LA Times: They get it? I don't know if LA Times is MSM or just another "in that dark corner" type of newspaper but I like the following report. It seems as if they actually get it.

LA TIMES:

Inconsistent messages on Obama's stimulus package:

Confused about President Obama's stimulus package? The administration may not be the place to find clarity. The White House leadership has made statements about the stimulus that often are inconsistent -- and at odds with facts put out by the administration.

Effect of the stimulus

* Vice President Joe Biden on Friday: The stimulus "is responsible for over 1 million jobs so far."

* White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett on Oct. 18: The stimulus "really staved off a disaster and we saved millions of jobs around the country."

* White House release June 2: "Just over 100 days in, over 150,000 jobs have been created or saved."

* White House senior advisor David Axelrod on June 7: "The stimulus itself has produced hundreds of thousands of jobs."

Purpose of stimulus

* Vice President Biden on June 2: The stimulus is "an initial big jolt to give the economy a real head start."

* Biden on July 26: The stimulus "was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period -- not a jolt that would last only a few months."

Life span of stimulus

* Obama on Jan. 28, two weeks before passage: "Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job creation."

* Obama on July 11: "But as I made clear at the time it was passed, the [stimulus] was not designed to work in four moths -- it was designed to work over two years."

Jobs saved or created by the stimulus

* Christina Romer, Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman, on July 13 when asked if she knew the number of jobs that had been saved or created: "It's very hard to say exactly, because you don't know what the baseline is, because you don't know what the economy would have done without it."

* Romer and vice presidential advisor Jared Bernstein released a report Jan. 10 that included a graph titled, "Unemployment Rate with and without the Recovery Plan." The graph showed that with the stimulus, unemployment would not exceed 8%, and without it, unemployment would reach about 9%. Unemployment is now 9.8%.

* Bernstein on June 8 said of the report: "Looking back, it was clearly too optimistic."

Pastorius at IBA writes:

Thursday, October 29, 2009 RICO - The Beginning of the End of Radical Islam In America - The Feds Are Claiming A "Criminal Conspiracy" Yesterday, Imam Abdullah was shot dead by Federal Authorities, after he opened fire on those who were attempting to arrest him.

Normally, that would be enough cause for celebration.

But, in this case, we have even more cause for celebration. I have been scanning the horizon of Internet news, for over a year now, waiting to find the Magic Words; "Criminal Conspiracy".

Why?

Because I am, and have been convinced, that we already have laws on the books which can bring Radical Islam to it's knees here in America.

The most important of these laws are the Smith Act (Sedition), and the RICO Statutes (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act). For today, we will just concentrate on RICO, because that is what we have before us in the, apparent, Federal Prosecution which is brewing against the ten people who were sought yesterday in the raid which ended with Abdullah dead.

First, let's look at some of the text from the original New York Times article:

"Federal authorities say a leader of what they describe as a nationwide radical Sunni Islam group ... at a Dearborn warehouse on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Authorities also conducted raids elsewhere to try to round up 10 followers named in a federal complaint."

Now, let's look at what is covered by the RICO Act:

Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $250,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages...

Read the whole article at IBA.