State’s Stimulus Spending – Leaves out Areas of Highest Unemployment – 60,000 Temporary Census Jobs last average of two weeks.

The Boston Globe’s AP article entitled “Stimulus Watch”, notes that counties across the country with the highest unemployment rates are not benefitting from the Stimulus Plan the Obama administration rammed through Congress in a panic. Had anyone bothered to take the extra time to put the bill together, allow everyone time to read the fine print, and/or analysis the potential for waste and further misery to the hardest hit areas, perhaps some safeguards would have been put into place. Of interest in this particular piece is the fact that shovels read projects, required under the stimulus, are so costly to plan, that many counties, specifically those with the highest unemployment rates, cannot afford the plans in the first place. Additionally, States are not required to use highway funds for economically distressed areas – the only restriction is to spend taxpayers’ dollars as fast as possible.

The result, according to the Globe Article:

“One result among many: Elk County, Pa., isn't receiving any road money despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Yet the military and college community of Riley County, Kan., with its 3.4 percent unemployment, will benefit from about $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore a historic farmhouse.”

It goes without saying that those that make plans in haste, repent in leisure. Grumblings from newspaper chat rooms and other forums across the country are now focusing on the 60,000 plus temporary census jobs. From the Springfield Republican Forum, a disgruntled individual complains:

“People hired by the US Census have been screwed. They were hired in all our neighborhoods to verify addresses for next year. The job was supposed to take about 8-9 weeks. There was some talk it might go into August.
But because someone at the regional office mistrained the team leaders, the census takers in turn were mistrained and when doing their work they skipped a critical public relation step designed to educate and build up good will with the public... that being a courtesy visit to inquire about the building and to take a GPS reading.
No wonder the work went so fast in most towns.
So instead of 8-9 weeks of work which people were counting on, some census takers like in Holyoke got only a puny 2 weeks of work after a week training. It happened to a friend of mine who needed the hours to pay his mortgage.
But it's not just him. They all got screwed. “

Another Poster Adds:

“And if that isn’t bad enough, even though this stage of the census is way ahead of schedule, regional office still insists all work be finished by early next week.
You can be sure that those at regional who screwed up this stage will turn lemons into lemonade to make themselves look good… at the expense of our local people.
Shame!
I know of others in this program and they too were promised 8-9 weeks of work. They were required to pass examinations, attend a week long orientation and now they are out of work after two weeks in the field.
It is not fair for ANY employer to deceive employees like this, especially deception from the federal government. This was not work being subcontracted out to a corporation, these census workers were federal employees.
This is what our government has become, a deceiving power, run by thieving politicians”

In fairness, the advertisements for these temporary census jobs do offer a range of dates from 2 weeks forward - that said, this does vary from state to state. The problem arises, when these workers, many of whom are no longer on the unemployment rolls, have to reapply - what appears to be missing in all of this Stimulus Logic, is the fact that it is a very temporary fix, one that was poorly conceived from road projects (temporary jobs - to the census.
Therefore is it any wonder that the White House is not forecasting any job growth until 2010 - so far.

Annual White House Correspondents Dinner – Press “Drools” Over Obama – Partisan Kid Gloves are On!

The Annual White House Correspondents Dinner, sponsored by the White House Correspondence Association took place last evening; available to the General Public on C-SPAN and cable news outlets such as FOX. In the past, the purpose of the dinner has been to poke fun at the sitting president, allow the sitting president to mock himself and his close associates, and overall, an opportunity for those covering the White House to “let loose a bit” and announce the incoming Association President. A comedian or comedienne generally delivers a diatribe of jokes, about the President, a roast so to speak. Politicians from both sides of the aisle are in attendance as well as a few celebrities, and certain members of the Presidents cabinet and close advisors.

The past dinners have been amusing and the Presidents gracious in their delivery, however, last evenings dinner took a sharp turn from the tradition, when Obama hosted his first of four such events.
Obama can be a funny guy, it appears that he is likable, yet, the majority of his “routine” was spent demeaning the opposing political party, which, was a departure from prior events. Additionally, comedienne Wanda Sykes, had very few references to the President, rather spent time attacking the following individuals: President George Bush (of course), Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh – the jokes were crude to say the least. For example: on Limbaugh’s statement that he would see Obama’s policies fail (specifically referring to Socialism), Sykes compared Limbaugh to the 21st hijacker, brought up his battle with drug addiction, and ended with (paraphrasing) “I hope his kidneys fail”. On the President: Sykes noted that going to bet a burger with Biden might be a mistake, and was most likely proposed by Nancy Pelosi (funny – until), a Hillary Clinton supporter (in reality Pelosi campaigned the hardest for Obama and took every opportunity to undermine the Clinton campaign.) The only “roast” delivered by Sykes to the President was should he (paraphrasing) “mess up: they would blame the half-white guy” – also, not particularly funny.

That said, the adoration of the press, (Hollywood, is a given), has reached new heights, an after dinner review by Politico correspondents, Amie Parnes and Carol E. Lee entitled “Obama's star shines brightest at WHCD” – is nauseating in its blatant worship of an elected official. The problem with a press that is so blinded by political ideology and a charismatic (to the press) leader is obvious – the occupation, which is to be a watchdog for the people, is no longer able or capable of functioning in that role. This does not, of course, apply to all journalists, and to those who are true to their profession (or calling), are still asking hard questions, although those non-partisans are few and far between. Unfortunately, the once-respected occupation, is now viewed by half of the American public, as merely partisan - and this perception has played a significant role in the loss of subscriptions and viewership for the organizations for which they work. The reason that he Internet is often credited for the demise of said organizations, is that those lost subscribers prefer to read unbiased (or possibly biased) blogs and new sites that do not openly pander to a given political ideology.

To gain perspective C-SPAN has a video archive of past events, from 1993 forward. One can note the difference in both the delivery by the given Presidents, and the attitude of the Press (Note: these videos are full length):

2006 WHCD – George W. Bush

1998 WHCD – Bill Clinton

2009 WHCD – Barack Obama


The outgoing Association President is Jennifer Loven, of the Associated Press, she will be replaced by Edwin Chen of Bloomberg News.

Woodrow Wilson – Mother’s Day Proclamation

On motherhood – as it relates to the nation, Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation honoring the “mothers of our country”, on May 9th, 1914

“Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby direct the government officials to display the United States flag on all government buildings and do invite the people of the united States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”

Personal Note: To women who hold the trust of our nation’s future and fight endlessly to uphold the import of Motherhood and the Family, regardless of position or political affiliation: “Happy Mother’s Day”.