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links for 2009-12-15
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Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio are now tied in the 2010 race for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters finds Crist and Rubio each with 43% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.
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Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman says he expects to support the Democrats' health care legislation as long as any government-run insurance plan stays out of the bill.
Lieberman has been a question mark on the health care legislation for months. To win him over, Senate leaders said late Monday they were backing away from a Medicare expansion Lieberman opposed. They already had dropped a full-blown government insurance program.
Lieberman told reporters Tuesday that if the Medicare expansion and government insurance plan are gone, "I'm going to be in a position where I can say what I've wanted to say all along: that I'm ready to vote for health care reform."
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Establishing a joint fundraising committee does not legally bind the candidate and the NRSC in any way. The NRSC can, and has offered to, set up a joint committee with multiple candidates in the same race. In fact, in some ways, setting up a joint committee is better for the NRSC than for the candidate — if an individual has maxed out to a candidate, their check to the joint committee will be directed to the NRSC, thanks to personal contribution limits.
The NRSC is not bound by any of the agreements to spend the money in certain states, either. The party has also set up joint accounts with Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and David Vitter (R-LA). Murkowski and Coburn are unlikely to face serious opposition next year, while Grassley and Vitter are running far ahead of their rivals.
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A top Pentagon official said Monday that a US missile defense drill will simulate an Iranian attack, a departure from the usual scenario of a North Korean attack, according to Reuters.
"Previously, we have been testing the GMD system against a North Korean-type scenario. This next test … is more of a head-on shot like you would use defending against an Iranian shot into the United States. So that's the first time that we're now testing in a different scenario," Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, head of the US Missile Defense Agency said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.According to O'Reilly, an Iranian attack would be more challenging than a North Korean attack because a missile fired from Iran would reach the US "more head on than from the side," and therefore relatively faster.
During the test, expected to cost about $150 million scheduled for January, the US would fire an interceptor missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at a mock-Iranian missil
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In his speech, Mr Gore told the conference: “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.â€
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“A day after Sen. Joe Lieberman said he won’t vote for the Democratic health reform bill as currently written, a progressive public policy blog is trying to oust his wife Hadassah as global ambassador for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer group.
“And Firedoglake is hoping to enlist Hollywood stars that work with the group.
“Firedoglake contends that Hadassah Lieberman’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry — she once did public relations for a firm that handled Pharma clients and subsequent consulting for some drugmakers — should disqualify her.
“Among the stars it is contacting: Ellen DeGeneres, Christie Brinkley, Andie MacDowell, Christie Brinkley, Cynthia Nixon, Ellen DeGeneres, James Woods, Jennifer Tilly, Marcia Cross, Mimi Rogers and Neil Patrick Harris.â€
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Yeah – way to make friends and influence Senators – Good job!
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore Drawing Upon Ron Paul and Teaching the GOP a Lesson
California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore interviewed by John D Villarreal, Esq.In this kind of creepy interview, Chuck DeVore panders to the Ron Paul faction of the RIGHT but doesn’t quite articulate what Federal Reserve or taxation Paulite policies with which he is in agreement. But, it was apparently good enough to get a mention over at the Ron Paul forums.
Chuck goes on to lecture the GOP as to what the party should be “because the parties are NOT receptacles of principles.”
Huh?
Then, why NOT run as an independent?
Anyway, watch the rest of the video and see that Devore is running as much to stick it to the establishment GOP leadership as he is to beat Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer. I thought the point was to win the election.
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore, Ron_Paul
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NY-Sen: Rudy Giuliani Still Way Ahead in the Polls – 50.2 % vs. 39.9%
If ONLY Rudy would run. Yeah sure, you say that Rudy always peaks too early and then fades. But, remember this is New York and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is an appointed incumbent.Looks like a seat for Rudy – if he wants it.
Blame it on Rio, if he doesn’t.
Technorati Tags: Rudy_Giuliani, Kirsten_Gillibrand
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High Times: Legalizing Marijuana Headed to California 2010 Ballot?
A California budget solution?A measure to legalize marijuana in California has enough signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot, advocates say.
The Tax and Regulate Initiative has far more than the nearly 434,000 signatures needed to make the statewide ballot, said Richard Lee, well-known Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur and the initiative’s main backer. Campaign organizers say they will submit more than 650,000 signatures of registered voters next month.
“People were eager to sign,” Lee told the Chronicle. “We heard they were ripping the petitions out of people’s hands to do it.
Heh….. I bet they were……
Technorati Tags: Marijuana, California
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore Says Pro-Life While He Votes For Public Taxpayer Funding of Abortion
California Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore Tweeting
Oops the impeccable conservative as Chuck DeVore likes to call himself has been caught up in another hypocritical FLAP. Remember the last time it was nanny state hypocrisy.This time the subject is abortion.
DeVore voted to approve the California state budget in 2005 and 2008. Both budgets contained funding for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. Medi-Cal uses state money to subsidize abortion (the use of federal funds for elective abortion within Medicaid is barred under the Hyde Amendment). Both times DeVore voted yes the budgets passed easily, but with non-trivial numbers of GOP no votes. Both times, efforts to separate out the abortion funding from the budgets had already been defeated when the final vote took place. Consequently, the budgets as passed contained abortion funding.
As of 2004, Medi-Cal funded nearly 40 percent of all abortions performed in California. According to the Women’s Health Rights Coalition, that amounts to “an estimated 90,946 induced abortions out of the total 236,000 performed.” Roughly $33 million is spent funding abortions. Wynette Sills of the Coalition to Eliminate Abortion Funding told a pro-life website that 25 percent of the money goes to Planned Parenthood, despite the abortion provider’s reported $1 billion in revenues. At the national level, the health care debate illustrates the importance of having a precise understanding of how legislation could result in taxpayer funding of abortion.
Chuck, if you are sooooo pro-life why did you vote for public funding for abortion?
Why did you vote for these California budgets that included this abortion enabling funding for Planned Parenthood?
Or did you conveniently forget about these votes?
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore, Abortion
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Climate Change, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin
Schwarzenegger urges US to lead fight on climate
Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged the White House to emulate California in taking a lead in the fight against climate change, saying “it would be good for the whole world . . . if the US becomes the power behind the movementâ€.
The California governor told the Financial Times in an interview that he could sympathise with Barack Obama’s struggles in securing backing in Congress for national emissions targets. But Mr Schwarzenegger added “it would be incredible if America makes a commitment†that helps secure a global framework on climate change.
“America within 10 years could get 20 per cent of its power needs from renewables,†he said. “We have sun, wind – you can even now get oil from algae. There is a green revolution [in California] but the whole US could be leading like that.â€
Mr Schwarzenegger, who flies to a UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this week, also called on cities, states and other “sub-national†governments, urging them not to wait for a binding deal before taking action to curb emissions.
“International agreements, as critical as they are, will never do enough,†he said he would tell the conference this week.
Well, Arnold has to say something since he has driven the California economy to the depths of despair and has bankrupted the state.
But, his comments about Sarah Palin , the former Governor of Alaska are classic Arnold understatement:
The California governor has become an environmental standard bearer for the Republican party, which is split on the merits of curbing emissions. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election, has attacked cap and trade and questioned any link between man-made emissions and global warming.
“You have to ask: what was she trying to accomplish?†said Mr Schwarzenegger. “Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the [Republican] nomination [for president]? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt.â€
Funny how Arnold has had to leave the country to recapture an audience for his political nonsense. Yeah, he has been a worse Governor than Jesse Ventura in Minnesota.
Technorati Tags: Arnold_Schwarzenegger, Sarah_Palin, Climate_Change
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CA-Gov: Money Down: What Poizner’s Cash Play Means – Who Quits First?
The former MSM Left writers over at Calbuzz have an analysis of the $15 million cash infusion California Governor candidate Steve Poizner has recently announced.
“He didn’t have any other option,†said one Republican insider. “There were rumors all over Sacramento that he was going to drop out.â€
Poizner’s $15 million move will likely stop the bleeding among the gossip-mongering cognoscenti (which he’s done for the moment, at least to judge by campaign flack Jarrod Agen’s success in getting the entire press corps to write exactly the same story Monday). It also may calm some of his current supporters, whose restiveness in the face of his failure to move the needle in the polls seems to have led to the we-got-her-right-where-we-want-her memo his campaign e-blasted last week, which smacked of desperation.
Having made his move, Poiznergreendollar now faces two other, far more difficult tasks: a) actually writing the check he’s promised (we’ll be watching) and b) figuring out how to spend the dough wisely. We’re also not convinced that $15 million is enough to make the kind of splash – positive, negative or both – he needs.
The fact remains the Poizner candidacy has NOT caught fire in California and he badly trails in the polls to both Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell (who has been rumored ready to drop out and run for the U.S. Senate against Carly Firoina and Chuck DeVore).
Frankly, I can think of a better way to waste $15 million. Poizner is not going to be elected Governor of California and we are not even talking about a run against Democrat Jerry Brown.
So, who quits first? Poizner or Campbell? Or both?
Technorati Tags: Steve_Poizner, Meg_Whitman, Tom_Campbell
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Day By Day December 15, 2009 – Change!
Day By Day by Chris MuirShould President Obama NOT be able to persuade his Democrat Party colleagues in the Senate regarding Obamacare, he may be changing his own shorts. Obamacare has changed as the Democrats in the Congress have failed to achieve a consensus as to what health care reform REALLY is.President Barack Obama will meet with Senate Democrats at the White House Tuesday to press for action at a make-or-break moment for his health care overhaul.
All 60 members of the Democratic caucus have been invited, according to three Democratic officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.
The meeting comes as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid works to round up votes to get a sweeping health bill passed before Christmas. The outcome is uncertain with moderates in danger of defecting on issues including abortion and a proposed expansion of Medicare.
The latest proposal ot hit the skids is the Medicare Buy-in Provision.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is prepared to give in to demands from centrists in order to pass the healthcare legislation before Christmas, senators say.
Reid indicated at a closed-door Democratic Conference meeting on Monday that he would drop a controversial Medicare buy-in provision, which was offered as a replacement to the government-run health insurance option, to win the votes of Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).
The public option was eliminated last week.
What really is left? Portability? Increasing medicaid?
And, your grade now, Mr. President?
Technorati Tags: Barack_Obama, Day_By_Day, Obamacare
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@Flap Twitter Updates for 2009-12-15
- Why Didn’t Dan Riehl Contact @Flap? http://bit.ly/7U3p1a #tcot #
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