Today, in 1783, Washington gave his farewell address to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City. The tavern was owned by Samuel Fraunces, a free black from Dominica. He would later accept Washington’s invitation to be Chief Steward at the President’s residence.

The White House recently began claiming that the “Recovery Act” had “created or saved” 640,000-plus jobs. This was a political mistake, since the “jobs saved” measure allows for creative accounting. But the White House also erred by providing (supposed) details, making it very easy for reporters to do a bit of fact checking, which has generated a spate of stories showing that the White House’s numbers are wrong, even using make-believe methodology. The Washington Examiner has put together a very useful interactive map which links to many of the news reports debunking the Administration’s fraudulent numbers. With the White House now talking about a second stimulus (though it appears they will call it a jobs bill), it’s time to remind ourselves with a three-part series that government spending is not stimulus. Part I is this video debunking Keynesian economics.

Washington News Observer today covered Republican Leader John Boehner’s economic roundtable which featured economic experts such as Doug Holtz-Eakin and Larry Lindsey. Our coverage may be viewed below or on our website, www.washingtonnewsobserver.com

Boehner stated: “You have to remember that President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid, have never run a business, much less ever had a real job in the private sector. So how would they know what it takes to create real jobs?”

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We have already established the Healthcare for America Now (HCAN) is a front group primarily staffed by former SEIU members and financed by the SEIU.  And we’ve established HCAN’s role in the angry intimidating tactics employed to bully the town hall protestors during the month of August.  So, who is HCAN?

In short, HCAN is ACORN.  Take a look at their staff page:

f3f6e561444d6d6ca2_3xm6b5vr5 –

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As the USS Obama Administration slowly starts to settle into the waves, future historians will be kept busy searching for the source of the iceberg that holed it below the waterline on its maiden voyage to the land of Hope and Change.  Was it the non-stimulating “stimulus”?  The ludicrous Nobel Peace Prize?  The decision to try the Sept. 11^th plotters in lower Manhattan?  The Afghanistan speech at West Point this week, splitting the difference between surging and surrendering as the photo-op cadets nodded off in the background?  It’s a tough call, and the first year’s not even over yet.

But this administration is more than simply its swivel-headed Fearless Leader, ping-ponging between his teleprompters as the law of diminishing returns exerts its iron grip on his poll numbers.  It’s also the executive officers, the governing party’s top senators and congressmen, the palace courtiers who enforce discipline among the spear-carriers as they split up the swag.  In this, the Obama Administration is especially blessed, featuring both the frozen rictus of Anunciata d’Alesandro Pelosi as the speaker of the house and Harry “the Horse” Reid, an innocent Mormon virgin wandering among the fleshpots and real-estate deals of Las Vegas, as the Senate majority leader.  The Right is, indeed, fortunate in its enemies.

Still, the prize for the dumbest Democrat currently extorting a salary from the taxpayer (check out what her staff costs you here) remains where it long has been, in the grip of Barbara “Call Me Senator” Boxer, née Levy, the pride of Brooklyn and, latterly, of Marin County, Calif., and former relation-by-marriage to Hillary Rodham Clinton during the brief marriage between her daughter, Nicole, and Hillary’s sterling brother, Tony.  Tony Rodham, you may recall, is a former prison guard and repo man who managed to get himself into hot water over a hazelnut deal in the republic of Georgia, got caught up in Pardongate, was assaulted in flagranteby a man who claimed Tony was boinking his girlfriend, got caught up in bankruptcy court and battled his ex over child-support payments.

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It’s not just the scientists at the Climate Research Unit of East Anglia University who may have criminally violated the Freedom of Information Act (some profesors in the UK and some in the USA), NASA has been stonewalling a FOIA request as well… for years.

Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s.

“I assume that what is there is highly damaging,” Mr. Horner said. “These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal their internal discussions about this.”

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies is saying they’re “working on” the FOIA request.

Right. For two years?!

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On July 31, 2009, the Democratic House Leadership communicated to their members that they were working in close coordination with the White House and Health Care for America Now (HCAN) to get “grass roots” activities at town hall meetings through the month of August.  Five days later HCAN released a detailed instruction sheet for the union members of SEIU on how to control admission, speech, behavior and security at town hall meetings.  Two days after that staff members of the St. Louis SEIU implemented these strategies at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall event which resulted in Kenneth Gladney being beaten by an SEIU Business Agent and an SEIU Public Service Director.

The three-page document titled:   “Strategic Communications Plan for August: Health Insurance Reform” details various strategies for working district health care events, telephone town hall meetings, press outreach…etc.  Then under the heading of “Coordination” (and they say there is a vast RIGHT wing conspiracy) the House Democratic Leadership states:

The Leadership is working in close coordination with the White House and outside groups (including but not limited to HCAN, Families USA, AFSCME, SEIU, AARP, etc.) to ensure complementary efforts during August. The President, Secretary Sebelius and other principals in the reform debate will be working throughout the month to hold events, promote the message in the press and move the reform effort forward. We are also working closely with supportive organizations to ensure they are implementing comprehensive plans for August that include grassroots efforts, media strategies and anything else that can add to the momentum. In addition, a list of groups supporting health reform has been provided to your offices with information on ways you can partner with them in your districts.

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In what is becoming a perennial affair, the California budget deficit is projected to be over $21 billion in the coming year – including a $6 billion hangover from this year.  With the same degree of regularity, in pursuit of stable education funding (a good idea), educators in California are calling for tax rate increases (a bad idea) and blaming Republican legislators for blocking those increases (an unproductive idea).   Rather than call for more tax rate increases – one of the causes of our current problems –educators should call for policies that will increase private sector jobs so we have more people paying taxes – not less.

At first blush, it may be hard to believe that we have another deficit.  After all, in 2008, expenditures were far in excess of $100 billion.   Expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year were just over $90 billion.  With all that cutting, shouldn’t we have a balanced budget?  The answer is no – because budgets are a two-part equation: deficit/surplus = spending – revenues.  In California’s case, revenues have plummeted faster than expenditures – and continue to do so at a perilous rate.  Worse yet, California’s Legislative Analysts Office projects huge deficits for years to come.

Nevertheless, Democrats and many educators are calling for ever more tax rate increases in a dangerous game of economic roulette with California jobs.  Keep in mind that California already has the 6^th highest tax rate in the Country.  Why not shoot for number #1?  Three reasons:

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This morning, at a hearing of the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) raised the issue of a need for a full congressional investigation of ACORN.  As Rep. King notes, Subcommittee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has said he would consider an investigation as soon as he saw credible evidence of ACORN wrongdoing. (Rep. Nadler apparently doesn’t read Big Government)

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Did you know the environmental movement is not just about being a good steward of your environment so that you may, to the best of your ability, pass on an inhabitable planet to future generations? Nope.

It turns out that’s just the sweet sugary frosting on top of the social justice pie.

For a glimpse into the social(ist) justice ideology motivating the Progressive Global Warming Climate Change movement, take a look at the video below, produced by a community organization called smartMeme.

The video promotes turning Copenhagen into a moment for “ecological justice.” Some highlights include:

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On November 11, David N. Farr, Chairman, CEO and President of Emerson Electric Co., announced at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago that President Obama has succeeded in chasing his multi-billion dollar industry right out of the U.S.A. Why? Onerous regulation, high taxes, and the over $1 trillion Obama debt should be reason enough for any business to consider shutting down U.S. facilities and seeking greener pastures overseas says Farr.

The federal government is “doing everything in [its] manpower [and] capability to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” says David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., in a presentation at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago Ill., on Nov. 11. In comments reported by Bloomberg, Farr added that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”

During his slide show on the state of Emerson’s business, Farr noted that the “unprecedented job loss experienced in this recession will result in a much slower U.S. recovery” and the federal government is making matters worse. The slide reports that the job loss this time is by many magnitudes worse than previous recessions. Noted are job losses from several recessions: 1980 with 1 million jobs lost; 1982 with 2.8 million; 1990 with 1.5 million; 2001 with 2.7 million. Finally Farr notes that we’ve seen a whopping 7.3 million jobs lost thus far (and climbing) in this 2008-2009-2010 recession.

And the culprit? Obama’s government interference. Farr’s presentation noted the following:

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So the President holds a jobs summit, but doesn’t invite the biggest actual producers of jobs — instead stacking the deck with people who believe there just hasn’t been enough government reallocation of taxpayer money. We’ll talk about the summit and the latest details of upheaval at General Motors in today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

ABC News: Real Progress or PR Stunt?
Romer on the Jobs Summit
Cianfrocca: Near an Inflection Point on the Economy?
Samuelson on Job Growth’s Challenges

It’s important to understand that some of the monumental legislation being pondered by the present Administration will have real-world effects on things that might seem totally unrelated.  Readers must understand that landmark, and rushed, legislation may very well directly affect them even when they think it won’t.

So let’s look at one piece of important news as an example…but then ask how you would be  affected if health care reform was botched.

Our example is from the world of drug manufacturing. The second phase results of a monumental pharmaceutical study were released a few days ago, and women everywhere must pay attention.  For those who believed the myth that cardiovascular disease was not significant in women, and that the use of statins wouldn’t help women who might be at risk – this is a big wake-up call.

Pay attention:  you are at risk and statins can be of enormous benefit.  (And improper legislation may prevent women from having access to such a beneficial product).

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Successfully demonizing Washington insiders on the campaign trail, President Obama needed to find a way to meet with lobbyists without appearing hypocritical. The administration’s advice to lobbyists? De-register.

For an administration that promised to renounce interest groups, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) certainly has the president’s ear and is sure to be a major player in the December jobs summit. In 2008, SEIU donated nearly $28 million to the Obama campaign setting the stage for SEIU President Andy Stern to become the White House’s most frequent visitor in 2009, according to White House visitor logs. Anna Burger, Treasure of the SEIU and Chairwoman of their Change to Win campaign was even appointed to Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board earlier this year and will represent SEIU at the December jobs summit held by the White House.

To the objective observer, it is clear that Andy Stern and Anna Burger are meeting with members of the White House to advance goals of the SEIU, they are lobbying. However, in 2008 both Stern and Burger de-registered as lobbyists providing the Obama administration cover to meet with them while avoiding cries of duplicity. Yet, neither Stern nor Burger changed positions or job responsibilities, they just stopped registering as lobbyists.

So who has to register?

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The Democrats’ disconnect with kitchen table issues and the reality faced by families, workers, and small businesses is growing more evident by the minute.   The reckless agenda being pushed by Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and many Democrats on Capitol Hill is not helping struggling Americans and small business job creators – but it is hurting our country.  Their agenda continues to expand the reach of government, increase the deficit to alarming levels, and require even more money from foreign countries.   On everything from spending to cap-and-trade to card check, jobs and fiscal responsibility have taken a back seat.

This disconnect will reach new heights next week as the President and Speaker Pelosi prepare to fly to Copenhagen to promote job killing cap & trade legislation as unemployment continues to rise and the deficit continues to soar here at home.  Cap and Trade is a tax raising scheme that some wrongly believe can reduce carbon emissions.  It starts with the misguided belief that Washington can identify a commodity, assess its value and charge people for its use.  That is contrary to the America many of us believe in, and contrary to the reality that free markets should determine the price of commodities.

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Today, in 1818, Illinois became the 21st State:

Washington News Observer covered yesterday’s  forum on ACORN, which was hosted by the House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee . The US Department of Justice has thus far refused to lead an investigation into the improper allegations of ACORN. This is a brief video reel of the highlights from the two hour forum.

In Part 1 of this series we detailed the events leading up to the assault on Kenneth Gladney on August 6^th and revealed the document written by Margarida Jorge at Health Care for American Now (HCAN) a front group funded by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which laid a blueprint for the unions to follow that evening at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting.  Yesterday, in Part 2, we exposed a second town hall meeting that occurred the same night in Tampa Bay, FL with Rep. Kathy Castor that followed the same structure and had very similar results.  We also detailed the relationships of key decision makers at HCAN, Rep. Carnahan’s office and the White House and showed how they were all inter-related at SEIU, the Obama for America campaign and the two accused of assaulting Kenneth Gladney that evening.

Margarida Jorge

On the evening of August 6^th hundreds of citizens were shut out of the meeting and not allowed to question their elected official while hundreds of SEIU members were ushered in a side entrance to sit in reserved seats in the front of the hall.  This followed precisely the instructions penned by Margarida Jorge of HCAN.

• We need to stack our folks in the front to create a wall around the Member…
• Get to your location early and make sure you set up the venue in a way that ensures that the attendees you want are at the front and that any protesters who come are sequestered as far as possible from the stage.
• Make sure that you assign marshals to take care of moving the crowd, keeping people organized and orderly, and acting as security

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