What President Obama is really saying is that he knows he is full of crap because his enternal polling and cabinet tell him so.  But Obama’s internal polling has also told him what the media won’t tell Americans;  The real concern among Americans is not health care,   IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID!

Remember that headline?   When George Bush 41 was president,  this was all we heard from the Clintonistas and the media.   Well now the economy has ccompletely collapsed,  and what is the media telling us?    That health care is the primary concern of the average American.   The reality is that there will be no health care if there are no Americans working.    JD

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Saturday tempered excitement about a growing economy with a sober outlook that more people will lose their jobs. He called that a heartbreaking reality and cautioned that even a burst of upbeat news “does not mean there won’t be difficult days ahead.”

Obama’s straddle served to set expectations for a nation emerging from recession but anxious for an economic security that has not nearly returned.

The good news of the week: The economy is on the rise for the first time in more than a year. Fro m July through September the economy grew by 3.5 percent, the strongest uptick in two years. Obama called the development no cause for celebration, but a welcome sign after so many months of distressing news.

“While we have a long way to go before we return to prosperity, and there will undoubtedly be ups and downs along the road, it’s also true that we’ve come a long way,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “It is easy to forget that it was only several months ago that the economy was shrinking rapidly and many economists feared another Great Depression.”

Yet the economic indicator that matters most to the majority of families — stable, solid employment — is still lagging.

Unemployment hit a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September, and the October report due in the coming week could show it topping 10 percent.

“Economic growth is no substitute for job growth,” Obama said. “And we will likely see further job losses in the coming days, a fact that is both troubling for our economy and heartbreaking for the men and women who suddenly find themselves out of work. But we will not create the jobs we need unless the economy is growing.”

He added, “Positive news today does not mean there won’t be difficult days ahead.”

Obama’s assessment came a day after the White House said the economic stimulus plan it championed has so far saved or created 1 million jobs.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the administration’s claim of success was “bewildering” given that many more people have lost their jobs since the $787 billion stimulus package was put in place. He said the will of the people would keep driving an economic rebound as long as Washington “doesn’t shackle our growth with more taxes, more spending and more debt.”

The White House’s figures are pegged to an independent federal board’s report that nearly 650,000 direct jobs have been saved or created because of stimulus program money provided to businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities. The 1 million jobs cited by Obama also includes those from direct economic assistance, plus those linked to the boost from $288 billion in tax cuts under the stimulus program, the White House says.

Obama took the time to underscore, as he often does, that the investment of tax money is paying off. He said his administration has taken steps to help get credit to people and businesses of all sizes, stem home foreclosures, cut taxes, create jobs and help people who need it, such as seniors and the unemployed.

“These investments aren’t just helping us recover in the short term,” Obama said. “They’re helping to lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity in the long term and they’re giving hardworking, middle-class Americans the chance to succeed and raise a family. Because of the investments we’ve made and the steps we’ve taken, it’s easier for middle-class families to send their kids to college and get the training and skills they need to compete in a global economy.”

Many analysts caution that it will be hard to sustain the growth at the pace seen in the third quarter.

Government stimulus programs including the popular Cash for Clunkers auto rebates and tax credits for first-time home buyers bolstered the economy. Once the government’s stimulus measures run their course, the economy could run afoul of lingering problems such as high unemployment and weak consumer spending.

Update 2:   Sounds like Cleveland cops stumbled onto a live one here.   Perhaps Mr Sowell was just trying to put together the ultimate haunted house with real cadavers.   It will be interesting to watch this whole mess unfold.   If Mr. Sowell is still alive and has not killed himself,   I would bet money that people are looking hard for him.

After all,  Cleveland city officials have offered a $12,000.00 reward for information leading to his capture.    Twelve grand?   Is Cleveland the poorest city in America?     I guess they spent the millions in Obama stimulus money to hire all one new cops to investigate the Sowell case and there was no money left for rewards.    JD

Authorities in Ohio were digging for more bodies Saturday at the home of a convicted sex offender after the possible remains of six people were found inside and outside his house.

Cleveland police went to check on Anthony Sowell Thursday after they received reports of a rape. During their search of the premises, they found two badly decomposed bodies on the third floor.

A third body was discovered Friday afternoon in a shallow grave in the basement of the house. The possible remains of three more people were found in Sowell’s house and backyard, according to WJW-TV in Cleveland.

“[Sowell] is the most wanted man in Cleveland right now,” police Lt. Thomas Stacho told The Plain Dealer.

Autopsies were done Friday, but because of the level of decomposition it will take time to determine the age, gender, race and identity of the victims and how they died.

Sowell is wanted on felony rape and assault charges. Police say he had spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape.

The Cleveland Police Department is offering a $12,000 reward for Sowell’s capture.

Hatch Point Road in San Juan County is in the midst of a makeover, courtesy of the federal economic stimulus program.

A crew from Henderson Builders is about a week away from finishing the $850,000 resurfacing project, which the Moab company reported has saved or created 25 jobs.

But the actual count is fewer than eight.

A number of Utah companies and local governments misstated the number of jobs owed to Recovery Act money, according to a Salt Lake Tribune review of federal reports that were made available Friday. The result is a significantly inflated picture of the program’s employment impact.

The White House on Friday claimed that nationwide, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created or saved more than a million jobs, more than 640,000 of those directly reported by recipients of the stimulus funds.

In Utah, the administration said 6,598 jobs had been retained or added because of the extraordinary federal help. But discrepancies were easy to find.

–

It’s all in the math » Some entities seemed to create their own criteria, while others double counted employees over multiple contracts. The most common error appeared to be counting temporary or part-time work as a full-time job. Under federal guidelines, one job must be the equivalent of full-time work for the entire reporting period, which in this case is three months.
That’s the error that Henderson Builders made. They do have 25 people working on Hatch Point Road, but only for one month. Under federal guidelines, they saved 7.7 jobs.

A regular Hill Air Force Base contractor, MIC/CCS received three separate contracts under the Recovery Act to install a heating system in one building, demolish a ceiling and floor in another and completely revamp a third.

In all, the company reported that the $1 million in federal money on those projects saved 33 jobs.

But even the company’s vice president, Jerry Mudd, says that those numbers are probably too high. All of the jobs saved came from his subcontractors and he’s sure they double or even triple counted the same workers over the three government grants.

“We are pretty certain they misunderstood the regulation,” he said.

Mudd gave the Recovery Act forms to each subcontractor, but said he didn’t have time to verify the information and still make Friday’s deadline.

“This is all new this year,” he said.

Errors bound to happen » The White House noted that discrepancies were bound to happen with such a vast number of entities reporting job counts for the first time.

“We know this is not 100 percent accurate. This has never been attempted before and further updates and corrections are going to be needed,” Vice President Joe Biden, the administration’s point person on the recovery funds, said Friday. “We are pleased to make this information available publicly and so promptly as part of the unprecedented commitment the president made to accountability and transparency.”

This is the first quarterly report, and Biden said he expects the filings to get more accurate in the months to come. But he also said the underlying job-creation goals of the administration are the same today as they were when President Barack Obama signed the bill.

“My message today is, ‘We are on track,’ ” Biden said. “We believe by the end of next year the Recovery Act will have created or saved 3.5 million jobs nationwide.”

The state of Utah noted earlier this month in a federal report that stimulus money had saved about 4,164 jobs, most of them in education. Friday’s data release indicates that stimulus contracts netted 541 jobs, grants gave another 6,047 and loans added 10 jobs.

Numbers game » Plenty of companies appeared to follow the federal job creation guidelines closely. Wilber Smith Associates provided some technical advice to the Federal Highway Administration office in Utah, creating 0.74 jobs. And Redd Roofing has a $5 million contract at Hill Air Force Base that employs an additional 15 people for at least a year.

But The Tribune review found several instances of inflated job numbers:

» Consolidated Paving and Concrete received $40,000 to make 14 sidewalk ramps more accessible to the disabled. The company reported the project saved five jobs, but it also said the job took only two weeks.

» The Clearfield Community Council plans to use $62,000 in Recovery Act money to help pay for resurfacing a road. The report released Friday says, “At this time a contract has not been awarded, therefore, no jobs have been created/retained.” It then goes on to claim 10 jobs were created or saved.

» Wasatch County accepted more than $3 million in Recovery Act funds to resurface more than 40 miles of Forest Service roads.

All told, the county reported 76 jobs were saved. But, once again, the job only took a few months and the county didn’t average the hours over the course of a full quarter.

Some county and contractor workers may have been facing a layoff without the stimulus money, but not all of them.

“This project saved their jobs through the summer,” said Valorie Cummings, who works for Wasatch County. “It was a good temporary thing. I don’t know if it helps anybody long-term.”

» Cache County also performed road work for the U.S. Forest Service, reporting 33 jobs created. It came up with that number by dividing the total federal grant by $90,000 per job, a method never mentioned in federal regulations.

» West Valley City plans to construct new sidewalks on Lester Street with $250,000 in stimulus cash. The city says this will create or save 21 jobs, an unusually high number for such a small dollar amount. This project is also listed twice on the administration’s Recovery.gov.

» The Emery Water Conservancy District reportedly got $1.5 million and said it created or saved six jobs, but the creation of sediment basins to improve the quality of water has yet to begin.

Jay Humphrey, the district manager, said the contract is out for bid right now but the only work done so far on the contract is engineering by a local firm.

“There aren’t any other jobs right now” as a result of the funds, Humphrey said.

» AMT Construction got $90,251 in stimulus money to paint eight dormitories at Hill Air Force Base. The company reported 10 jobs, though co-owner Ronnell Patene says the jobs lasted only two months.

She says the company, which has 10 employees, including herself and her husband, would have had to lay off workers if not for the stimulus.

Still, the more accurate number to report would have been six jobs saved, according to federal guidelines.

Rep. Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican who voted against the stimulus act and has been a staunch critic since, says he was skeptical at the start of how the money would be spent and jobs counted.

“Even if the report is accurate, we’ve still lost almost 3 million jobs since this bill was announced,” Bishop said, referring to national unemployment numbers.

And he charges that it’s nearly impossible to figure out how to count these so-called jobs.

“Even if everything was actually added properly, I don’t know how one determines how a job is saved,” Bishop says. “I’m drinking my Dr. Pepper here. I think I saved 42 jobs down in Dublin, Texas,” where the soda was first bottled.

I don’t know how long this video will stay up on Youtube,  because its rather graphic.   Its a mafia hit that went down in Naples,  Italy.     JD

Even by the mafia’s brutal standards, the killing of a man smoking a cigarette outside a central Naples bar in broad daylight was shocking in its ruthlessness.

But perhaps more disturbing is the reaction of witnesses, who can be seen in a video that has been released by Naples prosecutors in an unprecedented step to try and to find the killer. As the Camorra hitman dispatches his victim with clinical efficiency, a bystander casually checks her lottery scratch card and walks away. Others peer at the body and continue about their business as if the shooting was a normal part of daily life.

The CCTV footage – and the aftermath of the crime – give a troubling insight into the extent of the Naples mafia’s control of their territory. Although the hit took place on 11 May this year, and the face of the killer is clearly visible on the recording, with witnesses present, investigators have so far met with silence.

Journalist Roberto Saviano, who has a permanent armed escort since exposing the activities of the Naples mafia in his best selling book Gomorrah, called the killing a “classic Camorra hit, very well planned and executed without fanfare”. He added that the video “shows what little value these people have for human life,” in a recorded commentary posted on la Repubblica’s website. “The thing that strikes you,” he said, “is the absolute serenity of the killer.”

Halloween in Cleveland is a whole lot scarier with a serial killer on the loose. Cleveland police are now on the hunt for 50-year-old Anthony Sowell after the remains of as many as six people were found at the registered sex offenders home.

He is wanted in connection for an alleged attack on a woman in his home in September. When police arrived at the home on Thursday with a search warrant, they found two bodies on the third floor. Because the bodies were in advanced stages of decomposition, the bodies have not yet been identified and their genders not yet determined.

Friday afternoon a third body was uncovered Friday afternoon in a shallow grave in the basement of the home. Cadaver dogs uncovered additional shallow graves in the home’s backyard. Investigators say they plan to continue searching the home for more evidence.

Sowell remains at large and on the run. He is considered to be extremely dangerous. He is 6 feet tall and 155 pounds. He wears eyeglasses and frequently sports a mustache. He does not drive a car, and is known to collect and cash in scrap metal. He spent 15 years in prison for a rape dating back to 1989.

Anyone with information on Sowell’s whereabouts is asked to contact US Marshals Service Fugitive hotline at 1-866-4-WANTED.

Its as if no one can say anything negative about the Obama administration without being attacked by Obama and his cronies in the liberal media.   Edmonds is one of the most respected organizations in the automobile industry.   Who has more credibility here,  Obama or Edmonds?    JD

The Obama administration and the CEO of the nation’s largest car dealership chain are taking aim at Edmunds.com’s finding that the true cost of the “Cash for Clunkers” program involved a $24,000-per-vehicle subsidy by taxpayers. Edmunds is firing back.

The White House called the analysis “faulty” on the blog on its web site, saying it looks like Edmunds examined car sales on Mars and not on Earth.

“This analysis ignores not only the price impacts that a program like Cash for Clunkers has on the rest of the vehicle market, but the reports from across the country that people were drawn into dealerships by the Cash for Clunkers program and ended up buying cars even though their old car was not eligible for the program,” the blog says.

It goes on to say that Edmunds is at odds with other independent assessments of the program, which gave up to $4,500 in incentives to buyers of gas-thrifty new cars when they traded in their gas-guzzling clunker. As Drive On reported yesterday, Edmunds’ contends that most of the sales went to people who were going to buy new cars over the summer anyway. So the analysis looked at how the $3-billion cost of the program was spread over just those buyers that were lured out simply because of the program.

The Obama administration wasn’t alone in taking aim:

Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, the country’s largest new-car dealer chain, called Edmunds’ study “uncharacteristically shoddy.”

Added Jackson: “Simply put, they’ve misrepresented the facts, and the White House is completely justified in calling them out on it. It would appear  Edmunds  political views have tainted their usual rigorous approach to research.   I know from our sales at AutoNation just how significant the impact of the Cash for Clunkers promotion was in our dealerships, and our own internal figures indicate that the rate of increase was consistent with what other retailers, manufacturers and governmental agencies have been estimating.”

Edmunds is firing back. “Apparently, the $24,000 figure caught many by surprise. It shouldn’t have. The truth is that consumer incentive programs are always hugely expensive when calculated by incremental sales – always in the tens of thousands of dollars. Cash for Clunkers was no exception” the car research web site said in a statement.

it also disputed the sales spillover effect of the promotion, saying there is little evidence to support the claim. “It does, after all, seem a bit odd that masses of consumers would elect to buy a vehicle because of a program for which they don’t qualify,” Edmunds wrote.

Actor Kal Penn (whose real name is Kalpen S. Modi), who now works in the Obama White House outreach office, participated in the conspiracy aimed at encouraging artists to produce art to serve as pro-Obama propaganda.

So suggest documents obtained by Judicial Watch as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request.

Penn portrayed ‘Kumar,’ a pot-obsessed would-be medical student, in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and a sequel.

The plot to use government funds to generate art promoting the Obama administration’s agenda was revealed in a teleconference call run by the White House and the National Endowment for the Arts.