Feb. 17 marked the third birthday of the Obama stimulus program.

When he pitched it three years ago, Obama promised 6 percent unemployment by now. Even using the phony Obama numbers, we currently stand at 8.3 percent.

I prefer to trust the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office numbers, which report unemployment at 15 percent. Obama has simply removed unemployed Americans who haven't looked for a new job in as little as four weeks.

Even using Obama's fudged numbers (8.3 percent), we are enduring the longest stretch of high unemployment exceeding 8 percent since the Great Depression. The CBO projects that unemployment will remain above 8 percent until 2014.

The tea party movement started three years ago on April 15, 2009. It brought many positive changes to states like Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Louisiana. But so far, it has had very little success here in New Jersey.

LibertyAndProsperity.org would like to change that by urging tea party conservatives to first make it clear what we are for – not just what we are against.

We should make it clear that we are for liberty and prosperity (New Jersey’s motto since 1776), and that we can’t get prosperity until we first have liberty.

Hi all. I am saddened to announce the passing of one of our original South Jersey, anti-nuclear, and anti-war activists, Richard Walnut of Whiting, Ocean County.

Rick died on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 at the Crestwood Manor in Whiting. Born in Camden, he was a long-time resident of Southampton Township before moving to Whiting six months ago.

He was also a long-time member of the Coalition for Peace and Justice's sister peace group, the South Jersey Campaign for Peace and Justice, serving as the treasurer for SJCPJ, and on many local boards and committees, including the Southampton Zoning Board.

To the editor:

It is time once again to remind your "opinion" columnist Harry Hurley that, while he may be entitled to his opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts.

Mr. Hurley stated in his Feb. 2, 2012 article that, during President Obama's State of the Union speech, the president did not mention any accomplishments during his three years in office. This is a flat out lie.

The unemployment rate has fallen once again. For the fifth straight month the rate has fallen. You may recall before any of this started that I predicted right here that this is exactly what was going to happen.

The goal is to re-elect Obama. No honorable rules apply. The end simply justifies the means.

Some 1.2 million former American workers have apparently simply been politically vaporized. The anemic job growth we have seen should result in a rising unemployment rate. All things are possible when you fudge the numbers.

Two days before the latest phony numbers, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released information that unemployment in America is presently 10 percent, and the underemployment rate is 16.8 percent.

Republican State Sen. Michael J. Doherty represents the 217,000 residents of Warren and Hunterdon counties in North Jersey.

Doherty graduated from West Point in 1985. He then served four years as a U.S. Army captain in command of an artillery unit with nuclear-tipped missiles at the East German border – when Russia was still the Soviet Union in a “Cold War” with us.

Another week has flown by. I am waiting for the right wing to blame Obama for that. With our economy moving up, the GOP needs something new (not Newt, though) to focus on.

My apologies that our usual weekly columns were omitted from some of last week's issues. You can go to the Internet and read the columns there. The reason was space limitations, given the large number of Valentine's Day ads. After all, a free weekly newspaper has to make money to pay its employees and printing and other costs. Seth, Harry and I do not get paid, which is fine with me, as the exposure I've gotten has helped the Coalition for Peace and Justice build its membership and volunteer lists. Finding new members is how we can continue to grow as a regional peace and justice group. So, on to the issues at hand.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority could not have sent a better message when it approved the Atlantic City Tourism District Master Plan last week. This is the blueprint that will take Atlantic City to its next era as a successful destination resort.

As is the case many times in life, one of the top priorities is not something new or complicated; it includes a back-to-the-future moment by calling for a return of the Steel Pier High Diving Horse this summer.

The CRDA has approved a $ 6 million funding stream for the first phase of the Steel Pier improvement project, which will ultimately see a total of $102 million worth of overall upgrades.

Three years after George Washington retired as our first president, he was still in excellent health at age 67. He rode on horseback around his large farm almost every day to inspect his fields, fences, buildings and livestock.

But after being out for five hours in heavy rain and snow on Dec. 12, 1799, Washington came down with a very bad cold, cough, and sore throat. Some of the best doctors in America rushed to treat him.

Today, we know that this is usually caused by germs that attack our bodies. The best treatment is rest, nourishment and liquids that help our immune system put white cells and other defenses into our bloodstream.

Hi everyone. I need to make a quick correction to last week's column and I wanted to comment on Seth's column from last week also.

It seems that I was guilty of a Rick Perry moment. Rick, as I'm sure you remember, forgot the third cabinet post he would eliminate when he became president. I managed to forget to list Rick Perry as one of the Republicans who dropped out of the Republican Demolition Derby campaign. That omission was surprising, considering how humorous the guy was.

I also forgot to mention Mr. Supposedly Rich gadfly Donald Trump, who had flirted with running for president as well. A reader also emailed me and suggested that Michelle Bachmann should have driven a minivan, not a pink Cadillac. The Caddy, with two long horns on the hood, was the obvious choice for Rick Perry.

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP – Atlantic County Sheriff Frank X. Balles was sworn in as president of the Sheriff’s Association of New Jersey Friday, Jan. 27.

County Undersheriff Ted Kammer was also sworn in as the association’s secretary at a dinner held at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.

Congressman Frank LoBiondo administered the oath of office for both men.

President Barack Obama's speech last Tuesday was not an address to the nation, but a political campaign speech. He couldn't name one accomplishment achieved during the past three years.

You didn't even have to watch the 2012 version. Exact lines from 2010 and 2011 were parroted in year three of America's continuing nightmare.

Some folks liked what Republican Gov. Chris Christie said in his speech to legislators in Trenton two weeks ago and at his “Town Hall Meeting” show last week in Vineland.

But I didn’t hear what the governor was saying because I was too busy looking at what he was doing.

During the past two years, Christie borrowed and spent like a Democrat – and raised tolls and local taxes to pay for it. He froze principled conservatives like Steve Lonegan and Mike Doherty out of his administration. He used tribal affiliation (sex, race, ethnicity and sexual preference) rather than merit to fill key positions.

Your intrepid columnist made a valiant effort to watch the entire Florida Republican debate last week, but got too nauseated to watch the whole thing.

This column was filed before the results of the Florida primary were announced, so I don't know who won, Romney or Newt-ly. Newters appeared to be in the lead, but with this race, who knows.