most national polls this year in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, and he’s also currently at or near the top in surveys in crucial early voting states.

  For months, Romney’s been the target of Web videos and emails from the Obama re-election campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and Priorities USA, an independent group that is supporting the president’s re-election bid. But the efforts seem to have stepped up in recent weeks.

  Many of the emails and Web videos highlight what the Democrats call Romney’s “flip-flop” on numerous issues.

• Canada Will Sell Oil To China If US Keeps Delaying The Pipeline – The Obama administration put off the decision to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline until 2013.
  But that won’t stop Canada from trying to find another buyer, namely China, according to AFP.
  Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has already spoken with Chinese President Hu Jintao about possible oil exports this past Saturday.
  Harper told reporters, “This does underscore the necessity of Canada making sure that we are able to access Asian markets for our energy products.”
  With plans for the Keystone XL oil pipeline on the rocks, and China looking to diversify its energy supplier portfolio, this might be the perfect opportunity for Canada to get its foot in the door of the Chinese energy market.
• Poll Watch: Voters split on harassment charges, favor lie detector test- Likely voters are split over whether to believe Herman Cain or the women who accused him of sexual harassment, but a plurality would like him to take a lie detector test to help decide the issue.According to The Hill Poll, likely voters are split, 39 percent to 40 percent respectively, on whether they believe Cain or his accusers. Another 21 percent aren’t sure whom to believe.

  Forty-seven percent of likely voters would like him to follow through on his professed willingness to take a lie detector test, while 35 percent said he should not and 18 percent were not sure.

• Obama says U.S. has been ‘lazy’ about attracting business- Does President Obama believe the country he leads has the right stuff?Every now and then Obama lets slip that he doesn’t believe his countrymen are all that tough.

  Back in September he told a TV station that the U.S. had “gotten a little soft’’ when it came to competing in international markets.

  On Saturday, speaking at a business forum on the sidelines of an economic summit in Honolulu, he said the U.S. had been “lazy’’ when it came to enticing businesses to invest in America.

  “But we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades,’’ the president said. “We’ve kind of taken for granted — well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America.”

  Soft and lazy. Sounds like America could use a few months on Parris Island.

  Not that he’s lost hope. In the first year of his term, he gave a healthcare speech and proclaimed that “we can do great things.’’

  This year, in his State of the Union speech, he was no less optimistic.

  Americans, he said, are a people who “do big things.’’

  “Lazy’’ is a strong word, though, and in a staid talk about trade and currency policy, it caused a bit of a stir.

• Washington’s unwelcome delay in the Keystone XL pipeline project- EARLY LAST WEEK, as the Obama administration prepared to announce a delay in deciding whether to permit the construction of the Canada-U.S. Keystone XL oil pipeline, Joe Oliver, Canada’s natural resources minister, was in Asia to discuss cooperation with the energy-hungry and cash-flush Chinese on extracting his nation’s oil reserves. Given that China already has an $11 billion stake in Canadian oil production, Mr. Oliver should have little trouble getting the help.Despite the passion among environmentalists against Keystone XL, Mr. Oliver’s travels illustrate the critical point: Canada’s oil will come out of the ground, and someone somewhere will refine it and burn it.
• Video: FINALLY: Warren Buffett Reveals What HIS Tax Plan Would Look Like – Warren Buffett is on CNBC this morning talking about the Buffett tax.
  As he’s indicated before, what Obama calls the “Buffett Rule” (higher taxes on the rich, basically) differs from his real proposal for such a tax.
  His idea is really simple.
  He says his tax would require earners making over $1 million to pay 30% of their income in taxes and those making more than $10 million to pay 35%—something he admits most people are already doing.
  The difference between the current progressive system, and his idea is that his scheme wouldn’t give any breaks to people who get much of their money from capital gains.
• President Newt?- Newt Gingrich did very well for himself in the foreign policy debate Saturday, especially when he put down a smug Scott Pelley on the issue of whether killing Al-Awlaki comported with the “rule of law.”  …  Jennifer Rubin and I discuss what a Gingrich Presidency might be like in our most recent Ricochet podcast here (starting about 4:20 in).  Rubin also has a detailed post on why Gingrich is not a “conservative dreamboat.”  … A key point not addressed by issues papers is his firmness in negotiation, or lack thereof. During the welfare reform debate of 1995-6, my impression was that Gingrich always wants to be the hero who walks into the room and cuts the grand deal. As a result he is all-too-ready to make dramatic concessions, which is one reason Clinton cleaned his clock in the post-1994 budget negotiations. Fastest sellout in the West! …KEYWORDS: INFANTILE, EGOMANIAC
• Some Democrats refuse to back President Obama- Sen. Joe Lieberman was treated like an outcast back in 2008 when he broke from the Senate Democratic Caucus and openly opposed Barack Obama’s bid for the White House.Asked last week if he’d back Obama in 2012, the Connecticut independent said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  This time around, there may be more Liebermans.

  A number of moderate Democrats like Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar and liberals like Sen. Bernie Sanders are declining to give their unqualified support for the president, saying they’re either too focused on their own races or are calling on the White House to cater to their agendas before they will offer an endorsement. Some up for reelection in red states or in swing districts fear that even showing up on stage with Obama will give their opponents an image to seize upon — much as Democrats did in 2008 when they repeatedly flashed shots of Sen. John McCain hugging President George W. Bush.

  So as the president faces the dual challenges of energizing his base while wooing moderates, some Democrats in Congress are keeping their distance, with the president’s approval rating hovering in the mid-40s — and even lower in states like West Virginia, where moderate Sen. Joe Manchin is up for reelection.

• Obama Dings Republicans On Waterboarding, Says Jobs Bill May Have To Wait Until After Election – President Barack Obama took one of his first swings at his Republican opponents on Sunday, criticizing Rep. Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain for supporting the use of waterboarding.
  In an afternoon press conference at the APEC summit in Hawaii, Obama was read comments from the two aspiring presidents, and set aside his vow not to comment on the Republican race until they have a nominee to categorically defend his administration’s stance on the issue:
  “Let me just say this: They’re wrong. Waterboarding is torture,” he said. “It’s contrary to America’s traditions. It’s contrary to our ideals. That’s not who we are. That’s not how we operate. We don’t need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice. ”
  “If we want to lead around the world, part of our leadership is setting a good example. And anybody who has actually read about and understands the practice of waterboarding would say that that is torture. And that’s not something we do — period.”
  But Obama refused to attack former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for criticizing his record dealing with Iran, saying only that it’s a complicated issue — and anyone who says otherwise “is either politicking or doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-14 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-14 #tcot #catcot
• Run For Her 5K Part 2
  - YouTube – I uploaded a @YouTube video Run For Her 5K Part 2
• Anti-Newt Gingrich chatter begins- A conservative source forwards an anti-Newt Gingrich email making the rounds this weekend, drawing Republicans’ attention to the former House speaker’s history of off-message and ideologically erratic comments.The email is a reminder of the challenge Gingrich faces ahead of him, if he really has to go through the same level of vetting as other credible GOP presidential candidates — like Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann did when they were on the upswing in the polls. But it’s also a sign that Gingrich’s rise is being taken seriously by his opponents inside the party. The email reads, in part:

  Fellow Conservatives I urge all of to take a hard look at the real Newt Gingrich. Take 10 minutes of your time to read this email and pass it around as we can’t afford another faux president.

  Continue Reading
  *The Newt Gingrich Files: Does he know where he stands?*

  *MUST KNOW QUOTES*

  • Gingrich: “There Are Parts Of The DREAM Act That Are Actually Quite Useful.” (“Newt And Callista Gingrich On Al Punto With Jorge Ramos,” Newt.org, 10/13/10)

  • In A 2007 Interview With PBS, Gingrich Came Out In Favor Of A Cap And Trade System, Saying “It’s Something I Would Strongly Support.” (PBS’ “Frontline,” 4/24/07)

• How Gingrich Can Win- Rich Galen explains how Newt Gingrich can win the GOP presidential nomination.”The two candidates who are stable in their numbers are Romney (with a ceiling of about 25 percent of GOP voters) and Ron Paul (who will stay between six and 10 percent). That leaves about 65 percent of Republican voters looking for a home. Cain will continue to drift downward (my words, not Newt’s); Santorum, Huntsman, and Bachman are, and will continue to be minor players.”

  “So, Newt’s thinking goes, he doesn’t need to beat Romney — he needs to consolidate the non-Romney vote and he’s the only one who can do that.”

  An example from recent history: “Sixty-two percent of Iowa voters wanted someone other than Barack Obama four years ago. The only reason he won was because Hillary and Edwards almost precisely split 60 percent of the votes.”

• Run for Her Part 1
  - YouTube – Run for Her Part 1
  - YouTube
• Run for Her Part 1
  - YouTube – I uploaded a @YouTube video Run for Her Part 1
• run for her 2011 – 5K Run & Friendship Walk – Home – Off soon to run a 5K for Run for Her supporting ovarian cancer research in Los Angeles
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-13 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-13 #tcot #catcot
• foursquare:: Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner

  - Breakfast after 8 miles with Alice Tara, Nancy, Mary and 4 more from Roadrunners (@ Ronnie’s Diner)

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-12 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-12 #tcot #catcot
• The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses
• Day By Day November 11, 2011 – The Mean | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 11, 2011 – The Mean #tcot #catcot
• The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses #tcot #catcot
• Dilbert November 9, 2011 – Full Body » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert November 9, 2011 – Full Body
• Happy Veterans Day – 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – Happy Veterans Day – 2011
• President 2012: Is Newt Gingrich the Next Conservative Anti-Romney Candidate? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Is Newt Gingrich the Next Conservative Anti-Romney Candidate? #tcot #catcot
• Happy Veterans Day – 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Happy Veterans Day – 2011 #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-11 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-11 #tcot #catcot
• The American Spectator : Charlie Hebdo, Free Speech, and Islam – Unfortunately, the persistence of such sentiments only invites one to state principles that might seem obvious, but never grow unworthy of affirmation. There is no moral equivalence between those exercising their right to free speech and Islamists who wish to impose the standards of traditional Sharia (Islamic law) on society and are prepared to harm physically others and their property to achieve that end.
  More generally, this affair — along with the attack on a Tunisian TV station for broadcasting the film Persepolis, and the  death threats that forced the flight from Pakistan of the judge who convicted the assassin of Salman Taseer, the Punjab governor who opposed the blasphemy law — demonstrates that Islam as a whole still has a long way to go to come towards accepting basic standards of toleration of criticism.
  In short, one hopes that the following principle — well summed up by a prominent Melkite Greek Catholic deacon — will come to be accepted as mainstream in Islam: ‘[O]ne’s response to someone else’s provocative action is entirely one’s own responsibility. If you do something that offends me, I am under no obligation to kill you, or to run to the United Nations to try to get laws passed that will silence you. I am free to ignore you, or laugh at you, or to respond with charity, or any number of reactions.’
• After Firebombing French Magazine Returns with Gay Muhammad Cover | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – After Firebombing French Magazine Returns with Gay Muhammad Cover #tcot #catcot
• Facing Eurocollapse – As the world financial crisis deepens, it is unlikely that it can be alleviated without carefully reviewing the infelicitous confluence of mistakes in Europe and the United States that has brought it to its present extreme state. The European Monetary Union, involving 17 countries, was based on a number of generally admirable premises, but also on a couple of false assumptions. All civilized people were grateful at the extension of European cooperation to this new level of intimacy, as ancient foes led by France and Germany reached an ever-closer community of national interest. For German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who did not trust Germany’s political instincts to cause his country to act responsibly when alone and not in the company of allies of less erratic recent history, an ever-closer union was an insurance policy of constructive peer-group thinking. He was sincere in espousing “a European Germany and not a German Europe.”
• Romney and Gingrich Shine; Perry Doesn’t – No one touched Romney. He was unflappable and knowledgeable. He again showed the right political instinct to want to address the struggles of the middle class, although his tax plan doesn’t do it. His China-bashing will probably play well in the Midwest, although it’s foolhardy on the merits. He consistently got applause. I remember one of the early debates when Romney was flying above the other candidates and Pawlenty — I think — attacked him and he declined to reply, saying “that’s fine.” He said the same thing tonight when Santorum went after him. After all the churning in the race, Romney is in the same basically comfortable place he was in several months ago.
• Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites – As social media use has become pervasive in the lives of American teens, a new study finds that 69% of the teenagers who use social networking sites say their peers are mostly kind to one another on such sites. Still, 88% of these teens say they have witnessed people being mean and cruel to another person on the sites, and 15% report that they have been the target of mean or cruel behavior on social network sites.
• Chewing Xylitol Gum Decreases Risk for Ear Infection in Children | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Chewing Xylitol Gum Decreases Risk for Ear Infection in Children
• Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: November 10, 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Afternoon Collection: November 10, 2011
• Effort to repeal new Senate districts advances – Total Buzz : The Orange County Register – Effort to repeal new Senate districts advances -
• Capitol Alert: Controller John Chiang says California has $1.5 billion cash gap – Controller John Chiang says California has $1.5 billion cash gap
• Poll Watch: Americans Ability to Afford Food Falls to Near Three Year Low | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Americans Ability to Afford Food Falls to Near Three Year Low #tcot #catcot
• (500) http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2011/11/do-local-tax-election-results-foreshadow-2012-state-tax-fight/?utm_source=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter – Do Local Tax Election Results Foreshadow 2012 State Tax Fight?
• Police arrest UC Berkeley students, professor over Occupy camp – San Jose Mercury News – Police arrest UC Berkeley students, professor over Occupy camp – San Jose Mercury News
• Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/09/4040604/dan-walters-new-california-senate.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Dan Walters: New California Senate maps still not settled
• GOP senators praise Boxer on highway bill – GOP senators praise Boxer on highway bill
• GOP senators praise Boxer on highway bill- California Sen. Barbara Boxer won rare praise from Republicans on Wednesday for unanimously passing an overhaul of federal highway programs bill out of her committee.Boxer, a liberal Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, worked hand-in-hand with conservative Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe to consolidate 90 federal highway programs into 30, grant states more flexibility in spending highway money and expand a pilot program to leverage taxpayer money with private investment.

  The two-year, $84 billion bill has no earmarks for pet projects and aims to offset all new spending with trims in other areas of the government. The 18-0 vote was a rare moment in the bitterly partisan climate on Capitol Hill and provides a template for infrastructure investment that has been sought by the Obama administration but rebuffed by Republicans.

  The Senate last week defeated President Obama’s proposal for $50 billion in infrastructure spending.

• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The United States to Have Policy Goal to Wipe Out AIDS – The United States to Have Policy Goal to Wipe Out AIDS
• Poll Watch: Most Republicans See Mitt Romney as the Presidential Nominee | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: Most Republicans See Mitt Romney as the Presidential Nominee #tcot #catcot
• Former Football Players Prone to Late-Life Health Problems? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Former Football Players Prone to Late-Life Health Problems?
• Occupy Protest Movement to Focus on New Year’s Rose Parade? » Flap’s California Blog – Occupy Protest Movement to Focus on New Year’s Rose Parade?
• Cain Sinking in Iowa – Cain Sinking in Iowa
• The Morning Flap: November 10, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 10, 2011 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Boxer, Buffett, Cain, Canada, Charlie_Hebdo, Chelsea_Clinton, China, Democrats, Europe, Free_Speech, Gingrich, Islam, Keystone, Lazy, NBC, Obama, Oil, Perry, Pinboard Links, Romney, Rubin, Social_Media, Taxes, The Morning Flap

These are my links for November 9th through November 10th:

• Senate Dems preserve FCC’s ‘net neutrality’ rule- Senate Democrats banded together to block a measure seeking to invalidate the Federal Communication Commission’s so-called “net neutrality” rule to regulate Internet service providers.The resolution of disapproval, which was pushed by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Tex., failed in a 46 to 52 vote, with Democrats voting to preserve the rule.

  “Under these mandates, broadband companies would lose control over the traffic and technology flowing through their infrastructure,” Hutchinson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had argued in an op-ed. “Government bureaucrats would tell companies what is and is not a “reasonable” way to operate their systems. These regulatory burdens would discourage Internet service providers from innovating and investing, inject uncertainty into a thriving sector of our economy, and jeopardize the information industry’s vast potential for growth.”

• Cain Sinking in Iowa – Private polling shared with the Associated Press shows Herman Cain’s support in Iowa “has declined since last month. Internal polls of likely Republican caucus-goers showed Cain’s support consistent with The Des Moines Register’s poll in late October, which showed him narrowly leading in the state with 23 percent. The private polls showed Cain still in double digits in Iowa, but markedly lower.”
• Will Perry’s Stumble Lead to the End of His Campaign?- Almost immediately after what will probably be remembered as the Bill Buckner moment of primary debates, when Gov. Rick Perry of Texas literally forgot which governmental agencies he would cut and concluded his answer with a sheepish “Oops,” Mr. Perry’s stock on the betting market Intrade dropped in half. Tabbed as having about a 9 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination before the debate, the market revised his odds downward to 4 percent just moments after the gaffe.This seems like a sensible enough reaction. The primary debates are not watched by all that many people, but the big moments are replayed for days afterward by the news networks and on the Web. This was a big moment; the presidential scholar Larry Sabato wrote that it was “the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate.” It will reinforce some core negative perceptions about Mr. Perry: that he is a bad debater, that he is a lightweight, and that he is someone who is not quite ready for prime time. Had another candidate made the same mistake, that candidate might have gotten a mulligan. But Mr. Perry used his mulligans up long ago after stammering answers and poor overall performances in several of his previous debates.

  At the same time, it should be remembered how volatile the Republican primary process has been. This week’s comeback kid — Newt Gingrich — once had a campaign so moribund that many assumed it would end at some point during the summer. Herman Cain’s numbers had slumped in the summer, before he suddenly rocketed toward the front of the pack five or six weeks ago.

• Why MSNBC Analyst Pat Buchanan Won’t be on MSNBC to Promote his Book- Buchanan is doing the rounds promoting his new book Suicide of a Superpower. He’s been on CNN, with Erin Burnett, and on Fox News, with Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly and he was on FBN last night (anchor David Asman called it “a terrific new book”). But the MSNBC political analyst has not — and will not — be on MSNBC to talk about the book, which is #18 on the New York Times Best Seller list.An MSNBC executive told HuffPo‘s Michael Calderone that there had been a conscious decision not to have Buchanan on air because of the views expressed in the book which is described this way on Amazon.com:

  America was born a Western Christian republic but is being transformed into a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic stew of a nation that has no successful precedent in the history of the world.

  The groups CREDO Action and ColorofChange.org — which took credit for the beginning of the end of Glenn Beck on Fox News — is going one further. Today the groups announced they have delivered 275,000 signatures on a petition demanding the network fire Buchanan for his “long history of bigoted rhetoric.”

• President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Cain 30% Vs. Romney 24% Vs. Gingrich 19% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Cain 30% Vs. Romney 24% Vs. Gingrich 19% #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 GOP South Carolina Poll Watch: Romney 22% Vs. Cain 20% Vs. Gingrich 10% Vs. Perry 9% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP South Carolina Poll Watch: Romney 22% Vs. Cain 20% Vs. Gingrich 10% Vs. Perry 9% #tcot #catcot
• Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News – Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News
• Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News – Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News
• Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News – Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News
• A Vaccine Against Breast and Ovarian Cancer? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – A Vaccine Against Breast and Ovarian Cancer?
• President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: 51 Per Cent Say Accusations Against Herman Cain Likely Serious and True | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: 51 Per Cent Say Accusations Against Herman Cain Likely Serious and True #tcot #catcot
• Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate | Fox News – Ohio Voters Choose To Opt Out Of Health Care Mandate
• The Morning Flap: November 9, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 9, 2011 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Buchanan, Cain, FCC, MSNBC, Net_Neutrality, Perry, Pinboard Links, The Morning Flap

These are my links and comments for November 4th through November 6th:

• Most of the unemployed no longer receive benefits – The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

  Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America’s 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.

  Congress is expected to decide by year’s end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. If the emergency benefits expire, the proportion of the unemployed receiving aid would fall further.

  The ranks of the poor would also rise. The Census Bureau says unemployment benefits kept 3.2 million people from slipping into poverty last year. It defines poverty as annual income below $22,314 for a family of four.

  Yet for a growing share of the unemployed, a vote in Congress to extend the benefits to 99 weeks is irrelevant. They’ve had no job for more than 99 weeks. They’re no longer eligible for benefits.

  Their options include food stamps or other social programs. Nearly 46 million people received food stamps in August, a record total. That figure could grow as more people lose unemployment benefits.

  So could the government’s disability rolls. Applications for the disability insurance program have jumped about 50 percent since 2007.

  “There’s going to be increased hardship,” said Wayne Vroman, an economist at the Urban Institute.

 

• Bachmann goes after Cain, calls him ‘inconsistent’ – In an interview airing Monday, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann told radio host Scott Hennen that Herman Cain has been “inconsistent” on key issues — the most forward-leaning attack she has made to date on Cain, who remains neck-and-neck with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in recent polling.

  Notably, Bachmann declined to directly answer questions about charges of sexual harassment against Cain — dating back to his time running the National Restaurant Association during the 1990s — that have threatened to stall his campaign for a week now, and instead hit him on matters of policy.

  “Well people are looking for an adult in the room. That’s what I am,” Bachmann said, deflecting a question about whether the Cain saga helps her own campaign.

  An excerpt of the interview was made available on a blog run by the co-host of “The Scott Hennen Show.” The interview was taped Friday during a brief telephone call into the show, according to the Bachmann campaign.

 

• Cain/Gingrich in 2012? – Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich were on stage together in what was billed as a classic Lincoln-Douglas style debate. As I sat and watched the entire event, I came away with one vivid impression: Did I just finish watching the Republican presidential ticket in 2012? Cain/Gingrich? Don’t laugh. It could happen. Romney has a ceiling of support and Rick Perry seems stuck in neutral.

  Herman Cain’s poll numbers continue to impress and like Ronald Reagan, he seems to have a Teflon quality to him. Gingrich is steadily rising in the polls due to the fact that voters are starting to realize that this guy is REALLY smart and is an idea factory. Could this be a ticket that provides both style and substance?

  First of all, let’s start with this: They both respect each other and genuinely have a heartfelt friendship. Plus, for those voters concerned with Cain’s policy chops bringing on Gingrich could placate some wary voters. When I watched them on stage together Saturday night you could tell that Cain would LOVE to have Gingrich as his VP candidate. He even gave a big hint when he asked Gingrich the following question:

  Herman Cain to Newt Gingrich: “If you were Vice President of the United States, what would you want the President to assign you to do first? (Gingrich then began to laugh heartily)

  Probably Romney – Gingrich is more likely.

 

• DeMint: No king to make, no candidate to back – My colleague Marc Thiessen breaks some news in reporting that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will not be endorsing a Republican presidential candidate in the primary. This is a surprising but understandable recognition (as Bill Kristol did in his own way) that there is no viable not-Romney in the race.

  Anyone who expected he might endorse Mitt Romney hasn’t been paying much attention to either the GOP race or DeMint’s role in the Tea Party movement. When DeMint did offer supportive words for Romney, he was beset by angry activists and soon backed off. DeMint is not about to sacrifice his role as a prominent Tea Party leader by endorsing the not-Tea Party candidate, Mitt Romney. DeMint and Romney most likely both know such an endorsement would be worthless in any event. DeMint’s followers wouldn’t follow his lead on this one; Romney supporters and potential supporters are not the type to be swayed by the hard-line DeMint.

  The real news here is that DeMint couldn’t find anyone else to back. If he could champion a viable Tea Party type, he certainly wouldn’t hesitate to be kingmaker. But really, who’s he going to back? It’s evident the Herman Cain phenomenon is dissolving. (In his Lincoln-Douglas style debate with Newt Gingrich Saturday, Cain, in passing on the first question about Medicare, once again showed he’s not well-informed enough to be a credible blogger, let alone a presidential candidate.)

  Texas Gov. Rick Perry was supposed to be the credible Tea Party-friendly alternative to Romney. DeMint’s decision not to give him a hand highlights just how far Perry’s fortunes have fallen. One has to think back to the forum DeMint hosting over Labor Day. Perry had accepted, campaigned in South Carolina and then canceled at the last minute, citing the Texas wildfires, even though DeMint offered to flip the order of speakers and let Perry go first. From hindsight, after a series of dreadful debates, one can surmise that Perry wasn’t all that anxious anyway to be grilled on constitutional issues. But standing up DeMint probably didn’t endear him to the South Carolina senator.

 

• A year left: Obama running against history – With today marking the one-year countdown to Election Day 2012 and his approval rating stuck in the low 40s, President Obama will have to defy American electoral history if he is to win re-election.

  At 43 percent approval in a Gallup poll conducted Oct. 28-30, Mr. Obama recently referred to himself as an “underdog” — with good reason. Of all the presidents since World War II whose job-approval scores were lower than 50 percent one year before Election Day, only one went on to win a second term.

  That was President Nixon, whose job approval stood at 49 percent in November 1971. He rebounded to defeat Democrat George McGovern in a landslide in 1972.

  Mr. Obama does have some advantages. He is still a formidable fundraiser, having amassed more than $150 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee this year.

  Also, his re-election operation is more robust than any of the GOP camps, which are waging a long and costly primary battle. Mr. Obama’s campaign is able to build on a 50-state network from 2008, an email list of more than 9 million potential supporters and an experienced staff with unequaled savvy in digital marketing and social networking.

  In early polling of head-to-head matchups with potential GOP candidates, Mr. Obama comes out on top in nearly every instance. One poll in the battleground state of Florida this week showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tied with Mr. Obama.

 

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-06 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-06 #tcot #catcot

 

• foursquare

   

  :: Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – After 9 mile run breakfast with Alice, Marianne, Tara, Nancy (@ Ronnie’s Diner)

 

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-05 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-05 #tcot #catcot

 

• Medscape: Medscape Access – Medscape: Medscape Access

 

• Medscape: Medscape Access – Medscape: Medscape Access

 

• Flap’s Blog.com Links and Comments for November 4th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for November 4th #tcot #catcot

 

• Medscape: Medscape Access – Vaccination Exemptions Rise in California Amid Concerns

 

• Medscape: Medscape Access – Stroke Damage to Insular Cortex Boosts Smoking Cessation

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Bachmann, Cain, DeMint, Gingrich, Obama, Perry, Pinboard Links, Romney, The Sunday Flap, Unemployment

These are my links for November 2nd through November 3rd:

• Cain Harassment Issue: Who Said What To Whom?- As questions multiply over the nature of sexual harassment claims made against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, finger-pointing and denials among top rivals are widening.Meanwhile, one of the accuser’s attorneys is seeking his client’s release from her confidentiality agreement despite the accuser’s reluctance to go public.

  The campaigns of Rick Perry and Mitt Romney — Cain’s top challengers in the 2012 GOP race — are denying charges they were the source of the story that broke Sunday claiming two women had received financial settlements in a dispute over alleged inappropriate behavior by Cain, the former head of the National Restaurant Association.

  On Wednesday, Cain’s top aide accused Perry’s campaign of being behind the release of the stories.

  “This is one of the actions in America that is the reason why people don’t get involved in politics,” Mark Block, Cain’s campaign chief of staff, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ “Special Report.” “The actions of the Perry campaign are despicable.”

  “Rick Perry and his campaign owe Herman Cain and his family an apology,” Block added.

  The Cain campaign suggested the source for that story was longtime GOP consultant Curt Anderson, who worked for Cain’s failed 2004 U.S. Senate bid and had been debriefed on the harassment allegations by Cain himself. Anderson now works for Perry.

  “I’ve known Herman Cain for about seven years. I was one of several consultants on his Senate race in 2004 and was proud to help him,” Anderson said. “I’d never heard any of these allegations until I read them in Politico, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman.”

  “I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record,” he added. “That’s true today and it’s not going to change.”

  The Perry campaign also disavowed any connection to the story, calling Block’s charge “reckless and false.”

  “For a candidate and campaign that claim to be the victims of unfounded and unproven accusations, they are awfully quick to hurl unfounded accusations themselves,” Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan said in email. “Contrary to the Cain campaign’s false accusations, there is not one shred of evidence that any member of the Perry team had anything to do with the recent stories regarding Herman Cain — because it isn’t true.”

  Sullivan also noted that backers of Mitt Romney’s campaign are connected to the National Restaurant Association, though the Romney campaign responded simply that any suggestion it pushed the Cain story is “not true.”

  One of the women, who lives in Maryland and has served as a spokeswoman for several federal agencies, refuses to let her attorney reveal her identity though attorney Joel P. Bennett claims she wants to contest Cain’s version of events.

  Bennett said he’s trying to get the National Restaurant Association, which Cain led at the time of the accusations, to release her from a confidentiality agreement so he can provide details on Thursday.

  The second woman — first described in a Politico story which sent ripples through the Cain campaign — is a registered lobbyist in New Jersey, according to a former pollster at the NRA.

  Pollster Chris Wilson told KTOK radio in Oklahoma that at the time the woman was a “lower level staffer” probably two years out of college. But her experiences with Cain were witnessed by him and others attending an event at a restaurant in Crystal City, Va., right across the river from Washington, D.C.

  “Everybody was aware of it,” he told the radio station. “It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left after this. Everybody knew … with the campaign that this would eventually come up.”

  The two women left the NRA with financial settlements and an agreement to never speak of the details. The New York Times reported Wednesday that the woman now in New Jersey received $35,000 in her settlement, representing a year’s salary.

  Wilson, who wouldn’t describe the alleged confrontation because of “legal issues,” said the woman wants to talk, and speculated the NRA is going to have no choice but to release her from her confidentiality agreement.

• Cain Says Perry Camp Behind Sex Harassment Leak- Was the recent attack on Herman Cain’s presidential campaign a professional hit job? Absolutely, says Herman Cain. And he says he knows just where to look for the guy who did it: At 815 Slaters Lane in Alexandria, Virginia, a low-slung former warehouse in the shadow of a coal plant.There, beside rusting rail lines, is the home of OnMessage Inc., a Republican-leaning consulting firm recently hired to bolster Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.
• Poll Watch: Three in Four Americans Back Obama on Iraq Withdrawal- Americans widely support President Obama’s recent decision to withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, with 75% approving. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents. Republicans, however, are slightly more likely to disapprove than approve.hese results are based on an Oct. 29-30 Gallup poll. On Oct. 21, Obama announced that U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of the year. Only a small U.S. force would remain to guard the U.S. embassy, among other responsibilities.The U.S. ended combat operations in Iraq in August 2010.

  These findings are consistent with Americans’ long-standing desire to leave Iraq. Last August, as the drawdown in U.S. forces was underway, 6 in 10 Americans were opposed to renewing combat operations in Iraq even if Iraqi forces were unable to maintain security in that country.

  Republicans at that time also expressed some willingness to remain in Iraq, depending on the stability of the situation there, while Democrats and independents were largely opposed to a change in the policy.

  Prior to the end of combat operations, Republicans generally opposed, while Democrats largely favored, setting a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

  Thus, Republicans’ disapproval of Obama’s withdrawal policy may partly be influenced by their more general opposition to setting hard deadlines for withdrawing troops, rather than an actual desire to keep U.S. troops in Iraq. Their opposition to his policy may also be related to their broader disapproval of Obama — 9% of Republicans have approved of the job Obama is doing in each of the last three months

• VEEP SPECULATION IS JUST THAT- There really is no need to talk about vice-presidential selection right now, but in recent weeks discussion of the subject has filled pages, airwaves and cyberspace as a number of knowledgeable observers have approached the subject from imaginable (and unimaginable) angles. Pundits have declared Vice President Joe Biden dumped and have anointed any number of Republican running mates. And one of the nation’s leading political writers has called for a new procedure to select vice-presidential candidates.To paraphrase Dan Quayle during the 1992 vice-presidential debate, it’s time to take a deep breath. It’s much ado about very little. The vice presidency matters, but the Democratic vice-presidential nomination is a done deal, the Republican choice is too contingent to even speculate about and both choices will, and should, be made as they normally are, by the presidential candidates.
• Oakland protesters vandalise banks and smash shop windows – California demonstrators shut down city’s port while blocking traffic
  1. Riot police fire tear gas and stun grenades to try and regain control
  2. Two protesters hospitalised after they were struck by a car
  3. Protesters went on rampage vandalising banks and storefronts
  4. Chase and Wells Fargo branches attacked and Whole Foods store

  Occupy Oakland protesters claimed victory after they shut down one of the nation’s busiest shipping ports – escalating a movement whose tactics had largely been limited to marches, rallies and camps.

  In a five-hour stand-off protesters vandalised businesses and smashed bank windows, as they tried to shut down the city – and police appeared to respond using tear gas and flash bang grenades.

  The California demonstrators blocked operations at the city’s port and stopped traffic on Wednesday in protests against economic inequality and police brutality, marred by scattered vandalism.

• Occupy Oakland Protesters Tear Gased by Police- Police have used tear gas and “flash bang” grenades on a large crowd of demonstrators that lit a massive bonfire in the streets of downtown Oakland, Calif., in a conflict following a day of action that saw the city’s port closed after demonstrators. blocked itDozens of police in riot gear advanced on protesters who had pushed together several large metal and plastic trash bins to start a fire that reached 15 feet in the air, according to The Associated Press. Police reportedly warned protesters to clear out before firing several rounds of tear gas and “flash bang” grenades.

  Several protesters, many of whom wore gas masks, chanted “We Are Scott Olson” as the police fired at them early Wednesday. Olson is the Iraq War veteran who suffered a fractured skull last month after he was hit in the head by a projectile during a conflict with police.

  The conflict came hours after thousands of Occupy Oakland protesters marched on the Port of Oakland, disrupting operations at the nation’s fifth largest port and causing all maritime operations in the city to be shut down.

• Peaceful Occupy protests degenerate into chaos- A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows, spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way.”We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos,” said protester Monique Agnew, 40.

  The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world’s economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world’s attention by shutting down one of the nation’s busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong “general strike” that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.

  About 3,000 people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily-erected, chain-link fences.

  Port officials said they were forced to cease maritime operations, citing concerns for workers’ safety. They said in a statement they hope to resume operations Thursday “and that Port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident. Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region.”

  Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations; each group saying its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.

  The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.

  Organizers in Oakland had viewed the day as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism.

• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2011/11/03/flap-twitter-updates-for-2011-11-03/ – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-03 #tcot #catcot
• foursquare:: Gregory Flap @ Sierra La Verne Country Club

  - Alice’s 20 th anniversary luncheon with MWD (@ Sierra La Verne Country Club)

• Dilbert November 2, 2011 – Fun at Work? » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert November 2, 2011 – Fun at Work?
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: November 2, 2011 – The Morning Drill: November 2, 2011
• foursquare:: Gregory Flap @ Starbucks

  - Waiting for Alice’s 20 th anniversary work luncheon (@ Starbucks)

• At a News Conference, Cain Avoids Questions – NYTimes.com – >It is just starting for Cain – Cain Skirts Media in a Tense Encounter #tcot
• The Morning Flap: November 2, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 2, 2011 #tcot #catcot

Tags: #catcot, #tcot, Cain, OWS, Perry, Pinboard Links, Polling, Romney, VP

These are my links for November 1st from 13:51 to 14:56:

• Satire on Occupy Wall Street Trips Up Rick Perry- Last Friday, at the swanky Barley House tavern in Concord, N.H., Mr. Perry took a little jab at the Occupy Wall Street crowd, referencing an amusing quote his son had sent him from a protester occupying Toronto.“I don’t know if it can be proved up or not,” Mr. Perry conceded, “the young man’s name was Jeremy and he was 38 years old. But he said, ‘We got here at 9 o’clock, and those people, this was in Toronto, I think Bay Street is their comparable [Wall Street], he said those bankers that we came to insult, they’d already been at work for two hours when we got here at 9 o’clock, and when we get ready to leave, you know, they’re still in there working. I guess greed just makes you work hard.”
• Democracy Versus Mob Rule – Thomas Sowell- In various cities across the country, mobs of mostly young, mostly incoherent, often noisy, and sometimes violent demonstrators are making themselves a major nuisance.Meanwhile, many in the media are practically gushing over these “protesters,” and giving them the free publicity they crave for themselves and their cause — whatever that is, beyond venting their emotions on television.
• Lawyer: Cain accuser wants to talk but is barred by agreement- One of the women who accused GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment wants to tell her side of the story but is barred by a confidentiality agreement, her attorney in Washington said Tuesday.Lawyer Joel P. Bennett called on the National Restaurant Association, where the woman and Cain worked in the late 1990s, to release the woman from her written promise not to talk about the allegations or disparage the trade group.
• Who Are the 1 Percent? – There is a real and potentially fatal problem with the “Us vs. Them” narrative that Occupy Wall Street has made the focal point of its campaign — most famously with the “99 percent against the 1 percent” rhetoric — and that is that it does not transmute smoothly into the more intimate “Me vs. You.” It is one thing haphazardly to generalize about “the 1 percent,” or “the rich,” or “Nazi bankers” and “fascist policemen,” and quite another to get down to cases. When I interviewed a lady who labeled the bankers and the police “Nazis,” she was notably reluctant to describe any one of those to whom I pointed in such extreme terms — “Well, maybe not him personally . . .” Put a face on an epithet, and the vitriol soon dwindles; indeed, the targets who retain their “miscreant” sticker even when named tend to be a long, long way away — far enough removed to be usefully employed as abstractions. This was something I noticed particularly keenly on Friday, at Occupy Wall Street’s march on the banks.
• The Gingrich revival- Just a few months ago, Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign looked like it was in its death throes. His poll ratings were in free fall after his criticism of fellow Republican Paul Ryan’s plan to reform Medicare as “right-wing social engineering”, and his top staff had quit en masse. But somehow, Gingrich has managed to gradually rebuild his campaign and rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Republican voters.The chart below shows how Republican’s views of Gingrich have changed over the course of the campaign. You can clearly see his ratings sliding in May-June, but then recovering slowly since July. Although they’ve levelled off in the last couple of weeks, they’re now almost back up to the very strong numbers he enjoyed when he launched his campaign and put him just about on a par with Mitt Romney.

  More than likely, the only anti-Romney candidate left.

Tags: Cain, Gingrich, OWS, Perry, Pinboard Links, Sowell, The Afternoon Flap