I first want to point out that only a small percentage of employees in the District’s workforce were fired, but still 90 employees were fired after a three year investigation revealed they cashed unemployment checks between a few hundred and $20,000 while they were employed by the district.
Did I miss something over the last couple of days? There is a video floating around the net asking high school students how many states there are. Some of those students must now be working for Gallup, who claims there are now 51 states.
If you approach a congressman in Washington D.C. and try to ask them what seems to be a pretty simple question and he goes nuts, grabbing at you and demanding to know who you are … don’t answer him.
The Laffer Curve brought to you in Technicolor™. Even though Washington, D.C. is one of the few cities in the country where employment growth is happening, the city has experienced a severe drop in cigarette excise tax revenue after increasing the tax 25 percent.
We’ll try to get some pictures posted in the next two days, but for now you can find images over at Gateway Pundit. I’ve also got the audio posted below from Carol’s (mom’s) live report from the capital steps this morning minutes before the health care rally got started.
I am highlighting this article because it it just an incredible piece of writing and pulls together what has been happening over the past 7 months better than anything I have read. Big H/T to RVO reader Linda for bringing this article to my attention over at Big Government.
It’s written by Chris Burgard, a writer, producer, Hollywood stuntman, who has received critical acclaim for his documentary “Border”, about the chaos on America’s southern border.
On Saturday he traveled to DC to document the truth and here’s a portion. Just make sure you read it all.
As I looked out down from the balcony of a twelfth story Pennsylvania Avenue apartment, our host told me that in all of her decades in DC, she had never seen anything like this.
Either the entire corps of the Mainstream Media are entirely incompetent or they are complicit in propaganda of the greatest proportions. Do not be fooled.
Robert Gibbs said on Friday that the White House was unaware of the rally… he didn’t know who this group was.
Mr. Gibbs, this is not a group. These are the American people, and they came here to remind you that you work for them.
All day long, I saw people pushing strollers. I saw people on crutches and in wheelchairs. But the image that will stick with me the longest was when I saw an elderly woman, possibly near 80 years old, lying in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. She was seizing very badly. She had walked almost a mile in the DC heat, but her body just couldn’t take it. Her elderly sister looked on as the paramedics worked on her. I don’t know if she made it, but she was a patriot.
I will put her courage and commitment up against the arrogance of the political elite any day.
Make sure you read it all. Please. One final note. In 1970 Gil Scott-Heron‘s poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” became a cultural anthem of sorts. At least in one way Scott-Heron was right. He just had no idea it would apply to the revolution taking place today. The media ignored the run up to Saturday’s protest and then continually under-reported the numbers. The MSM are tripping over themselves to hide us when the pictures clearly show not thousands, not tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands.
The revolution will not be televised … but it will continue nonetheless.
Just thought I would pass along a couple images that left a lasting impression. The first is actually from a video which I have included. Porta potties.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmNk_PyiP1M
The second is just an image of one of the signs. I like it. But then, you didn’t expect the MSM to detail the bills did you?
Still no word on an exact attendance that I have seen. The Media is going with “Tens of thousands”.
Welcome Free Republic readers and thank you. Please also take a moment to read this post on Chris Dodd.
Update 2: Please note … Charles Martin writes to remind me that the 2 million noted below is an upward bound and given that upper bound, 2 million was plausible … not definitive. This was my error in not reporting the entire post but it was my intent to drive you to pajamasmedia. Please make sure you go to the link to read the entire post.
Update: Michelle reports the official number is now 1.2 million but points to this extrapolation at Pajamasmedia by a computer scientist …
I did a back-of-envelope based on the photos and reports. A pretty dense crowd is about 1.8 people per square meter, and the National Mall alone is about 125 hectares, 1.25 million square meters. So that would be 2.3 million people.
First things first. Michelle has pictures and video which I link to below. It is inspiring. Now to the business at hand.
No to big government … no to big spending … no to the direction this administration and this Congress are taking us. And by the way … no to the MSM. From Powerline:
CNN had a reporter live at the rally to do an interview about Joe Wilson. Why that made sense I’m not sure, apart from the liberal media’s determination to deflect attention toward Wilson and away from Americans’ widespread dissatisfaction with the Obama administration. What followed is pretty entertaining:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Ntu7Aapys&feature=player_embedded
Pretty entertaining? As usual John understates.Ha! John also has Mike Pence’s speech to the crowd.
I’ve got to be honest with you … you look like the cavalry to me.
Chat room Kim has been scanning the wires for me today and here’s what she reports:
I was reading some sites that said ABC News reporting 2 million, while police estimate 1.2 million. The Washington Post reported 30,000. The numbers are all over the place. You don’t know what to believe.
Just before I left this morning Fox was reporting 60,000. I will update this through tomorrow. But here’s what Michelle is reporting:
Activists were derided as amateurs who couldn’t turn out a crowd. Then they were smeared as corporate shills. They were criticized for not having a coherent message. Then they were mocked for ideological single-mindedness. They are resented by professional strategists who accuse them of organizing empty protests that won’t translate into electoral gains. But the movement has given birth to a new generation of movers and shakers who have rejected establishment partisan politics for nimble, Internet-facilitated, issues-based advocacy.
and here’s more video from her site:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMXz6xGeqc&feature=player_embedded
Astroturf doesn’t grow. This will not be stopped my little mobsters. This will not be stopped.
Get tough DC … there’s a new sheriff in town and he doesn’t like it when school is canceled for an inch of snow.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzGv8CWun3s
Hmmm …. maybe I like this guy after all.
Man does this just make me mad. The recent SCOTUS decision confirmed that the Second Amendment was an individual right, but the Washington D.C. government still refuses to get with the program. This morning Dick Heller went to city hall or where ever to apply for his permit and it was automatically rejected.
Heller’s pistol is a semi-automatic handgun that has a magazine that holds seven rounds. For those interested, I would guess that the weapon is a .40 or .45 caliber. They denied the application for no good reason at all, just to be a pain in the ass and illegally fight the SCOTUS decision.
He did not bring his weapon to the meeting since his lawyer figured there was a good chance he’d be arrested doing so. Read more