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Pinboard Links, The Afternoon Flap

The Afternoon Flap: November 18, 2011

November 18, 2011 /
‘RON PAUL’ â?? A Bad Lip Reading SoundBite – watch more funny videos

These are my links for November 17th through November 18th:
- Poll: Romney, Gingrich in statistical dead heat in N.H. – Two things are true about New Hampshire Republican primary voters. They vote for people they know. And they love an underdog with a comeback story.Four years ago it was the weathered but feisty veteran John McCain who revived his once hanging-by-a-thread campaign to win the nation’s leadoff primary.And so it seems almost fated that after political observers have scratched their heads for months wondering who will emerge as the non-Romney candidate in the Granite State, the voters’ eyes should turn to Newt Gingrich, a man who was Speaker of the House during the previous century and whose own campaign was left for dead last summer.
  The latest NH Journal poll of likely Republican primary voters conducted by Magellan Strategies shows Romney and Gingrich in a statistical dead heat for the January 10th primary. If the election were held today, Romney would earn 29% of the vote and Gingrich would earn 27%. Texas Congressman Ron Paul continues to show resolve by earning 16%. Herman Cain gets 10%. No other candidate is in double digits.
- Big Labor shells out for GOP friends – For House Republicans, it pays to be a friend of Big Labor.Major unions are giving a heftier slice of campaign donations than usual to pro-labor Republicans this election cycle, even as overall union contributions to members of Congress lags.Labor insiders say there’s extra incentive to support their GOP friends this cycle as unions look to reward lawmakers who rebuff their leadership on key votes, ingratiate themselves to freshman Republicans and ward off primary challengers as many tea party candidates campaign on anti-union platforms.
  Overall this cycle, about 13 percent of labor groups’ political action committee contributions — just over $2 million — have gone toward GOP candidates, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s still dwarfed by the nearly $14 million in union cash that’s gone to Democrats this cycle, but the GOP appears to be gaining ground with union donors after receiving only 6 percent of total contributions in 2010 and 8 percent in the 2008 cycle.
- Occupy Wall Street: Anne Hathaway joins protesters but surely she’s in the 1%? – She is one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses and lives a very privileged lifestyle that 99 per cent of people can only dream of.Still, Anne Hathaway acted as an average Joe and accompanied hundreds of protestors as she joined the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Manhattan’s Union Square.The 29-year-old, who is worth a reported $58 million, was pictured marching with protesters and sticking it to the man yesterday in The Big Apple.
- Sarah Palin: How Congress Occupied Wall Street – Mark Twain famously wrote, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out,” reveals this permanent political class in all its arrogant glory. (Full disclosure: Mr. Schweizer is employed by my political action committee as a foreign-policy adviser.)Mr. Schweizer answers the questions so many of us have asked. I addressed this in a speech in Iowa last Labor Day weekend. How do politicians who arrive in Washington, D.C. as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires? How do they miraculously accumulate wealth at a rate faster than the rest of us? How do politicians’ stock portfolios outperform even the best hedge-fund managers’? I answered the question in that speech: Politicians derive power from the authority of their office and their access to our tax dollars, and they use that power to enrich and shield themselves.
- Ventura County Official Announces Bid in New California District – Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett (D) announced on Wednesday that he will seek California’s new 26th district seat.“I am running for Congress because Ventura County residents deserve common sense leadership that is not locked into rigid ideology at the expense of the common good,” Bennett said in a statement. “I have demonstrated that leadership for Ventura County residents here at the county level for 10 years. We have made major improvements in the fiscal health of Ventura County.”The Ventura-based district race is not expected to feature a current incumbent next year, as Rep. Elton Gallegly (R) was drawn into the neighboring 25th district and has yet to say where or whether he will run.
  No Republicans have announced for the seat yet, but two other Democrats have: Moorpark City Councilman David Pollock and former professional tennis player David Cruz Thayne.
- 26th District Democratic Town Hall – The first Congressional Candidates Town Hall meeting is being held tonight for the new 26th district.The Ventura City Democratic Club is hosting the event at the E.P. Foster Library at 7pm.The declared candidates include businessman David Cruz Thayne, Moorpark City Councilman David Pollock and Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett.
- The 10 states that will determine control of the House in 2012 – 2. California: The nation’s biggest state has been an electoral afterthought for some time, going a nearly a decade with only one congressional seat changing hands between 2002 and 2010. That won’t happen again. At least three GOP-held seats are likely to go Democratic in the newly reshuffled map crafted by the state’s new citizen’s redistricting commission. But Democrats think they can run up the score even more, while the GOP strategists believe they can win Democratic-held seats elsewhere to even the score. We could see the results spanning from a total wash to Democrats gaining eight seats. Anything on the top end of that scale would be a major Democratic win.
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-18 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-18 #tcot #catcot
- foursquare :: Gregory Flap @ Los Angeles Chinatown – Heading home after an afternoon at LA auto show (@ Los Angeles Chinatown)
- California Proposition 8 Sponsors Protect Marriage Legally Entitled to Defend Measure » Flap’s California Blog – California Proposition 8 Sponsors Protect Marriage Legally Entitled to Defend Measure
- Lockerz.com : Los Angeles Dodgers’s Photo – RT @Dodgers: Congrats to Clayton Kershaw on winning the #CyYoung! Enjoy your celebratory champagne!
- House Leaders Plan Facebook Hackathon – While House Republican and Democratic leaders are finding it difficult to agree on spending cuts, they are coming together next month for Capitol Hill’s first-ever Facebook Hackathon. The goal is to find new ways to use the social network to make information about the legislative process more transparent and to help members of the public more easily engage with lawmakers.Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican leader, and Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland and his party’s whip, are co-hosting the event, scheduled for Dec. 7 in the U.S. Capitol, which will include Facebook engineers, independent software developers, advocates for the open data movement and members of Congress.Hackathon is a term used to describe an event where programmers come together to build applications in a collaborative process.
  “There is a lot of opportunity to improve the process,” said Matt Lira, digital director for Mr. Cantor. “We are going to sit down in a bipartisan way and look at how we can tackle some of these problems. We are hoping to get as many engineers as possible. They will have a unique opportunity to help make democracy work better.”
- Untitled (http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/20111115econToplines.pdf) – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Gingrich 23% Vs. Cain 21% Vs. Romney 19% Vs. Paul 7% Vs. Perry 6%
- In Debates, Newt Gingrich’s Real Target Is Obama – It’s an open question whether Gingrich can defeat Obama in 2012. It’s taken as a truism that he has “too much baggage.” Well, some of the baggage is lighter than it appears. He was cleared by the Clinton-era Internal Revenue Service of wrongdoing in alleged ethics violations stemming from a college course he taught in the 1990s. The charge that he surprised his cancer-stricken first wife with divorce papers has been, at the least, exaggerated.
- (500) http://flapsblog.com/2011/11/17/poll-watch-u-s-unemployment-rate-increases-in-mid-november/ – Poll Watch: U.S. Unemployment Rate Increases in Mid-November #tcot #catcot
- (500) http://smilesforalifetime.com/index.php/2011/11/poll-watch-smoking-rates-range-from-a-high-of-29-in-kentucky-to-low-of-11-in-utah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=poll-watch-smoking-rates-range-from-a-high-of-29-in-kentucky-to-low-of-11-i – Poll Watch: Smoking Rates Range From a High of 29% in Kentucky to Low of 11% in Utah
- Occupy Wall Street | Liveblog live blogging | Reuters.com – RT @Reuters: Live coverage of Occupy Wall Street #OWS
- Ruling on Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage to Come From California Supreme Court | TheBlaze.com – RT @theblaze: Calif. Supreme Court to Issue Pivotal Gay Marriage Ruling Today via @theblaze
- AD-66: Former California Governor George Deukmejian Endorses Nathan Mintz » Flap’s California Blog – AD-66: Former California Governor George Deukmejian Endorses Nathan Mintz
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: November 17, 2011 – The Morning Drill: November 17, 2011
- (500) http://flapsblog.com/2011/11/17/the-morning-flap-november-17-2011/ – The Morning Flap: November 17, 2011 #tcot #catcot
Flap
Occupy Protests, Occupy Wall Street, Pinboard Links

The Morning Flap: November 17, 2011

November 17, 2011 /
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
Flap
Pinboard Links, The Morning Flap

The Morning Flap: November 15, 2011

November 15, 2011 /
These are my links for November 14th through November 15th:
- Dr. Coburn Releases Report Exposing Billions in Giveaways for Millionaires – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new report “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” illustrating how, under the current tax code, the federal government is giving billions of dollars to individuals with an Annual Gross Income (AGI) of at least $1 million, subsidizing their lavish lifestyles with the taxes of the less fortunate.
  “All Americans are facing tough times, with many working two jobs just to make ends meet and more families turning to the government for financial assistance. From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working.
  
  “This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations. We should never demonize those who are successful. Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs,” Dr. Coburn said.
  
  These billions of dollars for millionaires include $74 million of unemployment checks, $316 million in farm subsidies, $89 million for preservation of ranches and estates, $9 billion of retirement checks, $75.6 million in residential energy tax credits, and $7.5 million to compensate for damages caused by emergencies to property that should have been insured. All and all, over $9.5 billion in government benefits have been paid to millionaires since 2003. Additionally, millionaires borrowed $16 million in government backed education loans to attend college. On average, each year, this report found that millionaires enjoy benefits from tax giveaways and federal grant programs totaling $30 billion. As a result, almost 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax in 2009.
- ObamaCare and the Limits of Government – The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether ObamaCare is constitutional, granting certiorari in a case brought by 26 states shortly after that law was enacted in March of last year. In so doing, it will be ruling upon the very nature of our federal union.
  The Constitution limits federal power by granting Congress authority in certain defined areas, such as the regulation of interstate and foreign commerce. Those powers not specifically vested in the federal government by the Constitution or, as stated in the 10th Amendment, “prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The court will now determine whether those words still have meaning.
  
  As we argued two years ago in these pages, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (aka ObamaCare) is unconstitutional. First and foremost, the law requires virtually every American to have health insurance. Congress purported to impose this unprecedented “individual mandate” pursuant to its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce, but the requirement is not limited to those who engage in any particular commercial or economic activity (or any activity at all). Rather, the mandate applies to everyone lawfully present in the United States who does not fall within one of the law’s narrow exclusions.
- Dems fear Supreme Court will rule against Obama on healthcare reform – Democrats on Capitol Hill are worried that the Supreme Court will rule against President Obama’s healthcare reform law.
  Over the last couple weeks, congressional Democrats have told The Hill that the law faces danger in the hands of the Supreme Court, which The New York Times editorial page recently labeled the most conservative high court since the 1950s.
  
  While the lawmakers are not second-guessing the administration’s legal strategy, some are clearly bracing for defeat.
  
  “Of course I’m concerned,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The justices “decide for insurance companies, they decide for oil companies, they decide for the wealthy too often.”
  
  The pessimism is fueled in part by the John Roberts court’s decision in the 2010 Citizens United case on corporate spending in elections, which Brown has called the “worst” in his memory.
  
  The comments underscore the gamble the White House took when it opted not to seek to delay the high court’s review until after the 2012 election. That decision leaves the fate of Democrats’ signature domestic achievement in the hands of a right-leaning court that has consistently ruled against liberals on everything from campaign finance to the District of Columbia’s gun ban to Bush v. Gore.
- Kagan to Tribe on Day Obamacare Passed: ‘I Hear They Have the Votes, Larry!! – On Sunday, March 21, 2010, the day the House of Representatives passed President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan and famed Supreme Court litigator and Harvard Law Prof. Laurence Tribe, who was then serving in the Justice Department, had an email exchange in which they discussed the pending health-care vote, according to documents the Department of Justice released late Wednesday to the Media Research Center, CNSNews.com’s parent organization, and to Judicial Watch.
  “I hear they have the votes, Larry!! Simply amazing,” Kagan said to Tribe in one of the emails.
  
  The Justice Department released a new batch of emails on Wednesday evening as its latest response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by CNSNews.com and Judicial Watch. Both organizations filed federal lawsuits against DOJ after the department did not initially respond to the requests. CNSNews.com originally filed its FOIA request on May 25, 2010–before Elena Kagan’s June 2010 Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
  
  The March 2010 email exchange between Kagan and Tribe raises new questions about whether Kagan must recuse herself from judging cases involving the health-care law that Obama signed–and which became the target of legal challenges–while Kagan was serving as Obama’s solicitor general and was responsible for defending his administration’s positions in court disputes.
  
  According to 28 USC 455, a Supreme Court justice must recuse from “any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” The law also says a justice must recuse anytime he has “expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy” while he “served in governmental employment.”
- Occupy Wall Street – How Long, How Many, Which Cities? – How is Occupy Wall Street faring—not broadly, but at this very moment? Below, we’ve compiled a few indicators that attempt to answer this question, from conditions in Zuccotti Park to the movement’s global spread. The metrics, which update every five minutes, are admittedly imperfect and far from comprehensive, but we hope they give you a sense of how things are going. If you would like to see a particular datapoint included, let us know in the comments.
- The real Wall Street occupation is online – The Occupy Wall Street movement, now that it has broadened in scope beyond the financial district of Manhattan to attain a truly national — even global — scale has the potential to lay the groundwork for a new generation of start-ups capable of reshaping the financial system in radically new ways. These tech start-ups, while officially unaffiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, are nonetheless responding to the unmet needs of these protesters, individuals who feel abandoned by the current financial system.
  The breakout company of the Occupy Wall Street movement thus far has been Palo Alto-based WePay, a start-up largely unknown until the protest movement began September 17. Over the past 45 days, WePay has become the de facto official way to send money to the “Occupy” protesters while simultaneously bypassing the largest financial institutions. At a time when many payment alternatives already exist, it’s more than a coincidence that an unknown technology player, free of any associations with the banking establishment, has emerged as the financial intermediary of choice. Just a few months ago, the obvious choice for sending money to an organization like Occupy Wall Street would have been PayPal, but that was before the company decided to cooperate with the financial embargo against WikiLeaks.
- Immigration from Mexico in fast retreat, data show – North of the U.S.-Mexico border, Republican presidential candidates are talking tough on illegal immigration, with one proposing — perhaps in jest — an electrified fence to deter migrants.
  But data from both sides of the border suggest that illegal immigration from Mexico is already in fast retreat, as U.S. job shortages, tighter border enforcement and the frightening presence of criminal gangs on the Mexican side dissuade many from making the trip.
  
  Mexican census figures show that fewer Mexicans are setting out and many are returning — leaving net migration at close to zero, Mexican officials say. Arrests by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwestern frontier, a common gauge of how many people try to cross without papers, tumbled to 304,755 during the 11 months ended in August, extending a nearly steady drop since a peak of 1.6 million in 2000.
  
  The scale of the fall has prompted some to suggest that a decades-long migration boom may be ending, even as others argue that the decline is only momentary.
  
  “Our country is not experiencing the population loss due to migration that was seen for nearly 50 years,” Rene Zenteno, a deputy Mexico interior secretary for migration matters, has said.
  
  Douglas Massey, an immigration scholar at Princeton University, said surveys of residents in Mexican migrant towns he has studied for many years found that the number of people making their first trip north had dwindled to near zero.
- Some Residents Cheer the Clearing of Zuccotti Park – Some Residents Cheer Clearing of Zuccotti Park
  As residents and office workers woke to a Zuccotti Park cleared of its protest encampment, some cheered the removal while others objected to the tough police action that brought it about, my colleague Cara Buckley reports:
  
  One young father, pushing his toddler son in a stroller, gave police officers guarding Zuccotti Park a thumbs up. Another man, rushing by in a cream suit, flashed them a mega-watt grin. The sight of the park, freshly cleared and washed, stopped a blonde woman walking by in her tracks. “Ooooooh, good,” she cooed.
  
  The clearing of Zuccotti Park struck a deep blow to the Occupy Wall Street movement, which had used the site as its physical and spiritual heart. But as the newly ousted protesters gathered in Foley Square to decide what to do next, many residents, workers and business owners near the park felt deep relief. ” Super ecstatic,” said a young office worker. “Definitely relieved,” said a young woman working behind the counter at Panini & Co., a cafe overlooking the park.
  
  Paul Bruno, 54, who lives in the Bronx but has serviced elevators in Lower Manhattan for 30 years, had lunched daily in the park. He agreed with the protesters’ message, he said, but not their means. “The movement is the right movement,” he said, “but the movement got lost.”
  
  Another man, who worked nearby and said he could not give his name because it was against his company’s rules, said it was time for the park to be cleared.
  
  “It started out as a cool grassroots movement, he said, ” and then it turned into a big homeless camp.”
  
  Still residents described a frightening scene last night, with police rushing into the park, bright lights glaring and helicopters whirring above. Mark Scherzer, a lawyer who lives half a block from the park, said he found the clearing deeply upsetting.
  
  “I think the protesters were doing a valuable service,” he said, “And I think it was lawful for them to be there.”
- More Republicans say Cain allegations are “serious matter” – Most Republicans now see the allegations of sexual harassment against Herman Cain as a serious matter, according to a new Post-ABC poll, a switch from a poll taken just after the charges were first reported. And while two-thirds continue to say the accusations are not going to determine their vote, there’s also still a deep split between GOP men and women.
  Just after the harassment allegations surfaced publicly, 54 percent of all Republicans were skeptical of their seriousness. Now, by contrast, 64 percent assess the situation as a serious one, with the biggest shift among women.
  
  Fully 74 percent of Republican women call the charges serious, up from 39 percent in early November. Men are also reflecting the trend, but less dramatically so, rising from 36 to 53 percent.
- Why Do I Need a Google+ Business Page? – Yesterday Google+ rolled out the much-anticipated Google+ Page feature, and now businesses, brands, products, entertainers, and lots of other entities can have their own accounts.
  I know what you’re thinking: Great, another social media page I have to manage for my company.
  
  Hey, I’m with you — just when you think you’ve figured out how to make business gains from Twitter and Facebook, along comes Google+, another widespread social tool that’s a big, wide-open question mark.
  
  But you know what? Reserving your spot for your brand now is probably a good idea, even if you haven’t figured out what you’re doing with it. I did.
  
  You can register a Google+ business page here, but keep in mind that you have to have a personal Google+ account first. Only one user per account so far, and vanity URLs are not available yet. But why?
- Court order allows Occupy Wall St. protesters back – Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality.
  Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters.
  
  At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people’s rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety.
  
  About 70 people were arrested overnight, including some who chained themselves together, while officers cleared the park so that sanitation crews could clean it.
  
  By 9 a.m., the park was power-washed clean. Police in riot gear still ringed the public space, waiting for orders to reopen it.
- Gingrich: I’m auditioning to be “conservative alternative” to Romney – On Fox News this morning, Newt Gingrich jabbed Mitt Romney while responding to polls showing him vaulting into the top-tier.
  “I think you’ve had a series of people — it started with Tim Pawlenty, and then Michele Bachmann, and then Rick Perry, then Herman Cain — there’ve been a series of people who’ve, sort of, auditioning for being the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.
  
  And Mitt Romney’s being very stable and very steady, and now, we’re in a situation where — to some extent — people are looking at Newt Gingrich and having to decide: do they like the solutions I’m offering?”
  
  So far, Gingrich has shown great restraint in hitting Romney, but this might be the beginnings of his case.
  
  Yesterday, a Public Policy Polling survey showed Newt leading Romney by 10%, while a CNN poll had Romney up by 2%.
  
  That earned Gingrich the rare distinction of being the lead story on both The Drudge Report and Huffington Post at the same time.
- Twitter Can Predict Who’s Winning the GOP Presidential Race [Study] – Political candidates do better in the polls when they gain more Twitter followers, new research reveals. National polls happen all the time but it’s possible to predict when certain candidates will climb in the rankings based the rate they are followed.
  Zach Green, CEO of Twitter election researcher 140elect, wrote in a blog post Friday that he anticipated this trend, but now has the stats to prove it.
  
  “A lot of people were surprised [Newt] Gingrich is now in second place, but we’ve seen that coming since Sep. 7,” Green told Mashable. “Twitter indicates he’ll continue to pick up.”
  
  Gingrich (visualized below) gained a slew of new followers when he announced his candidacy on May 11 and on Sept. 7 after an impressive GOP debate performance. Both events led to poll gains. The candidate’s Twitter momentum has steadily increased over the last two months, which Green predicts will lead to continued poll gains.
- Day By Day November 13, 2011 – Zombies | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 13, 2011 – Zombies #tcot #catcot
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-15 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-15 #tcot #catcot
- Dilbert November 13, 2011 – The Invisible Man » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert November 13, 2011 – The Invisible Man
- The Afternoon Flap: November 14, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Afternoon Flap: November 14, 2011 #tcot #catcot
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The Afternoon Flap

The Afternoon Flap: November 14, 2011

November 14, 2011 /
These are my links for November 14th from 06:42 to 16:16:
- USC enrolls the most international students in the nation – For the 10th year in a row, USC held on to a championship that has nothing to do with sports: The Los Angeles campus once again enrolled the most foreign students of any college or university in the United States, according to a new study. UCLA had the sixth-highest international enrollment, up from seventh place the year before.
  Across the country, the ranks of international students enrolled in American higher education last year increased 5%, to 723,277, according to the annual report by the Institute of International Education, a New York nonprofit, in partnership with the U.S. State Department.
  
  China, for the second consecutive year, sent the largest group, which was up 22% to about 158,000. Indian students were the next-biggest contingent, followed by those from South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico and Turkey, the report found.
  
  USC enrolled 8,615 international students last year, up from 7,987 the previous year, said the study, “Open Doors,” which is being released Monday. UCLA enrolled 6,249 international students, compared with 5,685 the prior year. Aside from the Los Angeles campuses, the other schools in the top 10 were: the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, New York University, Purdue University, Columbia University, Ohio State University, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan State University and Harvard University.
  
  USC has recruiting offices in Shanghai; Seoul; Mumbai, India; Taipei, Taiwan; and Mexico City, said Timothy Brunold, the university’s admission dean. About 70% of international students at USC are in graduate programs, heavily concentrated in engineering, computer science and business, he added.
- Herman Cain collapsing in new CNN poll – For weeks, polls have shown former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain holding strong despite the revelation of sexual harassment allegations against him. Now, his support is starting to collapse.
  A new CNN poll finds Cain dropping 11 points among Republicans, from 25 percent in October to 14 percent on Monday. That puts him in a statistical tie for third place in the GOP nominating contest with Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
  
  Even as most Republicans continue to say that the allegations have no effect on their vote, Cain is sliding downward.
  
  “Roughly four in 10 Republicans think this is a serious matter and tend to believe the women who made those charges,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.
  
  The likely explanation: Cain supporters were looking for a viable conservative alternative before jumping ship. Polls had shown growing concern over the allegations for weeks, even as the Republican’s overall numbers stayed strong.
  
  Those supporters appear to have settled on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich , who jumped from 8 percent to 22 percent in the CNN poll.
  
  Other polls found Cain slipping, although not as dramatically as in the CNN survey.
- Newt Gingrich vs. debt supercommittee on campaign trail – Newt Gingrich is a major player in the GOP presidential contest again, and he’s using that platform to position himself as the biggest critic of the congressional debt-reduction “supercommittee.”
  Gingrich, who placed second nationally in a poll released Monday by CNN and Opinion Research, said at an event here this morning that the supercommittee is “maniacally stupid” and “an invitation to economic catastrophe.”
  
  The former House speaker said the panel should drop the provision passed by Congress during the summer that would trigger broad cuts if it can’t reach a deal by its Nov. 23 deadline. He said that Americans should be skeptical of any plan produced by the supercommittee and shouldn’t settle for a halfway measure just because of the trigger provision.
  
  “We should reject any effort to blackmail us into accepting a dumb idea on the grounds that in July we accepted an even dumber idea,” Gingrich said.
  
  Gingrich said a threat of massive cuts to defense and domestic program was totally artificial anyway and that the creation of the special debt-reduction panel in the first place is a reflection of Washington’s problems.
- Bialek’s ex-boyfriend, Victor Zuckerman, speaks about Herman Cain – The ex-boyfriend of Sharon Bialek corroborated the sexual harassment allegations that Bialek made against Herman Cain, saying at a Monday press conference that Cain did in fact know the Chicago woman, something he has repeatedly denied.
  Victor Zuckerman, who identified himself as a pediatrician and a registered Republican, said that Bialek spent time with Cain, and that he remembers her saying that she was seated next to Cain at a dinner, and ”had opportunities to speak to him at length.”
  
  “She told me I needed to meet this man of warmth, of wit,” he recalled, adding that Cain later told them about the release of his gospel album in 1997.
  
  After Bialek lost her job at the fundraising arm of the educational foundation at the National Restaurant Association, it was Zuckerman who advised her to reach out to Cain, the former head of the NRA in the mid 1990s, for help.
  
  Bialek claims that during her trip to Washington for job advice, Cain groped her in a car.
  
  “I can confirm that when she returned, she was upset, she said that something had happened and the Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner,” Zuckerman said. “She said she had handled it.”
  
  Zuckerman said that more recently, he and Bialek talked about Cain after the allegations came to light, and Bialek said that the accusations didn’t surprise her.
- foursquare
  :: Gregory Flap @ Starbucks – Going to a comedy club in Pasadena after Alice gets off work. (@ Starbucks)
- foursquare
  :: Gregory Flap’s Badges :: Fresh Brew – I just unlocked the “Fresh Brew” badge on @foursquare! Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffee.
- CA-25: Rep. Elton Gallegly to Face Off Against Rep. Buck McKeon? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-25: Rep. Elton Gallegly to Face Off Against Rep. Buck McKeon? #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Run for Her 5 K Race Report: November 13, 2011 – Run for Her 5 K Race Report: November 13, 2011
- Want to Lose Weight? Don’t Tell Anyone! | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Want to Lose Weight? Don’t Tell Anyone!
- President 2012 California Poll Watch: All Obama – All of the Time » Flap’s California Blog – President 2012 California Poll Watch: All Obama – All of the Time
- Isakson introduces bill to reverse NLRB decision – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson has introduced legislation that would reverse a recent decision from the National Labor Relations Board on collective bargaining.
  The board in August said that as few as two or three employees could form micro-bargaining units, or “mini-unions,” to engage in collective bargaining with employers. Isakson said the administration’s decision to allow micro-bargaining units “recklessly disregards the long-standing principles of collective bargaining” and said President Barack Obama’s appointees at the NLRB are tipping the scales in favor of unions.
  Isakson’s legislation would reinstate the traditional standard for determining which employees make up an appropriate bargaining unit.
  The Georgia Republican’s bill -The Representation Fairness Restoration Act – has 28 cosponsors.
- Boeing: Union Reneged On Deal; NLRB Emails Shed Light – Newly released documents regarding the National Labor Relations Board complaint vs. Boeing reveal that extensive, though ultimately futile, efforts were made to avoid litigation.
  Boeing (BA) officials say the documents relate to a settlement that they thought they had made with the International Association of Machinists, the union that brought the complaint.
  
  The aerospace giant claims IAM revoked the offer after Boeing had accepted it. If true, that would suggest that IAM was interested in pursuing the case as a test of the NLRB’s power under the Obama administration.
- Despite Senate victory, court battle looms for net-neutrality rules – Advocates of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules celebrated a major victory on Thursday as the Senate rejected a Republican bid to repeal the rules.
  But with a lawsuit pending in the D.C. Court of Appeals, the victory may prove to be short-lived.
  
  The rules, approved by the FCC in December, prohibit Internet service providers from slowing down or blocking access to legitimate websites. Supporters of the rules say they preserve competition and consumer choice, but opponents argue they are an unnecessary burden on businesses and amount to government control of the Internet.
- President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Cain 20% Vs. Gingrich 19% Vs. Romney 14% Vs. Bachmann and Paul 10% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Cain 20% Vs. Gingrich 19% Vs. Romney 14% Vs. Bachmann and Paul 10% #tcot #catcot
- President 2012 California Poll Watch: All Obama – All of the Time | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 California Poll Watch: All Obama – All of the Time #tcot #catcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses – The Daily Extraction: Dr. Tommy Murph’s Costa Rica Extraction Courses
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: November 14, 2011 – The Morning Drill: November 14, 2011
- Day By Day November 12, 2011 – Word | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 12, 2011 – Word #tcot #catcot
- The Morning Flap: November 14, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 14, 2011 #tcot #catcot
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Pinboard Links, The Morning Flap

The Morning Flap: November 14, 2011

November 14, 2011 /
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
Flap
Pinboard Links, The Afternoon Flap

The Afternoon and Evening Flap: November 8, 2011

November 8, 2011 /
These are my links for November 8 in the PM
- Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax – President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.
  In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).
  
  To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52). And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees.
  
  Acting Administrator Shipman had the temerity to say the 15-cent mandatory Christmas tree fee “is not a tax nor does it yield revenue for the Federal government” (76 CFR 69102). The Federal government mandates that the Christmas tree sellers pay the 15-cents per tree, whether they want to or not. The Federal government directs that the revenue generated by the 15-cent fee goes to the Board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out the Christmas tree program established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. President, that’s a new 15-cent tax to pay for a Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.
  
  Nobody is saying President Obama doesn’t have authority to impose his new Christmas Tree Tax — his Administration cites the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996. Just because the Obama Administration has the legal power to impose its Christmas Tree Tax doesn’t mean it should do so.
- Mitt Romney as the Nominee: Conservatism Dies and Barack Obama Wins – Why Romney Will Be The Nominee
  Mitt Romney will be the nominee because the other candidates, right now, are a pretty pathetic lot.
  
  The base will not forgive Rick Perry his immigration sins. In fact, that has hurt him far more than his debate performances, but his debate performances have hurt him badly. Perry, who came out principled and fiery with a record others could only envy, has left others with the impression that he’s a poor man’s version of the village idiot, which in the SEC we call “Aggies”. Maybe he can turn it around.
  
  Newt Gingrich will not be the nominee because, despite his daughter’s rebuttals to the horror stories of how Gingrich divorced his first of three wives, Jackie Gingrich told the Washington Post on January 3, 1985, “He walked out in the spring of 1980 and I returned to Georgia. By September, I went into the hospital for my third surgery. The two girls came to see me, and said Daddy is downstairs and could he come up? When he got there, he wanted to discuss the terms of the divorce while I was recovering from the surgery.”
  
  Gingrich went on to cheat on the second wife with the third. Regardless of the actual facts or even the spin, he won’t win women.
  
  Herman Cain won’t be the nominee because he can’t win women either. Regardless of what you think of the Politico story, Cain’s handling of the story has been an epic disaster. He’s down at least 10 points with women in Iowa. He’s falling even further and doesn’t even realize it. He’s largely been emboldened by a conservative media that is so used to standing by its men that too few are telling Herman that he is now at the point where he must actually sit and answer questions whether he wants to or not and whether he feels maligned or not and whether I think he should have to or not. If he loses women by as big as he is starting to lose the women, he cannot win.
  
  So Mitt Romney will be the nominee. Conservatives will not rally together with the least of the bad alternatives and Romney, like John McCain before him, will run up the middle to the nomination. But, just like McCain, Romney will not beat Barack Obama.
- Issue 2 falls, Ohio collective bargaining law repealed – Ohioans voted Tuesday night to repeal a Republican-backed law that restricted collective bargaining for public workers, a victory for Democrats and labor organizers both nationally and in the state.
  AP has declared Issue 2 (as the law was called on the ballot) dead. As of this writing, with about a quarter of precincts in, repeal led by a whopping 63 to 37 percent margin.
  
  Gov. John Kasich (R) took office in January vowing to curb unions’ power. But he appears to have overstepped his hand in curtailing the rights of 350,000 public workers — including firefighters and police officers — to negotiate over benefits, equipment and other issues.
  
  The backlash against the law began as soon as Kasich signed it, in March. By August, when the governor asked for a compromise with unions, it was too late.
  
  As in other states, the law became a battleground for an ongoing fight between labor and conservative groups over collective bargaining. In Wisconsin, after Gov. Scott Walker (R) eliminated collective bargaining for many public employees, Democrats and labor failed to take back the state Senate in recall elections. Now, unions have their first bonafide win.
  
  By including firefighters and police officers in the legislation, Republicans in Ohio set themselves up for a far more difficult fight. Wisconsin’s collective bargaining law made exceptions for both.
- Herman Cain: Harassment charge is ‘baseless, bogus and false’ – Republican Herman Cain directly confronted allegations on Tuesday that he had sexually harassed women, saying his latest accuser had lied and promising to continue his quest for the presidency.
  Addressing the controversy before a throng of reporters in suburban Phoenix, Cain said he had no recollection of ever meeting Sharon Bialek, the woman who went public Monday and accused him of groping her in a car after the two dined together in Washington 14 years ago. Cain called her account “baseless, bogus and false” and said Bialek and three other women who have accused him of sexual harassment are part of a coordinated effort to attack his character and derail his campaign.
  
  “We are not going to allow Washington or politics to deny me the opportunity to represent this great nation,” Cain said, adding that he would be willing to take a lie-detector test. “As far as these accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdraw from this presidential primary race — ain’t gonna happen.”
  
  The controversy over the charges escalated just minutes before Cain’s news conference, when one of the previously anonymous women accusing him of inappropriate behavior decided to reveal her name after it appeared on news sites. She urged the other accusers to hold a news conference with her.
  
  Karen Kraushaar, 55, now a communications official for the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, filed a claim of sexual harassment against Cain when he headed the National Restaurant Association and she was an employee there in the 1990s. She received a payment when she left the organization, but Cain, who disputed the allegations at the time, was not a party to the agreement.
  
  “The reason sexual harassment is so difficult to prove is that workplace sexual predators try to make sure the victim is alone when the harassment takes place,” she wrote in an e-mail after Cain’s news conference.
- Herman Cain sex harassment questions not barred at Michigan debate tomorrow night – When Herman Cain debated Newt Gingrich solo in Texas over the weekend, questions about the sex harassment allegations from his NRA tenure were off-limits.
  Continue Reading
  But a CNBC spokesman tells me that the cable network has reserved the right to ask such questions at tomorrow’s debate in Michigan, which is supposed to be focused on the economy.
  
  “The debate will focus on jobs, taxes, the deficit and the health of our national economy, but there are no restrictions on questions,” spokesman Brian Steel wrote me in an email. “As for Herman Cain, he is scheduled to attend.”
  
  Asked whether the Cain campaign had requested any question restrictions, Steel said all conversations with the various campaigns are off the record and declined to say one way or the other.
- DeMint endorses Stenberg, sponsors fund-raising drive – Republican Senate candidate Don Stenberg on Tuesday got the endorsement he wanted.
  South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, sometimes described as a kingmaker for candidates seeking conservative support, said Stenberg is “a lifelong conservative with the principles, integrity and courage needed to stand up to the big spenders in both political parties in Washington.”
  Stenberg is “not only the strongest conservative in the race, but we also believe he’s the most electable,” DeMint said in a statement issued through his Senate Conservatives Fund website.
  The five-candidate 2012 GOP Senate field includes Attorney General Jon Bruning, state Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine, Pat Flynn of Schuyler and Spencer Zimmerman of Omaha.
  Stenberg, Nebraska’s state treasurer, is a candidate with strong name recognition numbers, but scarce financial support.
  A Senate candidate for the fourth time — he was the Republican nominee in 2000 — Stenberg entered October with $18,000 in campaign cash on hand compared to $1.6 million available to Bruning, the presumed Republican frontrunner.
- Ron Paul and the GOP’s third-party nightmare scenario – Ron Paul is a powerful man.
  The Texas Republican Congressman says he has no intention of launching an independent run for president if he loses the GOP presidential primary next year. But, if he happens to change his mind, polling suggests he could have a major impact on the identity of the next president.
  
  A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that an independent bid from Paul would garner 18 percent of the national vote. Perhaps more important, it would swing the popular vote toward President Obama by a large margin — 44 percent to 32 percent in a hypothetical three-way matchup that also includes former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
  
  In a head-to-head race with Romney, Obama leads by a far more narrow 49 percent to 43 percent.
  
  “Dr. Paul has strong crossover appeal, and could do very well as an independent,” Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton told The Fix. “He has, however, decided to remain in the GOP, as he has for over 20 years in Congress, and use that appeal to beat President Obama as the Republican nominee.”
  
  But, what if Paul doesn’t wind up as the GOP nominee? It’s not hard to see how a Paul third-party candidacy could create a nightmare scenario — albeit an unlikely one — for Republicans.
  
  As we’ve discussed previously on this blog, a third-party bid is a very difficult undertaking, and there are relatively few politicians — we’re thinking Paul, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and self-promoter Donald Trump here — who could actually pull it off. A politician essentially needs vast personal wealth, name recognition or an extremely devoted following — and ideally all three. And, even then, they have precious little chance of winning.
- Karen Kraushaar, second Cain accuser wants ‘joint press conference’ – A second woman — Karen Kraushaar, a communications official at the Treasury Department – has come forward to identify herself as a woman who says she was sexually harassed by Herman Cain.
  Kraushaar was one of the two women originally mentioned in a POLITICO story that appeared Oct. 30. Kraushaar and another employee of the National Restaurant Association had complained about Cain’s behavior to colleagues and senior officials at the NRA, and both women left the trade group with a cash settlement. Kraushaar received about $45,000.
  
  POLITICO initially had shielded Kraushaar’s identity to protect her privacy, but on Tuesday, Kraushaar agreed that her identity could be revealed.
  
  Kraushaar, 55, said in an interview with POLITICO that she would like to band together with the other three women accusing Cain of harassment.
  
  “That would be my preference, that we all go together in a joint press conference,” she said, noting that she’s turned down interview requests from a number of TV news shows.
  
  Kraushaar said she had not talked to the other women about such an idea and that such a plan would be executed by their attorneys.
  
  Now the spokesperson for IRS’s Inspector General, Kraushaar has worked as a career federal government official for different agencies in Washington. A Brown graduate, Kraushaar received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and began her career as a print journalist.
  
  On the details of Cain’s allegedly inappropriate behavior with the two women, POLITICO had a half-dozen sources shedding light on different aspects of the complaints.
- Poll: Cain favorability slips with Republicans as allegations mount – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room – Poll: Cain favorability slips with Republicans as allegations mount
- Poll: Cain favorability slips with Republicans as allegations mount – Forty percent of Republicans have a less favorable view of Herman Cain after watching the press conference in which Sheila Bialek accused the GOP presidential candidate of groping her in a car, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.
  39 percent of Republicans polled said they believe the allegations against the candidate are true. On Tuesday Cain accused Bialeck of lying, and said he doesn’t “remember knowing her.”
  
  While recent polls show that Cain continues to match up well against his GOP rivals, a Gallup poll released on Tuesday showed Cain’s “positive intensity score” has plummeted in the week’s since the sexual harassment allegations were first made public.
  
  Bialek is the fourth woman to accuse Cain of sexual harassment but the first to do so publicly. Cain has strongly denied the accusations, and his campaign responded by attacking Bialeck’s credibility on Tuesday, saying she has a “long and troubled” history.
- Herman Cain holds news conference on sexual harassment accusations (Live video, tweets) – Election 2012 – The Washington Post – RT @washingtonpost: Herman Cain now: “I tried to remember if I recognized her. And I didn’t.” #video
- Need To Know Videos – NationalJournal.com – RT @nationaljournal: Cain: The charges, and accusations, I absolutely reject. They simply didn’t happen.
- (403) http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/08/nbc-to-air-the-biggest-loser-where-are-they-now-special-on-wed – (403) …
- President 2012: Let’s Get this Done | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Let’s Get this Done #tcot #catcot
- (403) http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/08/nbc-to-air-the-biggest-loser-where-are-they-now-special-on-wednesday-november-23/110032/?&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter – NBC to Air ‘The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now” Special on Wednesday, November 23
- NBC to Air ‘The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now” Special on Wednesday, November 23 – November 8, 2011 – It’s an inspiring Thanksgiving special unlike any before on “The Biggest Loser,” when the holiday treat “The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now?” premieres on Wednesday, November 23 (9-11 p.m. ET). Viewers can catch up with some of their favorite contestants from past seasons of the series, but they’ll also be treated for the first time ever to hilarious bloopers featuring the trainers, host Alison Sweeney and the contestants.
  Alison Sweeney hosts the special, filmed before a live audience, and trainers Bob Harper, Anna Kournikova and Dolvett Quince will all be on hand to share their thoughts about the current season of the show. Cameras will also follow trainer Bob Harper through “a day in the life.” And a blooper reel adds to the fun, giving viewers a backstage pass to some of the funniest behind-the-scenes moments with the host, trainers and season 12 contestants.
  
  One contestant makes a big surprise announcement, and another shares her emotional story of competing in one of the most difficult competitions in the world. And “The Biggest Loser” family comes together to help one of their own – season nine contestant Sam Poueu – and give an update on his condition following his terrible accident. Plus, cooking expert Aida Mollenkamp will prepare a healthy Thanksgiving feast for the trainers and past season contestants, and share great cooking tips as well.
  
  Fan favorites like Abby Rike (season eight), Tara Costa (season seven), O’Neal Hampton (season nine) and season five winner Ali Vincent will reveal what they are up to now, along with season eight champ Danny Cahill and season 11 winner Olivia Ward. Viewers can also catch up with Hannah Curlee (season 11) and Jesse Atkins (season 10) as well as other popular players like season seven’s Sione Fa and Jerry and Estella Hayes, who give their updates via personal videos.
  
  I attended the taping!
- Cain surrogate warns “elites in conservative media” – Niger Innis, the national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality and a “volunteer adviser” for Herman Cain’s campaign, goes on Fox News to attack a group that hasn’t been terribly sympathetic to Cain’s woes — the “elites in the conservative media.”
  “I would caution Karl [Rove], I would caution members of the conservative elite that sexual harassment today is being used as a powerful, political weapon the same way that the race card today is used as a powerful, political weapon.
  
  And I would caution these elites in the conservative media, as well as in the liberal media: do you really think it’s just going to end — this political tool — with Herman Cain? I caution them to be careful about what they say.”
  
  A little risky. Cain needs all the friends he can get right now, and this won’t make an already leery portion of the media think more hospitably of him.
  
  By the way, here’s some more small evidence of the Cain campaign’s notoriously inept handling of all this.
  
  At the beginning of the interview, Innis takes care to say he’s not speaking for the Cain campaign, but Fox News host Jon Scott later objected, saying that Fox News was told he was speaking for the campaign. By the end of the chat, it was unclear whom Innis was actually speaking for.
- Herman Cain accuser has history of financial troubles, legal squabbles – The emerging portrait of Herman Cain’s most recent accuser shows a suburban homemaker with a history of financial and legal troubles, but one who supporters say has the guts to do the right thing.
  Sharon Bialek, 50, is the fourth woman — and the first publicly — to accuse the Republican presidential hopeful of sexual harassment. In a dramatic news conference Monday in New York, Bialek, a former employee of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, said she had sought Cain’s help in finding a new job in July 1997 shortly after the organization had fired her.
  
  Instead, Bialek said, Cain, who was then head of the restaurant association, reached under her skirt while the two were seated in a parked car and attempted to move her head toward his crotch. Cain’s campaign quickly issued a denial, calling her allegations “completely false.”
  
  Bialek said she shared her allegations with her then-boyfriend and another male friend shortly after her meeting with Cain. However, the man she is now engaged to said she did not tell him about her history with the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO until Friday night, when she told him she was going to New York for the news conference.
  
  Her fiance, Mark Harwood, said he was in “a bit of shock” but admired her decision to come forward.
  
  “It’s not an anti-political thing. It’s not a money thing,” said Harwood, who shares a large, five-bedroom home with Bialek in north suburban Mundelein. “She’s just trying to do the right thing, and that takes guts.”
- Cain attacks accuser, cites woman’s ‘long and troubled history’ – Herman Cain’s campaign on Tuesday challenged the credibility of Sharon Bialek, who has publicly accused the GOP presidential candidate of making an unwanted sexual advance.
  The campaign released a memo to the press detailing what it characterized as Bialek’s “long and troubled” history, including a 1999 paternity dispute, to argue the public should trust Cain over his latest accuser.
  
  “In stark contrast to Mr. Cain’s four decades spent climbing the corporate ladder rising to the level of CEO at multiple successful business enterprises, Ms. Bialek has taken a far different path,” the Cain release said.
  
  “The fact is that Ms. Bialek has had a long and troubled history, from the courts to personal finances – which may help explain why she has come forward 14 years after an alleged incident with Mr. Cain, powered by celebrity attorney and long term Democrat donor Gloria Allred.”
  
  The Cain campaign goes after Bialek’s employment history and legal record in making its case against her. It lists six civil lawsuits against Bialek, and suggests she has had a troubled worklife.
  
  “Ms. Bialek has worked for nine employers over the last seventeen years,” the campaign writes.
  
  Bialek on Monday held a New York press conference to highlight an incident in 1997 in which she said Cain sexually harassed and attempted to grope her. Cain has denied the charges.
  
  At the time, Cain headed the National Restaurant Association, where Bialek worked for a short time in 1996 and 1997.
  
  Bialek said she approached Cain for help in finding another job after she left the National Restaurant Association.
  
  With Allred at her side, Bialek said Cain, after a dinner in Washington, had put his hand under her skirt and reached for her genitals. She also said Cain had taken her head and moved it toward his crotch.
  
  When Bialek asked Cain to top, she said Cain said, “You want a job, right?”
- Herman Cain campaign launches attack on accuser Sharon Bialek – Alexander Burns – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: From @aburnspolitico: The Cain camp launches a lengthy attack via email on Sharon Bialek —
- The Morning Flap: November 8, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 8, 2011 #tcot #catcot
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The Morning Flap: November 8, 2011

November 8, 2011 /
These are my links for November 7th through November 8th:
- Cain Accuser: ‘SHE IS VERY RELIABLE’ – Herman Cain claims sexual harassment accusations threatening to derail his presidential campaign are a smear campaign. But friends and family of one accuser say she is a principled and dedicated professional who was only trying to right a wrong no woman should suffer in the workplace.
  Karen Kraushaar, a 55-year-old former journalist and seasoned government spokeswoman who served on the front lines of the Elian Gonzalez custody battle, is a competitive equestrian and lover of golden retrievers. She has been married for more than two decades.
  
  “She wouldn’t be the type to make false allegations,” brother-in-law Ned Kraushaar, a Georgia software consultant, told The Daily. “This happened [more than] 10 years ago. It’s not like she wanted to try and hurt the Republican Party.”
  
  Karen Kraushaar currently serves as a communications director at the Inspector General’s Office of the Treasury Department, a position she has held since last year. She did not return phone messages left by The Daily.
  
  She is “an extraordinarily good person,” said Jennie Williams, a friend and Atlanta equestrian. “She is very reliable and has lots of integrity. I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to know. Enough is enough. She is quality.”
  
  A former colleague at the National Restaurant Association who asked not to be identified said of Kraushaar, “The woman is a consummate professional. What I saw was an extremely talented woman. A professional, knowledgeable woman and nothing more.”On Oct. 30, Politico first reported that two women had accused Cain, who leads many polls in the Republican presidential race, of inappropriate comments and sexual advances in the 1990s. A fourth woman, Sharon Bialek, came forward yesterday, flanked by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred.
  
  Kraushaar, who lives in Maryland, has no desire to speak publicly about the complaint she filed against Cain, letting her superiors know “about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO,” her attorney, Joel Bennett, said recently.
- Mitt Romney Winning Fundraising Contest For Bush, McCain Bundlers – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the crucial race for big-money fundraisers in the Republican presidential primary. Since April, he has received contributions from 204 donors who previously bundled millions of dollars for the campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain.
  Romney is trouncing the rest of the field in winning the support of these influential party insiders. He has raised $798,987 in campaign contributions from the 204 bundlers and their families. His closest competitor in this race is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has raised $231,400 from 59 bundlers and their families.
  
  “People in the Republican Party who are good fundraisers, good bundlers, want someone who can win and someone they can trust,” said Lawrence Finder, a Houston-based partner at the law firm Haynes and Boone who raised more than $500,000 for the McCain campaign and now backs Romney. “I think that’s why they’re gravitating towards Romney.”
  
  Bundlers are donors who raise money for campaigns by tapping their own networks of friends, relations and co-workers. Campaigns routinely offer bundlers incentives for their fundraising, including special access to the campaign and involvement in strategy. But the real prize comes if the candidate wins the White House. Traditionally, a number of plum positions, including ambassadorships, go to supporters who helped raise the most money.
  
  Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said it’s no surprise that Romney leads the Republican field in this crucial contest.
  
  “This is smart money,” Sabato explained. “These are people who know what they’re doing. They’ve assessed the candidates well. Many of them are in the influence business, and they don’t like backing losers. It hurts their business.”
  
  Bundlers giving to Romney include hotel magnate John Marriott, senior-community owner H. Gary Morse, lobbyist Wayne Berman and Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard, who also serves as Romney’s Florida finance co-chair.
- NJ Gov. Christie heads to NH to campaign for Mitt Romney – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will make his first surrogate campaign appearance for presidential candidate Mitt Romney in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
  The Granite Status has learned that Christie will make two public stops in the Granite State before heading to Boston for a debate-watching party at Romney’s national headquarters.
  
  We’ve also learned that Romney has picked up the endorsement of prominent Nashua businessman and former state Republican Party Chairman John Stabile, who will host Christie at a house party.
  
  A week after announcing that he would not be a candidate for President, Christie endorsed Romney on Oct. 11 at Dartmouth College prior to a presidential candidates’ debate.
  
  Wednesday’s visit will be the first time Christie will go on the road for Romney since the announcement. Romney’s campaign emphasized that while Christie will campaign across the country for Romney, his first stop on Romney’s behalf will be in New Hampshire.
  
  Christie will visit Romney’s Manchester campaign headquarters at 361 Elm St., at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. He will then head to Stabile’s home in Nashua for a house party that evening.
  
  Christie will then go to Boston to watch the Michigan debate with the winner of a Romney campaign contest. He is the “special guest” the campaign advertised in soliciting small donations.
  
  Stabile, meanwhile, becomes the fifth former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party to back Romney, joining John H. and Nancy Sununu, Donna Sytek, and Jerry Carmen.
- Former President Bill Clinton headed to Las Vegas to campaign for Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley – Former President Bill Clinton is bringing his political star power to Las Vegas to campaign for Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.
  Clinton is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Berkley on Jan. 7 in Las Vegas.
  
  Berkley is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Dean Heller in next year’s U.S. Senate race. The contest is considered one of the most important in the nation because it could determine whether Democrats keep control of the Senate.
  
  Clinton is no stranger to Las Vegas. He campaigned here last year for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid, the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid lost to Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval.
  
  Berkley is known as a fierce fundraiser. She raised $1.2 million in the last fundraising quarter, compared to Heller’s $675,000 campaign haul.
- 39% Think Cain Allegations True, 24% False – Americans who have heard about the sexual harassment allegations against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, on balance, think they are true rather than false. At the same time, a plurality thinks that recent coverage of Cain has been fair.
  Three-quarters of the public say they have heard a lot (51%) or a little (24%) about accusations that Cain harassed several women during his tenure in the late 1990s as president of the National Restaurant Association.
  
  Of those who had heard about the allegations, about four-in-ten (39%) say that, from what they have read and heard, they think the allegations are true. Roughly a quarter (24%) say they think the claims are false, according to the latest weekly survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Nov. 3-6 among 1,005 adults. Another 36% say they do not know (31%) or refuse to answer (5%). The survey was completed before a Chicago woman went public with a new accusation against Cain on Monday.
- Video: Carly Fiorina Speaks at Americans United for Life 40th Anniversary Gala | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: Carly Fiorina Speaks at Americans United for Life 40th Anniversary Gala #tcot #catcot
- Day By Day November 8, 2011 – Tech Support | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day November 8, 2011 – Tech Support #tcot #catcot
- Gingrich Gains 21 Points on Obama among Independents | The Weekly Standard – Gingrich Gains 21 Points on Obama among Independents |
- Gingrich Gains 21 Points on Obama among Independents | – Three weeks ago, Rasmussen’s poll of likely voters showed Speaker Newt Gingrich trailing President Barack Obama by a whopping 27 percentage points (51 to 24 percent) among independent voters. Now, Rasmussen shows, Obama’s lead over Gingrich has shrunk to just 6 points (41 to 35 percent) among independents. Obama also leads Gingrich by 6 points (44 to 38 percent) among all likely voters.
- Cain Visits Jimmy Kimmel; Will Address 4th Accuser in Presser Tuesday – In the midst of a barrage sexual harassment allegations, including a fourth accuser speaking out, Herman Cain made an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC.
  Kimmel devoted much of his opening monologue Monday to the allegations made by Sharon Bialek, who is the latest woman to accuse Cain of sexual harassment during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association, and the first woman to come forward publicly in a press conference.
  “Well all things considered, I’m still alive. It got off to somewhat of a rough start. We had a little surprise show up on TV,” Cain said.
- Report: Cain sought dinner date with fifth woman – A former USAID worker claims Herman Cain asked her to set up dinner with a woman who attended a speech he gave in 2002, the Washington Examiner is reporting tonight.
  The worker — 40-year-old Donna Donella, of Arlington, Va. — told the paper that the moment came after Cain gave a paid speech in Egypt that year. A woman in the crowd posed a query to Cain during the speech, the Examiner said.
  
  Continue Reading
  Donella told them: “And after the seminar was over, Cain came over to me and a colleague and said, ‘Could you put me in touch with that lovely young lady who asked the question, so I can give her a more thorough answer over dinner?’”
  
  She was “suspicious of Cain’s motives and delined to set up the date,” the Examiner reporter wrote.
  
  That prompted Cain to reply, “Then you and I can have dinner.” Instead, some of Donella’s co-workers suggested a group outing.
  
  “I couldn’t swear that he had some untoward intentions, but we all thought his tone was suspect and we didn’t feel comfortable putting him in touch with that woman,” Donella, whom the Examiner identified as an independent who voted for President Barack Obama in the last election, was quoted as saying.
  
  She said she didn’t witness any “inappropriate sexual behavior” at the group dinner. But she claimed he asked the waiter for two $400 bottles of wine, and then stiffed the rest of the group when it came time to pay.
- Fifth woman raises questions about Cain’s behavior | – A former employee of the United States Agency for International Development says Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain asked her to help arrange a dinner date for him with a female audience member following a speech he delivered nine years ago.
  Donna Donella, 40, of Arlington, said the USAID paid Cain to deliver a speech to businessmen and women in Egypt in 2002, during which an Egyptian businesswoman in her 30s asked Cain a question.
  
  “And after the seminar was over,” Donella told The Washington Examiner, “Cain came over to me and a colleague and said, ‘Could you put me in touch with that lovely young lady who asked the question, so I can give her a more thorough answer over dinner?'”
  
  Donella, who no longer works for USAID, said they were suspicious of Cain’s motives and declined to set up the date. Cain responded, “Then you and I can have dinner.” That’s when two female colleagues intervened and suggested they all go to dinner together, Donella said.
  
  Cain exhibited no inappropriate sexual behavior during the dinner, though he did order two $400 bottles of wine and stuck the women with the bill, she said.
  
  The next time the women heard from Cain was Christmas, when he sent them his gospel CD
- (404) http://t.co/nky9qAVH%E2%80%9D – > Indeed congrats Mindy RT @KevinMaddenDC Congrats to @mindyfinn …
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-08 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-11-08 #tcot #catcot
- President 2012: Congressional Supercommittees – Deal or No Deal? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Congressional Supercommittees – Deal or No Deal? #tcot #catcot
- Cain emails his list: ‘Media obsessed’ with harassment story – Maggie Haberman – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: Herman Cain emails his list, says the media is “obsessed” with the harassment story:
- Intrade – Markets – More Intrade: Romney 70% chance he wins GOP Presidential nomination; Perry 10%, Newt 8% #tcot
- Intrade – Herman Cain to be Republican Presidential Nominee in 2012 is 3.0% probable – FWIW: Intrade has Herman Cain at 3% chance of winning GOP Presidential nomination down almost 55% #tcot
- CA-Sen: Will Rep. Devin Nunes Run Against Senator Dianne Feinstein? » Flap’s California Blog – CA-Sen: Will Rep. Devin Nunes Run Against Senator Dianne Feinstein?
- Federal Judge Blocks Graphic Ads on Cigarette Packages | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Federal Judge Blocks Graphic Ads on Cigarette Packages
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Are Vintage Football Helmets as Protective as Modern Helmets? – Are Vintage Football Helmets as Protective as Modern Helmets?
- Accuser Details Lewd Behavior by Cain – NYTimes.com – Accuser Details Lewd Behavior by Cain – Attorney Says Corroborates Claim
- The Afternoon Flap: November 7, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Afternoon Flap: November 7, 2011 #tcot #catcot
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The Morning Flap: November 7, 2011

November 7, 2011 /
These are my morning flap links for November 7th:
- Contact Your Senator: This Week We Overturn Obama Administration Net Neutrality Internet Power Grab – From most appearances, the Senate will this week vote on Senate Joint Resolution (S.J.Res) 6 – the Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval of the Obama Administration Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s illegal Internet Net Neutrality power grab.
  Only 51 votes are required for passage – which means only 4 Democrats are needed. There are 23 Democrat Senate seats up for reelection next year. A few of these folks aren’t running. The rest are – many in Center or Center-Right states. Additionally. there are a few other Senators that should also be subject to Constitutional reason, and thusly contacted.
  
  Behold a list of some of these Senators – and their contact information. Reach out and tell them to vote Yes on S.J.Res 6. And Tweet it all out – with the hashtag #freethenet.
- Gallegly one of targeted 25 in new DCCC radio ads – One year before Election Day 2012, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched radio ads in the districts of 25 targeted Republicans nationwide, including Rep. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley.
  The extent of the buy was not divulged, but Republican operatives told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that they believed the buy was very minimal — an attempt to gain some news coverage, rather than actually make impressions on voters with repetitive ads on multiple stations.
  
  Gallegly — who has not yet announced whether he intends to run for re-election — would most likely run in the new 26th Congressional District, which includes all of Ventura County except for most of the city of Simi Valley and small coastal strip in the city of Ventura. The voting makeup and history of that district suggest it is one that Democrats can classify as a “pickup” — one in which most the territory is now represented by Gallegly and could be won by a Democrat in the fall. If Democrats win 25 such districts nationally next year and hold onto the seats they now hold, they will regain majority control of the House of Representatives.
  
  The inclusion of Gallegly in the 25 selected targets is the latest evidence that the new district will put Ventura County squarely on the map in national congressional campaign politics next fall.
- Best College Majors for a Career – Choosing the right college major can make a big difference in students’ career prospects, in terms of employment and pay. Here’s a look at how various college majors fare in the job market, based on 2010 Census data. Some popular majors, such as nursing and finance, do particularly well, with unemployment under 5% and high salaries during the course of their careers.
- New Woman Accusing Herman Cain Of Sexual Harassment Hires Gloria Allred – A new woman alleging sexual harassment by presidential hopeful Herman Cain will break her silence at a news conference with her powerhouse attorney Gloria Allred Monday afternoon in New York City, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
  The embattled GOP nominee has admitted that several women who worked at the National Restaurant Association during his tenure as president of the organization received settlements. Politico has reported that the settlements were given because of sexual harassment allegations.
  
  PHOTOS: Celebrity Cheaters
  
  The woman, who will be the first to go public on Monday, sought Cain’s help with an employment issue and was allegedly sexually harassed by him. Allred and her client will discuss, in detail, what she alleges occurred with Cain.
  
  The Tea Party darling had hoped the scandal would die down, but that’s not happening. Once again, he clashed with reporters on Saturday night after a debate with Newt Gingrich. Cain refused to answer questions about the allegations, and said, “You see what I mean? I was gonna do something that my staff told me not to do and try to respond, okay? What I’m saying is this — we are getting back on message, end of story. Back on message. Read all of the other accounts. Read all of the other accounts where everything has been answered in the story. We’re getting back on message, okay?”
- President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Cain Leads in Iowa, Gingrich Surges – A new We Ask America poll in Iowa finds Herman Cain leading the GOP presidential field with 22%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 18%, Mitt Romney at 15%, and Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 11%.
  No other candidate gets more than 5%.
  
  Here comes Newt.
- Romney Will Play in Iowa – The Hotline: “After months of debate inside the Romney camp over whether to compete in Iowa, it seems the decision has been made: Romney will play in Iowa, and he will play to win. The most recent evidence: Romney will hold campaign events Monday in Iowa, his second trip in three weeks after visiting the state only twice in the previous 12 months; His son Josh and wife Ann have quietly canvassed the state in recent weeks, and both have campaigned vigorously there for the Republican candidate in a crucial state Senate race; and Romney just launched aggressive robocalls in Iowa attacking Perry over his immigration policies, throwing the first punch in what could be a heavyweight Hawkeye State bout.”
  “The question is no longer whether Romney competes in Iowa; the question is how much time and money he’ll invest in the state that so wounded his candidacy in 2008.”
- Byron York: Why Santorum runs – If sheer effort determined the winner of the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum would win in a walk. His stop in Fairfield marks the 97th Iowa county Santorum has visited in his run for the Republican presidential nomination. The state has 99 counties in all, and before this day is over, Santorum will reach his goal of visiting them all. None of Santorum’s rivals has even come close.
  The problem is Santorum isn’t close to the lead here in Iowa. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, he is the choice of 3.5 percent of Iowa Republicans — seventh in a field of eight candidates. No matter who has led the field — Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain — Santorum has stayed near the bottom.
  
  Yet Santorum is the most powerful voice on behalf of the conservative social positions that many Iowa Republicans hold dear. It’s his bad luck to be running in a year dominated by economic concerns and to face opponents who more or less share his views on social issues but are perceived as stronger candidates on economic matters. Santorum is stuck in a moment that’s just not made for him.
  
  It’s a problem Santorum has struggled with, and he’s come up with two ways to address it. The first is by talking about the economy in a way that is unique among Republican candidates. And the second is by arguing that economic recovery and economic strength simply aren’t possible without the emphasis on strong families that has been a key part of his campaign.
- Report: Pentagon Weighing Base Closures, Military Benefits in Face of Budget Cuts – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an effort to find $450 billion to cut from the Pentagon’s budget, is considering wide-ranging measures that could include base closures, hikes in the cost of military health insurance, and possible cuts in retirement pay, The New York Times reported Sunday.
  Panetta’s comments about budget reductions come nearly three weeks before the so-called congressional super committee reaches a key deadline. The Pentagon stands to see $600 billion in automatic cuts if the committee does not come up with an alternative plan.
  
  “There will be some huge political challenges,” Panetta told the Times in an interview that took place Friday. “When you reduce defense spending, there’s likely to be base closures, possible reduction in air wings,” he said.
  
  The days of a counterinsurgency-focused force might be coming to a close.
  
  The Times reported that Panetta “did not envision maintaining a ground force large enough to conduct a long, bloody war and then stability operations in North Korea or Iran, as the United States did in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
  
  Among the proposals he was considering, Panetta told the Times that the Pentagon was considering raising fees for the military’s health insurance program. Military retirees and families, who are guaranteed the military benefit for life, pay only $460 a year in fees, the Times said.
- Romney, seen as most electable, still struggles to break out of pack, poll shows – Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has a significant advantage over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in only one area — electability — and will approach the next round of candidate debates with several potential liabilities, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
  Often described as the candidate to beat in the GOP race, Romney remains stuck in place in national polls — he is at 24 percent in the Post-ABC survey — despite the fact that one of his main challengers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has stumbled and several high-profile potential candidates decided not to enter the race to challenge President Obama.
- IAEA says foreign expertise has brought Iran to threshold of nuclear capability – Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings.
  Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added.
- Census: 49 million in poverty – New estimates released Monday show that the number of Americans living in poverty was higher than previously estimated, and stands at 49.1 million, according to the Census Bureau.
  The nearly-50 million people who live below the poverty line represents 16 percent of all Americans.
  
  The numbers that were released were adjustments to the official 2010 poverty figures of 46.2 million, or 15.1 percent of Americans, that were released in September. The supplemental figure is higher than the official figure because it considers higher costs of living on expenses that aren’t factored into the official rate.
  
  Hispanic poverty rose to 28.2 percent, affecting 14.1 million, surpassing that of blacks for the first time. Still, 9.9 million African-Americans suffered from poverty, a rate of 25.4 percent. The Asian poverty rate was 16.7 percent, affecting 2.4 million people.
  
  Meanwhile, non-Hispanic whites had a lower poverty rate of 11.1 percent, or 21.9 million people.
- Flap’s Blog.Com Links and Comments for November 6th through November 7th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for November 6th through November 7th #tcot #catcot
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Pinboard Links, The Sunday Flap

The Sunday Flap: November 6, 2011

November 6, 2011 /
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
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  :: 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
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- 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
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Pinboard Links, The Afternoon Flap

The Afternoon Flap: November 4, 2011

November 4, 2011 /
These are my links for November 4th PM.
- Cain accuser stands by sexual harassment complaint– One of the women who accused Republican presidential contender Herman Cain of sexual harassment released a statement through her lawyer Friday stating that she “stands by” her complaint, which was made “in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances.”There was “more than one incident” of harassment involving Cain and his client over the span of a couple of months in 1999, attorney Joel Bennett said.
  Bennett said his client, married for 26 years, will not reveal her identity because “she and her husband see no value in revisiting this matter now nor in discussing the matter any further publicly or privately.”
  
  “In fact,” he added, “it would be extremely painful for her to do so.”
  
  Bennett released the statement after reaching an agreement to do so with the National Restaurant Association, the organization headed by Cain during the time of the alleged harassment. The group had reached an agreement with the alleged victim that included a series of confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions.
  
  Dawn Sweeney, the current head of the association, issued a statement confirming that in July 1999, Bennett’s client “filed a formal internal complaint, in accordance with the association’s existing policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment.”
  
  Cain, she noted, “disputed the allegations in the complaint.”
  
  The controversy has dominated Cain’s front-running campaign for the past week. A defiant Cain insists he did nothing wrong, and will not let the issue deter him.
  
  For its part, Cain’s campaign said earlier Friday it is considering filing a lawsuit against Politico, the news organization which broke the harassment story last Sunday.
- Laura Richardson to be proved by House Ethics Committee– The House Ethics Committee has approved a full-scale investigation into allegations against Rep. Laura Richardson, rejecting the California Democrat’s efforts to head off the probe.The decision is a serious blow to Richardson’s already troubled reelection chances in 2012. And it also likely to reignite the debate in some circles whether African-American lawmakers are targeted for ethical or criminal probes at a higher rate than their white counterparts. Richardson raised the race issue in a statement Friday, saying she would explore whether the Ethics Committee “has engaged in discriminatory conduct.”
- State of the blogosphere 2011: Using social networks for self-promotion – For its annual look at the blogging world, Technorati surveyed 4,114 bloggers in 45 countries. This year, the focus was on why and how they blog, their connections with brands and how they use social media.
  Meet the bloggersThose surveyed are mostly hobbyists (61 percent) who don’t post daily. In fact, only 11 percent of surveyed bloggers were posting on a daily basis. Thirteen percent of bloggers are doing it for extra income on the side, and only 5 percent are bonafide professional full-timers bloggers. Of the pros, 37 percent say it makes up the majority of their income. The remainder of the bloggers are doing it to promote a brand or company — 13 percent are entrepreneurs and 8 percent are corporate.
  
  For the most part, the bloggers are educated, married parents between 25 and 44 years old. Though still mostly male (59 percent), there was a gender shift from last year when 64 percent were men.
  
  Eighty percent have been blogging for over two years, and half for over four years. Bloggers are juggling an average of three different blogs, up from two last year. It’s interesting that bloggers are maintaining or increasing the amount of time they put into their blogs after launching, instead of losing interest or moving onto the next new thing.
- Another poll shows Gingrich on the rise– If you need more evidence that Newt Gingrich’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination is on the rise, check out a new poll by ABC News and the Washington Post.According to the survey, out Friday morning, 12% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they support the former House Speaker for their party’s presidential nomination. That’s up five points from one month ago. Gingrich is in fourth place in the new poll, one percentage point behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
  Gingrich was in third place at 10% support in a Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday, up seven points from late August. He stands at 12% in a recent Fox News Poll and at 10% in a recent CBS/New York Times survey.
  
  And it’s not just national polling. In Iowa, the first state to vote in the primary and caucus calendar, Gingrich is in fourth place, at 10%, according to a recent CNN/Time/ORC International Poll of registered Republicans.
  
  Gingrich’s campaign was left for dead by many in late spring, after a number of top advisers and staffers quit and the campaign faced financial difficulties.
  
  But the former House Speaker has performed well in eight presidential debates held this year, acting as the elder statesman while many of his rivals for the nomination attacked each other. And his fundraising appears to be picking up. Gingrich says he raised more money in October than the $800,000 he brought in during the previous three months.
- House to launch ethics investigation of Rep. Laura Richardson– The House Ethics Committee voted Thursday to launch an investigation into whether Rep. Laura Richardson pressured her congressional staff to work on her campaign, adding to her political troubles as she faces a tough reelection campaign next year.The investigation is expected to be announced Friday. The panel, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, largely operates in secret. Members voted unanimously to form a four-member investigative subcommittee — with power to subpoena witnesses and documents — to examine whether the Long Beach Democrat violated House standards of conduct. The investigation is likely to take months.
  A source familiar with the preliminary inquiry discussed it on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. At least eight current and former Richardson staff members told investigators they felt compelled to work on her 2010 reelection campaign on their own time, the source said. Some said House resources, such as congressional phones and copying machines, were used in the campaign, the source said.
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