Please see the updates at the bottom for the most current status. The original post was based upon a mistaken identity. I have left the original post intact with corrections below it.

If you were to believe Jeff Baker, you'd think that he was just a disgruntled small business owner who is frustrated with the economy squeezing him to the point where he needed to shut the doors. It's a story we've all heard, one I can even tell with my own specifics.

But Jeff Baker wanted to be sure the President heard him, so he put up a billboard on Interstate 190 that says "I need a freakin job. Period."

But every lost job hurts, said Jeff Baker, a Buffalo native who was forced to close his niche textile company near Albany, Adirondack Blanket Works, during the financial collapse more than a year ago.

"Losing a business is right up there in catastrophe land," said Baker, who had planned the billboard long before learning Obama was coming to town. "It's personally catastrophic and having to let go of people who were like family for over 10 years, you go through all that heartbreak."

He and his brother put up the sign and launched a website (www.inafj.org) with the hope of steering the conversation in Washington back toward the average American worker.

It's a really nice website, too. Not a homegrown. boring kind of site at all. It's got merchandise, videos, even "inafj.tv"!

A website like that doesn't come cheap, even if they hire a designer who uses a stock template and stock photos. It's nicely done.

See, here's what they didn't tell you. Scott Baker works for Breitbart.TV. [see update #2]

Scott Baker has reported and anchored television news for nearly 20 years.

He became interested in broadcasting while working on political campaigns during his school years at Wheaton College (Illinois).

He has worked at the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., CBS News in New York, and at local television stations in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Saginaw, Michigan, and for the last 13 years at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.

Viewers have come to know Scott best for both his humor and his skills anchoring and reporting during breaking news events.

According to Jeff Baker, Scott Baker paid for the sign, and likely for the rest of their 'movement', too. Or Breitbart did.

A movement? No. A campaign? Yes. Non-partisan? No. Hidden agenda? Yes.

Got it? Good. Now tell everyone else, including the MSM like CNN.com, CBS.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and anyone else you can think of, because presenting this as the effort of one disgruntled businessman and his brother is just a lie, and Andrew Breitbart knows it.

John Amato is debating Breitbart in Beverly Hills next week. I hope he nails him with this duplicitous nonsense. [See update #2]

Update: A commenter points to this article published in the Buffalo News after mine was written which states that Scott Baker lives in Akron and is "vice president of operations at a local manufacturing company."

Would that be a local manufacturing company in Akron, or in Buffalo? Quite a commuting distance between the two. (3:40pm Although it is true that there's an Akron, NY as well near Buffalo.)

It goes on to say this about the video and website:

The CBS segment included two of the Buffalo State College students who appeared on the billboard and on a video posted on the brothers’ Web site, www.inafj.org . Scott Baker said his brother designed the site and produced the professional- looking video, using students Scott found through a friend on the college faculty, Jim Mayrose.

Obviously, if this article is accurate, I am inaccurate. And if I am accurate, the other article is inaccurate. Yes, the name Scott Baker is a common one, and I was able to find a listing for a Scott Baker in the Cleveland/Akron area. There's even a listing for a Scott Baker, HR Director of Cintas Corporation online, though one could wonder why a human resources specialist would be open to promoting this particular campaign. Still, those facts certainly support the conclusion that I was incorrect. Despite the fact that one of the earliest mentions (2 days ahead of the President's visit) was on Breitbart.com and Fox News got the first "exclusive" with the "creator of the movement", these facts would have cast enough doubt to stop me from concluding what I did.

I've given you the additional references so you, the reader can decide. Based on this additional information, I would not have made the definitive conclusion that I did last night. I would have said that given the commonality of the name no firm conclusion can be made.

I'd also recommend Jeff Baker consider web design or video production as his next career, since he did such a splendid job on the site, the integrated Facebook page, the social media PR management and the billboard. He's obviously quite talented.

I have one more question to ask Andrew Breitbart. When will he admit his "error" by publishing video edited to make ACORN look guilty when in fact, they acted in strict compliance with the law?

Update #2: I believe it's fair to say, at this point, that the Scott Baker associated with Breitbart.tv is NOT the same Scott Baker. In this case, it would appear that MSM has it right, that *I* got it wrong, and for that, I apologize to the Baker brothers, Scott Baker and Andrew Breitbart for getting it wrong. Additional information supports what was reported in the Buffalo News article in my first update.

I could ask to have this post pulled down completely but for the fact that bells can't be unrung, and I believe in owning my words AND my mistakes.

Please note: John Amato was not involved in the creation, research or updated information attached to this post. I take full responsibility for it and apologize to all readers for misleading them on this one.

The Satirical Political Report: Why Sarah Palin's resignation is DEVASTATING to the GOP.  Naturally, on Independence Day, one day after she quit her job, this narcissist insisted that we pay attention to her on the internet.

Newshoggers: Where's my monkey wrench?

Seeing the Forest: It Was About The Oil

Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog: The Enemy Within? 

Raw Dawg Buffalo: united states of entertainment

onegoodmove: Buncha kewel links

Beverly Eckert with Pete Seeger at an anti-war rally.

Although this doesn't mention it, Beverly Eckert was also one of the widows who pushed for the formation of the 9/11 Commission - which, faulty as it was, was better than it would have been, thanks to her efforts.

And it also doesn't talk about her dedicated work with September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an anti-war group which works for peaceful solutions around the world.

Rest in peace, Beverly.

On September 11, 2001, Beverly Eckert was talking to her beloved husband on a cell phone as he fought to escape the World Trade Center. When the south tower collapsed, she was still on the phone with him and listened to him die.

In the days, weeks and years after the 9/11 attacks, Eckert was a tireless advocate for the victims' families. She spearheaded protests that led politicians to set aside more land for a memorial at Ground Zero, fought to ensure federal authorities would thoroughly probe the cause of the twin towers' collapse and spoke eloquently again and again about her husband, Sean Rooney, and the many others who died that day.

Today, Eckert's relatives are grieving again. She was one of the 49 people who perished in a plane crash in Buffalo late Thursday. Eckert was traveling upstate to celebrate the 58th birthday of her late husband, who was a native of Buffalo. She was scheduled to deliver an address to Canisius High School, where Sean's legacy was to be honored with a scholarship.

"We know she was on that plane and now she's with him" Eckert’s sister Sue Borque told The Buffalo News at the Buffalo Airport where flight 3047 was scheduled to land at 10:40 p.m.

Eckert, who was a member of the 9/11 Commission's Family Steering Committee, spearheaded a push to have the airlines held liable for the security lapses and other missteps that allowed terrorists to hijack the passenger jets. She told Congress she was suing the airlines because "lawmakers capped the liability of the airlines at the behest of lobbyists who descended on Washington while the September 11 fires still smoldered.”

Eckert also was instrumental in securing a compensation fund for the families of 9/11 victims. Her impassioned plea before the House of Representatives in 2004 contributed to a $7 billion pay-out to more than 5,000 families.

Beggars Can Be Choosers: $10 billion Pentagon program fails to defeat IED threat in Iraq

Immigration Prof Blog: Business is fighting tough measures on immigration. Who didn't see this coming?

Ice Station Tango: If Karl Rove isn't in prison by then, he and John Edwards will have a debate at the University of Buffalo on on September 26.

The KC Blue Blog: Looks like the ol' Southern Strategy is alive and well in Missouri

Calculated Risk: More trouble in bank paradise

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: The Media brought me donuts...A sterling example of why Mr. Sheri Annis is such an important 4th Estate Lawn Jockey...ABC: Agent Backs Cheney...Fighting the shock-jocks...The Atlantic Monthly continues to decline...Journalism without journalists...The ubiquity of inanity...At Last! A good, issue-driven Health Care Story...And NPR did one, too!...Taken for a ride in Miami...Fox moves from eccentric to weird...This explains a lot...CBS aired a portion of Floyd Brown's attack ad, failed to report Obama is not a Muslim...

CNN:

More than half of Yellowstone National Park's bison herd has died since last fall, forcing the government to suspend its annual slaughter program.

Bison's natural habitat is at high elevations, but they move lower when grass for grazing becomes scarce.

More than 700 of the iconic animals starved or otherwise died on the mountainsides during an unusually harsh winter, and more than 1,600 were shot by hunters or sent to slaughterhouses in a disease-control effort, according to National Park Service figures.

As a result, the park estimates its bison herd has dropped from 4,700 in November to about 2,300 today, prompting the government to halt the culling program early.

"There has never been a slaughter like this of the bison since the 1800s in this country, and it's disgusting," said Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group seeking to stop the slaughter program for good.

Government officials say the slaughter prevents the spread of the disease brucellosis from the Yellowstone bison to cattle on land near the park. Brucellosis can cause miscarriages, infertility and reduced milk production in domestic cattle. [..]

The USDA acknowledges that bison-to-cattle transmission is difficult to document, but it says investigations indicate that bison were the likely source of infections in cattle herds in Wyoming and North Dakota.

But critics call the culling an overreaction. There is no documented case of the disease passing from bison to cattle, they said.

Let's call this another front on the War On The Environment, shall we? Since their concerted effort to gut the Endangered Species Act last year, which included de-listing the gray wolf in February, resulting in 10 wolves being killed in Wyoming alone this month, the Bush administration has been responsible for causing at least two species (the Lake Sammamish kokanee and the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit) to become extinct. And even more are threatened as they ignore environmentalists. Further, experts are saying the construction of the ridiculous border fence is threatening to make species like jaguars, ocelots, and the Sonoran pronghorn extinct in the United States. Heckuva job, Bushie.

Happy Saint Patricks Day! You could celebrate with an Irish seven-course meal, (a six pack and a potato), or this.

Unqualified Offerings: The good news from Iraq has been relocated

Greg Mankiw's Blog: BUSHCO rushes to the aid of reckless rich guys.

Just World News: The plan hatched by Condi Rice and Elliott Abrams to train up a Palestinian 'Contras'-style force under the auspices of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has fallen into a significant degree of chaos.

Scott Horton: The gathering storm at the Department of Justice

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: dangerblond, Common Nonsense, Buffalo Wings and Toasted Ravioli, Anderson Brown's Political Blog

He was supposed to talk about the Mark Foley scandal---I think he has just a few problems now...

Update: NY Newsday

Rep. Thomas Reynolds is trailing behind his Democratic opponent after he was connected to the scandal involving former GOP Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, according to a poll released Saturday.

The poll, performed by Zogby International for The Buffalo News, showed businessman Jack Davis leading Reynolds 48 percent to 33 percent.

Laura Bush attended a fundraiser for one of the men in the middle of PredatorGate.

2 On Your Side has learned First Lady Laura Bush Will Visit the Buffalo - Niagara Marriott in Amherst, on Thursday, October 4th. The First Lady will serve as the keynote speaker at a luncheon honoring Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds who is running for re-election.

Greg:

Mrs. Bush spoke out against what she called "predators on the Internet," saying that they were one of the "greater dangers" children face today. Question: What does Laura Bush think of the fact that Reynolds has known of GOP Rep. Mark Foley's behavior since early 2006, and kept it quiet? And will Laura Bush still speak at the luncheon honoring Reyolds?

I know she's the most popular Republican at this time, but come on. I'm really surprised at you, Laura. Is winning a seat more important than the safety of children and the congressional pages? Even Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) says that members of Congress can't be trusted around pages.

This is surreal and really low. NY Daily News:

"The Upstate media today is all about Tom Reynolds' bizarre press conference yesterday, at which he surrounded himself by small children. At one point, reporters asked if he could make the children leave so they could as adult questions, and he refused"

Download | play -WMP download

Buffalo Geek has all the video posted. Reynolds in a shocking development blames Hastert: "I found this moment particularly damaging, though, in which Reynolds -- the third-ranking Republican in the House -- says he did what any employee would do with the Foley case: "I took it to my supervisor."