Freedom Line Blog

Boy, those fictitious Stimulus jobs just keep piling up.

Yesterday, we highlighted an analysis done by David Freddoso and Mark Hemingway of The Washington Examiner, which points out that at least 75,343 jobs the Obama Administration claims have been “created or saved” by “Stimulus” funds are bogus.

Now, Jonathan Karl with ABC News reports that at least some of those jobs “saved or created” are in Congressional districts that don’t even exist.  Karl writes:

Here’s a stimulus success story:  In Arizona’s 15th congressional district, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that’s what the Web site set up by the Obama administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says.

There’s one problem, though:  There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state has only eight districts.

And ABC News has found many more entries for projects like this in places that are incorrectly identified.

Officials with the Recovery Board, which was set up by the Obama Administration to track Stimulus spending, are chalking up the mistake to “human error.”  Fine… but such an error, together with the ever-increasing reports of fictitious Stimulus job numbers, begs the question:  How are the American people supposed to trust an Administration that claims to want to create jobs when it can’t even perform due diligence to provide an accurate count of the jobs that may or may not have been “created or saved?”

The answer:  We can’t and we shouldn’t.  Not because of the aforementioned errors and inflated Stimulus job numbers, but because the laws of economics say so.  As the editorial page of The Washington Times reminded readers last week, “Jobs created by government come at the expense of the jobs lost when government takes wealth from one part of the economy and moves it to another.”

Here’s a not-so-unique but tried-and-true idea to stimulate job growth:   How about the Administration abandon its tax-and-spend agenda and just get out of the way? 

Hey Mr. President, maybe it’s time to give FREEDOM a whirl?

NY Daily News – Civilian Justice for 9/11 Plotters is Profound, Dangerous Mistake
John Yoo – The KSM Trial Will Be an Intelligence Bonanza for al Qaeda
Thomas Sowell – Bowing to “World Opinion”
Byron York – Republicans Who Endorsed Holder Have Second Thoughts

National Review – Palin: In Her Own Words; Excerpts from Going Rogue
The Washington Examiner – Stop Lying About Those Stimulus Jobs
The Washington Times – GOP Weighs Filibuster of Obama Judicial Nominee
The Hill – Hoffman “Unconcedes” in NY-23

Federal Debt:  $11.944 trillion

More than ten percent — or 75,343 — of the jobs the Obama Administration claims have been “created or saved” by the $787 billion Stimulus package are “doubtful or imaginary.”

That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive analysis performed by David Freddoso and Mark Hemingway of The Washington Examiner, who compiled and analyzed media reports on the Stimulus over the course of the last two weeks. 

According to Freddoso and Hemingway:

The Obama administration has claimed that the $787 billion economic stimulus package ‘saved or created’ some 650,000 jobs. But almost as soon as the White House trotted out this figure, news organizations found huge exaggerations in the reported data. Many of the jobs reportedly created do not exist or cannot be accounted for.

The Examiner has created a handy interactive map highlighting the exaggerated job claims, broken down by state and locality.  The map is accompanied by a chart fully documenting the jobs “not really created or saved” by the Stimulus.   Check both out here.

Freddoso and Hemingway write that the project “remains a work in progress because relatively few newspapers have scrutinized stimulus spending so far.”  They plan to update the map and chart as new revelations are reported on by the media.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

From government-run health care to a cap-and-trade energy tax, from bans on new fast food restaurants to taxing soft drinks, elected officials at the federal and state levels are working to rapidly expand the Nanny State.  CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses the issue in this week’s Freedom Minute.

Watch the video below.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Lee:  ObamaCare and the Auto Insurance Analogy
Batkins:  Health Care Turncoats
CFIF Staff:  Keep on Lying, Charlie. That’s What Florida Really Wants in its Next Senator
Senik:  The Politician America Needs: Margaret Thatcher

Freedom Minute Video:  Smothered by the Nanny State
Podcast:  Health Care Reform – Fact vs. Fiction – Interview with Sally Pipes
Jester’s Courtroom:  Lawsuit Suggests Crime Does Pay

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

Bertha Lewis, head of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), has been busy in recent months trying to defend her organization in the face of an avalanche of controversy.  Lewis is sticking to her argument that it was merely a few bad apples employed by ACORN who were caught on undercover videotape giving advice on how to lie to the IRS on income from a fictional underage brothel.  Such behavior isn’t typical within the organization, she claims.

Or is it?  Ronald Kessler, Chief Washington Correspondent at Newsmax.com, writes today:

More undercover videos of ACORN workers apparently advising Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe on how to evade federal taxes on income from a fictitious brothel will be released to the media in coming weeks, Giles tells Newsmax. 

In the meantime, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has filed suit in Maryland against Giles and O’Keefe, claiming civil damages…

Attorneys for the Liberty Legal Institute are defending Giles, the daughter of a conservative pastor in Miami, pro bono. 

In related news, Politico is reporting that ACORN “filed a lawsuit against the federal government Thursday morning, seeking to overturn a law stopping the flow of federal funds” to the organization.  ACORN argues that measures passed by the House and the Senate to stop the organization from receiving certain taxpayer dollars are… unconstitutional.

As Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambles to put together the pieces on his economy-busting health care “reform” bill, the Senate Finance Committee today began  hearings on that other job-killing legislation… Cap-and-Trade.

The Committee’s Ranking Member, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), rightly used some of the time he had for opening remarks to remind his colleagues that unlike the Environment and Public Works Committee, which is controlled by some of the Senate’s most liberal members and which passed its version of a Cap-and-Trade energy tax last week, the Finance Committee’s job is to focus on the economic impact and costs of the legislation.

According to Roll Call, Grassley stated:

This committee’s expertise is in the costs and economic impacts of new taxes. It therefore has the relevant expertise for evaluating the costs associated with climate change legislation. An honest cost-benefit assessment requires that we first stop trying to sell this policy as if it will have no cost for Americans and accept the basic economic principle that there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

Acknowledging Grassley’s remarks, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) said:

While we must always be mindful of the cost of legislation, that’s particularly true in today’s economy. Our unemployment rate remains far too high. And we must be diligent to create jobs, including in the energy sector.”

Considering the federal government’s own estimates warn that the legislation would cost the U.S. economy far more jobs than it may create, wouldn’t the most diligent thing be for Baucus to scrap the idea of a Cap-and-Trade energy tax altogether?

With pressure coming from the White House and not to be outdone by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated earlier today that the Senate could begin debate on his health care “reform” bill as early as next week.  Reid believes a final vote on the legislation could happen by Christmas.

That’s an ambitious schedule considering that Reid’s bill hasn’t even been presented to his Senate colleagues yet, much less to the American people.   The Majority Leader has been waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to finish its cost estimates on various versions of his “reform” proposal prior to deciding what the final product will look like and releasing it for review.

Moreover, Reid has his hands full trying to find the 60 votes necessary to proceed to a vote on health care “reform” in the Senate as liberals and so-called moderates in his caucus are divided on issues such as taxpayer funding for abortion and a government-run “public option.”

UPDATE:

The Hill reports:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) late Tuesday laid the groundwork for the Senate’s healthcare reform debate to start next Tuesday.

Reid filed a motion to introduce the bill on Monday, Nov. 16. Anticipating a Republican objection, the bill would be pushed onto the Senate calendar.

“A motion to proceed to the bill would be in order the next legislative day,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

Tonight, the House of Representatives voted 220-215 to narrowly pass Speaker Pelosi’s 2,000-page, trillion-dollar-plus health care “reform” bill.

Just one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao (Louisiana) voted “Yea.” Thirty-nine Democrats joined with all other House Republicans in opposition.

From Politico.com:

With just hours remaining until an historic vote on a sweeping health-care reform measure Saturday evening, at least 31 Democrats have said they will vote against the bill as of 6:00 p.m., according to a POLITICO analysis. 

Just nine more ‘no’ votes would be enough to sink the bill if Republicans maintain, as expected, a solid front of opposition.

UPDATE:

Politico.com just updated it’s count.  The number of House Democrats committed to voting “No” is now 32.

UPDATE – 9:35 p.m.:

“At least 34 Democrats have said they will vote against the bill as of 8:45 p.m.,” according to Politico.com.  That is just six shy of the 40 needed to defeat the bill.

See the list Dem “No” votes here.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses Congress’ ever-growing trend of reckless government spending and what the nation’s growing debt means for America’s families and furture generations.

Watch the video below.

The vote on Speaker Pelosi’s 2,000-page, $1 trillion-plus plan for government-run health care – still scheduled for later today – is coming down to the wire.  Several Members of Congress are saying and the media is reporting that the Speaker still doesn’t have the necessary 218 votes for passage – despite her working through the night to strike backroom deals with so-called moderate Democrats.

The vote, whether it happens tonight or is delayed for a day or two, is going to be close.  As many as 23 House Democrats have vowed to join with all Republicans to vote against the bill.  There are several Democrats still on the fence.

The Hill has this updated whip count of key Dems and their positions on the bill. 

The American people must keep the pressure on their Representatives in Congress to vote “No” on the Pelosi-Obama government-run health care scheme.  We can defeat it!

CFIF staff is heading down to the U.S. Capitol now to join with thousands of Americans to rally against the bill.  If you live in the Washington, D.C.-area, please join us at the event, the details of which can be found here.

Keep calling, writing and faxing your Representatives in opposition to the House bill.  Ask your neighbors, friends and family members to do the same.  We are winning.  We can win.  And, we will win if we all do our part to turn up the heat in opposition to government-run health care.

• To be patched through to your Member of Congress, call 202-224-3121.
• Find your Representative and his or her direct contact information here.
• Send an e-mail to your Representative here. 

Following the huge turnout for and success of Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s “House Call” yesterday, Congressman Steve King (R-IA) is calling on the American people to make a second “House Call” tomorrow by joining him and other Members of Congress to once again rally against Nancy Pelosi’s health care “reform” bill. 

In a statement released earlier today, King said:

Nancy Pelosi and Washington liberals cannot ignore what transpired yesterday in Washington. Americans from every state stormed Capitol Hill. They took over the Hill. And they loudly chanted ‘Kill this bill!’

“We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care. We need the help of every American willing to stand up for freedom and liberty. I urge all Americans who oppose this bill to come to Washington tomorrow morning and join us to stop this bill.”

The rally will take place at the U.S. Capitol at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, November 7, 2009.

CFIF is calling on its Washington D.C.-area activists and all others who can make it to attend this important rally.

Pelosi has scheduled a floor vote on her “reform” legislation for tomorrow at approximately 6:00 p.m.  News reports are suggesting that the Speaker is still scrambling for votes.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are publicly predicting that the House health care “reform” bill, which is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow, will pass.  But several news reports indicate that both are scrambling today to find the votes.

Even the ultra-liberal Moveon.org, which is pulling out all the stops in support of government-run health care, is worried.  In an e-mail sent out to liberal activists earlier today, the group was panicked.  The e-mail reads:

Dear MoveOn member,

After months of build-up, tomorrow is THE big House vote on landmark health care reform. But according to news reports, Democrats don’t yet have the votes to win!

This is crunch time. … Right now, it’s all coming down to a key group of moderate Democrats who are on the fence — and we hear they’re getting inundated with calls from health care opponents. …

There you have it.  The phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails against ObamaCare are working.  Pelosi and Hoyer are scrambling for votes.  Their ultra-liberal allies are panicked.  An overwhelming majority of Americans are making their voice heard AGAINST House Democrats’ plan for a government takeover of health care.

Keep it up!  Pelosi’s 2,000-page “reform” bill can be defeated.  But the Americans people must continue to “inundate” Congressional offices between now and tomorrow.

• To be patched through to your Member of Congress, call 202-224-3121.
• Find your Representative and his or her direct contact information here.
• Send an e-mail to your Representative here. 

This week’s installment of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

CFIF Staff:  Let-Them-Eat-Cake Nancy
Lee:  The Obama Way – First Throw Down, Then Throw Up
Senik:  Conservatism, Feet Planted
Ellis:  Conservative Activists vs. the Republican Establishment, and the Future Is What?
Batkins:  The White House War on Speech

Freedom Minute Video:  No Ceiling on Reckless Government Spending
Podcast:  ObamaCare’s “Demonstration Projects” – Interview with Bob Dorigo Jones
Jester’s Courtroom:  Nothing Casual About This Lawsuit

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive the Liberty Update, sign up here.

During his nationally televised address on health care to a joint session of Congress in September, President Obama stated:

There are also those who claim that our [health care] reform effort will insure illegal immigrants.  This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”

Well, either the President wasn’t being totally honest when he made that statement or Nancy Pelosi wasn’t paying attention or just flat out ignored it.  H.R. 3962, the 2,000-plus-page (and growing), $1.3 trillion (and growing) “reform” proposal that the House will be voting on tomorrow – and for which President Obama has pledged his support – in fact does enable illegal immigrants to receive health care.

According to a November 2, 2009 Congressional Research Service report, “The House bill contains no express restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – accessing and paying for coverage available through the health insurance exchange.”

Just a few days earlier, the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) noted in its preliminary cost estimate of H.R. 3962 that in 2019 there would be “about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly one third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).”  In other words, CBO projects that six million illegals – nearly half of all illegal immigrants currently living in the United States, according to official government estimates – would be provided health care under the legislation by 2019.

Repeated attempts to amend the underlying legislation upon which H.R. 3962 was drafted to provide for adequate verification of U.S. citizenship and to explicitly exclude illegal immigrants from receiving health benefits under the bill have all failed. 

Rep. Tom Price, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, has a more thorough analysis of the issue here.

Last week, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) called on the American people to join her in making a “House Call” against the passage of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 1,990-page government-run health care plan. 

The event, which is intended to emulate the effective August tea parties, takes place tomorrow at noon.  It will begin with a rally featuring actor Jon Voight and Mark Levin on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.  Following the rally, participants will descend on Congressional offices to lobby against the legislation.

Appearing yesterday on Fox and Friends, Bachmann labeled this week the “Super Bowl of Freedom.” 

“The American people need to stand up again and make sure that Congress hears them this time. Speaker Pelosi is putting her bill on fast track to a vote…” said the Congresswoman.  “The people need to make a House Call on Washington this week and tell their Representatives to vote no to a government take-over of one-fifth of our economy. This is gangster government at its worst.”

Watch the full Fox and Friends interview below:

It’s crunch time, folks.  House Democrats have scheduled a vote on Pelosi’s government-run health care bill for this Saturday.  Join Rep. Bachmann and thousands of concerned Americans in making a “House Call” against ObamaCare.

If you are not in the Washington, D.C.-area and are not able to attend this important event, please be sure to call your Representative in Congress and demand he or she vote “No!”  Call today, call tomorrow, then call again on Friday and Saturday.  Get your friends and family to do the same.  We must light up the telephone switchboards in Congressional offices in opposition to ObamaCare.

• To be patched through to your Member of Congress, call 202-224-3121.
• Or, click here to find your Representative and his or her direct contact information.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

The Associated Press reports:

WASHINGTON – The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan.

While the Congressional Budget Office has put the cost of expanding coverage in the legislation at roughly $1 trillion, Democrats added billions more on higher spending for public health, a reinsurance program to hold down retiree health costs, payments for preventive services and more. …

The officials who provided overall cost estimates did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss them.

Earlier this week, the editorial staff of The Wall Street Journal informed its readers that, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told fellow Democrats that she’s prepared to lose seats in 2010 if that’s what it takes to pass ObamaCare.”

So Pelosi is forcing a vote without any significant debate in the House this week on the nearly 2,000-page bill, which was crafted behind closed doors without any public or bipartisan input and which appears to be expanding by the minute in terms of its price tag and assault on individual freedom.  It certainly would seem as though the Speaker is being true to her word of passage of ObamaCare at any cost, now doesn’t it.