• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2010-09-09

    • Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer has been omitting essential details as she criticizes her GOP opponent, Carly Fiorina, over past sales of Hewlett-Packard Co. equipment to Iran — criticism that has emerged as a central campaign strategy for the incumbent.

      Boxer issued the latest attack on Fiorina during a campaign event this week in South San Francisco. The three-term senator said HP was "skirting American law at the time" and that the products could have ended up in the hands of the Iranian military.

      "Just to sum it up, Iran presents a real danger to Israel, to America and to the world, and when Fiorina was the CEO at HP she skirted the law, she sold printers to Iran, which HP now says could well have gone to the Iranian military," Boxer said at the Tuesday campaign stop.

      But the three-term incumbent is not telling the complete story.
      +++++++
      Barbara Boxer is desparate. There is nothing there with Iran and Fiorina.

    • Finally, in California, Barbara Boxer leads Carly Fiorina, 48 percent to 44 percent. But there are some quite odd numbers in the internals. Boxer is winning men, 47 percent to 46 percent. Boxer is winning independents, 45 percent to 40 percent. Perhaps most strangely, 18 percent of self-identified conservatives are backing Boxer; 77 percent back Fiorina. Meanwhile, 88 percent of liberals back Boxer, only 5 percent back Fiorina.

      UPDATE: For contrast, Survey USA’s most recent California poll had conservatives backing Fiorina 87 percent to 8 percent.
      ++++++++
      Carly Fiorina is doing fine in the polls. It is Boxer who is squirming…..

  • Dentistry,  Oral Health America

    Oral Health America: Trident’s Committment to Smiles Across America

    My interview with Beth Truett, President and CEO of Oral Health America

    I had the opportunity to interview Beth Truett of the non-profit Oral Health America this morning.

    Some background from the press release:

    Did you know that tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in America, affecting nearly half of second graders and almost eighty percent of seventeen year-olds? In fact, over 51 million school hours are lost each year due to dental-related problems and an astonishing 100-million-plus Americans lack dental insurance.

    That is why Oral Health America’s Smiles Across America® program (SAA), in partnership with Trident are teaming up to help fight cavities among children and address the need for oral disease prevention services. To help further the cause in the second phase of Trident’s three-year, multi-million dollar commitment to Smiles Across America, parents can purchase any pack of Trident gum from September 13 through September 19 and five cents per pack (up to $600,000) will be donated to Smiles Across America.

    This looks like a very worthwhile program. By merely chewing some gum (Trident, of course) you not only improve your own saliva flow and dental health, but, you also help America’s dental health.

    For more information please visit the Oral Health America website.

  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina

    CA-Sen: Second Boxer Vs. Fiorina Debate Scheduled for September 29

    Republican Nominee Carly Fiorina and California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer

    From the Press Release:

    U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina today announced that she will participate in a second debate with incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer on September 29. The debate will be hosted by KPCC Public Radio and La Opinión and is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Pacific Time.

    “KPCC and La Opinión have my thanks and appreciation for their efforts in coordinating this important opportunity for the people of California to hear firsthand from both Senator Boxer and me. I look forward to having a substantive conversation with her about our very different approaches to taxation, job creation and the role of government in our lives, among many other important issues at stake in this election,” said Fiorina. “I believe it’s critically important that voters have as many opportunities as possible to hear Senator Boxer and me discuss these issues, and I hope she will move quickly to accept many more debates between today and November 2.”

    Boxer and Fiorina debated for the first time on September 1 at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga; that debate was hosted by KTVU, the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. To date, Fiorina has accepted more than a dozen debate invitations; the KPCC/La Opinión radio debate is the second debate scheduled between the candidates for U.S. Senate.

    The debate will take place at KPCC’s studio at 474 South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. The debate will also be live-streamed on KPCC’s Web site at www.scpr.org. For more information about covering the debate in studio, please contact Patt Morrison Show Producer Jonathan Serviss at jserviss@kpcc.org.

    Well, not exactly prime time,it will be taped and shown later – probably on a Sunday when everyone is either gone visiting friends or the stores, at church or watching football.

    A safe choice for both candidates which means it will mean NOTHING, like the first debate.

  • Bill Clinton,  Jerry Brown,  Meg Whitman

    CA-Gov Video: Meg Whitman Channels Bill Clinton to Attack Jerry Brown

    Meg Whitman is using Bill Clinton to attack Jerry Brown in her latest campaign ad

    OUCH! This is going to leave a mark.

    Meg Whitman has enlisted a new spokesman in her attacks on Jerry Brown — former President Bill Clinton.

    In a new ad hitting the airwaves today, Whitman uses footage from a 1992 presidential primary debate between Clinton and Brown.

    “He raised taxes as governor of California,” Clinton says. “He had a surplus when he took office and a deficit when he left. He doesn’t tell the people the truth.”

    And, there is no love lost between Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown to this day.

  • Animals

    Sarah Palin, Book Burning and Media Focus

    From Sarah Palin’s Twitter Stream

    Sarah Palin’s position on the Koran burning is pretty clear.

    Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

    I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don’t feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.

    Our nation was founded in part by those fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don’t need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society. In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?

    – Sarah Palin

    But, she is also RIGHT about the media focus or lack thereof in the above tweet.
  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina,  United States Chamber of Commerce

    CA-Sen: United States Chamber of Commerce Launches Barbara Boxer Attack Ads on Jobs and Water

    San Diego centric U.S. Chamber of Commerce television ad attacking Senator Barbara Boxer’s record

    Barbara Boxer’s record is dismal and these ads will bite her.

    The nation’s largest business organization launched a multimillion-dollar advertising attack in California on Wednesday night on U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, part of a nationwide effort targeting vulnerable Democrats.

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began running ads in San Diego, Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, where Boxer’s Republican rival Carly Fiorina has shown strength. The first round of ads castigates Boxer’s record on jobs and the environment.

    The Chamber would not say exactly how much it plans to spend on the race. But the ads, which will be combined with a major push to identify and contact business-friendly voters, reflect the aggressive political strategy that the nonprofit business lobbying group will employ this year in an effort to stymie what it considers the anti-business thrust of the Obama administration.

    The chamber has set aside about $75 million for political spending nationwide this year. It has already run ads against Democrats in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and plans to begin ads in Florida soon.

    The California ad buy represents a first in this Senate race for the national and state Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has not been active in U.S. Senate races in California in the past because the state was seen as heavily Democratic. But Boxer faces one of the tightest reelection races of her career. On Wednesday, a CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. survey showed Boxer holding a 48% to 44% margin over Fiorina, within the margin of error.

    Here is the Central Valley version of the ad:

    Will these ads boost Carly Fiorina?

    Probably and augments Fiorina’s own advertising resources.

    With the Senate race in dead heat, the chamber’s ad campaign could provide a substantial boost to Fiorina, who has trailed Boxer in fundraising. After the six-week reporting period that ended June 30, Boxer had nearly 12 times more cash on hand than Fiorina, who had approximately $1 million. Boxer, who did not have any significant primary opposition, had spent $5.8 million by the end of June to Fiorina’s $9.7 million. Neither candidate has aired television ads during the general election phase of the campaign.

    “Barbara Boxer has been hostile to the business community,” said Bill Miller, the U.S. chamber’s political director. “Our decision shows that we believe she is vulnerable and that there is a viable alternative who will advocate on behalf of those who create jobs.”

    The first 30-second spot alleged that Boxer’s decisions on water policy saved a small fish species at the expense of the Central Valley economy.

    “Without water, the Central Valley can’t work,” says a voice-over on the ad, citing Boxer’s support of legislation that “voted to cut water to the Central Valley, killing jobs and driving unemployment as high as 40%.”

    Fiorina has accused Boxer of allying herself with “extreme environmentalists” while praising California’s senior senator, Democrat Diane Feinstein, who drafted but then backed away from legislation that would have eased some endangered species protections to send more water to San Joaquin Valley farms.

    Neither candidate has starting airing their own ads. But, this won’t last long.

  • GOP,  Twitter

    Shocker: GOP Outpaces Democrats on Twitter

    Not really shocking.

    Republican lawmakers are far ahead of Democrats when it comes to spreading their message in 140 characters or less.

    Eight of the 10 most-followed Twitter accounts on Capitol Hill belong to Republicans, according to a report released Thursday by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.

    The study found 67 percent of Republicans on Twitter are directly engaging other users, compared with just 41 percent of the Democrats who utilize the platform.

    Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) were listed as the top three most-followed members. The only Democrats to make the Top 10 were Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri (No. 4) and Barbara Boxer of California (No. 7).

    “The fact that neither Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi nor Majority Leader [Harry] Reid rank amongst even the Top 10 overall congressional users on Twitter speaks volumes as summer in Washington comes to an end and members of both parties return to our nation’s capital,” said Dallas Lawrence, managing director for digital public affairs at Burson-Marsteller. “With two months before the general election, Republicans in Congress hold a clear advantage in the Twittersphere.”

    Twitter became widely-used campaign tool after President Barack Obama’s campaign used it and other social media platforms to engage with voters in 2008. Republicans were largely seen as less savvy in the social media arena and spent 2009 playing catch-up.

    After the 2006 and 2008 GOP disaster Congressional and Presidential elections, the GOP knew it was in trouble with modern day social communications. With the growth of Twitter and the Top Conservatives on Twitter website, the RIGHT and GOP consolidated a way to instantaneously group together like minded folks to political activism.

    The modern Tea Party movement as well as the resurgence of the mainstream GOP is directly associated with the RIGHT’S growth on Twitter.

  • Anwar Al-Awlaki,  Day By Day

    Day By Day September 8, 2010 – Don’t Fear the Reaper

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Yes, Chris, this Anwar Al-Awlaki has been a bit of a hypocrite while living in the United States. Maybe he has repented and blames American society for corrupting him?

    Pretty standard.

    After all of these years of the Global War on Terror, I do not see why some of these miscreants haven’t simply disappeared – if you know what I mean?

    Why place American troops in front line danger when a few nicely placed assassins and a little rendition will do the job.

    By the way, when is Gitmo going to be closed?

    Just askin’…………

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