• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: August 1, 2012

    August 1, 2012 /

    These are my links for July 30th through August 1st:

  • Pinboard Links,  The Afternoon Flap

    The Afternoon Flap: July 30, 2012

    July 30, 2012 /

    Ann Romney, former Poland President Lech Walesa and Mitt Romney

    These are my links for July 27th through July 30th:

    • A Trip to Poland, With an Eye on Swing States– Mitt Romney’s arrival in Poland on Monday provides an opportunity for the Republican candidate to embrace the ideals and values of one of America’s closest allies in front of a global audience.His campaign hopes they are watching in the Rust Belt.Mr. Romney arrived in Gdansk for the start of two days of talks with Polish leaders, to be capped off by remarks from Warsaw on Tuesday. Aides have signaled that he will focus on the relationship between the two countries and strategic concerns about Russia.But at home — where votes count — the trip’s imagery may be more important than the specifics of Mr. Romney’s policy pronouncements.
      Polish voters make up large chunks of the electorate in several swing states that Mr. Romney must win if he wants to capture the White House in November. His campaign is clearly hoping that the high-profile visit this week will help woo those voters.
    • Walesa Endorses Romney– Lech Walesa today endorsed Mitt Romney for president, saying he hoped the Republican presidential candidate is “successful.”From the pool report:Flash: Lech Walesa, the Nobel Prize winner and former Polish president, has effectively endorsed RomneyYour pool was brought in at the end of the meeting and heard Walesa say the below thru a translator:

      Walesa: “I wish you to be successful because this success is needed to the United States, of course, but to Europe and the rest of the world, too. Gov Romney, get your success — be successful!”

    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 30, 2012 – Flapsblog.org – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 30, 2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 30, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 30, 2012
    • Poll Watch: Presidential To Do List – Jobs and Government Corruption – Poll Watch: Presidential To Do List – Jobs and Government Corruption
    • Day By Day July 30, 2012 – Normal – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day July 30, 2012 – Normal
    • Cheney: Obama Worse Than Carter – One of Our Weakest Presidents – Cheney: Obama Worse Than Carter – One of Our Weakest Presidents
    • Obama Canceled Bin Laden Raid Three Times at Urging of Valerie Jarrett – Obama Canceled Bin Laden Raid Three Times at Urging of Valerie Jarrett
    • 2012 Campaign Very Different Than Kerry vs. Bush– Does the 2012 campaign look a lot like the 2004 campaign? Many Democrats think so.And there are some resemblances. As in 2004, current polling suggests a close race and shows only about a dozen states in contention.As in 2004, the incumbent has been running negative ads against the challenger, hoping to disqualify him as Bill Clinton disqualified Bob Dole in 1996. Many Democrats think that Barack Obama’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business career will have the same effect that they think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads had on John Kerry in 2004.But, as William Galston of the Brookings Institution, an alumnus of the Clinton White House, writes in The New Republic, “the evidence in favor of all these propositions is remarkably thin.”

      Galston points out that in 2004 no single issue was as prominent as the economy is this year and that on most significant issues George W. Bush had a clear edge by the end of the campaign. He cites polling evidence that the Swift Boat ads hurt Kerry less than did Bush ads replaying his March statement that “I did actually vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

      Also, he points out that many more voters this year think the nation is seriously off on the wrong track and that the economy is in trouble. Obama’s job rating now is weaker than Bush’s was then.

      Galston, as usual, is on target. His analysis tracks with the statement of Democratic pollster Peter Hart (for whom I worked from 1974 to 1981) that Obama’s chances are “no better than 50 percent.”

    • GOP 12: VIDEO: McCain hammers Cheney for Palin comments – RT @CPHeinze Wow — McCain pulls out the torture card on Dick Cheney after being asked about his Palin comments.
    • U.S. crackdown on online-poker companies forces many players to flee the country– From his oceanfront balcony, Tyler Forrester glanced out at the Pacific surf on the beach. Palm trees rustled in the breeze.“Tough life I’m living,” Forrester said, cackling at his own humor.Forrester, 28, makes his living in a bedroom before two computer monitors playing online games of Texas Hold ’Em for hours on end. He’s a professional poker player, and a very successful one at that.Forrester, who grew up in Dillon, Mont., is one of probably 150 American professional online-poker players who flooded Costa Rica after U.S. federal prosecutors went after the founders of the three largest online-poker companies.
    • Paul Ryan’s Influence on the G.O.P. – ne day in March, 2009, two months after the Inauguration of President Obama, Representative Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, sat behind a small table in a cramped meeting space in his Capitol Hill office. Hunched forward in his chair, he rattled off well-rehearsed critiques of the new President’s policies and America’s lurch toward a “European” style of government. Ryan’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all died before their sixtieth birthdays, so Ryan, who is now forty-two, could be forgiven if he seemed like a man in a hurry. Tall and wiry, with a puff of wavy dark hair, he is nearly as well known in Washington for his punishing early-morning workouts as he is for his mastery of the federal budget. Asked to explain his opposition to Obama’s newly released budget, he replied, “I don’t have that much time.”
    • Cheney: Obama worse than Carter, ‘one of our weakest presidents’– Former Vice President Dick Cheney, in his first interview since a heart transplant operation in March, blasted President Obama calling him “one of our weakest presidents.”“Obviously, I’m not a big fan of President Obama,” said Cheney in an excerpt from an interview with ABC News aired Monday on “Good Morning America.” “I think he’s been one of our weakest presidents. I fundamentally disagree with him philosophically, be hard put to find any Democratic president I disagree with more.”Asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl if Obama was “worse than Jimmy Carter in your perspective,” Cheney responded “yes.”
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30
    • Bill Clinton to Have Marquee Role at Democratic Convention– Former President Bill Clinton is set to play a central part in the Democratic convention, aides said, and will formally place President Obama’s name into nomination by delivering a prime-time speech designed to present a forceful economic argument for why Mr. Obama deserves to win a second term.The prominent role of Mr. Clinton, which is scheduled to be announced on Monday, signals an effort by the Obama campaign to pull out all the stops to rally Democrats when they gather for their party’s national convention in Charlotte, N.C. An even more important audience will be the voters across the country who will see the address carried by television networks
    • Voters say Romney, Obama equal on issues of character– Mitt Romney holds thin advantages over President Obama on leadership, personal values and honesty, according to a new poll for The Hill.The poll, conducted for The Hill by Pulse Opinion Research, suggests voters see little difference between the candidates on character issues that Democrats have cited as key to Obama’s appeal.It found 48 percent of voters consider Romney the stronger leader, compared to 44 percent who favored Obama.
    • Americans Want Next President to Prioritize Jobs, Corruption – Creating good jobs, reducing corruption in the federal government, and reducing the federal budget deficit score highest when Americans rate 12 issues as priorities for the next president to address. Americans assign much less importance to increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and dealing with environmental concerns.
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-30
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Capitol Alert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative – As if these taxes will do anything RT @CapitolAlert: California Democratic Party endorses Jerry Brown tax initiative
    • Cheney: Choosing Sarah Palin as Vice President Nominee Was a Mistake – Cheney: Choosing Sarah Palin as Vice President Nominee Was a Mistake
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-29
    • Sports / Muhammed Ali at the 2012 London Olympics – Muhammed Ali at the 2012 London Olympics
    • Sports / Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte shows off his American flag grills and gold medal after winning the Men’s 400m Individual Medley for the U.S. at the London 2012 Olympics Aquatic Center. – Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte shows off his American flag grills and gold medal after winning th
    • Sports / My Great Aunt Babe and the Javelin at 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She wins the Gold Medal – My Great Aunt Babe and the Javelin at 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She wins the Gold Medal
    • Sports / A photo of my Great Aunt Babe during the 1932 Olympics. She won gold in the javelin. – A photo of my Great Aunt Babe during the 1932 Olympics. She won gold in the javelin.
    • Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – 10 miles finished and now we eat! (@ Ronnie’s Diner)
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-28
    • Romney screwed up in London. Does it matter?– What’s undeniable: former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s trip to London did not go as planned. Let’s review:* He called security problems for the Olympics “disconcerting.” The gaffe led to jabs from Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Romney, who has promised a “No Apologies” approach to the world, was forced to repeatedly backtrack.* He talked about his meeting with the leader of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service. Such meetings are normally kept secret.* Anonymous officials snarked to the Daily Mail that Romney was a “total car crash,” “worse than Sarah Palin,” and “apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity.”

      * The trip spawned a trending Twitter topic: #romneyshambles.

      What’s less clear: whether anyone (outside of the “small island” of England) cares.

      “We’re not worried about overseas headlines. We’re worried about voters back here at home in America,” Louisisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Thursday in Romney’s defense. He makes a good point.

    • Destinations / 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London before night fall… – 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London before night fall…
    • Political Cartoons / Eat more beef? – Eat more beef?
    • Team Romney Readies For “Saturday Obama Surprise”– After a disastrous 48-hour news cycle in London, the Romney campaign “wants the world to know” that they are prepared for a “Saturday Obama Surprise,” of unknown specifications.”We want to communicate to the world that we are ready for whatever they throw at us,” a Romney adviser told BuzzFeed unsolicited. “After poor economic numbers today, we are preparing for them to throw out absurdities, distractions, and anything else they can to divert from the economy.”When asked why Romney’s camp expected a sneak attack from the Obama campaign, the advisor said their guard was up because of “how they’ve conducted themselves in the past.”So far, the campaign’s preparations have entailed assembling an army of surrogates to fill the message void while Romney is out of the country, unable to attack Obama himself because “politics end at the water’s edge.”
    • The Opening Hypocrisies – However, especially in turbulent and chaotic times, when nations are choosing whether to pursue freedom or religious zealotry, civil war or reconciliation and respect for human rights or inhumanity, I wish we’d stop perpetrating the idea that all you have to do to be part of the “international community” is to show up. No, to be part of the “global community” and to encourage “common humanity and universal ideals” countries must foster liberty, abhor violence, practice tolerance and defend human rights. We shouldn’t blur the distinction between those who uphold those values and those who threaten them.
    • Untitled (http://atdhenet.tv/45736/watch-olympics-2012-opening-ceremony) – Watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies here: and no it is not NBC – sheesh
    • AD-48: Independent Mike Meza Endorses Republican Joe Gardner – AD-48: Independent Mike Meza Endorses Republican Joe Gardner
    • Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention – NYTimes.com – Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention
    • Strip Clubs in Tampa Are Ready to Cash In on G.O.P. Convention– Over at the back door of the 2001 Odyssey, a limo-size tent with flaps — especially designed for discretion and camera-shy guests — is ready to go up. Déjà Vu is welcoming extra “talent” from around the country in its V.I.P. rooms.And Thee DollHouse is all Americana: women plan to slip out of red, white and blue corsets and offer red, white and blue vodka. The headliner that week is expected to bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain ex-governor from a wilderness state, known for her strong jaw and devotion to guns and God.“She’s a dead ringer for her,” said Warren Colazzo, co-owner of Thee DollHouse. “It’s just a really good gimmick to get publicity.”As Tampa gears up for the Republican National Convention, the biggest party it has ever held, the city and its businesses are primping and polishing for the August arrival of tens of thousands of visitors. Like it or not — mostly not, for city officials — Tampa’s well-known strip clubs have joined the welcome wagon.
    • PETA: Let’s bet on Chuck Grassley’s death– Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is chewing out the Agriculture Department for promoting “Meatless Mondays” for their employees, promising to eat more meat to make up the difference — a move PETA says it will counter by taking “informal bets” on when the Republican senator will die.“Shame USDA. One has to wonder whether the Dept of Ag supports Iowa farmers since it is promoting ‘meatless Monday’ for USDA employees,” Grassley said Wednesday night on Twitter. “I will eat more meat on Monday to compensate for stupid USDA recommendation abt a meatless Monday.”
    • Preisdent 2012 Poll Watch: Romney Leading Obama by 5 Points Nationally – President 2012 Poll Watch: Romney Leading Obama by 5 Points Nationally
    • The Morning Flap: July 27, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: July 27, 2012
    • Log In – The New York Times – Once a Rebel, McCain Now Walks the Party Line
    • Marco Rubio to raise cash for Mitt Romney in Texas– Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will head to Texas next month to raise cash for Mitt Romney.Rubio, a rising Republican star, and Romney’s brother, Scott, will headline two fundraising events for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee on Aug. 15 in San Antonio, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.On behalf of the Romney Victory Fund, the two will host receptions at the Marriott Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio. Guests can get a photo with Rubio and Scott Romney for $5,000 per person. The general reception costs $250 per person.Later that night, Rubio and Scott Romney will be on hand at a $25,000-per-couple dinner at the San Antonio home of Nancy and Edward Steves, who previously backed the failed presidential campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

      The fundraising trip will come two-and-a-half weeks after Rubio stumps for Romney this weekend at the senator’s former elementary school in Las Vegas.

      Saturday’s visit to Ronnow Elementary School, where Rubio attended as a child, represents the first solo campaign event for the vice presidential prospect. In recent days, close Rubio allies — former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Romney adviser Al Cardenas — have urged the presidential hopeful to tap the freshman senator for the No. 2 job.

      But most pundits believe Romney will go with a safer pick, such as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.

    • Mitt Romney Namedrops Marco Rubio On Piers Morgan, Fueling Veep Speculation– Mitt Romney randomly mentioned Sen. Marco Rubio during a Piers Morgan interview, reigniting speculation that the Florida Republican will be the former Massachusetts governor’s running mate.n an advance clip posted on CNN from an interview airing Thursday night, Romney mentioned Rubio while discussing folks who “attack success.” The pushbacks against supposed attacks on achievement has been Romney’s answer to President Barack Obama and his surrogates’ attempts at labeling him as “out of touch” with middle-class America.In addressing the attacks, Romney, with wife Ann in tow, said, “I heard Marco Rubio the other day. He said, you know, we were poor living in Miami. We saw these homes across town. My parents never said to us, ‘Gee, why don’t those people gives us some of what they have?’
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      “They said, instead, ‘Aren’t we lucky to live in a country where with education and hard work we might be able to achieve that ourselves?'”
      Speculation around Romney’s veep pick is heating up with the Republican National Covention in Tampa, Fla., just over a month away, when the presumptive nominee will be take up the party’s standard.

    • Once a Rebel, McCain Now Walks the Party Line– As Election Day edges close and most members of Congress yearn to flee Washington, Senator John McCain of Arizona is more present than ever.Only there is a new iteration of the Republican lawmaker and defeated presidential candidate who has been a constant in the capital even as he regularly transforms himself. Absent is the maverick who bucked his party on the environment and campaign finance, and verbally towel-snapped Republicans and Democrats alike on the Senate floor.Gone, too, is the far-right leaning Mr. McCain of 2010, who found himself in a primary fight back home that caused him to retreat from his stances on immigration and global warming.Mr. McCain instead appears to have entered Version 3 of his long and multipronged Senate career — partisan warrior and party stalwart. He takes to the Sunday TV talk shows, the Senate floor and the Capitol hallways that are filled with more reporters than mosquitoes at a garden party to press his party’s agenda on taxes, military spending and national security.
    • Pentagon official says civilian workforce could get layoff notices 4 days before election– Tens of thousands of civilian employees in the Defense Department could receive warnings about potential layoffs four days before the November election if impending spending cuts aren’t averted, hitting presidential battleground states such as Virginia and Florida hard.The alerts would come in addition to any that major defense contractors might send out at the same time to their workers under an often-overlooked law, a prospect that is unnerving the White House roughly three months before voters go to the polls.
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 27, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 27, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 27, 2012

    July 27, 2012 /

    These are my links for July 26th through July 27th:

    • US economic growth slowed to 1.5 pct. rate in Q2– The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent from April through June, as Americans cut back sharply on spending. The slowdown in growth adds to worries that the economy could be stalling three years after the recession ended.The Commerce Department also said Friday that the economy grew a little better than previously thought in the January-March quarter. It raised its estimate to a 2 percent rate, up from 1.9 percent.Growth at or below 2 percent isn’t enough to lower the unemployment rate, which was 8.2 percent last month. And most economists don’t expect growth to pick up much in the second half of the year. Europe’s financial crisis and a looming budget crisis in the U.S. are expected to slow business investment further.Stock futures rose slightly after the report was released. Some economists had thought the estimate would be lower.

      Still, the lackluster economy is raising pressure on President Barack Obama in his re-election fight with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

    • California GOP faces money woes– November election, the California Republican Party is so awash in red ink that its board has approved laying off staff and vacating the party’s main headquarters in Sacramento, The Chronicle has learned.The crisis emerged after state party officials, facing an $850,000 shortfall in late June, fell behind in rent, phone bills, payments to Internet vendors and printers, and worried they would have to cut employees’ health care insurance payments, according to several Republican sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.Since then, party officials have reportedly negotiated down the debt, but campaign finance reports to be released Tuesday are expected to show the California GOP to be at least $450,000 in the red, multiple sources said.
    • The Chicken Inquisition – Rahm Emanuel has been many things in life — ballet dancer, investment banker, congressman, White House chief of staff, now mayor of Chicago — and he apparently wishes to add another title to his curriculum vitae: Grand Inquisitor. He has denounced the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A and endorsed a Chicago alderman’s plan to block construction of a new outlet because the company’s executives do not share his politics. This is a gross abuse of power: Imagine if the mayor of Provo, Utah, had tried to punish a business for supporting same-sex marriage — the Left would demand his resignation, etc. The powers of government are not to be used for parochial political ends. Even in Chicago.
    • Four Little Words – Why the Obama Campaign is so worried– What’s the difference between a calm and cool Barack Obama, and a rattled and worried Barack Obama? Four words, it turns out.”You didn’t build that” is swelling to such heights that it has the president somewhere unprecedented: on defense. Mr. Obama has felt compelled—for the first time in this campaign—to cut an ad in which he directly responds to the criticisms of his now-infamous speech, complaining his opponents took his words “out of context.”
    • ‘You didn’t build that’ remarks won’t change Obama’s strategy– The Obama campaign has no plans to change the president’s style on the stump in the wake of his “you didn’t build that” remark, which Republicans have seized upon in recent days to argue the president is out of touch on the economy.Obama made the impromptu remark during a Virginia campaign address earlier this month when he was speaking without a teleprompter, referring occasionally to a binder of notes on his podium. The Hill reported last week that Obama would rely on the teleprompter less so that he could be more spontaneous and interact with his supporters at campaign appearances instead of reading from two glass panes.
    • Mitt Romney’s Olympics comments trigger response from Cameron, British press– British Prime Minister David Cameron and England’s famously tough media tweaked Mitt Romney Thursday after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee suggested that London might not be ready for its Olympic moment.“It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out,” said Romney, who ran the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. “There are a few things that were disconcerting: the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging.”Those comments prompted a quick rebuke from Cameron. “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world,” Cameron told reporters after visiting the venues where the 2012 Summer Olympics will begin Friday. “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere” — an apparent reference to Salt Lake City.
    • Google+ traffic soars: 66 percent increase in nine months– Traffic analytics site ComScore has revealed a large increase in visits to Google+. According to ComScore, the number of unique visitors to the social network has increased by 66 percent over the last nine months, with an estimated 110.7 million international visitors in June. In the US, traffic increased from 15.2 million to 27.7 million visitors over the same period. While the stats aren’t official, they do align with figures released by other traffic analysts earlier this month.ComScore also detailed Facebook’s US figures from November through to June, noting a drop from 166 million to 159.8 million over the period. PR consultant Morten Myrstad, who shared the figures, appropriately, on Google+, points out that although Facebook’s lead has dropped slightly, the unique visitor numbers don’t take into account how long users spend on the site, or return visits.
    • Chicago Alderman: I Will Deny Business Permit Because “There Are Consequences for [Its Owner’s] Statements and Beliefs,” and They Should Include Denial– This is just appalling. A government official thinks that the proper “consequence” for a business owner’s “statements and beliefs” is the denial of the ability to do business. Because he’s “sure the majority of” his constituents find the owner’s “comments and attitudes repugnant,” it’s just fine for him to use the coercive power of the government to block the business from opening up a store. His “belief in equality is resolute,” and that apparently justifies him discriminating against businesspeople for exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out. They “should really reconsider [their] platform on gay issues,” or else the government of Chicago will exclude them from the alderman’s ward.As I noted before, such a viewpoint-based denial of a business permit is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. But that doesn’t seem to bother Alderman Moreno, because his “principles” seem to demand this sort of unconstitutional behavior. As I said, just appalling.
    • President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama Leads Romney By 5 Points – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Nevada Poll Watch: Obama Leads Romney By 5 Points
    • AD-45: Roger Hernandez Moves to Throw Out DUI Evidence – AD-45: Roger Hernandez Moves to Throw Out DUI Evidence
    • Hosted Email – CA-30: New poll has Brad Sherman beating Howard Berman by 17 points in Dem on Dem Conngressional race #catcot
    • Video: Immigration Officials Describe Chaos with Obama “Dreamer” Immigration Policy – Video: Immigration Officials Describe Chaos with Obama “Dreamer” Immigration Policy
    • WMPS AM 1210 – Homepage – Going on the radio to be interviewed about California politics: #tcot #catcot
    • Does Democrat Voter Enthusiasm Spell Trouble for Obama? – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Does Democrat Voter Enthusiasm Spell Trouble for Obama?
    • CA-26: Tony Strickland to Host Coastal Clean Up – Flap’s Blog – CA-26: Tony Strickland to Host Coastal Clean Up
    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 26, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 26, 2012
    • The Morning Flap: July 26, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 26, 2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 26, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 26, 2012
    • Day By Day July 26, 2012 – The Dickens of an Election – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day July 26, 2012 – The Dickens of an Election
    • Editorial: Obamacare falling short already | health, states, insurance – Opinion – The Orange County Register – Obamacare falling short already
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 26, 2012

    July 26, 2012 /

    Chick-Fil-A

    These are my links for July 25th through July 26th:

    • Obamacare falling short already– The unintended, convoluted and costly consequences of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law are about to be realized. Obamacare was rushed through Congress in 2010 despite almost no one knowing what the 2,700-page law provided, apart from a vague promise to make health care more affordable and accessible.This week, the Congressional Budget Office said that, because the U.S. Supreme Court, in ruling last month to validate most of the Affordable Care Act, allowed states to opt out of the law’s expansion of Medicaid, about 3 million fewer people will end up insured than originally estimated. This is guesswork because the CBO admits no one knows how many states will opt out. We believe many, if not all, states controlled by Republican legislatures and governors will opt out.
    • Government Did Not Build Your Business – “If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen,” declared President Barack Obama at a campaign stop last week in Virginia. Evidently, the president believes that economic growth and job creation are largely the result of actions taken by benevolent government agencies. But while it is certainly the case that good governance is essential, entrepreneurs engaging in voluntary cooperation coordinated through competition in free markets is what actually creates wealth and jobs. In the Virginia speech, the president also observed, “Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.” As parts of “this unbelievable American system” that “allowed” businesses to “thrive,” the president cited “a great teacher” and that “somebody invested in roads and bridges.” With regard to building a business, the nebulous “somebody” who “made that happen” is, of course, government.
    • Shifting Dynamics Favor G.O.P.– Since 2006, members of the House have faced electoral waves that swept away scores of incumbents.But the 2012 struggle for control of the House is shaping up less as a partisan surge than as a series of squalls, in which the outcome will largely depend on individual survival skills rather than a national movement.In New York, Dan Maffei, a Democrat, hopes to snag back a seat he lost two years ago, while Representative Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who won in a special election last year, is trying desperately to hang on. In California, a nonpartisan primary and an expensive member-against-member contest between two Democrats, Brad Sherman and Howard Berman, have muddled the outlook in a state where Democrats had high hopes.
    • No Building Permits for Opponent of Same-Sex Marriage– But denying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation. Even when it comes to government contracting — where the government is choosing how to spend government money —the government generally may not discriminate based on the contractor’s speech, see Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr (1996). It is even clearer that the government may not make decisions about how people will be allowed to use their own property based on the speaker’s past speech.And this is so even if there is no statutory right to a particular kind of building permit (and I don’t know what the rule is under Illinois law). Even if the government may deny permits to people based on various reasons, it may not deny permitsAmendment rights. It doesn’t matter if the applicant expresses speech that doesn’t share the government officials’ values, or even the values of the majority of local citizens. It doesn’t matter if the applicant’s speech is seen as “disrespect[ful]” of certainpeople’s rights to express such views without worrying that the government will deny them business permits as a result. That’s basic First Amendment law — but Alderman Moreno, Mayor Menino, and, apparently, Mayor Emanuel (if his statement is quoted in context), seem to either not know or not care about the law.

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    • Chick-fil-A Blocked From Opening Second Chicago Store– A Chicago politician said he will block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in his ward, following anti-gay marriage remarks by the fast food chain’s president.Alderman Joe Moreno, who represents Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, plans to use his aldermanic privilege, a Chicago tradition in which City Council members defer to aldermen on local matters, to block the restaurant’s permit.”It’s a very diverse ward– economically, racially, and diverse in sexual orientation,” Moreno told ABCNews.com. “We’ve got thriving businesses and we want more but at the very least don’t discriminate against our LGBTQ folks.”Moreno is not alone in standing up to the fast food restaurant, whose president Dan Cathy came under scrutiny after he told the Baptist Press he was “guilty as charged” when it came to supporting “the biblical definition of the family unit.”
    • The Battle for Ballot Integrity in Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania is, for the moment, ground zero in the battle over voter fraud. In March, Pennsylvania’s legislature enacted a law that requires identification for voting. The ACLU has sued to enjoin enforcement of the law; a trial on its lawsuit began today and is expected to last for around a week. This illustrates how low the ACLU has fallen. Voting illegally–that’s a “civil right!” But how about not having your vote canceled by the ballot of an illegal voter? Is that a civil right? Naahh.
    • Conservatives urge Cantor to push spending fight into 2013– House conservatives urged Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to back a stopgap spending bill that would extend into 2013 and take the issue of government funding off the table during the election and the jammed lame-duck session this fall.Cantor attended a meeting Wednesday of the conservative Republican Study Committee, where lawmakers voiced support for passing a long-term continuing resolution when federal funding runs out at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.While conservatives led a fight for deep spending cuts in a continuing resolution in 2011, they are worried that Democrats will draw them into a battle that could lead to a government shutdown in October, right before the November elections. They also want a stopgap measure to extend beyond the end of the year so that Democrats cannot use it as leverage in a broader fight over expiring tax rates and automatic spending cuts.
    • Pat Buchanan wants Palin to speak at convention– Echoing Jim DeMint, it’s Pat Buchanan, after Greta Van Susteren asked Wednesday night whom he’d like to speak at the Republican convention.Buchanan:”I’ll tell you who I like — your buddy and my favorite, Sarah Palin.I would say to Governor Romney at the convention: ‘Look, let’s not have a boring convention…. why don’t you bring in all the voices of the party and say ‘Look, you may not agree with this folks and that folks, but we are all united behind Governor Romney’.”
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-26 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-26
    • CA-26 Poll Watch: Julia Brownley Leading Tony Strickland? – CA-26 Poll Watch: Julia Brownley Leading Tony Strickland?
    • Jeb Bush told Romney to pick Rubio – Tomer Ovadia – POLITICO.com – As does every other conservative pundit RT @politico: Jeb Bush told Romney to pick Marco Rubio for VP #tcot
    • California Proposition 37: I Have a Right to Know – Flap’s Blog – California Proposition 37: I Have a Right to Know
    • New Study Questions Economic Viability of Dental Therapists – New Study Questions Economic Viability of Dental Therapists
    • The Morning Flap: July 25, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 25, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 25, 2012

    July 25, 2012 /

    President Obama thanking Terry Bean

    These are my links for July 24th through July 25th:

    • Obama Thanks ‘Gay-Porn Kingpin’– “I want to thank someone who put so much work into this event, Terry Bean,” President Obama said as the crowd began to cheer. “Give Terry a big round of applause.”Terry Bean is, according to the New York Post, a “gay-porn kingpin.””ONE of the ‘bundlers’ who has raised $50,000 to $100,000 for the Barack Obama presidential campaign is Terrence Bean, who once controlled the biggest producer of gay porn in America,” the Post reported in 2008, during the president’s first run the office. “Bean, the first gay on Sen. Obama’s National Finance Committee, is the sole trustee of the Charles M. Holmes Foundation, which owned Falcon Studios, Jock Studios and Mustang Studios, the producers of about $10 million worth of all-male pornography a year.”

    • Too Big To Fail, Obama and Dodd-Frank– The two-year anniversary of Dodd-Frank has come and gone, and Too Big To Fail is only growing.Sure, President Obama assured us the sweeping law would reform the sleaze and mindless risk-taking of the banking business — but all it’s given us is the certainty of future bailouts.Actually, that’s not fair: It’s also producing reams and reams of rules and regulations that force banks out of certain profitable lines of business, like proprietary trading, that had little to do with the shenanigans that led the financial crisis.But the biggest problem is the expansion of the largest single contributor to the banking collapse: The government’s protection of the remaining big financial institutions, a k a Too Big To Fail.The reason Too Big To Fail is so dangerous is that it provides a level of comfort to the Wall Street risk takers — enabling them to act like riverboat gamblers and simply bet more and more until the system comes crashing down, as it did four years ago. Why fear, when the taxpayer is on the hook for your losses?

      Dodd-Frank was supposed to end the bank-protection racket. Everyone from the president to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (who’s due up on Capitol Hill this week to discuss the law) to its chief sponsors, then-Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, said so.

      They tell us the law makes certain that the next time the big banks take too much risk, there will no taxpayer bailout: The bankers (and those who trusted them) will have to pay for their risk-taking sins in bankruptcy court, just like any other business in America.

      Don’t buy it. A relatively open secret on Wall Street is that the megabanks that survived the financial crisis — JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo — are still very much protected by the federal government and the American taxpayer.

    • California cities’ bankruptcies: Blame the housing bust– The reporting and commentary on the bankruptcies of California cities over the last month haven’t been journalism’s finest hour. From reading the voluminous accounts of the fiscal woes of Stockton and San Bernardino, you’d think that municipal unions and feckless city officials are primarily what led these cities down the path to fiscal ruin.But you’d be wrong. What bankrupted Stockton and San Bernardino were the most severe housing busts in the nation. What bankrupted those two cities were banks peddling subprime mortgages to poorly paid workers.That story has been missing from most accounts of the debacle, which instead focus on the preferred narrative of the right and center-right: that of fiscal irresponsibility and overpaid public employees. “Another city sinks in pension morass,” the Orange County Register editorialized. The problem common to the cities, wrote Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, is that “elected leaders and appointed managers succumbed to hubris and political pressure, particularly from their employee unions.”Even most of the straightforward reporting has emphasized the errors of city managers and the burdens of having to pay city workers andBut that narrative is “Hamlet” without the prince. Yes, some elected and appointed officials were indifferent or insensible to their city’s fiscal plight. But lots of cities have negligent public officials, and even more have police officers and firefighters with those demonized defined-benefit pensions. What sets Stockton and San Bernardino apart is a far narrower set of circumstances: They were at the epicenters of the American housing bubble and the American housing bust.
    • To Move Polls, Romney Needs to Go Positive– Every once in a blue moon, a pollster asks exactly the right questions and brings some clarity to a number of important “big picture” issues in an election. Such is the case with the latest Pew poll. In particular, this survey helps us answer:– Is this election a choice or a referendum?
    • Marijuana Dispensaries Banned in L.A. Per City Council Vote– The L.A. City Council today voted to put an end to the city’s infamous and numerous marijuana dispensaries, citing neighborhood concerns and court rulings that have questioned a city’s right to regulate the retailers.Most of all, however, the council argued that L.A’s for-profit pot shop scene was never envisioned by state lawmakers whom the City Attorney says wanted to legalize the nonprofit growing and sharing of cannabis among the seriously ill.That interpretation, of course, is up for debate, but …… for now the city of L.A. is having things its way: No more weed retailers in the pot shop capital of the nation. Maybe. (See more below).At one point LA Weekly counted about 550 of them, and in light of a lack of city regulation, it seems that the number has remained fairly constant to us. In fact sources have told us that some rogue shops have taken advantage of City Hall’s lack of action –it has been trying to regulate dispensaries since at least 2007 — to open illicit pop-up shops that come and go quickly.
    • Gov. Scott Walker knocks Mitt Romney’s campaign– Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker criticized Mitt Romney’s campaign Wednesday for being too cautious and for assuming the election could just be a referendum on the president.“I think there’s a lot of caution. I think the mistake that they’ve made is the feeling like it can just be a referendum on the president,” said Walker, a Republican, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s certainly a part of it for any incumbent, it’s got to be a referendum on, do you like or dislike, not just the president, but his policies… but there’s got to be something more. People don’t just vote somebody out, they’ve got to vote somebody in
    • Nearly one in 10 employers to drop health coverage– About one in 10 employers plan to drop health coverage when key provisions of the new health care law kick in less than two years from now, according to a survey to be released Tuesday by the consulting company Deloitte.Nine percent of companies said they expect to stop offering coverage
      to their workers in the next one to three years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Around 81 percent said they would continue providing benefits and 10 percent said they weren’t sure.
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-25 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-25
    • California Appeals Court Upholds Proposition 13 – Yet Again – California Appeals Court Upholds Proposition 13 – Yet Again
    • Brian Ross at ABC News – Hitting the Lazy Button – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Brian Ross at ABC News – Hitting the Lazy Button
    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 24, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 24, 2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Daily Extraction: Guatemala Hands On Extraction Courses with Dr. Tommy Murph – The Daily Extraction: Guatemala Hands On Extraction Courses with Dr. Tommy Murph
    • The Morning Flap: July 24, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 24, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 24, 2012

    July 24, 2012 /

    Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. AP Photo

    These are my links for July 23rd through July 24th:

    • Democratic Sen. Feinstein suggests some leaked info came from the White House– The Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that the White House appears to be responsible for some leaks of classified information.”I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a World Affairs Council forum.The California lawmaker said she was certain that President Barack Obama, who receives a daily intelligence briefing, isn’t disclosing secret information, but she was uncertain about others at the White House. “I don’t believe for a moment that he goes out and talks about it,” she said.Republicans have criticized the disclosures, arguing that members of the Obama administration were intentionally leaking classified material to enhance the president’s reputation in an election year. Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed two attorneys to lead the investigation into who leaked information about U.S. involvement in cyberattacks on Iran and about an al-Qaida plot to place an explosive device aboard a U.S.-bound airliner.That hasn’t satisfied some Republicans who have pressed for a special prosecutor.
    • Feinstein: Someone at White House is behind recent intel leaks– Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday that someone at the White House was responsible for the recent leaks of classified information.“I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks,” Feinstein said in an address at the World Affairs Council, The Associated Press first reported.Feinstein said she was certain that President Obama had not disclosed any of the classified intelligence, but believed others in the administration were responsible.
    • Obama’s Bain attack isn’t working – President Obama may have spent $38.2 million on television ads attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital in June, but according to a new Gallup poll, the campaign isn’t working. USA Today reports that by a more than 2-1 margin, 63%-29%, those surveyed say Romney’s background in business, including his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital, “would cause him to make good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation’s economic problems over the next four years.” Comparing pre-Bain attack numbers to post-Bain attack numbers, USA Today reports that back in February, 53 percent of Americans said Romney “had the personality and leadership qualities a president should have.” Now 54 percent do.
    • Presidential busts: The worst of all: Barack Obama (2009-?)– He took office at a time when the U.S. economy was on its worst slide in 75 years, but pushed policies using borrowed money that were more meant to preserve government jobs than broadly help the private sector where the great majority of Americans work, ensuring the jobs crisis continued.He railed against the heavy spending and big deficits of his predecessor, but blithely backed budgets that had triple the deficits ever seen in American history.He promised a smart, sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system, but ended up giving us a Byzantine mess promoted to the public with myths: that offering subsidized care to tens of millions of people would save money; that people would keep their own doctors; that access to care wouldn’t change; and that rationing would never happen.
    • What Still Shocks Me About ObamaCare | RealClearPolitics– Amid the huge response — both triumphant and agonized — to the Supreme Court’s preservation of Obamacare, I was surprised at how little attention was being paid to that law’s core purpose: to strongly control health care costs where government funding is involved, as it increasingly will be.What still shocks me about this law is the government’s interference with the doctor-patient relationship. Many government bureaucracies will not pay for doctor-prescribed treatments costing more than a predetermined figure. And none of these bureaucracies’ members will have actually seen the individual patient.
    • Exercise Adds Almost 4 Years to Life Span– Regular physical activity adds about four years to life expectancy, and endurance exercise during leisure time seems to be better at extending life than physical activity done as work, according to a new research review published in the Journal of Aging Research. German researchers gathered well-designed studies on one of the most basic, but important, questions in health: Does physical activity increase life expectancy? In reviewing the results of the studies, they found the answer was an unequivocal yes. Among the studies, there was a wide range of extra years found for active versus nonactive people, from less than half a year in one study to close to seven years in another. When the results of the studies were combined, the researchers wrote,”The median increase of life expectancy of men and women in the eight studies presenting data on both sexes amounted to 3.7 years each.”
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24
    • Sally Ride – R.I.P. – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Sally Ride – R.I.P.
    • For the Olympics, Twitter and NBC Form Partnership– As athletes parade into London’s Olympic Stadium this Friday, Twitter Inc.’s Olympic hopes will play out in a spartan office in Boulder, Colo.There, a handful of people will spend 20 hours a day to help corral millions of Twitter messages from Olympic athletes, their families, fans and NBC television personalities into a single page on Twitter.com.Twitter’s Olympics hub, part of a partnership between the San Francisco company and Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA -2.52% NBCUniversal that will be announced as early as Monday, is one of the first times Twitter will serve as an official narrator for a live event. NBC will tout the website with on-air promotions and links to athlete interviews or video clips.With the partnership, Twitter hopes to use the Olympics as a launch pad into a more sustainable business. Twitter, which allows people to post 140-character messages called tweets, has built up more than 140 million monthly users and has become a go-to resource for people to find news or to gab about “American Idol.”But executives want the six-year-old service to find a larger audience, especially amid doubts about Twitter’s ability to become a serious money maker.
    • Obama Campaign’s Spending Rate Worries Some Democrats– The Obama campaign has been spending heavily on payroll, television ads and polling for months, hoping to tarnish Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the eyes of voters at an early stage of the general-election showdown.But some Democrats worry that the overhead built by the Obama camp over the past 15 months will prove impossible to sustain. Unless fundraising picks up, the Obama campaign may enter the season’s final stretch confronting hard choices: paring salaries, scaling back advertising or pulling out of swing states in a bid to control costs, these Democrats say.
    • Minnesota Poll: Obama’s Lead Cut in Half Since Last Poll– In the election for President of the United States, three months till voting begins, Barack Obama captures the North Star State’s 10 electoral votes, defeating Mitt Romney 46 percent to 40 percent, according to a SurveyUSA poll for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis / St. Paul.Romney and Obama are effectively even among male voters. All of Obama’s advantage comes from female voters, where Obama leads by 14 points. Romney edges Obama among Minnesota’s Independents, but not by enough to offset Obama’s 2:1 advantage among Minnesota’s moderates. Romney leads in Northeastern Minnesota, but Obama leads in the rest of the state.Voters are divided over whether job creation or health care is the most important issue facing Minnesotans. Importantly: those who say health care is most important split evenly between Obama and Romney. Those who say job creation is most important split evenly between Obama and Romney. Neither candidate has an advantage on these issues in Minnesota.Romney voters are divided on which Republican Romney should pick as his running mate. 36% name former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. 29% name Florida’s U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.
    • The Morning Flap: July 23, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 23, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 23, 2012

    July 23, 2012 /

    California Rep. Kevin McCarthy

    These are my links for July 19th through July 23rd:

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 19, 2012

    July 19, 2012 /

    These are my links for July 18th through July 19th:

    • Post Office Might Miss Retirees’ Payment– While lawmakers continue to fight over how to fix the ailing U.S. Postal Service, the agency’s money problems are only growing worse.The Postal Service repeated on Wednesday that without congressional action, it will default—a first in its long history, a spokesman said—on a legally required annual $5.5 billion payment, due Aug. 1, into a health-benefits fund for future retirees. Action in Congress isn’t likely, as the House prepares to leave for its August recess.The agency said a default on the payment, for 2011, wouldn’t directly affect service or its ability to pay employees and suppliers. But “these ongoing liquidity issues unnecessarily undermine confidence in the viability of the Postal Service among our customers,” said spokesman David Partenheimer.

      The agency says it will default on its 2012 retiree health payment as well—also roughly $5.5 billion, due Sept. 30—if there is no legislative action by then.

    • Economic Fears Hurting Obama, Poll Indicates – Declining confidence in the nation’s economic prospects appears to be the most powerful force influencing voters as the presidential election gears up, undercutting key areas of support for President Obama and helping give his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, an advantage on the question of who would better handle the nation’s economic challenges, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
    • Obama, Romney in dead heat in presidential race– President Obama and Mitt Romney are effectively tied in the race for the presidency, according to a new CBS News/New York Times survey.Forty-seven percent of registered voters nationwide who lean towards a candidate back Romney, while 46 percent support the president. Four percent are undecided. The one percentage point difference is within the survey’s three point margin of error.Romney leads by eight points among men; the president leads by five points among women.

      The president’s supporters are more likely to strongly back their candidate. Fifty-two percent strongly favor Mr. Obama, while just 29 percent of Romney voters strongly back the presumptive Republican nominee.

      More than one in three Romney voters say they are supporting Romney primarily because they dislike Mr. Obama. Only eight percent of Obama supporters say their support for the president is tied to their dislike of Romney.

    • Weekly Unemployment Benefit Claims Post Rebound; Jobs Market Still in Doldrums– The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rebounded last week, pushing them back to levels consistent with modest job growth after a seasonal quirk caused a sharp drop the prior period.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week’s figure was revised up to 352,000 from the previously reported 350,000.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 365,000 last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, fell 1,500 to 375,500.

      Claims data is volatile in July because of the timing of the annual auto plant shutdowns for retooling.

    • Day By Day July 19, 2012 – Frankenstein – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day July 19, 2012 – Frankenstein
    • U.S. weekly jobless claims climb 34,000 to 386,000 – MarketWatch – RT @BreakingNews US weekly initial jobless claims climb to 386,000 – @MarketWatch
    • Obama Believes Success Is a Gift From Government– Perhaps the rain made the teleprompter unreadable. That’s one thought I had on pondering Barack Obama’s comments to a rain-soaked rally in Roanoke, Va., last Friday.Perhaps he didn’t really mean what he said. Or perhaps — as is often the case with people — when unanchored from a prepared text he revealed what he really thinks.”There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back,” he began, defending his policy of higher tax rates on high earners. “They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
    • In Fight for the House, the Trajectory Is Clear– House races often don’t start getting attention until after Labor Day. But with the presidential contest sucking the air out of the political environment and defining the electoral landscape, House candidates may find they have an even harder time than usual defining themselves and their opponents.That means the existing trajectory of the fight for the House may be harder and harder to change as Labor Day approaches, creating a growing problem for House Democrats who continue to insist that the House is “in play.”Democratic strategists need a dramatic shift in the House playing field if they are going to have any chance of netting the 25 seats they need to regain a majority in the House of Representatives. And that outcome looks increasingly remote.

      Right now, the outlook for the House is anywhere from a small GOP gain to a modest Democratic gain in the single digits — not close to what Democrats hoped for as the cycle began

    • The chart that shows just how much reelection trouble Obama is in– A daisy chain of political disaster seems to be forming for President Obama, says political analyst Dan Clifton at Strategas Research. Clifton suggests that “there seems to be a relationship between consumer confidence and whether a president gets reelected. The current levels of confidence are consistent with Carter and George H. W. Bush when they lost reelection.”That conclusion is displayed in the above chart.
    • Governor Brown signs California high-speed rail bill, calls critics ‘NIMBYs,’ ‘fearful men’– With his most public cheerleading yet for California’s bullet train, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed the $8 billion bill to kick off high-speed rail construction and showed no sign he was worried about voters’ increasing skepticism for the rail line.Calling naysayers “NIMBYs,” “fearful men,” and “declinists,” the governor celebrated a project that he first signed a bill to study 30 years ago.”It’s taken that long to get this going,” he said, flanked by dignitaries and construction workers at the site of San Francisco’s future Transbay Terminal. “You may not be around when it’s finished.”

      Brown’s day-long, dual-city signature event began at Union Station in Los Angeles and was followed by the gala in San Francisco. The locations were fitting in many ways since the stations will serve as the two endpoints of the $69 billion line, though Brown had to fly between events.

    • GOP 12: Enthusiasm favors Romney in Virginia – RT @CPHeinze Virginia: The income groups Obama leads are the least enthusiastic about election. Reverse for Romney.
    • American Crossroads Comes to Romney’s Defense– The super PAC American Crossroads is giving Mitt Romney a helping hand with a new ad, criticizing President Obama on his “misleading” attacks on the presumptive Republican nominee, the Wall Street Journal reports.The 30-second ad is part of an $8.8 million buy that is going out in nine states. Most of the group’s attacks on the president have focused on his record and government spending. The Journal reports this is the first such ad from Crossroads that comes to Romney’s defense.“What happened to Barack Obama?” the narrator asks. “The press, and even Democrats, say his attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record are ‘misleading, unfair and untrue.’”

      With high unemployment numbers, the ad says that Obama “can’t run on that record.”

    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-19 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-19
    • DNC to stop using Romney horse in attack videos– In the future, the Democratic National Committee will longer use the Romney’s Olympic-bound dressage horse to portray Mitt Romney as “dancing around the issues” because it could be seen as offensive to the GOP candidate’s wife Ann.Nearly 17 hours after they promoted a video linking the GOP presidential candidate’s unwillingness to release years of tax returns to Rafalca, the dancing show horse co-owned by Mrs. Romney attending this summer’s London Olympics, Communications Director Brad Woodhouse said the DNC will no longer “invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”
    • Only 17 or 3 % of lawmakers disclose tax records– With members on both sides of the aisle clamoring for Mitt Romney to release more than two years of tax returns, an overwhelming majority of congressmen are declining to release their own.Over the past three months, McClatchy Newspapers asked all 535 members of the House and Senate to release their tax records. Only 17 — or just over 3 percent — handed over the documents. Another 19 percent said they wouldn’t release them. The remainder didn’t respond to McClatchy’s request.
    • Poll: Republicans want Condoleezza Rice– Republican voters say former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is their top choice as Mitt Romney’s running mate, a new poll found.Rice garnered 30 percent support, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (19 percent), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (8 percent) and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (8 percent).
    • Virginia (VA) Poll * July 19, 2012 * Romney Catches Obama In Virgin – Quinnipiac University ? Hamden, Connecticut – RT @QuinnipiacPoll VA 07/19/12 Romney Catches Obama In Virginia, Poll Finds; U.S. Senate Race Remains Too Close To Call
    • These Hands | Mitt Romney for President – RT @JimMerrillNH Powerful new @MittRomney video ‘These Hands’ featuring Jack Gilchrist of Hudson, NH. #tcot
    • Romney closes 12-point gap to tie Obama in Virginia, poll finds – POLITICO.com – A key battleground state which Romney must win RT @politico Mitt Romney closes a 12-point gap to tie Obama in Virginia:
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-19 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-19
    • The Morning Flap: July 18, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: July 18, 2012
    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 18, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 18, 2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 18, 2012 – The Morning Drill: July 18, 2012
    • (404) http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/07/oops-obamas-top-bundler-jonathan-lavine-was-in-charge-of-bain-duri – (403) …
    • (403) http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/07/oops-obamas-top-bundler-jonathan-lavine-was-in-charge-of-bain-during-gst-steel-layoffs/ – RT @DRUDGE_REPORT: REPORT: Top Obama Bundler Was In Charge of Bain During Steel Layoffs… #tcot
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 18, 2012

    July 18, 2012 /

    The Morning Flap links for July 17th through July 18th:

    • Arpaio calls Congress to move on Obama eligibility– At the conclusion of a press conference led by Cold Case Posse chief investigator Michael Zullo that detailed the reasons the long-form birth certificate of President Barack Obama is a forgery, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said it’s time for a higher authority to investigate the issue.Mr. Arpaio said he would like Congress … “someone” … to look at the material his investigative team had gathered. As he had told WND earlier: “Although I am having a difficult time deciding who to forward this information to given the fact that the obvious choices report directly to the president, I cannot stand by and hold on to information that threatens to weaken national security.”The press conference held Tuesday clarified some of the issues discussed in an earlier press conference held in Phoenix on March 1, at which the Cold Case Posse presented its initial findings of a six-month-long investigation into the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. “I cannot in good faith report to you that these documents are authentic,” Mr. Arpaio said at the time.
    • Arpaio: Obama birth record ‘definitely fraudulent’– Investigators for an Arizona sheriff’s volunteer posse have declared that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is definitely fraudulent.Members of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s posse said in March that there was probable cause that Obama’s long-form birth certificate released by the White House in April 2011 was a computer-generated forgery.Now, Arpaio says investigators are positive it’s fraudulent.Mike Zullo, the posse’s chief investigator, said numeric codes on certain parts of the birth certificate indicate that those parts weren’t filled out, yet those sections asking for the race of Obama’s father and his field of work or study were completed.

      Zullo said investigators previously didn’t know the meaning of codes but they were explained by a 95-year-old former state worker who signed the president’s birth certificate. Zullo said a writer who published a book about Obama’s birth certificate and was aiding investigators let them listen in on an interview he conducted of the former state worker.

      The Obama campaign declined to comment on Arpaio’s allegations.

    • President Obama’s jobs panel missing in action– President Barack Obama’s Jobs Council hasn’t met publicly for six months, even as the issue of job creation dominates the 2012 election.At this point, the hiatus — which reached the half-year mark Tuesday — might be less awkward than an official meeting, given the hornet’s nest of issues that could sting Obama and the council members if the private-sector panel gets together.
    • Romney Shreds Obama Economic Philosophy in Southwest PA Stop– Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney contrasted his economic philosophy with that of President Obama by using the President’s own statements against him during a campaign stop in southwest Pennsylvania Tuesday afternoon.Standing in front of a large sign that read “Obama’s Upside-Down Economy” at Horizontal Wireless Services in Irwin, Romney addressed a speech Obama made last week in Roanoke, VA where he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,” while speaking on the role of government-funded infrastructure in U.S. commerce.“I’ve got to be honest: I don’t think anyone could have said what he said who had actually started a business or been in a business,” Romney said. “In my own view, what the president said was both startling and revealing.”Romney countered Obama’s statement with his own five-point plan to mend the U.S. economy, including loosening regulations on coal, oil and natural gas, improving international trade policies, balancing the federal budget, improving the education system and encouraging “economic freedom.”
    • Romney: Obama Trying To Change ‘The Nature Of America’– Mitt Romney repeatedly seemed to question whether President Barack Obama believed in the American dream in an energetic campaign speech Tuesday, calling his rival’s approach to leadership “foreign” and accusing him of trying to change “the nature of America.””President Obama attacks success and therefore under President Obama we have less success, and I will change that,” Romney told more than 1,000 cheering supporters at an oil and gas services company in suburban Pittsburgh, after the president told a Virginia audience Friday that all Americans benefit from government investment in infrastructure and education.
    • Romney on Tax Returns: ‘I’m Simply Not Enthusiastic about Giving Them Hundreds or Thousands of More Pages to Pick Through, Distort, and Lie About’ – Earlier today, Mitt Romney spoke with NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE about life on the trail, his meeting with Dick Cheney, and his upcoming trip to Europe. He called from western Pennsylvania, where he will later hold a rally at a wireless company.
    • Obama Kills Welfare Reform– Determined to destroy Bill Clinton’s signature achievement, President Barack Obama’s Administration has opened a loophole in the 1996 Welfare Reform legislation big enough to make the law ineffective. Its work requirement — the central feature of the legislation — has been diluted beyond recognition by the bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services.On Thursday of last week, HHS issued regulations that modified — gutted — the work requirement. Its new regulations allow the states to substitute education programs for work to get welfare benefits. The regs say that “vocational educational training or job search/readiness programs count as well” in meeting the basic condition that recipients work in order to receive welfare benefits.
    • Romney Should Release the Returns – Mitt Romney is steadfastly resisting calls to release additional years of his personal tax returns, arguing — not without good reason —that this demand is part of a fishing expedition by the Obama campaign, which hopes to exploit Romney’s personal wealth and successful business career as part of a class-warfare election strategy. Romney argues that whatever he releases will not be enough to satisfy the Obama campaign and its factota in the media, who are, once again, proving their bias and double standards. Romney is right, but he should release the returns anyway. Let them go fish.
    • Letters to Leon Panetta– A bipartisan group of Senators is urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide more than $300 million in promised funding needed for modernizing the aging U.S. nuclear weapons complex.Separately, two senior House Republicans want Panetta to explain whether U.S. intelligence estimates of when Iran will have long-range missile capabilities changed and whether U.S. missile defense plans are adequate to counter them.The senators—led by Senate minority whip Jon Kyl and including six Republicans, one Democrat, and one Independent—stated in a June 29 letter that the president’s budget for nuclear weapons fell $370 million short of the amount required under 2010 legislation.
    • Cheney, Lockheed CEO deliver dire warnings of impact of automatic cuts– Former Vice President Cheney made a rare trip to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to give House and Senate Republicans a dire assessment of what $500 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget would mean for national security.Cheney’s appearance came amid a concerted lobbying push from the defense industry, which is trying to persuade Congress to act now on the sequester by warning the cuts will lead to massive job losses
    • Christie, Priebus raise cash for Romney in North Carolina– ABC’s affiliate in Raleigh reports that Chris Christie and Reince Priebus raised at least $187K for Mitt Romney at a high-priced fundraiser in North Carolina last night.Their star power attracted about 75 guests. It was a who’s who of big name conservatives from the multi-millionaire Art Pope to Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison.The cost to hear Christie and Preibus speak was between $2,500 and $75,000 per couple.
    • Christie reportedly eyed for RNC convention keynote– The word is going out quietly to Republican activists across New Jersey: If you’re going to the GOP convention in Tampa next month, be sure to be there by Tuesday night, Aug. 28, because Gov. Chris Christie is going to be giving the keynote speech that night.“We’ve been told that’s the night to be there, that’s when the governor is going to speak. They’re saying he’s the keynoter,” one top party activist told The Post yesterday.
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-18 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-07-18
    • Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s Comments On His Home, California – Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania? –
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Afternoon Drill: July 17, 2012 – The Afternoon Drill: July 17, 2012
    • Crony Capitalism With Barack Obama and Steve Westly – Flap’s Blog – Crony Capitalism With Barack Obama and Steve Westly
    • Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania? – Flapsblog.org – Will California Be Downgraded Like Pennsylvania?
    • (404) http://t.co/k13 – RT @ppppolls: Obama’s approval numbers in Iowa have flipped from narrowly positive (49/46) to narrowly negative (47/49): …
    • Obama leads in Iowa – Public Policy Polling – RT @ppppolls: Our newest Iowa poll finds Barack Obama leading 48-43, down from a 51-41 advantage on our May poll there:
    • Obama has investments in companies that ship jobs overseas | WashingtonExaminer.com – RT @philipaklein: New post: “Obama has investments in companies that ship jobs overseas”
    • President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 48% Vs. Romney 46% – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Obama 48% Vs. Romney 46%
    • Gallup: U.S. Unemployment Down to 7.9% in Mid-July – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Gallup: U.S. Unemployment Down to 7.9% in Mid-July
    • The Morning Flap: July 17, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: July 17, 2012
    • Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 17, 2012 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 17, 2012
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: July 17, 2012

    July 17, 2012 /

    These are my links for July 16th through July 17th: