Democrat leaders differ on proposals to reduce Arkansas taxes

While Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (D) continues to push for a 50 %t cut in the state's sales tax on groceries, House Speaker Benny Petrus (D) offers three tax cut bills as an alternative. Petrus has said that among his plans is an $80 million annual tax rebate for low- and middle income Arkansans. He proposes it as an alternative to Beebe's call for halving the state's 6-cent sales tax on groceries. Beebe believes the sales tax cut would provide a greater benefit to poor and middle-income families.

Petrus first bill would provide tax rebates for low- and middle-income Arkansans that would return about $80 million a year. The second part would increase the minimum taxable income for retirees and reduce taxes about $21 million a year by increasing the $6,000 of retirement benefits exempt from state income tax to $10,000. The third bill, Petrus said, would reduce the state's sales tax on manufacturers' utility bills by 3 percent and would cost about $30 million a year. READ MORE

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Tags: Arkansas, grocery tax, tax-cuts, taxes

Lawmakers seek to block NAFTA superhighway system, continental integration

By Jerome R. Corsi: Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) has introduced a House resolution expressing congressional opposition to construction of a NAFTA Super Highway System or entry into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada. Goode said the goal behind House Concurrent Resolution 40, introduced Monday, is "to block a NAFTA Superhighway System and to indicate the opposition of the Congress to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America that was declared by President Bush, Mexico's then-President Vicente Fox, and Canada's then-Prime Minister Paul Martin, at the conclusion of their summit meeting in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005" . . . [Click for more]
Also See: Congressman, DOT undersecretary disagree over threat to sovereignty

Center for Reclaiming America: A new poll commissioned and conducted by CBS News finds that nearly half of Americans either want greater restrictions on abortion or prohibition of abortion in all or most cases. Of the 1,168 adults who responded to the poll, only 31% said that they want abortion permissible in all situations, while 47% said that abortion should be prohibited in all or most situations and 16% wanting greater restrictions.

The results are close to those of a similar poll conducted in Jan. 2006, which said that 51% wanted abortion prohibited. While the number appears to have dropped marginally, it is not all bad news. According to National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru, “The good news for pro-lifers is that in the latest poll, 47% of the public says that abortion should be generally banned. The bad news is that there seems to be a bit of a leftward trend.” Other polls do not necessarily confirm Ponnuru’s observation. For example, a March, 2006 Zogby poll found that 69% of voters agree that using federal funds to pay for abortions should be prohibited. [Click for more]

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Tags: abortion, polls, pro-life To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Despite boycott & losses, Ford still sponsoring homosexual activism

Baptist Press - A one-year boycott of the Ford Motor Company by pro-family groups is nearing an end but could be extended because the company has done little, if anything, to address concerns over its support of homosexual activism, a spokesman for the American Family Association says. AFA and more than 30 other conservative groups launched the boycott March 13, urging Christians not to buy cars from Ford or its seven other brands: Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Mazda. The groups pointed to Ford's financial support of organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, its sponsorship of "gay pride" events and its advertising in homosexual magazines and television programs . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: American Family Association, boycott, Ford Motor Company, homosexual activism To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

New Nuclear Smuggling Case Is A Wake Up Call

NTI: There was an alarming news report this week about a man who was caught smuggling stolen weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, material that could be used to make a nuclear bomb (Click to read ). This incident should be a wake-up call to all of us. The threat of nuclear terrorism is real:
- There are nuclear weapons materials, highly enrichred uranium or plutonium, in over 40 countries. In too many cases these materials lack adequate security.
- Terrorist groups are trying to get nuclear weapons. Osama bin Laden has said that acquiring them is a "religious duty" and an al Qaeda member has said they have the right to kill 4 million Americans, 2 million children.
- A dangerous gap remains between the threat and actions to prevent it.
- The most effective way to prevent nuclear terrorism is to lock down nuclear materials at the source.

Take time now to send a message to your elected officials. Ask them to get personally involved and make preventing nuclear terrorism their top priority, or for help contact SaferWorld.org.

Major Gun Control Bill in Congress

GOA Alert: Anti-gun Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced H.R. 297, the most massive expansion of the Brady law since it passed in 1993. This bill was killed last year, but the new House leadership appears even more eager to pass it. This bill provides grants, about $1 billion, to the states to "provide the National Instant Criminal Background Check System [NICS] with all records concerning persons who are prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or (n), section 922, title 18, United States Code, regardless of the elapsed time since the disqualifying event."

The bill expands upon the unconstitutional Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban [922 (g)(9)]. This gun ban, passed as an amendment to a 1996 omnibus spending bill and signed into law by Clinton, was originally introduced by leading anti-gun Senators Frank Lautenberg, Dianne Feinstein, and Edward Kennedy. Under the Lautenberg ban, people who have committed very minor offenses that include pushing, shoving or, in some cases, merely yelling at a family member can no longer own a firearm for self-defense. The Lautenberg gun ban should be repealed, not expanded.

The bill also seeks to computerize records of persons "underindictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year." Such persons, though not even convicted of the crime in question, are prohibited from possessing a firearm.The gun grabbers are seeking to force the states to provide the federal government all of these indictment records, updated quarterly. Given the maxim among those in the legal profession that prosecutors can get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich," this,too, is a gun prohibition that should be repealed, not expanded. Mental health records are also covered under the McCarthy bill. The fact that metal health 'experts,' a notoriously anti-gun community, would have a say in who is allowed to possess a firearm is frightening. Many in the profession would just as soon consider anyone who owns a gun as 'mentally incompetent.' Another sobering thought is how computerized data are often mishandled.

The Brady law needs to be repealed, not expanded to allow anti-gun administrations to find new ways to strip citizens of their Second Amendment rights. ACTION: contact your representative immediately and spread the word about H.R. 297! Visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Representative a pre-written e-mail message. And, you can call your Representative free at 1-877-762-8762 Read More

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Tags: gay rights, gun control, second amendment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Human Rights Are For Human Beings

by Doug Patton: It seems that judges are now in the business of attributing rights to animals of the two legged and the four legged variety. They release child abusers on probation and give constitutional rights to terrorists, while meting out prison sentences for animal owners and parents who discipline their children.

The San Francisco based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just overturned the 22-year sentence of Ahmed Ressam, the so-called "Millennium Bomber." Ressam, you will recall, was convicted of trying to cross into the United States from Canada with 125 pounds of explosives in the trunk of his car. Seems he wanted to give us a little Y2K surprise on New Years Eve 1999 until an alert customs agent stopped him.

Last year, Nebraska District Court Judge Kristine Cecava told convicted child molester Richard Thompson that his crimes "deserved a long sentence." She then sentenced him to probation because he was "too short to survive in prison." Last week, another Nebraska man died in prison while serving a two-year sentence for beating his dog to death. Meanwhile, a meddling Democrat in the California Legislature wants to ban all spanking of children under the age of four. What is going on here? ...

Parental rights and property rights used to be sacrosanct in this country. Today, our legislators, and especially our courts, seem bent on turning the U.S. Constitution on its head in this area. Can you imagine a scenario whereby a terrorist and a child molester are on their way out of prison as a dog owner and a father who dared to spank his three-year-old child are on their way in? That is where we are headed. That is the future we are handing down to our children and grandchildren, and unless we stop this nonsense, they will grow up not knowing that human rights are for human beings. Read More

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Tags: Doug Patton, human rights

Arkansas Legistlative Alert - State Lottery

by Larry L. Page, Executive Director, Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council: An article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette disclosed that Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will push the legislature to refer to the voters a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a state lottery. In each regular session of the General Assembly, legislators may submit up to three constitutional amendments for the voters’ consideration in the following general election. Over the last couple of decades, proponents of a state lottery have encouraged the legislators to refer a lottery amendment to the state’s voters. Conservative family-value Arkansans have always been able to deter those attempts to establish a state lottery through the legislative referral procedure. (Arkansas voters have also defeated at the polls lottery proposals that were qualified for the ballot by the initiative process.)

It looks as if we will again need to step up and block yet another run at a state lottery. We are one of only eight states that have resisted the urge to adopt a lottery. Lottery gambling is a notoriously poor economic tool. It is a regressive tax that hits members of the lower socioeconomic classes the hardest, often making them even more dependent on state services and assistance. In addition, revenue from lotteries does not provide a boon to education and in many instances it even proves harmful to the educational system. The bottom line: A lottery makes the state an economic predator of its weakest citizens. It inverts the role of government, so that instead of looking after the best interests of vulnerable people, it manipulates and exploits them for crass economic gain. Arkansans are better than that, as we have demonstrated time and time again at the ballot box and in the halls of the capitol.

The issue is out there and will probably be in the legislative mix soon. It is time to contact your state senator and state representative (or leave them a message) and advise them that you would appreciate their opposition to any attempts to refer a state lottery amendment to the voters.

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Tags: Arkansas, Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, Bill Halter, Larry Page, lottery To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Grassroots Right To Petition Government May Come Under Jeopardy In House

Last week, the Senate did the right thing by deleting Section 220 from S. 1, the lobby reform bill. Section 220 was a serious threat to grassroots organizations and individuals in lobbying the federal government. The threat, however, is not over. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans on introducing a free-standing bill or an amendment to other legislation that will have the same dangerous language as Section 220. If she attaches this legislation to another bill, it will most likely go through the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) who has lobbied for years for the impeachment of President Bush. Read More

Six Reasons to Oppose the ERA

by Patrick Briney, Ph.D.. President, ARRA: The ERA anti-family activists are at it again. 4ERA, “a national, non-partisan, single-issue, grassroots organization,” declares its mission is to “build solidarity among Americans for ratifying and promulgating the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution.” Arkansas is on its hit list. They sponsored a rally in the Capitol Rotunda January 24, 2007 and invited Governor Beebe & the other Constitutional officers to speak. They also lobbied legislators to support their agenda.

Why Arkansas? This national, anti-family group has targeted Arkansas as part of its three state strategy. To amend to the Constitution, thirty-eight states must ratify the ERA. At present, only thirty-five states have ratified ERA. The support of three states more is needed. The fifteen states that have not ratified ERA include Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia. In a set back for the ERA, five states (Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Dakota) have since rescinded their ratifications thereby requiring ratification by eight more states.

ERA resolutions have been introduced into the legislatures of Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, and Virginia; and active ERA campaigns are being conducted in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. The Arkansas Senate barely rejected the ERA by only two votes in its 2006 session.

The text of the Equal Rights Amendment, as proposed in 1972 by the 92nd Congress, and as published in Volume 86, "United States Statutes At Large" (pages 1523–1524), reads as follows:
SECTION 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article
SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification

The language in this amendment is problematic for the following reasons - click to read. The fact that women today have successfully championed their rights in society and in the courts since 1789 is a testimony to the sufficiency of the Constitution to guarantee those rights. Attempts to approve the ERA, which only serves to confuse, take local and state control away from people, threaten religious and private institutions, and open the door for anti-family activists including homosexuals and abortionists, is ill advised. The ERA has been rejected since 1972 because it is a sloppy proposal. There is no mention of women in the amendment, and attempts to clarify its meaning have been futile. An amendment should be clear about its intent, and the ERA fails to do this.

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Tags: Arkansas, Arkansas Republican Assembly, ARRA, Equal Right Amendment, ERA To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Republican Party of Arkansas implements 2007 fundraising effort

Clint Read, Executive Director RPA: The liberal gaggle of Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, Senator Joseph Biden, Governor Bill Richardson, and John Edwards have all announced their intention to seek the Presidency in 2008. Because Hillary Clinton is the front runner of the liberal throng of Democrats, Arkansas will again be a battleground state in determining who will be the next President of the United States. Fact: Arkansas’ Six (6) Electoral Votes were the difference between President George W. Bush and President Al Gore in 2000. The RPA is preparing for the looming battle in 2008. Click HERE to contribute online. Ronald Reagan - “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”

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Tags: Arkansas, Arkansas Republican Party, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

President renews push for 'amnesty'

Washington Times - President Bush last night said his administration has made huge strides clamping down on illegal border crossings, and called on Congress to finish the job this year by passing a guest-worker bill and extending citizenship rights to illegal aliens. In a State of the Union address designed to highlight areas where he could work with the new majority Democrats, Mr. Bush put immigration front and center, along with education, health care and energy policy -- all domestic issues where he thinks he can find common ground. "Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil and conclusive debate -- so that you can pass and I can sign comprehensive immigration reform," Mr. Bush said . . . [Click for more]

See also:

Tancredo: Congress 'Hell-Bent' on Mass Amnesty
The coming amnesty disaster (Michelle Malkin)
Texas governor: Border to get armed Guard (San Antonio Express-News)

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Tags: amnesty, illegal immigration, President George Bush, State of Union To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

CNN Poll: Viewers have positive reaction to Bush speech

(CNN) -- CNN found that more than three-quarters of Americans who watched President Bush's State of the Union address had a positive reaction to it, although the reaction was muted from that in past years, according to a poll released Tuesday. Forty-one percent of 370 adults who watched the speech said they had a "very positive" reaction to it. Another 37 percent said their response was "somewhat positive."

Poll of 370 adults finds 78 percent of speech viewers reacted positively
• 67 percent think Bush's policies will move country in right direction
• Positive numbers muted in comparison with previous years
• 51 percent confident U.S. will meet goals in Iraq, down from 71 percent in 2004 Read More

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Tags: President, George Bush, State of Union, SOTU, 2007

Bush's 20 in 10: Strengthening America's Energy Security

In the State of Union Address, President Bush asked Congress and America's scientists, farmers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs to join in pursuing the "Goal Of Reducing U.S. Gasoline Usage By 20 % In The Next 10 Years – 20 In 10." For too long, our Nation has been dependent on oil. America's dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists – who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy.

To achieve the 20 in 10 Goal, America is called to:
- Increase the supply of renewable and alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels. In 2017, this will displace 15 % of projected annual gasoline use.
- Reform and modernize Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards for cars and extending the current light truck rule. In 2017, this will reduce projected annual gasoline use by up to 8.5 billion gallons, a further 5 % reduction that, in combination with increasing the supply of renewable and alternative fuels, will bring the total reduction in projected annual gasoline use to 20%.

The President's plan also included:
- Stepping up domestic oil production in environmentally sensitive ways.
- Doubling the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to 1.5 billion barrels by 2027.
- Reducing gasoline consumption through the growth of alternative fuel sources and through increasing vehicle efficiency Read More

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Tags: energy conservation, energy security, gasoline, oil, George Bush, State of Union, SOTU, 2007

Bush asks for patience with Iraq policy, Democrats say 'No'

AgapePress: In yesterday's State of the Union, President Bush discussed the economy, federal spending, health care, energy independence, immigration and education before broaching the topic, of the war in Iraq. The president implored Congress to allow him to continue engaging Islamo-facist terrorists -- and helping the governments that share America's interests -- on foreign rather than American soil. "The great question of our day is whether America will help men and women in the Middle East to build free societies and share in the rights of all humanity," Bush said. "And I say, for the sake of our own security ... we must."

"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in," the president continued. "Every one of us wishes that this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle," Bush added. "So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory." The president reiterated his plan to send an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to Iraq to finish what the U.S.-led coalition has started there. But Democrats rejected both the president's new plans and his assessment of the purpose of U.S. troops in the region.

"The president took us into this war recklessly," Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), who gave his party's response, acccused. "We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable and predicted disarray that has followed." Webb said Democrats are willing to wait for the president to take "the right kind of action" in Iraq, which he defined as "a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq." Read More

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Tags: Iraq, President George Bush, State of Union, 2007

Fearmongering

By Walter Williams: Political commentator Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) warned that "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." The Weather Channel has taken up that task with its series "It Could Happen Tomorrow."The Weather Channel started its "It Could Happen Tomorrow" series in January 2006. The program includes episodes where a tornado destroys Dallas, a tsunami destroys the Pacific Northwest, Mount Rainier erupts and destroys nearby towns, and San Diego is devastated by wildfires . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: climate change, global warming, Walter E. Williams To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

'Choose Life' plates upheld by federal judge as free speech

A federal judge turned back pro-abortion objections against the Choose Life license plates in Illinois saying motorists have the free speech rights to purchase them and place them on their automobiles. U.S. District Judge David Coar said protests from abortion advocates don't trump the First Amendment.Coar also said the state must issue the specialty license plates as long as the sponsors of it meet normal requirements on the design and number of motorists wanting one . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: free speech, pro-life To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Republican National Committee Elects new chairs

Last Friday, the Republican National Committee elected Sen. Mel Martinez as General Chairman of the Republican Party and Mike Duncan as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In a joint statement, they identified that to regain the majority and retain the White House, we cannot just show that we want it more. We need to prove to the American people that we deserve it more. We need to be proud of our principles, confident that our ideas are best for the nation. We can't afford to wait another day. We must return to our roots as the party of freedom and reform, of lower taxes, limited government, individual responsibility, freedom here and abroad, and the power of faith. They are seeking your ideas on how we can make our Party stronger, now and in 2008 at http://www.GOP.com/YourIdeas .

On Tuesday, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan today announced the selection of Anne Hathaway as RNC Chief of Staff, Rich Beeson as RNC Political Director and Lisa Camooso Miller as RNC Communications Director. Read More

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Tags: GOP, Mel Martinez, Mike Duncan, Republican Party, RNC

Argue's question - How are current dollars being spent by Arkansas Public Schools?

Monday, the House and Senate education committees adopted the adequacy report on efforts to adequately fund Arkansas' 450,000-student school system which calls for increasing per-student funding by .5 % in fiscal year 2008 and by 1.2 % the following year. The increase is significantly lower than an outside consultant's recommendation. Governor Beebe has said he wants to add another $19 million to public schools. Sen. Jim Argue (D-Little Rock), AR Senate Education Comm. Chair, says the next big question is not how much to fund the schools, but how current dollars are being spent.

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Tags: Arkansas, education

Arkansas Lt Gov Halter leaves Akamai Technologies board

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE (1/23/07): Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) said Friday that he resigned from the board of directors of Akamai Technologies of Cambridge, Mass., effective Jan. 9, the day that he was sworn in as lieutenant governor. Last year, two of Halter’s opponents (a Democrat and a Republican) accused Halter of profiting from pornography and gambling through Akamai, which provides online services. Halter denied those charges. He said he didn’t know about the pornography part of Akamai’s operations when he began serving on its board in 2001. He said he learned about it in 2002 when the firm’s executives told the board that those pornography lines of business. ...

Editor's Questions: What was that, Halter didn't know the company was peddling online pornography? How can you be on the responsible member of a board of directors for a company and not know what the company was involved in?

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Tags: Akamai Technologies, Arkansas, Bill Halter, Democrat, Lt Governor To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Hundreds of Thousands of Pro-Life People March for Life in Washington

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Proving the pro-life movement is alive and well despite abortion advocates obtaining control of Congress last November, hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates participated in the annual March for Life. The mood was optimistic and positive despite 34 years of legalized abortion since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.

Polls reveal that 52% of the country is opposed to abortion except in very rare circumstances. The rate and number of abortions in the United States continue to decline, most notably among teens. More and more citizens are coming to question abortion and to recognize -- as a starting point for deeper conversion -- that there is something radically wrong with abortion and the support given it by our laws. Read More

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Tags: pro-life, unborn, March for Life, 2007

Republican revolt builds over border agents - convicted under wrong law

By Jerome R. Corsi: At least 70 Republican Congress members are co-sponsoring a House resolution ordering that the convictions and sentences of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean be vacated and that they be released from custody immediately. The resolution, H.R. 563, is being introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-CA, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. Even after suggestions last week that President Bush plans to review the Ramos and Compean case, the White House has continued reaching out for support to several prominent conservatives who, so far, are rebuffing administration requests to back the Justice Department on this case. Read More

Also read: Wrong law used to convict Border agents by Jerome Corsi -
Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC, has on record a letter written to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Oct.11, 2006, charging that Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were charged under a statute that did not apply to the facts of the case. Ramos and Compean were convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c). This statute was written to increase the penalties when a violent criminal, such as a drug trafficker or a rapist, carries or uses a weapon during the commission of the crime. Law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol agents, are issued weapons by the Border Patrol to carry in the normal pursuit of their duties. 18 U.S.C. Section 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) has only been applied to law enforcement officers who themselves commit heinous crimes, such as sexual assault, outside the scope of their official duties. As Jones writes, ''Ramos and Compean were within the scope of their official duties when they fired at an illegal drug smuggler they believe to be armed and dangerous.''

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Tags: border control, border guards, Ignacio Ramos, illegal immigration, Jose Compean To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Latest List of Presidential Candidates for 2008

List of presidential candidates for 2008 continues to grow:
Democrats who are running:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY); Sen. Chris Dodd (CN); Former Sen. John Edwards (NC); Former Sen. Mike Gravel (AK); Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH); Sen. Barack Obama (IL); Former Gov. Tom Vilsack (IA); Sen. Joe Biden (DE -says he is running, but has not filed with FEC)
Potential Democratic candidates:
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark; Former Vice President Al Gore; Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Republicans who are running:
Sen. Sam Brownback (KS); Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (VA); Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (NYC); Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA); Sen. John McCain (AZ); Rep. Ron Paul (TX); Former Gov. Mitt Romney (MA); Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO); Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (WI)
Potential Republican candidates:
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (NYC- also potential Indep. candidate); Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE); Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (AR); Former Gov. George Pataki (NY)

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Tags: Election 2008, Democrat, GOP, presidential candidate, Republican, U.S. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

IBO - Results in Low Scores & Performance in Arkansas Schools

Arkansas allows school districts substituting the United Nations International Baccalaureate Organization courses (called IB or IBO), for Advanced Placement Classes. This is of great concern to many educators and citizens in Arkansas. Click to review prior our prior posting and background info on the UN IBO program and its implementation in Arkansas.

The IBO program was previously implemented district wide in Hot Springs, Arkansas (one of three IBO Programs in Arkansas). After having the IBO program in high school for four years and in the elementary schools for six years, Hot Springs had their first IB Diploma graduates in 2005. The 2005 ADE Performance Record for Hot Springs record the negative consequences of this IBO program on achievement even though Hot Springs spends $8,688 per pupil - the state spends an average of $7,348 per pupil:

Hot Springs has a graduation rate was 56.4% down from the 83.5% rate in 2000, before Hot Springs began the IB program. State average is 81.3%.

College remediation rate of 67 up from 53% in 2002-03 year. State remediation rate is 51.6.

ACT score in English 17.8 and Mathematics 18.1 down from the 2002-03 ACT scores in English 20.3 and Math 18.5. Current State average is 20.9 and 20.5.

End of Course Literacy (11th Grade EOC) score was 37% proficient; state average score was 47%. Less than 1% of their students scored Advanced on this test.

9th grade Reading score was 41st percentile on the nationally normed test; the state average was 52.
Read more statistics, information & references documenting the above concerns with the UN IBO program in Arkansas.

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Tags: Arkansas, education, IBO, UN

Arkansas Illegal Immigrant Worker Bill Causes Debate

A proposed bill addressing illegal immigrants working in Arkansas and was met with some fierce debate. Illegal immigration is a hot button issue as Rep. Rick Green (R-Van Buren) introduced a bill that would prohibit Arkansas state contractors from hiring illegal immigrants. Green explained, that the bill was intended to keep illegal immigrants off state jobs. "It was to send a positive message to the people of our state that as legislators we're watching out for their tax money and making sure that it does not go to contribute to anything of illegal activity.”

However, very quickly despite support from the Arkansas American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (Arkansas AFL-CIO), Green was met with resistance from several committee members and did not get out of committee.... The full committee voted on House Bill 1024 was: Vote For (8): Representatives - Sandra Prater (D-Jacksonville), Marilyn Edwards (D-Fayetteville), Rick Green (R-Van Buren), Gregg Reep (D-Warren), Dawn Creekmore (D-Hensley), Mike Burris (D-Malvern), Sharon Dobbins (D-North Little Rock), Eddie Hawkins (D-Vilonia). Against (7): Stephanie Flowers (D-Pine Bluff), Stan Berry (R-Dover), Susan Schulte (R-Cabot), Daryl Pace (R-Siloam Springs), Jim Medley (R-Fort Smith), Roy Ragland (R-Marshall, Willie Hardy (D- Camden). Source Alyson Courtney, Today's THV

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Tags: Arkansas, government, illegal immigration, new jobs

Today was National Sanctity of Human Life Day

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
America was founded on the principle that we are all endowed by our Creator with the right to life and that every individual has dignity and worth. National Sanctity of Human Life Day helps foster a culture of life and reinforces our commitment to building a compassionate society that respects the value of every human being.

Among the most basic duties of Government is to defend the unalienable right to life, and my Administration is committed to protecting our society's most vulnerable members. We are vigorously promoting parental notification laws, adoption, abstinence education, crisis pregnancy programs, and the vital work of faith-based groups. Through the "Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002," the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003," and the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004," we are helping to make our country a more hopeful place.

One of our society's challenges today is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning practices that violate the dignity of human life. With the right policies, we can continue to achieve scientific progress while living up to our ethical and moral responsibilities.
National Sanctity of Human Life Day serves as a reminder that we must value human life in all forms, not just those considered healthy, wanted, or convenient. Together, we can work toward a day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 21, 2007, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being. GEORGE W. BUSH, (1/18/07)

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Tags: National Sanctity of Life, President, George Bush, pro-life, proclamation