I think most people would agree that facts are important. As the saying goes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.

This morning, three White House advisors appeared on three different morning shows and touted three different figures on how many jobs were created and, eh "saved." 

Axelrod, on CNN’s State of the Union: “But understand that, in this recession that began at the beginning of 2007, we've lost 7 million jobs. Now, the Recovery Act the president passed has created more than — or saved more than 2 million jobs. But against 7 million, you know, that — that is — it is cold comfort to those who still are looking.”

Jarrett, on NBC’s Meet the Press: “The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs. There are school teachers and firemen and— and— teachers all across our country, policemen, who have jobs today because of that recovery act. We're investing in infrastructure. We're investing in public education so that our kids can compete going forth into the next— generation.”

Gibbs, on “Fox News Sunday”: “Well, Chris, let's take for instance the example you just used of the stimulus package. We had four quarters of economic regression in terms of growth, right? Just last quarter, we finally saw the first positive economic job growth in more than a year. Largely as a result of the recovery plan that's put money back into our economy, that saved or created 1.5 million jobs.”

Politics is getting in the way of reality. Of course the administration would like to show progress on the jobs front but that simply isn't possible. Since Barack Obama has become president, the U.S. economy has shed nearly 5 million jobs. The administration fabricated a statistic called "jobs created or saved" because they knew the recession would continue well into Obama's first term and they needed a way to spin the jobs numbers in a positive light.

In other words, they are making up their own facts. That's why nobody in the administration knows exactly how many jobs were "created or saved." The real answer is none.

Read more at The Politico.

The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal released their 2010 Index of Economic Freedom. The index ranks economic freedom and opportunity around the world.

Here's where the United States ranks in various categories (notice all the red arrows in 2009):

And here is their summary...

The United States’ economic freedom score is 78.0, making its economy the 8th freest in the 2010 Index. Its score is 2.7 points lower than last year, reflecting notable decreases in financial freedom, monetary freedom, and property rights. The United States has fallen to 2nd place out of three countries in the North America region.

The U.S. government’s interventionist responses to the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 have significantly undermined economic freedom and long-term prospects for economic growth. Economic freedom has declined in seven of the 10 categories measured in the Index.

Uncertainties caused by ongoing regulatory changes and politically influenced stimulus spending have discouraged entrepreneurship and job creation, slowing recovery. Leadership in free trade has been undercut by “Buy American” provisions in stimulus legislation and failure to pursue previously agreed free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Tax rates are increasingly uncompetitive, and massive stimulus spending is creating unprecedented deficits. Bailouts of financial and automotive firms have generated concerns about property rights.

Ouch. We're not even ranked #1 in North America anymore!

From Fox News...

From the Beer Can Museum in East Taunton, MassachusettsBe sure to crack open a cold one on Jan. 24, the day canned beer celebrates its 75th birthday.

New Jersey's Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company churned out the world's first beer can in 1935, stocking select shelves in Richmond, Va., as a market test. The experiment took off and American drinkers haven't looked back since, nowadays choosing cans over bottles for the majority of the 22 gallons of beer they each drink per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To make a long story short, a man named Harman Bajwa received an email from Facebook claiming that he violated its terms of service by choosing a name that did not accurately represent him. The vanity URL in question?

http://www.facebook.com/harman

It turns out that Facebook sold Harman Bajwa's vanity URL to Harman International for a fee.

TechCrunch has more on the story.

Obama supporter "Ellie Light" has been a very busy woman... astroturfing newspapers around the country with her pro-Obama letters. David Axelrod must be proud.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer...

In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.

“It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.

A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California.

Variations of Light’s letter ran in Ohio's Mansfield News Journal on Jan. 13, with Light claiming an address in Mansfield; in New Mexico's Ruidoso News on Jan. 12, claiming an address in Three Rivers; in South Carolina's The Sun News  on Jan. 18, claiming an address in Myrtle Beach; and in the Daily News Leader of Staunton, Virginia on Jan. 15, claiming an address in Waynesboro. Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.

Light – who e-mailed an identical missive to this reporter on Jan. 16 without listing a hometown – would not answer e-mailed questions about the address discrepancies in newspapers that ran her letter, or her identity, although she did say she wasn’t a former co-worker of this reporter’s who had a similar name.

"I do not write as a representative of any organization," she said in an e-mail. "The letter I wrote was motivated by surprise and wonderment at the absence of any media support for our President, who won a record-breaking election by a landslide less than 18 months ago, and now, seems to be abandoned by all, supposedly for the infantile reason that he couldn’t make all of Bush’s errors disappear in one day."

Media support? The job of the news media is to hold public officials accountable for their actions. They are supposed to be watch-dogs, not cheerleaders for one side or the other.

Update on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 9:51AM by Jeff

Patterico.com has identified "Ellie Light" letters in 62 publications in 29 states and the District of Columbia plus 3 national publications and a Yahoo link and 2 foreign publications. Oh my!!

 

 

Karl Rove writing in The Wall Street Journal...

[F]rom Jan. 20, 2001, to Jan. 20, 2009, the debt held by the public grew $3 trillion under Mr. Bush—to $6.3 trillion from $3.3 trillion at a time when the national economy grew as well.

By comparison, from the day Mr. Obama took office last year to the end of the current fiscal year, according to the Office of Management and Budget, the debt held by the public will grow by $3.3 trillion. In 20 months, Mr. Obama will add as much debt as Mr. Bush ran up in eight years.

Bush and Obama are taking us to the same place -- economic ruin -- but they are doing so at different speeds. Bush was flying commercial while Obama is flying at supersonic speeds. One thing is clear; if our leaders don't start acting in a fiscally responsible way, the U.S. might never recover and economic depression may ensue.

People who wear Che Guevara merchandise are utterly and completely ignorant of history. Watch the video above to learn more and the real 'Che.'

Conan O'Brien's last show as host of the Tonight Show will be aired tonight. Could Conan land on the Fox network this year?

NEW YORK - Shortly before agreeing to the terms of his unpleasant exit from NBC , Conan O'Brien joked on " The Tonight Show " that his plans for next week include making a big move to Fox.

 

" Megan Fox ," he said to the laughter of fans who have made him a folk hero for losing his dream job.

A day after sealing his deal with NBC that gives O'Brien $45 million and allows Jay Leno to return to "The Tonight Show" throne, O'Brien airs his final show, with Will Ferrell , Tom Hanks, Neil Young and promised surprises.

Fox — the network — represents the most attractive landing for O'Brien if he wants to continue hosting a daily television talk show. CBS is comfortable with its late-night lineup of David Letterman and Craig Ferguson , ABC has expressed no interest in O'Brien, so Fox is the only one of the four big broadcast networks with room for the late late-night host. Fox has long sought its own late-night franchise.

Fox does seem to be the logical choice for Conan O'Brien for two reasons: they don't have a late night show and Fox attracts a younger audience than NBC or CBS.