News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, January 06, 2007
House Committee Leaders Will Be Liberals
As the old saying goes, "to the victor goes the spoils." Pelosi (D-CA) has appointed her a slate of "liberals" to chair House committees:
Education and Labor Committee: George Miller (D-CA) Armed Services Committee: Ike Skelton (D-MO) Foreign Affairs Committee: Tom Lantos (D-CA) Homeland Security Committee: Bennie Thompson (D-MS) Oversight And Government Reform Committee: Henry Waxman (D-CA) Judiciary Committee: John Conyers (D-MI) Rules Committee: Louise Slaughter (D-NY) Appropriations Committee: David Obey (D-WI) Legislative Branch Subcommittee: James Moran (D-VA) Financial Services Committee: Barney Frank (D-MA) Intelligence Committee: Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) Ways And Means Committee: Charles Rangel (D-NY) Committee on the Budget: John Spratt (D-SC) Tags:congress, House, liberal
EDITORIAL INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY 1/4/07: Democrats want to "do something" about outrageous CEO pay. They also want to force small businesses to pay low-skilled workers more. Say, isn't pay supposed to be set by markets, not by government? .... CEO pay controls, a minimum wage hike — we're going down a slippery slope. If we're not careful, someday we'll end up with an official incomes policy. Just like the old Soviet Union. As economists will tell you, pay in a market economy should follow productivity — not the dictates of politicians. The most productive among us will earn the most. Step in the way of that, and you strangle the very engine of our prosperity. Read More ... Tags:populism, Soviet UnionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico. According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat. Read More and View Video News Stories Tags:border control, illegal immigration
An agreement the Bush administration reached with Mexico on Social Security benefits would allow illegal aliens granted amnesty in the future to claim credit for the time they worked illegally. The deal was reached in 2004 but never released publicly because it hasn't been submitted to Congress. The TREA Senior Citizens League, a Social Security advocacy group, recently obtained the document through a Freedom of Information Act, and said it confirms the group's worst fears. [The Washington Times - Read More ...] Tags:illegal immigration, social securityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas Congressmen not clean on opposing earmarks
All 4 re-elected congressmen, Berry (D-1st Dist), Snyder (D-2nd Dist),Boozman (R-3rd Dist) and Ross (D-4th Dist) have favored earmarks and support of "pork" projects during the last congressional session. In the past House members have been able to avoid scrutiny because their pork was co-mingled with other projects and tucked into the dark corners of big spending bills. Or they were able to withstand the scrutiny because they were attacked as a whole chamber and not directly attacked themselves. However, because of 19 anti-pork amendments, they were forced to cast up-or-down votes on specific projects. They could no longer deflect attention. All four Arkansas Congressman voted "no" 19 times to limit pork and hostility to taxpayers as a whole. Click to review their scorecard of no votes on amendments to limit earmarks. As we watch their actions this Congressional session, let's hope theTags:Arkansas, congress, earmarks, Housey show more tenacity in opposing hidden earmarks.
Madam Speaker says she wants to tame pork-barrel spenders. Takes one to know one. by Matt Smith -- There was the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska, then the Railroad to Nowhere in Mississippi. Now comes the Subway to Nowherein San Francisco, courtesy of Nancy Pelosi. If she's persistent with this crusade, we can expect one of two things: Either San Francisco will be deprived of more than half a billion dollars in federal money we thought we had coming, or Pelosi will squander an opportunity to become this country's first effective national female leader. The map charting these two possible paths is contained in a memorandum — reported for the first time here — that revealed the pork-barrel wastefulness of the Pelosi-sponsored Central Subway, a 1.7-mile light rail line currently budgeted at $1.2 billion that's supposed to connect the Giants' ballpark to Chinatown. Read More ... Tags:Nancy Pelosi, pork, pork-barrel spendersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Others concerned for assault on our basic freedoms.
Beyond our previous post today, other grassroot orgs are expressing concern over members of Congress who want to take advantage of the current demands for "lobbying reform" and then who go beyond this to implement provisions that would actually be a restriction on the type of grassroots activism.
Proposals that are legitimate responses to recent allegations of certain unethical actions by Members of Congress, congressional staff and lobbyists are not an issue. But nothing in those allegations provides any justification for the notion that Members of Congress should seize authority to scrutinize and regulate the constitutionally protected efforts -- of groups of conservative grassroots groups or even the liberal groups like MoveOn.org -- to alert citizens regarding legislative developments in Congress, and to encourage citizens to communicate their views to their elected representatives. The First Amendment protects the right to "petition the government," and such activities are at the heart of our republic.
Public Citizen, a liberal government watchdog, supposedly helped Pelosi draft the legislation and wants lawmakers to adopt the Internal Revenue Service's definition of "lobbying," which includes communication that encourages the general public to contact a member of Congress on pending legislation or public policy. In addition to today's previous posting, you can READ MORE on the controversial features of the bill and this assault on our most basic freedoms.
Send this post to everyone you know who wants to help tell Congress to support free speech rights and oppose restrictions on grassroots activism. In addition to the link in the prior posting which provided a means to contact your legislators, you may also do so through the following "ACTION ALERT" link. Tell Legislators to Support Free Speech! Thank you! Tags:congress, free speech, grassroots, lobbying
Help Stop Nancy Pelosi From Assaulting Free Speech!
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) has just become Speaker of the House and has begun her tyrannical reign with an aggressive plan to muzzle conservative groups! Her anti-conservative lobbying bill will not be brought up in the first 100 hours – but it is a high priority for Pelosi in the weeks ahead. Urgent action is needed! She is beginning her rule of the House of Representatives by attacking the First Amendment right of conservative groups to freely lobby Members of Congress. Her plan is part of the Democrats’ “lobby reform” legislation that she hopes can be rammed through Congress within a few weeks! Rep. Pelosi, a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-military legislator, is working with the leftist Public Citizen group to craft a bill that specifically targets conservative groups—but leaves labor unions, corporations, and even foreign interests—to freely lobby Congress.
Huckabee revokes funds for Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller Cancer Center
One week after his announcement, Huckabee revoked the funds he had announced as seed money for a cancer center to be named after the late Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller and to established an endowed chair to research diabetes. In a letter dated Jan. 4 to UA System President Dr. B. Alan Sugg, Gov. Mike Huckabee rescinded $2 million in funding he had announced for researching cancer and diabetes after legislators objected to a proposed shuffling of University of Arkansas system dollars to pay for the projects. ... Read More Tags:Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Win Rockefeller
Ontario Court Rules Five-Year Old Has Three Legal Parents – Father, Mother, Lesbian Partner
TORONTO, Ontario (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The Ontario Court of Appeal, in another major Ontario judicial activist decision, has ruled that a five-year-old Ontario boy has three legal parents. The appeals court, overturning an emphatic lower court ruling, granted the boy's father, biological mother, and the mother's lesbian partner equal rights and responsibilities under law, in a decision released Tuesday."This ruling clearly shows the extent to which the homosexual activists will pursue their agenda regardless of the welfare of children," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), in a press release yesterday . . .[Click for more]Tags:Canada, lesbian, parent rights
Michelle Malkin -- It's official: The editors of The New York Times have no shame. Don't take my word for it. Listen to the Times' own ombudsman, Byron Calame.On Sunday, Calame wrote a stunning column debunking an April 9 New York Times Magazine cover story on abortion in El Salvador. The sensational piece by freelance writer Jack Hitt alleged that women there had been thrown in prison for 30-year terms for having had abortions. Hitt described his visit to one of them, inmate Carmen Climaco. "She is now 26 years old, four years into her 30-year sentence" for aborting an 18-week-old fetus, Hitt reported . . . utterly, demonstrably, false. Climaco had actually been convicted of murder for strangling her newborn baby. . . . Read MoreTags:abortion, liesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
In case you missed it, under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI):
Beginning January 23, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport, Air NEXUS card, or U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Document, or an Alien Registration Card, Form I-551, if applicable.
As early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport or other documents as determined by the Department of Homeland Security. Visit the Travel.State.gov for more info
Tags:new U.S. passport rules, passport, United StatesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Beebe-Hutchinson battle costliest in Arkansas history
According to the candidates' campaign finance reports at the Secr. of State's office, last year's governor's race was the most expensive political race in Arkansas' history. Governor-elect Mike Beebe and Republican Asa Hutchinson spent more than $9.9 million between them in the race for Governor. Beebe raised more than $ 6.5 million during the campaign and spent $6.47 million dollars. Hutchinson raised nearly $3.4million and spent nearly $3.5 million. Hutchinson reported a $43,000 debt for television ads. Tags:Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, campaign funds, Mike HuckabeeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas 39th in report that links education to success in adulthood
Channel 5 KFSM News reported that Arkansas ranks 39th in a report that examines the effect states' education policies and socio-economic factors have on success in adulthood.The "Quality Counts 2007" study suggests that a child born in Virginia is more likely to experience academic and financial success as an adult than a child in any other state. New Mexico ranked the lowest in the report, which was produced by Education Week. The study examined factors such as family income, parental education, preschool enrollment and high school graduation rates. Tags:Arkansas, education
Mike Huckabee calls for better treatment of Latinos
LITTLE ROCK. – Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said that the United States should treat the Latin American immigrants better and not repeat the errors of segregation and discrimination that were committed with the black community 150 years ago, beginning with enslaving them. Huckabee who leaves office January 9 after 10 years and is thinking about the possibility of running for U.S president in 2008, said that the citizens of Arkansas have progressed in the racial justice and that now they have the opportunity of acting correctly in the form of how they treat the growing Latin American population of Arkansas. The governor did not give details on his opinions of how to resolve the problems of illegal immigration.Read MoreTags:Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Latinos
State lawmakers in Massachusetts, facing the possibility of personal liability for refusing to follow the state Constitution, have blinked, and voted to allow a voter-supported initiative that would define marriage in the state as between one man and one woman only to move forward. It's just another step in the long process defined by the state Constitution to amend that document, but it is significant because of the imposition of "gay" marriages in that state -- the first state to take such action -- after the state Supreme Judicial Court determined they must be allowed . . . [Click for more]Mass. governor-elect Deval Patrick (D) urges no marriage vote (Associated Press) Tags:civil unions, gay marriage, marriage amendment, Massachusetts
Leading Capitol Hill watchdogs are sounding alarms by plans of the soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her majority of House Democrats to ram through a new law that would seriously undermine free speech – and put restrictions on conservative groups and others who encourage ordinary citizens to directly deal with Congress.
Pelosi has already stated she is planning to push through major legislation during the first 100 session hours after the Democrats take control of Congress this week. At the top of the list is seemingly good legislation intended to curb the power of lobbyists. But the Pelosi law goes far beyond bridling Washington influence peddlers. Under her proposed legislation, Pelosi will seek to control and limit any organization in America from encouraging citizens to communicate and influence Congress.. . . [Click for more] Tags:Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Nancy Pelosi
Governor Mitt Romney's (R-MA) journey to the pro-life cause
Today's NRO interview (12/16/06) provided the most detailed explanation yet of Governor Romney's journey to the pro-life cause.
Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) : I believe people will see that as governor, when I had to examine and grapple with this difficult issue, I came down on the side of life. I know in the four years I have served as governor I have learned and grown from the exposure to the thousands of good-hearted people who are working to change the culture in our country. I'm committed to promoting the culture of life. Like Ronald Reagan, and Henry Hyde, and others who became pro-life, I had this issue wrong in the past. Read More ... Tags:Election 2008, GOP, Mitt Romney, presidential candidate, pro-life, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Did Gov Mitt Romney (R-MA) chose to support 'gay' marriage?
A leader of the Parents' Rights Coalition in Massachusetts says he believed all along that Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) chose to implement "gay" marriages in that state, and now a court has confirmed that it did not have the power to order that change. John Haskins, associate director of the family-support organization, told WorldNetDaily that three years after the Goodridge decision by the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts, "Americans merely have to note that the judges admit now ... that they have no power over the other branches of government, and that the state constitution says that only the legislature can suspend laws" . . .[Click for more]Romney to File Papers on Wednesday to Run for President Tags:Election 2008, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, parent rights, presidential candidate, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Phyllis Schlafly -- President Bush pardoned 16 criminals including five drug dealers at Christmastime, but so far has refused to pardon the two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were trying to defend Americans against drug smugglers. It makes us wonder which side the self-proclaimed "compassionate" president is on.
Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were guarding the Mexican border near El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 17, 2005, when they intercepted a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. For what happened next, they were convicted and sentenced under a statute that was designed to impose heavy punishment on criminal drug smugglers caught in the commission of a crime. The government chose to believe the drug smuggler rather than Border Patrol agents with clean records. Ramos was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the year in 2005, and Compean served honorably in the Navy before joining the Border Patrol.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.-Calif.) called the two agents heroes. "Because of their actions, more than a million dollars in illegal drugs were stopped from being sold to our children. Bringing felony charges against them is a travesty of justice beyond description."The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice are stonewalling requests for a presidential pardon from 55 members of Congress and U.S. citizens who have sent at least 160,000 petitions and 15,000 faxes. . . [Click for more] Tags:border guards, Ignacio Ramos, illegal immigration, Jose Compean, pardonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
(CNSNews.com) - By Nathan Burchfiel -- The United Nations Security Council has voted to impose sanctions on Iranian nuclear and missile programs, but some American conservatives argue that U.S. state governments can have a greater impact on Tehran's nuclear activities by pulling money out of companies that do business with the terror-sponsoring nation. According to a 2004 Divest Terror report, the top 100 public pension systems in the United States invest more than $188 billion in countries listed as state sponsors of terrorism. Read More ...
One of the main controversies in recent months is what constitutes "socialism" -- and to what degree should socialism be considered acceptable in a large, civilized society. A number of years ago, a noted scientist argued in the media that the more a society grows in size, the more loss of freedom becomes inevitable as a means of preserving society itself. Science aside--or more correctly, "scientism" aside--let's take a close look at what socialism is, and how useful (and appropriate) it is as a means of solving human ills. Check out the reference material and join a RenewAmerica Forum to discuss Socialism vs. Americanism. [Read More...] Tags:socialism, What is Socialism,
Iraqi involvement in Oklahoma City--Part 1: the evidence by Wes Vernon (Washington-based writer and veteran broadcast journalist).As the hangman's noose gripped Saddam Hussein's neck for the murder of his own people, less well-known is credible evidence that his regime ordered an attack that killed Americans right smack in the middle of America's heartland. Very strong circumstantial evidence points to his evil regime in the killing of innocent American men, women, and children in the 1995 bombing of the Federal Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. [Click for more]
75-year-old founder of Coral Ridge Ministries in 'grave condition'
WorldNetDailyD. James Kennedy, author, theologian, biblical scholar, pastor of the 10,000-member "Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church" in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and founder of the highly influential Coral Ridge Ministries, suffered a major heart attack last night and is in grave condition, ministry officials tell WorldNetDaily. According to Mary Ann Bunker, Kennedy's long-time personal assistant, the 75-year-old religious leader had a "severe" cardiac arrest last evening . . . [Click for more]Our Prayers go out for Dr. Kennedy& his family! Tags:D. James Kennedy, Christian, evangelistTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
John Edwards tried to cozy up to America's poor by announcing (his presidential candidacy Thursday in the Lower Ninth Ward of Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.It's doubtful that any on hand live in splendor comparable to the $3.1 million mansion the former senator and vice presidential candidate is building in North Carolina. Edwards, worth upwards of $30 million thanks to a career as a personal injury lawyer, is building the home on a 100-acre estate outside Chapel Hill, the New York Post reported. The 10,700-square-foot mansion boasts 10 rooms, 6 1/2 baths, two garages, and verandas with sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.
Edwards is also building two smaller homes on the estate — a two-story, 6,366-square-foot mini-mansion with a $570,000 price tag, and a 2,817-square-foot, $193,000 house. One home is for Edwards' 22-year-old daughter Cate and the other is for visiting friends and family, according to the Post. On top of all that, the White House hopeful is constructing a 1,180-square-foot pool house. In the 2004 campaign, Edwards often spoke of "Two Americas," one wealthy and privileged and the other struggling to survive. There's no doubt which America Edwards belongs to.[Source: Email from Wisconsin visitor to ARRA blog]
Tags:Election 2008, Democrat, John Edwards, presidential candidateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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