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.

Government: If you think the problems we created are bad, wait till you see our solutions.

Those fictional districts in Arizona are by no mean a small sample. Pretty much every state has entries like that. I looked up my home state of NC, and, apparently we now have a 14th, 37th, 86th, 24th, 99th, and 00 districts! We only have 13 total districts. The 37th created 2 jobs for a cost of almost $4 million dollars.

My old home state of NJ has 18 extra districts, which supposedly created 574.6 jobs with a price tag of around $24 million. What is your state looking like?

Meanwhile, the Generational Theft Act is actually creating new jobs: grifters.

And the original idiocy, the TARP plan, wasted billions on AIG.

The Federal Reserve’s initial emergency plan last fall to save then-failing American International Group was so hastily put together and poorly structured that it resulted in billions of additional taxpayer dollars spent on the insurance giant, says a new report by a Treasury Department independent watchdog.

And guess who coordinated the plan? If you guess Little Timmy Geithner, give yourself an early morning shot of Tequila.

And these are the same people who want to run our health care system and say they can actually reduce costs? Good luck with that.

And someone make sure Sheriff Joe didn’t lock himself in a jail cell again.

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The White House just seems to be pulling their numbers out of their, um, posteriors

New job numbers from businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities were not scheduled to be released publicly until Friday afternoon. But Biden said the reports will show 640,329 jobs created or saved directly through federal contracts.

Sure, lots of jobs were saved, mostly all in the government sector, as so many state and local governments were going to have to lay off government employees due to the recession, made worse by Democrat policies.

House GOP Leader John Boehner had this to say

“The trillion dollar ‘stimulus’ isn’t working, and no amount of phony statistics can change that. The President and his economic team promised the ‘stimulus’ would create jobs ‘immediately’ and unemployment would stay below eight percent. But America has lost more than three million jobs since then, and the unemployment rate is nearing double digits. After promising earlier this year that 90 percent of the ‘jobs created’ would be in the private sector, the White House’s announcement today shows that the ’stimulus’ has only grown the size of the government payroll.

“While Washington keeps spending and piling more debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren, out-of-work families keep asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ Republicans have proposed better solutions to help small businesses start creating jobs again. It’s time for Democrats in Washington to work with us on common sense solutions to help small businesses struggling in today’s economy.”

Like everything else, the Stimulus plan results are just smoke and mirrors.

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Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan — an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.

I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention, and do what generations to come will always be grateful for: resign.

Now, why would he do that, Arianna?

The centerpiece of Newsweek’s storyis how Biden has become the chief White House skeptic on escalating the war in Afghanistan, specifically arguing against Gen. McChrystal’s request for 40,000 more troops to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy there. (snip)

It’s been known for a while that Biden has been on the other side of McChrystal’s desire for a big escalation of our forces there — the New York Times reportedlast month that he has “deep reservations” about it. So if the president does decide to escalate, Biden, for the good of the country, should escalate his willingness to act on those reservations.

What he must not do is follow the same weak and worn-out pattern of “opposition” we’ve become all-too-accustomed to, first with Vietnam and then with Iraq. You know the drill: after the dust settles, and the country begins to look back and not-so-charitably wonder, “what were they thinking?” the mea-culpa-laden books start to come out. On page after regret-filled page, we suddenly hear how forceful this or that official was behind closed doors, arguing against the war, taking a principled stand, expressing “strong concern” and, yes, “deep reservations” to the president, and then going home each night distraught at the unnecessary loss of life.

Well, how about making the mea culpa unnecessary? Instead of saving it for the book, how about future author Biden unfetter his conscience in real time — when it can actually do some good? If Biden truly believes that what we’re doing in Afghanistan is not in the best interests of our national security — and what issue is more important than that? — it’s simply not enough to claim retroactive righteousness in his memoirs.

So, basically, it boils down to “he has a different opinion, and he might make Obama look bad.” Even though the sole purpose in picking Biden was to prop up Obama’s non-existent foreign policy credentials. Oh, and let’s not forget that lovely talking point Liberals liked to throw around when some low ranking trooper did something bad (or called bad, anyhow, without proof) in Iraq: The Buck Stops Here. Obama is president, at least by law.

Don’t worry, Arianna, Obama has more than enough on his plate that is making him look bad. Putting the troops in Afghanistan that General McCrystal is requesting is Obama’s decision. Might it not be a good thing that he receive advice from people around him?

Just remember this one, folks, the next time a Democrat does some actual wrong. The bar has now been set really, really low. And, yeah, she didn’t really make a case at all, except that “he might make Obama look weak and ineffective.”

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove

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White House angry at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan
The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal’s comments on strategy for the war.
By Alex Spillius in Washington

Translation: Gen Stanley McChrystal has the unmitigated gall to speak without Obama’s teleprompter and give real advice about military strategy rather than soft words supporting whatever it is the Prez has to say. That is ticking off the powerbrokers who are pulling the strings.

According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.

Translation: Gen McChrystal is going against the status quo of the totalitarians who want people to do as they say without question.

The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago’s unsuccessful Olympic bid.

You’ve got to admit that the timing of this little encounter was just a little bit “off”. Obama’s narcissism was probably blown up to epic proportions at that point while he was preparing to pitch the Chicago Olympics. How dare that lowly General butt in to this star studded event and throw some rain on that parade!

In an apparent rebuke to the commander, Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, said: “It is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations, civilians and military alike, provide our best advice to the president, candidly but privately.”

Hmmm. We must be candid and private about it…? How so, Defence Secretary Gates?

When asked on CNN about the commander’s public lobbying for more troops, Gen Jim Jones, national security adviser, said:

“Ideally, it’s better for military advice to come up through the chain of command.”

So, then, it should be filtered for Obama’s consumption rather than come directly from McChrystal himself?

Asked if the president had told the general to tone down his remarks, he told CBS: “I wasn’t there so I can’t answer that question. But it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I am sure they exchanged direct views.”

I can’t imagine that that happened, considering Obama has no military experience so he has no context about what is going on….that is the reason why he has so many advisers – because he’s still the Junior Senator from Illinois – he’s still the community organizer…he’s still blaming Bush for all his failures, unable to cope, apparently, with the reality of what a mess he’s made of things.

I would imagine he was speechless quite a bit of the time when McChrystal spoke and needed to consult a panel of experts and receive a written teleprompter response before he could respond.

Too much of this administration is artificial and orchestrated. Obama can’t speak very well on his own without something prepared beforehand; that we know from his endless gaffes.

An adviser to the administration said: “People aren’t sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn’t seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly.”

hmmm. Washington hard-ball is about…speaking your mind…with nuance and finesse? Saying one thing and doing another? That much we’ve already witnessed.

In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda.

He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to “Chaos-istan”.

But Chaos-istan is precisely what he’s trying to achieve in everything he’s stuck his finger into. From the Automobile industry to the financial industry – to one fifth of our economy with the healthcare Obamacare overhaul…what Obama has written is the prescription for disaster which was cooked up at Columbia called the Cloward Piven Strategy. It isn’t different where things military are concerned. Chaos-istan is the POINT with Obama. It is the ultimate goal – the coup d’etat his handlers have been salivating for. For McChrystal to have the nerve to point it out just means he’s not one of Obama’s lapdogs, and I say–good for him.

When asked whether he would support it, he said: “The short answer is: No.”

He went on to say: “Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support.”

Again, that is precisely the point. I don’t envy McChrystal’s position here; he’s in a no-win situation with a usurper we are supposed to address “Mr. President”; a loser who makes everything about him.

The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.

Which is how it is in a socialist regime; there are a lot of filters messages need to go through; a lot of people have their hands in the pie.

Gen McChrystal delivered a report on Afghanistan requested by the president on Aug 31, but Mr Obama held only his second “principals meeting” on the issue last week.

He will hold at least one more this week, but a decision on how far to follow Gen McChrystal’s recommendation to send 40,000 more US troops will not be made for several weeks.

A military expert said: “They still have working relationship but all in all it’s not great for now.”

While men are dying…Obama has more time for glitz, glitter, and the Chicago crime syndicate than he has for our troops.

It is beyond disgusting. We need to pray for General Stanley McChrystal; he’s going to need it.

Some commentators regarded the general’s London comments as verging on insubordination.

It might be insubordination if Obama knew his a** from a hole in the ground.

Bruce Ackerman, an expert on constitutional law at Yale University, said in the Washington Post: “As commanding general, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements.”

He added that it was highly unusual for a senior military officer to “pressure the president in public to adopt his strategy”.

It’s not unusual, though, for liberal presidents to be at odds with the military – which is why Buzz Patterson wrote several books on the subject, having had intimate knowledge of how the Clintons treated military people and people in uniform. There is – Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security, Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undercut Our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our Security, and War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror – and that’s just from one guy.

Relations between the general and the White House began to sour when his report, which painted a grim picture of the allied mission in Afghanistan, was leaked. White House aides have since briefed against the general’s recommendations.

The general has responded with a series of candid interviews as well as the speech. He told Newsweek he was firmly against half measures in Afghanistan: “You can’t hope to contain the fire by letting just half the building burn.”

Amen to that, General. If nothing else, I will be looking forward to your books coming out that chronicle the embarrassment of having served under this so-called president, the Messiah Obama.

As a divide opened up between the military and the White House, senior military figures began criticising the White House for failing to tackle the issue more quickly.

They made no secret of their view that without the vast ground force recommended by Gen McChrystal, the Afghan mission could end in failure and a return to power of the Taliban.

“They want to make sure people know what they asked for if things go wrong,” said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defence.

Critics also pointed out that before their Copenhagen encounter Mr Obama had only met Gen McChrystal once since his appointment in June.

I think it’s time we started talking about bringing President Obama up on War Crimes charges. It’s only fair when it’s obvious he is putting off making decisions – putting them off until the war is unwinnable. As we wind up the first year of Obama’s term, one thing is certain; none of this can be blamed on Bush now. It’s all in his court.

By the way, it’s hard to believe any guy that manufactures this much stupidity could have much of an opinion on military matters, anyway.

X posted at CB

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Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware…
Biden said these House seats are Republicans “one shot” at breaking the Obama administration’s agenda. But if Democrats can hold on to those seats, “the dam is going to break,” he said, and a new era of bipartisanship will begin.

Hat tip: Hot Air

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How much longer before the full meltdown of this administration? Drudge is headlining idiot Biden’s words of wisdom, but tell me…isn’t this the philosophy they sold from the beginning?

“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

Wow! I’ve been handling my finances all backwards. Excuse me while I go max out all my credit cards so I won’t owe anything. What a genius!

Kim Preistap gives this the Billy Madison response.

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Biden also praised Tim Kaine as the “great governor of New Jersey.”

One problem: Tim Kaine’s not governor of New Jersey.

Jon Corzine (right) is governor of New Jersey (Remember, he didn’t wear his seatbelt in the state patrol car for the big high-speed crash).

Tim Kaine is governor of another state, called Virginia.

He’s also chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Biden is from Delaware.

He used a Teleprompter.

Blame Secretary Teleprompter. And, if that wasn’t bad enough

Standing ovations as he pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell…Additionally, Biden promised to put a ban on workplace discrimination….

In case Gaffemaster J missed it, his boss is against gay marriage, is keeping DADT, and, there are already laws regarding workplace discrimination. Where has he been these past years?

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President Obama has taken a cautious tone toward the demonstrators in Iran, with his stated reason being that more open support would discredit their cause. This strikes me as a sensible position. The revealed preferences of both sides suggest a mutual belief that an American embrace would hurt the protestors. The regime is trying (so far, without much success) to tie the demonstrators to the U.S., and the demonstrators are embracing the symbolism of the Iranian revolution (the color green, chants of “Alluah Akbar,” and so on) in order to demonstrate their patriotism and mainstream cultural status.

Still, this kind of judgment about an unfamiliar country’s internal politics is just a guess, and it’s a rebuttable proposition. What’s remarkable to me is that those on the other side refuses to rebut it. Today’s Washington Post op-ed page has two more columns lambasting Obama for failing to embrace the demonstrators. Today’s offerings are by Charles Krauthammer and Paul Wolfowitz. Neither one of them even mentions, let alone answers, Obama’s argument for why embracing the demonstrators would be counterproductive.

I don’t understand how you could write a column without ever once addressing the primary argument for the proposition you’re arguing against. The low quality of argument on this topic from the right is striking.

This is interesting in that for 8 years the Left version of an argument was to throw personal smears, but, regardless, Jonathan barely makes an attempt to argue that Obama is doing the proper thing.

Rick Moran, who, like many Conservatives, goes his own way, seems to agree with Jonathan

But when it comes to Iran, I think Obama – after an inexplicable delay – has got our response to the upheaval there just about right. And when smart guys like Krauthammer and Wolfowitz take him to task for not “standing up” for the demonstrators without once mentioning the unique and painful history of US-Iran relations, it makes me believe that those two gentlemen were attacking the president for the sake of expediency rather than critiquing a policy choice.

Excitable Andy doesn’t even try to make an argument that Obama is doing the correct thing, just throws some smears, which, OK, are a part of politics. Maha follows in Andy’s footsteps, and digs deeper in creating a strawman personal attack, but, can’t actually defend Obama’s “policy.” Interestingly, both Joe Biden and Hillary are pushing POTUS to make a stronger statement. Whatever you may think of the two politically, they both certainly have vastly more experience then Obama in foreign affairs (though, that is not saying much.) Let’s say, they both have vast experience in foreign policy, shall we?

As for the argument, no one is asking Obama to come out and implicitly side with the protesters. OK, some are. As I, and others, have written and stated, it’s not like Mousavi is some unbelievable reformer. There are others in the race who actually were much more “liberal” in at least their internal policies. Mousavi is a bit more easy going then Amhadinejad, but, let’s not forget who is behind everything. The mullahs.

What we would like is for Obama to express at least some support for the freedom and fairness that the protesters want. We would like him to show some backbone, some boldness in standing up for more openness, more freedom, more democracy. Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness. Interestingly, how often have we seen signs such as this during the demonstrations?

Signs in English are obviously a plea for leaders in the Western world to pick a side, to acknowledge the plight of the Iranian people. The world can be a big, bad scary place. There are times when a more neutral approach is called for, and times when leaders need to take a stand and be bold. Reagan wasn’t neutral when he visited Germany and said “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” It was bold. He took a stand. Interestingly, Obama is more then willing to meddle in the affairs of Israel, but, not in a brutal Islamic regime cracking down with violence and murder on people looking for a little more freedom.

This is bold

In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House voted 405-1 Friday to condemn Tehran’s crackdown on demonstrators and the government’s interference with Internet and cell phone communications.

The Senate voted to condemn, as well. Bold. Regardless of what Obama does or doesn’t do, Iran will blame the United States. They care little whether it is Bush or Obama. And, whether or not Obama gets it or not, he is POTUS, and people around the world look to what the United States does. Obama famously said “Just Words,” implying that words have meaning. And they do. Now is the time for those words.

Porter Good AKA William Teach

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Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that “everyone guessed wrong” on the impact of the economic stimulus, but he defended the administration’s spending designed to combat rising joblessness.

Everyone? I suppose in a world where we ignore those who opposed the Generational Theft Act.

Biden said inaccuracies in unemployment predictions shouldn’t undercut the White House’s support of the $787 billion economic revival plan that has not met the expectations of President Obama’s team. Instead, the vice president urged skeptics to look at teachers who kept their classroom assignments and police officers who kept their beats because of financial assistance from Washington.

“The bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before,” Biden said.

Can you be a little more specific, Sheriff Joe? Because no one in Obama’s administration can really point to specific jobs created or not lost. Just generalities. All while the unemployment rate hovers in European numbers. Even some DUers are losing their hopey changey feeling on this.

But, hey with such great projects such as

• Purchasing solar bus stop signs (huh?)
• $5 million for new airport signs
• A new Promax Analyzer under bid, for a government agency
• $6.77 million for a subway canopy
• $56K for a fairgrounds path
• Here in NC, a $300K greenway in the Chapel Hill area. I thought the money wasn’t supposed to be used for that type of project?
• Repaving the Alligator River bridge. I was on it about 6 months ago. It’s in pretty good condition now.
• $4.5 million to repaint US 64 bridge in Dare County
• In my area, $6.5 million for a greenway. Completely unnecessary, ours are already pretty darned good.

And the hit list goes on and on. A good Twitter feed is from recovery.org, which is not the official site, that being recovery.gov. Not quite sure what the number address is for Sheriff Joe.

Notice that so many of these projects, whether wasteful or not, will, at best, provide only temporary and short term employment.

I find it very interesting, as I mentioned earlier today, that so much of the money seems to be going to federal agencies. Now, I usually have no problem with funding the military, but, there are avenues to do that, and that was not what Porkulus was for.

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Vice President gaff-o-matic strikes again. Construction finally began on the nation’s largest transportation project in North Bergen, New Jersey this week. After much debate and planning an $8.7 billion tunnel that is supposed to double the number of train commuters that can travel between New Jersey and Manhattan broke ground at last.

Vice President Joe Biden was so excited about the tunnel that he mentioned the project on a Monday conference call with various newspapers and interested parties in New Jersey. He was proud that the Obama administration had sent stimulus money to this new tunnel “designed to provide for automobile traffic” for New Jersey.

Uh, oops. It’s a railway tunnel, not a car tunnel, Joey.

NorthJersey.com has an amusing addendum to its story:

Biden’s office did not immediately respond to a request to clarify his comments.

Yeah. No doubt it’s because his office has no clue what he is talking about either.

President Obama’s office did not respond to questions of just when the administration is going to start requiring the vice president to wear one of those court jester hats in public, either.

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