• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for June 20th on 15:01

    These are my links for June 20th from 15:01 to 15:07:

    • Sarah Palin® Trademarks Her Name – A few months ago, an attorney for Sarah and Bristol Palin put in an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark their names. (One of many things that suggests that profit, and not the presidency, is what's motivating Palin.) For Sarah Palin, the intent was a little less clear cut than it was for her daughter, as this article in Politics Daily made clear:

      For Sarah Palin's application, there are two classes of commercial service for which her name would be a registered trademark. One is for "information about political elections" and "providing a website featuring information about political issues." The second is for "educational and entertainment services … providing motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values."

      The "Bristol Palin" application is for "educational and entertainment services, namely, providing motivational speaking services in the field of life choices."

      According to the same reporter, the deadline to challenge Palin's application passed on Friday and — amazingly — nobody seems to have challenged it. So it looks like the Patent and Trademark Office will award both patents in the near future.

      ======

      Why would anyone oppose this?

    • Help for jobless homeowners arrives via Obama Administration – A long-delayed federal program aimed at helping hundreds of unemployed Massachusetts homeowners pay their mortgages is finally being launched today, with $61 million earmarked for the state.

      The US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the nonprofit NeighborWorks America said the program will provide hundreds of local borrowers with interest-free loans of up to $50,000 over a two-year period. In some cases, the money will not have to be paid back.

      The $1 billion national program is expected to benefit 30,000 unemployed homeowners in 27 states and Puerto Rico with financial assistance.

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      Note: In some cases the money will NOT have to be paid back

    • $1 Billion in Homeowner Aid Offered by Obama Administration – Homeowners facing foreclosure can now tap into a $1 billion program of emergency loans to help tide them over a temporary financial crisis, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced.

      Beginning today, homeowners in 27 states can file preliminary applications for the Emergency Homeowner's Loan Program (EHLP). Eligible homeowners can obtain interest-free loans of up to $50,000 to help cover mortgage expenses for up to two years.

      The program is available to homeowners who have seen their incomes fall and who could lose their homes to foreclosure due to circumstances beyond their control, including involuntary unemployment, underemployment, economic conditions or an illness.

      The program is a counterpart to the $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund and is available only to homeowners in states not covered by that program. The Hardest Hit Fund provides foreclosure avoidance assistance to homeowners in states that have been most seriously affected by the declining housing market and economic downturn.

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      Borrowing more to shore up re-election.

  • Ed Rollins,  Michele Bachmann,  President 2012,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012: Michele Bachmann Hones Strategy and Orders Ed Rollins to Apologize to Sarah Palin

    U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) speaks during the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana June 17, 2011

    Michele Bachmann is making some very smart moves.

    Since being elected to Congress in 2006, Bachmann has been one of the most outspoken — and controversial — members of the House. She’s also shown a tendency to veer wildly off message — as she did in 2008 when she suggested then Senator Barack Obama might harbor “anti-American” views.

    Bachmann’s newly installed political team has had its own battles with message discipline — typified by campaign manager Ed Rollins’ recent comments alleging that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin hasn’t been “serious” over the last few years.

    After the incident, Bachmann was “very firm” with Rollins, according to an adviser to the congresswoman, telling him this should not happen again and that there should be “no more press”. Bachmann also demanded that Rollins call the Palin people and apologize. “She is definitely not tone deaf,” the source added.

    Bachmann’s move to limit her exposure in the wake of her debate performance is a smart strategy designed to avoid accidentally trampling on the momentum she built with that performance.

    The question for Bachmann — as it is for all candidates who have never been subjected to the intense scrutiny of a presidential race — is whether she can maintain that message discipline over the grinding months on the campaign trail to come.

    Message discipline is something Sarah Palin has never been able to grasp and to her detriment – as her negative favorable polling demonstrates. But, if Bachmann can refine her message and concentrate on defeating Romney, she may find far better success than any of the pundits would have predicted a few months ago. She is a natural for Iowa and South Carolina and NO other GOP candidate can come close to competing with her in those states.

    And, Ed Rollins, while very capable and who has a track record of success, does have a habit of running off at the mouth. Putting the brakes on Rollins, while ingratiating yourself to Sarah Palin who, if she does not run, WILL do events and fundraising for you is a no-brain decision.

    It’s a near-certainty that Bachmann will slip as she did when she suggested that the battle of Lexington and Concord was fought in New Hampshire.

    An isolated error or misstep here and there is to be expected and will be committed by every candidate in the field — including President Obama. (Remember arugula!)

    But, for Bachmann the bar will be higher (or lower depending on where you are standing) since there is a narrative ready and waiting to be written — because of her past public flubs — that she is too prone to straying off message to win the nomination.

    That is a dangerous storyline for Bachmann. To her credit, she seems to grasp that fact and is taking steps to counteract it.

  • Michele Bachmann,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rick Perry

    President 2012: Does Texas Governor Rick Perry Have a Path to the GOP Nomination?

    In this June 12, 2011, photo Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at a United For Life event, organized by an Hispanic anti-abortion group, in Los Angeles

    I would say NO because among other things he has waited too long.

    Perry would sort of be damned if he does (enter Iowa and lose to Bachmann and/or other opponents) and damned if he doesn’t (Bachmann or Pawlenty gain momentum heading into Iowa). And New Hampshire is probably the least friendly early primary state for him. He’s strong on social issues; many in the Granite State lean libertarian. He slams the Democrats and weak-kneed Republicans; New Hampshire allows independents and Democrats to vote. Perry gives fiery speeches, but he’s not known as a policy maven; New Hampshire-ites expect loads of town halls and coffees where they can quiz the candidate on everything from the flat tax to waste and abuse in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

    What then would be his first clear shot — South Carolina? It’s sounding a little bit Rudy Giulianish (waiting too long to impress takes you out of contention).

    Then, there will be questions about his SQUISHY conservatism while pandering to Hispanics and his Texas state budget deficit. His record of stealing jobs from California and then boasting about it will not endear hm to California GOP voters.

    I don’t see how Perry can attract enough donors to support a candidacy all the way to South Carolina, where he may still lose to Romney and Bachmann.

    So, I don’t really think Governor Perry enters the race.

  • Ami Bera,  Antonio Villaraigosa,  California,  California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Dan Lungren,  Death Penalty,  Flap's California Morning Collection

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 20, 2012

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Today, everyone awaits California Controller John Chiang’s decision on whether the California Legislators who passed a questionably balanced budget last week (soon vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown) will be paid. The per diem pay which the members of the California Assembly and State Senate receive while in session is paid weekly and Chiang has withheld last week’s paycheck pending his determination as to whether the “balanced” budget complied with California Proposition 25 passed by voters last November.

    In the meantime, the California Legislature is in session and have floor sessions scheduled for noon today. Various legislative committees are also meeting. The California Assembly website is here and the State Senate is here.

    The California Legislative Portal is located here.

    On to the links:

    A ‘humble man’ from Santa Paula in the center of state’s redistricting storm

    Reformers in California had been trying since 1926 to empower an independent commission, rather than the Legislature, to draw political district lines. So it was an historic day on June 10 when the first such commission held a news conference to unveil the state’s first proposed maps drawn without the stench of a smoke-filled room or the taint of partisan deal-making.

    To the microphone in a room at the State Capitol stepped chairman-for-the-day Gabino Aguirre, a Mexican immigrant, one-time migrant farmworker and retired high school principal.

    The questions came fast from an assemblage that included a dozen or so reporters and a bank of television cameras. One, posed by a reporter from Antioch, was confrontational: How could the commission have so botched the proposed lines to divide communities in the hills of the East San Francisco Bay?

    Aguirre, unperturbed, answered philosophically.

    “I’ve mentioned to people that Santa Paula is the center of the universe,” Aguirre said of the town in which he lives and once served as mayor. “If I go to a commission and say, ‘We are the center of the universe,’ that is great. But the work of the commission is to draw the state into districts with large chunks of population. It may not be possible to give each community everything it wants.”

    The confrontation defused, Aguirre moved on.

    For the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, many more such confrontations lie ahead. It is in the midst of a rigorous two-week period during which it is conducting 11 hearings around the state to receive public feedback on its proposed maps, a tour that will include a stop Wednesday evening at the Oxnard College Performing Arts Center.

    The commission will consider public input, issue revised maps on July 12 and then enter a final stage of internal review before submitting final maps to the secretary of state on Aug. 15.

    Bera Stays in Congressional Race

    Dr. Ami Bera, an Elk Grove resident who lost the Congressional District 3 race last November to Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River), said June 17 he is seeking a rematch against Lungren in November 2012.

    “We are firmly committed to running against Dan Lungren,” Bera said.

    These comments come a week after the California Citizens Redistricting Commission unveiled the first draft of their proposed Congressional district maps for California.

    Under the current proposal, Lungren would no longer represent Elk Grove and would instead have his district cover eastern Sacramento County.

    Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) would have her district expand over Elk Grove.

    If the proposed maps were finalized, Bera would have to move out of Elk Grove to Lungren’s new district area to challenge him.

    Death penalty costs California $184 million a year, study says

    A senior judge and law professor examine rising costs of the program. Without major reforms, they conclude, capital punishment will continue to exist mostly in theory while exacting an untenable cost.

    Taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment in California since it was reinstated in 1978, or about $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since then, according to a comprehensive analysis of the death penalty’s costs.

    The examination of state, federal and local expenditures for capital cases, conducted over three years by a senior federal judge and a law professor, estimated that the additional costs of capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for the condemned adds $184 million to the budget each year.

    The study’s authors, U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula M. Mitchell, also forecast that the tab for maintaining the death penalty will climb to $9 billion by 2030, when San Quentin’s death row will have swollen to well over 1,000.

    In their research for “Executing the Will of the Voters: A Roadmap to Mend or End the California Legislature’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Death Penalty Debacle,” Alarcon and Mitchell obtained California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records that were unavailable to others who have sought to calculate a cost-benefit analysis of capital punishment.

    Villaraigosa: Stop wars, give cities more money

    In his first appearance on “Meet the Press” in his role as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presented his argument Sunday for an increase of federal funding to cities.

    And, part of that, he said, is ending the wars in the Mideast to make more money available to cities.

    “I think the term was used that (it) is like they are on another planet,” Villaraigosa said when asked about the Republican presidential debate.

    “The fact is, Americans are out of work. Too many people are not able to get back in the workplace and not enough is being done to train them for new work.

    “We are asking that we need to focus on home again, and the issue is front and center in the cities.”

    Villaraigosa said because of the costs of war, Congress has taken money away from the biggest needs in the cities _ transportation, housing and education.

    It is in the cities, he said, where the basic services are provided and where help is needed, Villaraigosa said.

    “We are the ones who are delivering the services, and we find the debate among Republicans as being out of touch with everyday people,” Villaraigosa said.

    Villaraigosa took over as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this past weekend and he is making his inaugural speech today, where he is expected to call for the mayors to take a more active role in lobbying Congress to deal with urban issues.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • Jon Huntsman,  Mitt Romney,  Mormon,  Polling,  President 2012

    President 2012 Poll Watch: 22% Won’t Vote for a Mormon Presidential Candidate

    According to the latest Gallup Poll.

    Though the vast majority of Americans say they would vote for their party’s nominee for president in 2012 if that person happens to be a Mormon, 22% say they would not, a figure largely unchanged since 1967.

    The question is mainly relevant to the Republican and independent vote in 2012, given that the current Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, and that another Mormon, former Utah Gov. and former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, may enter the race for the GOP nomination as early as next week.

    The new Gallup poll, conducted June 9-12, finds nearly 20% of Republicans and independents saying they would not support a Mormon for president. That is slightly lower than the 27% of Democrats saying the same.

    What are the demographics of this political bias?

    So, it is mainly educational level – with the less educated saying they would not be willing to vote for a Mormon.

    And, what about other voting preference bias?

    Only gay/lesbian and an athiest President would be less preferred than a Mormon.

    The stability in U.S. bias against voting for a Mormon presidential candidate contrasts markedly with steep declines in similar views toward several other groups over the past half-century, including blacks, women, Catholics, and Jews. The last time as many as 22% of Americans said they would not vote for any of these groups (the same level opposed to voting for a Mormon today) was 1959 for Catholics, 1961 for Jews, 1971 for blacks, and 1975 for women. As noted, opposition to voting for each of these has since tapered off to single digits.

    Still, it is significant that in 1959, the year before John F. Kennedy won election as the nation’s first Catholic president, 25% of Americans — including 22% of Democrats, 33% of Republicans, and 18% of independents — said they would not vote for a Catholic. Public opposition fell to 21% by May 1960 and to 13% by August 1961.

    So, what does this all mean?

    Republican Presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman who are both Mormon face additional obstacles to the GOP Presidential nomination because of religious bias against their candidaacies. But, like President John Kennedy will either of them be able to persuade voters that their biases are unwarranted?

    Perhaps.

    In the early primary states of Iowa and South Carolina, there are very active Evangelical Christians who hold the Mormon or Latter Day Saint’s Church with disdain. Many of these voters will NOT be voting for either Romney or Huntsman. In a very divided early primary GOP field this would likely mean a loss, delivering momentum to other candidates. Will this be enough to derail Romney who is way ahead in the early state of New Hampshire?

    I guess we will see?

    And, it really depends upon who enters the GOP primary field and how many survive to campaign in Florida and the Super Tuesday states.

    Americans’ reluctance to support a Mormon for president has held close to the 20% level since Gallup first measured this in 1967, and long after historical biases against voting for blacks, Catholics, Jews, and women have dwindled.

    Currently, 18% of Republicans say they would not vote for their party’s nominee if that person happened to be Mormon. This may be less troubling for Romney in the GOP primaries, where the vote could be highly fractured anyway, than in the general election, where — should he win the Republican nomination — he would need nearly complete support from Republicans to be competitive with President Obama. However, Kennedy’s success in overcoming a similar challenge in 1960 relating to his Catholic faith may give hope to Romney and his supporters about his electability in 2012.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for June 19th through June 20th

    These are my links for June 19th through June 20th:

  • California,  Michele Bachmann,  Mitt Romney,  Polling,  President 2012,  Rick Perry,  Rudy Giuliani,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 California GOP Poll Watch: Romney 25% Giuliani 17% Palin 10% Paul 7%

    According to the latest Field Poll.

    California Republicans favor presidential candidate Mitt Romney by a comfortable margin over other Republicans, a Field Poll released today shows.

    When stacked up against 11 other announced or potential Republican candidates, Romney is the first choice of an eye-catching 25 percent of GOP voters in the state. If former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is excluded, Romney’s share jumps to 30 percent.

    “He’s got a commanding lead in the early going,” pollster Mark DiCamillo said. “Romney has the formula of both being well-known and being positively perceived.”

    Though the former Massachusetts governor announced his formal candidacy only June 2, Romney has long been beating the bushes for support. He spent $107 million seeking the 2008 Republican nomination, including $8.4 million that he raised from California donors.

    The Los Angeles region was the third-leading source of campaign donations for Romney’s 2008 campaign, behind the Boston and Salt Lake City areas, figures compiled by the Center for

    Responsive Politics show.

    “He’s just a well-known figure,” DiCamillo noted. “He has tremendous name (identification), and that converts to preferences.”

    Romney is viewed favorably by 56 percent of California Republicans and unfavorably by only 25 percent.

    Perhaps this polling is why Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to flirt with getting into the race.

    But, if Rudy does not, Mitt Romney looks like a winner in California although Michele Bachmann who is a late entrant and is not known near as much – 42% have no impression of her candidacy may play here; as may Texas Governor Rick Perry, if he decides to run.

  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  Sarah Palin

    Day By Day June 17, 2011 – Clarity

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Sarah Palin whether she runs for the Presidency or not will be a constant pain in the ass for President Obama throughout the campaign. She will be able to say and campaign on issues and ideas as a Republican surrogate without any negatives attached to the GOP candidate.

    The LEFT really hopes she gets into the race in order to turn that fire against the GOP field.

    I don’t think this is going to happen – at least not in 2012.

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