Things I Wear On My Sleeve

Even more myths and falsehoods surrounding the economic recovery plan

Media Matters for America previously identified numerous myths and falsehoods advanced by the media in their coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As debate on the bill continues in Congress, other myths and falsehoods advanced by the media about the recovery package have risen to prominence. These myths and falsehoods include: the assertion that the bill will not stimulate the economy — including the false assertion that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the bill will not stimulate the economy; that spending in the bill is not stimulus; that there is no reason for stimulus after an economic turnaround begins; that corporate tax rate cuts and capital gains tax rate cuts would provide substantial stimulus; and that undocumented immigrants without Social Security numbers could receive the “Making Work Pay” tax credit provided in the bill.

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1. The bill will not stimulate the economy

In a February 1 article, The Associated Press reported an assertion by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that the recovery bill will not stimulate the economy without noting that the CBO disagrees. ABC World News anchor Charles Gibson echoed this assertion during his February 3 interview with President Obama, stating: “And as you know, there’s a lot of people in the public, a lot of members of Congress who think this is pork-stuffed and that it really doesn’t stimulate.” Additionally, on the January 28 edition of his show, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh allowed Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) to falsely claim of the bill: “Even the Congressional Budget Office, controlled by the Democrats now, says it is not a stimulative bill.” Fox News host Sean Hannity repeated this claim on the February 2 broadcast of Fox News’ Hannity, asserting that the CBO “say[s] it’s not a stimulus bill.”

In fact, in analyzing the House version of the bill, H.R. 1, and the proposed Senate version, the CBO stated that it expects both measures download comedy to “have a noticeable impact on economic growth and employment in the next few years.” Additionally, in his January 27 written testimony before the House Budget Committee, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf said that H.R. 1 would “provide massive fiscal stimulus that includes a combination of government spending increases and revenue reductions.” Elmendorf further download crime movie stated: “In CBO’s judgment, H.R. 1 would provide a substantial boost to economic activity over the next several years relative to what would occur without any legislation.”

2. Government spending in the bill is not stimulus

Several media figures, including CNN correspondent Caro

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Twitter Squats on People Wanting Squatter Usernames

by jesse stay of stay n’ alive (twitter/friendfeed)

on staynalive, i recently wrote respecting how i was able to change my giggle username from “jessestay” to just “jesse”, by a new rule, announced recently by chirruping, allowing anyone to obtain the usernames of people who had not updated their account in a long time, and did not appear to be using their accounts. the process was uncluttered - just e-send “username@twitter.com”, and you could obtain the squatted username of your choice.the process was so easy that i was able to obtain my triumph name. mona nokamura, who also writes on louisgray.com, was also able to get hold of her first name instead of “@monaaa”, and users throughout were once able to get the names they have been trying to obtain since they joined simper.indubitably, twitter’s systems must have been overwhelmed with requests, as they show oneself to be putting the kibosh on the average joe getting the username they want. prashanth from dominance enter left a comment on my blog sharing that evidently, trilling is now responding to requests to “username@twitter.com” with the following e-mail:”due to treble ticket amount, twitter finances is unable to change usernames in cases of listless accounts. unless your owner name flow involves terms of worship army violations, you’ll from to wait until all inactive user names are released. we’re working on a better long with regard to dnouement for this.”if there is a blatant copyright violation or impersonation or similar circumstance, it is suggested you correspond with twitter’s terms of accommodation group via twitter’s web form. it would appear the gold pell-mell for usernames is over for the leisure being, although it was nice while it lasted.read more by jesse guy at set-back n’ alive.more: louisgray.com rss friendfeed e-mail apartment: 408 646.2759

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Congressman Wants Ticketmaster Investigated For ‘TicketsNow’ Website [Scalpers]

rep. bill pascrell jr. (d) of new jersey has asked the ftc and the justice department to investigate the relationship between ticketmaster and its reseller website, ticketsnow, after consumers who tried to buy bruce springsteen tickets encountered technical problems that prevented purchase, and were then redirected to ticketsnow where prices were “hundreds of dollars above face value” (actually, more feel attracted to “thousands of dollars,” based on our check just a few minutes ago).

“I am troubled by how quickly tickets priced exponentially higher became available on the secondary market to thousands of rejected fans, many who also endured unfortunate technical problems on Ticketmaster.com,” Pascrell said in a letter to U.S. investigators.

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The real problem, beyond the eternal nuisance of scalping, is that TicketsNow began offering overpriced tickets almost immediately after they went on sale through Ticketmaster, and while Ticketmaster apparently lacked the technology to handle what should have been a predictable surge in customers, that was not a problem for TicketsNow resellers:

“There is a significant potential for abuse when one company is able to monopolize the primary market for a product and also directly manipulate and profit from the secondary market,” [Pascrell] wrote. “The speed with which tickets were made available on Ticketmaster’s official resale site raises questions about whether TicketsNow brokers were given preferential treatment.”

About 30,000 tickets to the two Izod Center shows were sold in a little over an hour Monday morning. Many fans said they encountered error messages at the Ticketmaster website that prevented them from purchasing tickets before they were sold out.

Others were outraged that within minutes of the sale, hundreds of tickets were being hawked at TicketsNow.

“This burns me up. It’s reprehensible,” Pascrell said. “There has to be a deal cooking between the two companies, Ticketmaster and TicketsNow. One has no tickets and the other is selling them at three and four times the (original) price.”

Nefarious under the table scheming? Incompetence? Whatever the explanation, we’re sure if Ticketmaster and Live Nation merge then all of these problems will go away.

“Springsteen Sellout Leads to Call for Probe of Ticketmaster” [Bloomberg] “Lawmaker: Investigate Springsteen ticket sales” [NJ.com](Thanks to everyone who sent this in!) (Photo: alexik)

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North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire its longest range missile, apparently capable of hitting the US, a South Korean official and reports say.

Satellite spy images reportedly showed a train loaded with a large cylindrical object, moving towards a missile launch site close to the Chinese border.

So far, there has been no on-the-record confirmation from any government.

It follows a recent declaration by the North that it was scrapping pacts with the South made to prevent hostilities.

Reports of the apparent missile viagra preparations were carried in both the South Korea and Japanese press, quoting government sources.

Experts quoted in the reports said any such test would not take place for at least another month.

There was similar media speculation ahead of North Korea’s last long-range missile test in July 2006.

The Taepodong-2 missile, thought to have a potential range of more than 6,000km (3,730 miles), failed soon after launching cialis online Portugal. Pyongyang tested a nuclear bomb in the same year.

Negotiating power

Relations between the Koreas have deteriorated since the South’s President Lee Myung-bak, who came to power nearly a year ago, took a harder line approach to the North.

He has promised to stop the free flow of aid to the North unless it moves to end its nuclear weapons programme - a move the North says has pushed relations “to the brink of war”.

A statement carried by Pyongyang’s official news agency said it was scrapping all political and military agreements with the South, including one covering the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, over which the two countries have fought bloody skirmishes.

Seoul expressed regret at the move, while the US called it “unhelpful”.

Analysts believe that Pyongyang is trying to build up tensions with the South in order to give itself more negotiating power with the new US administration.

US President Barack Obama has told his South Korean counterpart that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Seoul in mid-February.

The two Korean states are still technically at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone, with thousands of troops stationed on both sides of the border.

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True Beauty: Beauty and the Beach

abc’s authentic beauty is back, and last week cj miller was finally sent home after three trips to the hall of beauty. billy is dead on one’s feet from his ordeal, but is looking forward to returning to the contain. meanwhile, the other contestants make up one’s mind to have a goth cadre and everyone’s getting dressed up to on. chelsea’s impressed … related posts:

‘The Bachelor’ Episode 4 Recap

last night’s instalment of the bachelor began with chris harrison greeting the ladies the morning after the rose ceremony. in case you’ve forgotten, natalie, erica and the adorable kari were sent home. chris told them that this week, there would be three dates: a one on anyone date, a group date, and a two on one season. no whole wanted the two on one date, because only joke of the women on that date would receive a rose. this time, they had to work for the sake of the one on one date, by writing and performing an original love song for jason. i love it when there are challenges like this, because you can see who is well off getting out of their comfort zone, and who isn’t. case in point is nikki. for the millionth while, she told us that she ‘cannot be silly.’ also, she doesn’t balanced sing ‘happy birthday’ to her nieces and nephews. that’s how much she hates singing. she is terrified. she is more scared of singing than i am of the clown from poltergeist.

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Peter King: Ten thoughts about Super Bowl XLIII

you can expect the steelers to dump the kitchen sink at larry fitzgerald, but the super trundle download comedy movie is in kurt warner’s hands and head, writes si.com’s peter king.

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Both Place 1 Candidates Support Single-Member Districts

In statements released to BOR, both Chris Riley and Perla Cavazos emphasized their support for single-member districts and their desire to bring the issue before Austin voters within the next two years.

Here are the candidates’ unedited thoughts on single-member districts in Austin.

Perla Cavazos:

“I think we’ve learned this past election cycle the power of grassroots politics and how it helps rebuild communities. That’s what single — member districts are all about — bringing government closer to the people and getting the people more involved in creating change. More than contribution limits, single member districts take the money and special interest influence out of city council politics. They encourage increased access and accountability.

Right now, because Austin is the 14th largest city in the nation, each one of us is forced to go on TV to communicate to the city at-large. Those will be 30 second commercials, not engaged, back and forth conversations about the direction of our city.

If a hybrid system is what it takes to make the transition, I support it. But it’s time we realize that forgotten neighborhoods, where voter turnout may be low and easy to ignore, has an economic and opportunity cost for the entire city.

This is about making government work, and that’s why I’d like to invite my fellow candidates to join me in a pledge that whoever is elected, that we work together to educate the community, and bring this issue back before the voters within two years.”

Chris Riley:

I support a move towards a hybrid system of single-member districts and at-large council members. The 2010 census will be a good reason to move forward on the issue, with newer, more precise data about where people live in our city. Above all, I support putting this issue before the voters, because no major change to our democratic system of government should be made without the consent of the people whom it will impact. Given the size of our city in terms of both geography and population, some combination of at-large and single-member districts would provide a way of ensuring more accountability at city hall and more responsiveness to people across the whole city. Right now, many Austin residents don’t know who to contact on the council about an issue in their neighborhood. If each area had its own direct representative, there would be no doubt about who to call. One way I will address this in the short-term is by holding weekly open office hours at City Hall, when any Austin resident can come speak to me in person and share their concerns. It’s important that our city government be engaged with and responsive to the real, daily concerns of the people who live here. In drawing these districts, the City of Austin would need to be very careful to craft proportional and representational districts. We would need to factor in both geography and precinct layout, as well as voter history and turnout. Single-member districts could potentially increase turnout in under-represented areas, which would also be a great benefit to our city. There are many other issues to consider as part of this process. Single-member districts would vastly decrease the cost necessary to mount a city council campaign. Currently, candidates who can’t manage to raise sufficient funds have difficulty competing city-wide, and that isn’t necessarily fair to our democratic processes. However, I do not favor an all-single-member-district council. We should have some at-large members to ensure that we keep a city-wide perspective on the council as well.

It is clear from reading their statements that both candidates have given a lot of thought to issue. For those interested, former place 1 candidate Rick Cofer also favored a hyrbid SMD system.

What are your thoughts on single-member districts in Austin?

Note: I have made small contributions to the campaigns of Perla Cavazos and former candidate Rick Cofer.

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Review: Christian Writers’ Market Guide ‘09 by Sally Stuart

i’m not 100% ineluctable of how to write a survey for this kind of book, but here goes!if you are at all interested in writing for the christian market, you need this tome! and don’t think it’s only about christian fiction! there are so many different kinds of opportunities represented here that if it exists, it’s in this book!also, it will help you learn with regard to submission policies etc. so basically, i got lost just reading everything in the book. all the information you need is there, easy to find. there’s also a cd-rom that i think makes the searching easier, but i haven’t tried it manifest as yet.now i’m going to give you the knowledge straight from the publisher, rather than plagiarize!from the publisher:absolutely updated and revised to hallmark the latest on?* more than 1,200 markets with a view the written word * 416 book publishers (32 new) * 654 periodicals (52 new) * 96 literary agents * 100 new listings in resources for writers * 226 verse markets * 316 photography markets * 25 african-american markets * and 166 contests (29 new)so there you have it! you can buy it on amazon.

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News: Games outselling DVD and Blu-ray

rise attributed to popularity of wii, again.

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The President’s Blackberry: Permission to Click?

The accepted storyline on President Obama’s souped-up hot rod of a super-secure executive branch Blackberry runs like this: Presidents too often exist in a bubble, insulated from real people and the world outside the sturdy White House gates. There’s some truth to that, of course, but much of that isolation has tended to be self-inflicted rather than mandated by statute.

While it will undoubtedly help him keep his connection with non-governmental friends and ideas, the Obama Blackberry also has another important function that I’m pretty sure our new President is well aware of: it’s an important symbol of access and permission.

Yes, I know the new PDA will be limited to email addresses of those pre-cleared by the Secret Service - and that President Obama’s emails will legally fall under Federal record-keeping regulations. Those email conversations aren’t likely to have any references to predator drone attacks inside Pakistan or Congressional strategies around the stimulus bill. They will be limited.

But that misses the point. The President will still be carrying a portable web browser where ever he goes. And while he might only use it to check Chisox boxscores, the potential exists for a more direct link to the daily swirl of information outside of his daily briefing books.

In other words, the President just might be reading your blog. That possibility, remote as it is, opens a door that hasn’t - frankly - been open since the dawn of the commercial Internet. President Clinton did much to encourage the development of the vast public network, but he wasn’t an Internet guy - he used the telephone and endless face-to-face contact to advance his agenda. President Bush often seemed to relish his out-of-touch reputation - clearly, not an Internet President either.

Obama’s publicly-celebrated Internet use, given his popularity at present, is a powerful cultural symbol - one backed up by his campaign’s historic success online. In my mind, there are two important by-products: an unstated permission for the Federal branch agencies to step up their use of the Internet to open government more fully to the people; and a tacit acceptance of the kind of public dissent and discussion that the Internet nourishes.

That President Obama favors a sharp change in public disclosure was signaled the day after his Inauguration in two memos loosening up Federal responses under the Freedom of Information Act and encouraging agencies to speed the flow of public information. As Micah Sifry wrote, “This is a 180-degree turn from the policies of the Bush Administration.” This section, in particular, seems like one likely to come only from a Blackberry-wielding President:

Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.

While you expect any administration to try and control its message and promote an all-hands-on-deck cooperation throughout the agencies, you don’t necessarily expect a President to encourage too much discussion his program (campaign promises aside). Yet, Obama’s Blackberry may also signal an acceptance of the dissent - even in his own party - that challenges any complex political agenda. During the campaign, the MyBo site allowed groups to organize opposition to Obama policy positions on the candidate’s own servers. The transition encouraged some light, participatory issues activism online. The new White House site seems pretty buttoned up and Presidential, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the administration won’t encourage dissent and discussion. Much of the action there may take place at the agency sites, where web developers are newly-empowered to experiment and solicit public participation.

But any President with a Blackberry will encounter policy disagreements directly, outside of the news clippings and the congressional liaison staff. This is a good thing. So when you spot that new, secure Blackberry on President Obama’s hip, don’t look at it as just a personal tool for the President to stay in touch - look at it as a symbol that this President just might be in touch.

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And then say what you’ve gotta say.

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