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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
NumbersUSA, June 7, 2007: The Senate tonight, by a 45-50 vote, failed to invoke cloture on the "Grand Bargain" substitute amendment to S. 1348, the Amnesty / Guestworker bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) subsequently pulled the underlying bill from the floor, but promised to continue efforts to pass the bill as soon as possible. Tonight's vote was the second time today Senators voted against invoking cloture on the substitute amendment to the underlying bill. The first vote failed 33-63. After that vote, Reid subsequently called for cloture on the underlying bill, which also failed 34-61.
Earlier today, Senators rejected (42-54) an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) (SA 1311) that would have required DHS to certify the implementation of various border security and interior enforcement measures (e.g., all statutorily-required border fencing has been constructed, US-VISIT is fully operational, "sanctuary cities" are prohibited, denying aliens who are likely to become public charges admission into the United States, etc.) before the Z visa and Y visa provisions of the bill can be “triggered” on top of the "triggers" already extant in the bill. In addition, the president would have had to certify that all of these "triggering" mechanisms are fully implemented and operational and, subsequently, required Congress to approve the certification – all of this prior to implementation of amnesty and guestworker provisions.
Immediately preceding adjournment on June 6, the Senate engaged in a marathon of voting during which:
• An amendment by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) SA1338 (no text available but debate suggested that it would have required the US-VISIT entry-exit system to be fully operational before the bill's guestworker and amnesty provisions are "triggered") failed by a single vote (48-49).
• An amendment by Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) was adopted by voice vote. Senate floor discussion suggests that SA 1415 would prohibit the granting of Social Security credit for wages earned by illegal aliens prior to their being granted amnesty under this bill. • Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) attempted to add an unlimited number of spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents to the uncapped immediate relative category. Her amendment (SA 1183) failed when Members refused to waive the applicability of Senate's budget to the amendment; 60 votes were needed to waive the rules, final vote 44 votes for, with 53 against. • Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) amendment (SA 1202), to have sunsetted the bill’s merit-based point system after five years, failed 42-55.
• Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) amendment (SA 1374); failed 42-55(text was not available) that was thought to "improve" the bill's "merit-based" system of allocating immigrant visas. • Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-OK) SA 1151 was adopted 64-33. It would make English the official language of the United States. However, an amendment by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), which passed 58-39. Senate debate suggested that the Salazar proposal requires the U.S. Government to preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language, thus conflicting with the Inhofe amendment.
• In the last vote of the evening, an amendment (SA 1316) by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), which sunsets the Y-1 "temporary" nonimmigrant nonagricultural worker program five years after enactment, was adopted by one vote (49-48). • Earlier in the day, Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) amendment (SA 1250) passed 57-39. The amendment allows information provided on illegal alien applicants for amnesty could be shared with intelligence and law enforcement officials at all levels, thus encouraging real enforcement of our immigration laws.
Polls Show Majority of Americans Oppose Senate Bill Rasmussen poll: Only 26% of Americans favor the Senate bill. Click here to read. New poll finds Americans disagree with Senate bill's main thrust.Tags:amnesty, guest worker program, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Aaron Sadler, Stephens Washington Bureau: Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Wednesday distanced himself from the Bush administration in the aftermath of a New Hampshire debate, while seeking again to move past questions about his beliefs on divine creation. In the debate among GOP presidential hopefuls Tuesday in New Hampshire, Huckabee said Republicans have lost credibility with voters through corruption scandals, poor job performance and Iraq War mistakes. . . .
In Washington on Wednesday, Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister, said Americans don't care about his thoughts on evolution. He has been questioned by reporters about his beliefs several times since he was among three candidates who indicated they believed in creation during a May 3 debate in California."I had to ask myself how many people sitting around their dinner tables asked themselves, 'I wonder what the next president thinks about evolution?'" Huckabee said Wednesday. "I didn't know I was running to design an eighth-grade science text book." He said the issue should be irrelevant to his campaign for the presidency.
He said the nationally televised debate should have included questions on topics like the economy, problems with the national transportation infrastructure, education and gun rightsHuckabee maintains he has been encouraged by the response to his brief national debate airtime, he said. His showings have helped generate more money to a campaign that garnered just $534,000 in the first quarter of this year. . . . [Read More] Tags:Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, election 2008, Republican, George Bush, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Boozman: No to exploitation of unborn children Votes to protect unborn children, calls for ethical scientific research
U.S. Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) today voted against legislation which would expand the use of taxpayers’ dollars on the intentional destruction of unborn children for medical benefits. Boozman joined a bipartisan group of 176 members in voting against S. 5, the “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007,” a bill which has already garnered a veto threat from President Bush.
“As a medical professional, the exploitation of an unborn child for the purposes of obtaining stem cells is not in the best interests of the United States,” Boozman, a member of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said. "Stem-cells do hold promise for the advancement of medicine, and scientific research has shown that stem-cells can be obtained by steps which do not include the killing of an unborn baby. Medical advances, as recent as yesterday afternoon, show that stem-cells can be obtained from simple skin cells. I find it troubling the House leadership has chosen to put a bill forward which essentially advocates the destruction of human life, when the science shows us that doesn’t need to be an option,” Boozman continued.
On June 6, three separate research teams reported success in transforming skin cells in mice into cells which act like embryonic stem cells, which are capable of developing into all types of tissue. Earlier this year, researchers from Harvard and Wake Forest isolated stem cells from amniotic fluid. “I have seen the remarkable advances in biomedicine after spending my adult life in medicine,” Boozman, a Doctor of Optometry, said. “The future of science leaves me optimistic as to what we can accomplish. It is important however, that we as doctors, scientists, and government leaders promote an ethical stance and avoid the exploitation of human life. Tags:Arkansas, John Boozman, stem cell research, stem cells, US House
Liberal Anti-War Veterans PAC calls for Arkansas GOP chairman's resignation
By John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau: A veterans political action committee called Wednesday for the resignation of Arkansas' Republican Party chairman over a comment he made about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that has created a firestorm on the Internet. VoteVets.org, a PAC supported by veterans who are critical of the handling of the war in Iraq, condemned state GOP Chairman Dennis Milligan for his remarks in a recent newspaper interview. . . .
Liberal bloggers have had a field day with Milligan's comment. . . . "The notion that I am calling for more terrorist attacks is nonsensical," Milligan said Wednesday in a statement released by the state GOP. . . . Several GOP officials expressed support for Milligan Wednesday. "Dennis is a new chairman and inexperienced at this point," said Reta Hamilton of Bella Vista, the state party's national committeewoman. . . . "I'm quite sure that if that's what Dennis said, he didn't intend to say that we needed (more terrorist attacks), but that it would suffice, if that happened, to show people that they're wrong about the policy issues that they're pursuing," said state GOP national committeeman Jim Burnett of Clinton. . . . Charles Mizander of Benton, a member of the GOP state committee, said he would have chosen different words but that he concurred with what Milligan was trying to say. He said the veterans group's call for Milligan's resignation was "totally absurd." [Read More] Tags:Arkansas News Service, Dennis Milligan, liberal, veteransTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Boozman calls on Democrats to continue funding abstinence education
U.S. Rep John Boozman (R-AR) today called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Democrat leadership, to not let funding of abstinence-only education expire at the end of June. Boozman, a member of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, signed on to a letter from Members to Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, calling for the reauthorization of the $50 million-a-year Title V Abstinence Education Program.Reports have stated that Democrat leaders do not plan to expand the program, and plan to wipe away another $110 million discretionary-spending abstinence program. Under Title V, states must teach that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid extramarital pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and related health problems and abstinence is the expected standard for unmarried schoolchildren. Nearly 80% (Zogby, May 2007 ) of Americans think sex education should promote abstinence over contraception, and 83% of parents think their children should wait to have sex until marriage.
Clearly, there is a disconnect between the Democrat leadership and the wants of American mothers and fathers on this issue,” Boozman said. “By letting abstinence education funding expire, Speaker Pelosi will be choosing to place her wishes ahead of the wishes of parents, and send a message to mothers and fathers everywhere: we don’t trust you on this one, so we’ll choose for you what sex-education lessons your child will be taught.” Boozman's message to Speaker Pelosi: "Do not kill abstinence education. I call on the Speaker to tell her leadership team that the American people want this program, and it should be fully-funded.”[Read More]Tags:abstinence education, Arkansas, federal funding, John Boozman, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Last night both Arkansas' US Senators Pryor and Lincoln voted to kill an amendmentto the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require individuals voting in person to present photo identification. Just to recap:
Things you need a photo id for:
Drive a car
Purchase alcohol and tobacco products
Rent a video Things Lincoln & Pryor don’t think you need a photo id for: Voting – that’s right they don’t believe it is important to ensure that American citizens, and only American citizens, are allowed to vote (the most important, fundamental right in a Democracy) for elected officials.
It appears Pryor and Lincoln are more worried that video stores can accurately assess late fees than ensuring honest and accurate elections. Lincoln is not up for reelection but Pryor will be. What is Pryor thinking? Hem - sure wasn't about protecting the rights of legal voters! Tags:Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, Senators, US Senate, voter fraud, voter id
Mike Huckabee and the New Hampshire Republican Debate
ARRA Editor - This week, we are pleased to have several blogs partners and exchange links to share and get out our message. Tonight, we feature Christian Conservative blog which posted info concerning Governor Mike Huckabee and last night's debate. But to get the full import, please visit their blog. Welcome Christian Conservative! Christian Conservative: Christian Conservative had the opportunity and privilege of sitting in on a bloggers only conference call with Gov. Huckabee this morning. . . . Huckabee first complemented bloggers by saying that the “blogging community gives us an opportunity to touch a whole lot of people in this country.” He then turned to his disappointment by the lack of questions on education asked in the debates. In the media conference call (which we also sat in on), Huckabee furthered this idea and said that the questions kept focusing on Iraq, which nine of the candidates have similar ideas about, but no questions about taxes, and no questions about education. He mentioned (and we agree), that it is absurd to ask about the truth of evolution because this is not an issue being discussed by American families around the dinner table. They want to know what will happen when their child “breaks an arm at the playground” not whether or not the President agrees with six day creationism. As far as Christian Conservative is concerned, we find the evolution question interesting, but agree with Huckabee that the issue is unimportant in these debates. . . . [Read More]
Mike Huckabee Wows Audience: Here is a video showing Huckabee’s response to a question posed to him about his belief in evolution. Huckabee does a fantastic job here of responding to a question that was meant to put Huckabee on his heels (which I guess is understandable in this style of debate), and then Wolf Blitzer has the gall to rephrase, and actually change, the question in an attempt to again trip up Huckabee. Well done Governor, your answer is articulate, thought out, and seems to impress the audience as well. [Christian Conservative]
Tags:Christian Conservative, debate, evolution, GOP, Mike Huckabee, New Hampshire, presidential candidate, Republican
By Adam Putnam, Chair US House Republican Conference:WHAT THEY’RE SAYING about Democrat Earmark Abuses
St. Petersburg Times: “Pet projects pushed out of public eye The new game that House Appropriations Chair David Obey intends to play with budget earmarks this year is worse than the usual hide-and-seek. He is taking the whole thing underground, as though he is to be trusted as a one-man auditor for congressional pork. If this is to be the new ethic that Democrats promised, voters might want their ballots back. The result, then, is that the earmark projects will receive almost no public scrutiny and no congressional debate. This is precisely the kind of environment in which convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff thrived, the kind of place he fondly called the ‘favor factory.’” (Editorial, 6/5/07)
Las Vegas Review Journal: “Democratic earmark reforms lasted 100 days. When Democrats took control of Congress four months back, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., bragged it would take her party less than 100 hours to curb wasteful pork spending by requiring members to attach their names to their ‘earmarks,’ exposing such waste to the harsh light of public scrutiny. She failed to mention this "reform" would remain in effect for little more than 100 days … The ‘anti-earmark reforms" are just for show. Mere window dressing. Why, if we enjoyed the immunities of a colorful old Democratic congressman, we might even call them ‘total crap.’” (Editorial, 6/5/07)
CNN’s Jack Cafferty: “Remember when the Democrats took control of the Congress back in January? On their very first day in power they approved rules to clearly identify so-called pet projects or ‘earmarks’ in spending bills. You know, part of their promise to bring openness and transparency to government. Well, guess what? The AP reports Democrats are not including the spending requests and legislation as it's being written. Instead, they are following an order from the House Appropriations Comm. Chair, David Obey, to keep the bills free of these earmarks until the fall. Now by doing this, nobody will know what the earmarks are when the bills are first voted on in June. And when they're finally announced in the fall, well, then, it will be virtually too late to do anything about them. Clever, don’t you think?” (6/4/07)
Toledo (OH) Blade: “Backtracking on earmarks. HERE'S the outrage of the week (among many) from Washington: Democrats, who took control of Congress by pledging reform and whacking Republicans over the issue of special-interest ‘earmarks,’ already are perpetuating this odious waste of taxpayer money … Democrats promised to end such abuses … Now that they're in charge, they should live up to their rhetoric. (Editorial, 5/26/07)
The Missoulian (MT): “Congressional pork too tasty to leave alone. Congress is ignoring election promises and feasting on pork projects. What's on the menu on Capitol Hill these days? Pork, of course. And just about everyone's in line for the buffet. Not that we're surprised, but we are scratching our heads, given the promises and pronouncements of the last election season. In their first half-year in office, the newly powerful House Democrats have seemingly lost their reformist zeal …” (Editorial, 5/31/07)
Reading (PA) Eagle: “Democratic vows remain unfulfilled … prior to last November’s general election, Democrats saw their chance to regain congressional control … Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was soon to become speaker of the House, said, ‘We pledge to make this the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history.’ That pledge was broken in March when Democrat leaders pushed through a $124 billion emergency-supplemental bill to fund the military in Iraq and Afghanistan that was laden with $21 billion in pork-barrel spending, known as earmarks. A House rule instituted by Democrats that prohibits swapping earmarks for votes also seems to have fallen by the wayside. (Editorial, 5/31/07)
CNN Investigative Reporter Drew Griffin: “The new, open, Democratic Party-controlled Congress promised the earmark process would no longer be secret. All earmark requests are made public with plenty of time for debate. But Dave Obey, the chair of the House Appropriations Comm. . . . has decided that earmarks, those generous gifts of your money, will be inserted into bills only after the bill has cleared the House floor. In other words, earmarks will still be done in secret, no public debate. …. In the next few months, in what Congressman Obey says is the most open earmark process ever, the bills will be drafted, the earmarks added. But only then, just before those bills are passed, will the public learn where the treasure is buried.” (5/25/07)
Associated Press: “After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year. Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify ‘earmarks’—lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states—in documents that accompany spending bills.” (6/3/07)
CNN’s GRIFFIN: “Thousands of pages of earmarks in a bill, time after time after time. And the Democrats promised reform. And, it's not happening.”(5/31/07) Tags:Congressional Pork, corruption, Dave Obey, earmark reform, earmarks, Nancy Pelosi, pork, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Patrick Healy: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has told a gay rights organization that she supports the repeal of one provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law signed by her husband that says states and the federal government do not have to recognize gay marriages and unions from other states. On the questionnaire for the Human Rights Campaign, Mrs. Clinton said she opposed the part of the law that would prohibit the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships. Her advisers said that she continued to oppose gay marriage. Her response on the questionnaire puts her in line with her rivals for her party’s nomination. [Read More] Tags:Democrat, Election 2008, gay agenda, gay marriage, Hillary Clinton, homosexual activism, SenatorTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Jefferson's (D-LA) Corruption Charges Lead to Uproar on Capitol Hill
FoxNews: The political scuffle over Rep. William Jefferson's (D-LA) corruption charges appeared to be at a boiling point on Tuesday, a day after the nine-term congressmen was hit with 16 federal charges accusing him of using his political office to bribe businessmen and influence foreign officials. Jefferson told Democratic leaders on Tuesday that he would step down from his single committee post on the House Small Business Committee, but that was not enough for many lawmakers who said they believed he should resign. . . .
The House voted 373-26 in favor of launching an investigative panel of the ethics committee to determine whether Jefferson violated the House code of conduct. Earlier, the House approved with a 387-10 vote a Democratic measure . . . requiring the ethics subcommittee to form an investigate panel if any House members are indicted or charged of a crime.
. . . Jefferson is charged with bribery, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering. Officials alleged Monday that the nine-term representative used the power of his office to take hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes — benefiting himself and his family — from U.S. businesses and to influence foreign officials. The indictment says Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa. The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer. If convicted on all charges, Jefferson could face a maximum sentence of 235 years.
As the investigation into Jefferson's dealings have progressed, he has posed a political problem for Democratic leaders. Last year, Pelosi stripped Jefferson of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, and had to fend off attacks from members of the Congressional Black Caucus who wanted Jefferson assigned to the Homeland Security Committee this year. Some Democrats called for Jefferson's resignation Tuesday. . . . [Read More] Tags:corruption, Democrat, US House, William Jefferson, corruptionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
FoxNews: Just minutes after the Republican candidates for president debated in Manchester, New Hampshire, Sean Hannity did an exclusive interview with former Senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee. Below are extracted comments:
HANNITY: Why do you, Fred Thompson, want to consider being the next president of the United States? THOMPSON: Well, I look at things like the threat that our country faces. Everybody is focused on Iraq now. We ought to be thinking about the day after Iraq. We have a threat out there like we've never faced before. And I don't think the American people are being apprised of it; I don't think they realize that this has been something that's been going on for a few hundred years, and our enemies have another 100-year plan. We have a plan basically to get us through the next election.
And we've got a military that's still in the works, as far as transformation is concerned, to deal with that kind of a threat. We're spending much less than we need to, to face that threat.
I look at things like globalization, the new millions of employees that are coming online in places like India and China that are going to be competing with our people. And some people want to raise the specter of protectionism. We have a tax code that's hopelessly out of date and out of step for our times now, punishes the things that we say that we want more of and makes us less competitive in the world.
We're an aging society, a good thing. We're living longer. Best medical care in the world. But it's going to bankrupt us, our entitlement programs, unless we do things differently. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare as we know it.
So you can't sit back, and see people, you know, talking their sound bites and going over their list of things to get applause lines and so forth, and see where your country is headed, and knowing what you've got to do for the next generation in order to make it the same way that it was when we inherited from the prior generation, without thinking serious thoughts about what you ought to do about it. HANNITY: Every candidate has a Web site. It's ImwithFred.com? THOMPSON: That's right. We just put it up. And we want to hear from the folks and check it out. HANNITY: But that's one step closer? THOMPSON: Yes, yes. It's a thing that the law allows you to do, test the waters, raise some money in order to get a staff together, and really see what's going on out there, and see whether or not your notion of what's going on in the country is really what, in fact, is going on in the country. And I think that there's something going on that's a little different. HANNITY: ... and at Fort Dix. Explain what you mean, the battle between forces of civilization and evil. What do you mean by that?
THOMPSON: Well, it has to do with the need for all of the civilized countries, as I would call them -- that is, most all of them that are not terrorist countries or terrorist havens -- to realize we have to come together. I mean, that's one of the big failures that we have right now, because a lot of people in other parts of the world just don't see it yet. They see us as the number-one threat and really, in some cases, the only threat, when we're going to have to bond together and face this thing together against these forces, because it's going to pick us off one by one.
We've seen our country attacked time and time again over the last decades. Now you see it, whether it's Madrid, whether it's London, whether it's places that most people have never heard of, they're methodically going around trying to undermine our allies and attack people in conventional ways, while they try to develop non-conventional ways, and get their hands on a nuclear capability, and ultimately to see a mushroom cloud over an American city. No country can do that alone and by themselves when you face the global threat that we're facing. . . . [Read Full Transcript or Watch the video of the Interview] Tags:Fox News, Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, Republican, Sean HannityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
CNN (Host of Debate): Republican presidential candidates directed as much of their firepower at President Bush as they did at each other in Tuesday night's debate. . . . But it was another Thompson whose shadow loomed over the debate -- actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson is already raising money and advisers say it's very likely he will formally join the race in early July. An average of the latest national polls shows Giuliani leading the race, with about 30 percent support, followed by McCain at 22 percent, Fred Thompson at 12 percent and Romney at 10 percent. The rest of the announced candidates each came in at 2 percent or less. [Source] Tags:debate, Election 2008, New Hampshire, presidential candidate, RepublicansTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Clinton Performs Another Calculating Kerryaoke To Defend Her Iraq War Authorization
Hillary Echoes Sen. John Kerry - Claims "Mistake" Was Trusting President Bush: In Sunday's Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) Defended Her Vote To Authorize War In Iraq Claiming "It Was A Mistake To Trust George Bush." Clinton: "[I]t was a mistake to trust George Bush that he would do what he told all of us he would do." (Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, CNN/WMUR/Union Leader Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate, Manchester, NH, 6/3/07)
Defending His Iraq War Vote In 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) Said His Mistake Was "To Trust What The President Said" About Iraq. "[O]n C-Span, Kerry responded, 'If you haven't made mistakes, you're not a living human.' By way of an example, he pointed to his own Senate vote, in October of 2002, for the Iraq war resolution. His mistake, he said, was 'to trust what the President said' at the time." (Philip Gourevitch, "Damage Control," The New Yorker, 7/26/04)
Clinton Campaign's Extensive Kerryaoke Catalogue: January 2007: Clinton Advisor Terry McAuliffe Asserted Her Vote For Use Of Force Was Vote For Negotiations. Terry McAuliffe: "[S]he voted to give the President the authority to negotiate and to have a stick to go over there and negotiate with Saddam Hussein." (NBC's "Today Show," 1/22/07)
Kerry Made A Similar Claim When Announcing His Candidacy In 2003. Sen. Kerry: "I voted to threaten the use of force to make Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions of the United Nations." (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At Announcement Of Candidacy, Mount Pleasant, S.C., 9/2/03)
February 2007: Clinton Claimed Use Of Force Vote Was "Cleary Intended" As Support "For Going To The United Nations" And "To Put Inspectors In Iraq." Sen. Clinton: "I have taken responsibility for that vote. It was based on the best assessment that I could make at the time, and it was clearly intended to demonstrate support for going to the United Nations to put inspectors into Iraq." (John DiStaso, "Hillary: I Didn't Vote For War," The [Manchester] Union Leader, 2/10/07)
In Late 2003, Kerry Also Said Use Of Force Vote Was Vote "To Go The United Nations" And Noted Importance Of Getting Inspectors Back In Iraq. Kerry: "I voted to do the responsible thing for America, which was to have a threat of force to hold Saddam Hussein accountable and to go to the United Nations. We would not have had Hans Blix and the inspectors in Iraq were it not for the pressure that we brought to bear." (CBS' "The Early Show," 9/2/03)
May 2007: "Calculating" Clinton Vote "Wasn't Quite A John Kerry Moment" But It "Came Pretty Close." "It wasn't quite a John Kerry moment for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she came pretty close. As is her tendency, Clinton muddied her stance on funding the Iraq war, the latest test of which mustered just 29 votes in the Senate this week. ... Clinton didn't commit a Kerry-like gaffe -- in 2003 he said he voted for an Iraq funding bill before voting against it -- but her tendency to be coy (calculating?) about her Iraq position caused a stir. " (Editorial, "Playing Coy: Clinton Tap Dances On Iraq Funding," The Oklahoman, 5/18/07)
Clinton And Kerry Voted In Favor Of Deadline For Iraq Withdrawal And Cutting Off Funding For Troops.(H.R. 1495, CQ Vote #167: Motion Rejected 29-67: R 0-47; D 28-19; I 1-1, 5/16/07, Clinton And Kerry Voted Yea)
The Politico's Roger Simon: "When She Talks About Her Iraq Vote, However, She Sounds Closed, Guarded, Calculating And Defensive." (Roger Simon, "Does Hillary Have Something To Be Sorry About?" The Politico, 2/12/07) Tags:Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Iraq War, John KerryTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
RNC Statement on New Hampshire Democrat Presidential Debate
WASHINGTON D.C. - Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan released the following statement after Sunday's Democrat Presidential debate in New Hampshire: “We saw the remarkable spectacle of Democrat candidates for President who want to raise our taxes, but don’t want to fund our troops in Iraq – even though some of them said they would as recently as a month ago. This is not a platform that will win the Democrats many votes outside of Michael Moore fans, MoveOn.org members and Daily Kos readers. We will see something far more positive and far more encouraging when our Republican candidates gather for their third debate on Tuesday.” Tags:debate, Democrat, Mike Duncan, RNCTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Tony Perkins: When Congress reopens its session next week, Members hope to cast another vote on the bill to expand taxpayer funds for research that destroys human embryos. In the House, leaders will decide whether or not to sign on to the Senate version of the bill, S. 5, which includes slight changes to the initial legislation. Since the House already approved an earlier bill, the vote is simply political theater.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which owns the patents to human embryonic stem cells as well as to the process of destroying embryos to get the cells, is fighting to maintain its grisly monopoly after the Patent & Trade Office has indicated it could revoke the patents. The patents provide significant royalties, allowing WARF to profit, with government sanction, from their original embryo destructive research--even if it never yields useful treatments. Is something wrong with this picture? While Congress fritters away its time on science that has yielded little in the way of real treatments, the journal Cell Proliferation has published a study on adult stem cells extracted from the umbilical cords of newborns. According to the article, those "adult" cells have been successfully engineered to produce insulin and could soon be used to treat diabetes patients. If Congress is going to spend our hard-earned money, they should put it to better use and fund true progress like this! Tags:stem cells, stem cell research Tony Perkins, FRCTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Three Old Ladies Ask Congress: “Where’s The Fence?”™
National “No Amnesty” TV Ad Campaign To Reach 15 Million People During This Week’s Amnesty Vote Grassfire.org Alliance: Maxwell, IA -- Grassfire.org, a leading grassroots voice opposing illegal immigration, today is announcing the start of a major national TV and Internet ad campaign called “Where’s The Fence?”™ that targets key senators in this week’s amnesty vote. The campaign features three elderly ladies searching for (and not finding) the fence Congress pledged to build at the border.
“Where’s The Fence?”™ launches today with an initial budget of over $175,000 and is expected to reach 15 million people in its first week. “We’re injecting a bit of humor into a very serious debate to express the deep-seated anger felt by millions of Americans toward the President and Congress about illegal immigration,” says Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott. “With the Senate voting this week to give amnesty to 12-20 million illegal aliens, grassroots Americans will be crying out in great frustration, ‘Where’s The Fence?’”
The campaign, more than two months in development, is being released this week as the Senate plans to pass its amnesty bill. The initial media buy includes national airings on Fox News and CNN along with regional broadcasts in seven states identified by Grassfire as key to this week’s amnesty vote: Arizona (Kyl and McCain), Georgia (Isakson and Chambliss), Kansas (Brownback), Mississippi (Lott), North Carolina (Burr), Texas (Cornyn and Hutchinson), and Virginia (Warner and Webb). A total of seven ads will be airing -- the national (generic) version along with six customized versions featuring key senators who have supported amnesty or have expressed support for this year’s amnesty bill.
Grassfire will also be asking its 1 million team members to help drive the message home with phone calls and faxes expressing the “Where’s The Fence?”™ outrage and demanding the Senate abandon its reckless amnesty agenda. Says Elliott, “The humorous nature of the ads, combined with the serious message have the potential to galvanize grassroots opposition to this bill as tens of thousands of citizens call the Senate and ask, ‘Where’s The Fence?’”™
Tags:amnesty, border control, border fence, Grassfire.org, immigration reform, US Congress, Where's the FenceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
FRC Action Update: Famous mixed-race couples such as Jeb and Columba Bush may be surprised to see their photographs splashed across ads in today's papers sponsored by pro-homosexual groups like Lambda Legal and GLAAD. On the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling Loving v. Virginia, which struck down a state ban on interracial marriage, same-sex marriage advocates are using the decision as an excuse to push their "Freedom to Marry" campaign. However, few liberals seem to understand that the Loving case didn't alter the definition of marriage but affirmed it by allowing any man to marry any woman. Striking down the bans on interracial marriage allowed blacks and whites to come together, but traditional marriage provides the integral definition of marriage by bringing men and women together. Legalizing same-sex marriage, on the other hand, would segregate marriage by creating three separate institutions--male-only "marriages," female-only "marriages," and male-female "marriages"--each of which would likely have very different characteristics and only one of which would reflect the complementarity of creative human love. Also See:`Freedom to Marry' civil rights campaign uses photos . . . Tags:gay marriage, homosexual activism, same-sex marriage, FRC Action, FRCTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Rob Hotakainen, Miami Herald : Politicians with presidential aspirations have been known to change their stated views on a controversial subject like immigration. A year ago, when Sen. Sam Brownback, the conservative Kansas Republican, co-sponsored legislation that would have allowed millions of undocumented immigrants to seek U.S. citizenship, he was attacked as a liberal. . . . Brownback and another of this year's Republican presidential candidates, Arizona Sen. John McCain, teamed up last year with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts to sponsor legislation to provide better border security and create a guest-worker program for 12 million undocumented immigrants. . . .
''I see so many conversions,'' said Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, an advocate of strict immigration controls, at a Republican presidential debate in South Carolina earlier this month. Last year, Tancredo called Brownback ``an extreme opponent of getting tough on illegal immigration.'' At the debate, he said the bill co-sponsored by Brownback and McCain ''would have given amnesty to everybody who's here illegally,'' and he got laughs when he said he was glad to see the conversions but that he would trust them only ``when they happen on the road to Damascus and not on the road to Des Moines.'' Brownback declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this story . . . [Read More] Tags:immigration reform, John McCain,2008. presidential candidate, Sam Brownback, Tom TancredoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Let's say I break into your house . . . Adaptation of a Historical Post but makes the point!
Illegals are concerned that a majority of people in the US want to protect their own National borders. Illegals are concerned that the U.S. will make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Using your house as a metaphor for our country, let me see if I correctly understand the thinking:Let's say I break into your house and you discover me and insist that I leave.But I say: "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house). You are Required to let me stay in your house. You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan. You are Required to Educate my kids. You are Required to provide other benefits to me & to my family. (My spouse will also do work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part). If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there. And even if I am sent home, I will be back - again & again!!
It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house. And what a deal it is for me!!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.
Why can't people see how ridiculous this is? This is the heart of Amnesty! Rewarding a person (or 12 million persons) for breaking in to your home (your country) and using and or taking, or threatening to take your jobs, benefits, money and resources. Only in America is this possible. If you agree, pass it on and CallContact your senators!or representatives!If not blow it off - along with your jobs, your kid's jobs, health care benefits, social security funds, and a lot of other things. With unsecured "open" borders, our days as great county are numbered -- terrorists, anarchists, gangs, thugs, murders, rapists, drug mules and pushers, organized crime groups, petty thieves, etc., will continue to have unfettered access to the U.S.Tags:amnesty, illegal aliens, immigration reformTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Michael R. Wickline: The Republican Party of Arkansas, which was beaten decisively in last year’s election, needs to dedicate itself to running next time on an anti-tax, pro-highway and pro-education agenda, its new chairman said. Bryant businessman Dennis Milligan also said the party faithful need to run for more local offices.
. . . “If you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves,” said Milligan, who also is chairman of the Saline County Republican Party. “If you develop a good solid county Republican foundation, then the top is going to take care of itself.” . . . Milligan is a bit of an unknown in some political circles. Senate Republican leader Denny Altes of Fort Smith, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney of Little Rock said they don’t know Milligan.
. . . Milligan described himself as both a fiscal conservative and social conservative. “I am a pro-life individual. I do believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I am opposed to homosexuals adopting children. We are talking Dennis Milligan the man, and that isn’t necessarily the view expressed by every Republican, but those are my views.” As a businessman, Milligan said he probably “brings to the table a little more concern about our taxes, our growth, our jobs.
I am just really caught up in trying to do and be part of anything that we can do to encourage job growth here, because obviously the more people we have working... the tax burden decreases for all of us.” Milligan said he hopes to persuade Republican candidates to run for office under the broad goals of cutting taxes and stopping tax increases, improving highways to promote economic development, and finding ways to more efficiently spend tax dollars on education . . . [Read More] Tags:Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan, GOPTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Jim Rutenberg & Carl Hulse: President Bush’s advocacy of an immigration overhaul and his attacks on critics of the plan are provoking an unusually intense backlash from conservatives who form the bulwark of his remaining support, splintering his base and laying bare divisions within a party whose unity has been the envy of Democrats. It has pitted some of Mr. Bush’s most stalwart Congressional and grass-roots backers against him, inciting a vitriol that has at times exceeded anything seen yet between Mr. Bush and his supporters, who have generally stood with him through the toughest patches of his presidency. Those supporters now view him as pursuing amnesty for foreign lawbreakers when he should be focusing on border security.
. . . The tensions, which have rippled through the Republican presidential field, are intensifying just as the Senate is preparing to renew debate on the measure next week. Opponents are seeking significant changes — or outright defeat of the legislation — and raising the specter of a filibuster. The battle has pitted the White House against a group that includes even Mr. Bush’s reliable supporters from his home state of Texas, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both Republicans . . . [Read More] See also:Gingrich Takes Bush White House to Task
Amnesty Immediate This Senate immigration bill is no solution to our problems.
By Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): It will only take a moment. If Congress passes the current immigration bill being debated in the Senate, President Bush will sign the legislation, and in so doing, offer immediate amnesty to over 12 million illegal immigrants who currently reside in our country. Bill supporters call it “probationary status,” but the effect will be to give law breakers legal status and thus access to Social Security, Medicare, some welfare services, and our court systems. And just like that, the main purpose of this immigration bill will have been realized. . . . [Read More]Tags:amnesty, immigration reform, Jim DeMint, South Carolina, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By David Sanders, Arkansas News Bureau: Texas' border with Mexico, more than 1,200 miles, renders the Lone Star State the front line in the battle to control illegal immigration. For Texas officials, waiting on Washington to come up with a comprehensive solution is not an option. . . . Violent crime committed by those who cross the border illegally is a harsh reality. According to the Texas governor's office, incidents of home invasion, extortion, torture, kidnapping and murder have increased in areas near the border and in cities like Houston, which has suffered dramatic increases in rapes and murders.
. . . Of the 135,035 illegal aliens apprehended in Texas in fiscal 2004 who were not of Mexican descent, 264 were "special interest aliens" or individuals from countries with known ties to terrorist organizations. The numbers were similar for fiscal 2005. What is a real threat for Texas and other border states is a real threat for the rest of the country. Washington is paralyzed. The White House and key players in the U.S. Senate are myopically focused on granting amnesty to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens who are currently in the country. The focus should be on sealing the border to stem the tide of illegal aliens and stop criminal elements. [Read More] Tags:border control, crime, David Sanders, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, terrorist, Texas
Hot Springs Voters Speak Out Against Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
Citizens from Hot Springs, Arkansas went to Little Rock and delivered petitions opposing Amnesty Bills, signed by 8,154 Arkansans, to both Arkansas' US Senators offices. There efforts were part of citizen revolt that is spreading. Grassfire.org has reported that already 792,000 faxes and petitions have been sent to leadership opposing amnesty for illegals -- over 100,000 faxes scheduled since the Senate announcement!
Leaders in Washington are getting ready to pass an "amnesty" immigration bill. Senate Leader Harry Reid is pushing to bring the amnesty bill to the floor of the Senate immediately. Meanwhile, the Kennedy-McCain negotiations are finalizing details of their amnesty bill. All agree on passing an amnesty bill as soon as possible. Grassfire has been one of the grassroots groups leading the charge to stop these amnesty bills. Grassfire plans to delivery petitions to the senate next week.
As of this posting, 632,998 people had signed a petition to be delivered to President Bush and Congress with the following major points: #1 -- Secure our borders. As first priority, America must stop the flow of illegal immigration by investing all necessary resources in securing our borders. Also, existing immigration laws must be enforced as an essential component of our Homeland Security.
#2 -- No Amnesty. I oppose any form of amnesty for illegal aliens, including the “temporary worker” proposal or any proposals that grant legal residency status or citizenship to illegal aliens. If you wish to join this effort of expressing your opposition to the current proposed "amnesty" bill, Click to Sign the Petition. See: Proposed Senate Immigration Bill
Contact your senators!or representatives!Tags:amnesty, Arkansas, Grassfire.org, grassroots, Hot Springs, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, petitionsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Jail House Crock: Girl Imprisoned for 'Hate Crime'
Tony Perkins, FRC: If you, like many Americans, are wondering what all the commotion is about over hate crimes legislation, consider this disturbing case in Crystal Lake, Illinois. In a high school prank gone terribly wrong, a 16-year-old girl distributed fliers at school that contained a picture of two male students kissing each other and a headline that read, "God hates [homosexuals]." (An ugly slang term was actually used.) According to reports, she managed to hand out about 40 copies before school officials intervened. Obviously, what the girl did was not only wrong, it was biblically inaccurate. God does not hate homosexuals. This type of behavior is not appropriate and the school officials should have disciplined the student accordingly. However, school officials chose to turn the matter over to local law enforcement. As a result, the teenager was charged with a "hate crime" by county officers and thrown into a juvenile detention center for nearly 20 days. When the 16-year-old appeared in court she was in shackles. The state's attorney said, "This is a classic case of the kind of conduct that the state legislature was directing the [hate crimes] law against. This is what the legislators wanted to stop, this kind of activity." However, the attorney's statements are in direct contradiction with the letter of the law, which says that a person can be charged with a hate crime if they commit "a criminal act with the intent to cause harm." Hate crimes, by definition, are violent acts. This is the progression of "hate crime" laws that has happened in almost every jurisdiction where they have been created. Once in place the laws are either modified or extended to include speech. FRC has just completed a joint project with Coral Ridge Ministries documenting how so-called "hate crime" laws have morphed into "hate speech" laws criminalizing biblically correct speech: Censoring the Church and Silencing Christians Tags:Christians, FRC, hate crimes, homosexual activism, persecution, Tony PerkinsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A Milwaukee police officer was arrested Wednesday by federal immigration agents on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant who assumed the identity of his dead cousin a decade ago. The officer, who has lived and worked under the name Jose A. Morales since he was a teenager, was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The officer's real name as Oscar Ayala-Cornejo.
Immigration officials say the real Jose Morales died of cancer and that Ayala-Cornejo stole his identity shortly after the death. According to the criminal complaint the police officer went to Pulaski High School from 1996 until August 25, 1999 under his real name, Oscar Ayala-Cornejo. On August 27, 1999 officials say a person using the name Jose Ayala Morales enrolled at Hamilton High School and graduated in 2001. The criminal complaint says officials compared the yearbook photos and they are the same person but with different names. Morales was hired five years ago as a police aide and became a patrol officer in Dec. 2004. Ayala-Cornejo appeared in federal court Thursday. He is behind bars and is currently suspended from the police department. See:Officer Arrested for Possible Illegal Immigrant Status & Officer arrested; citizenship questioned Tags:fraud, illegal aliens, Milwaukee, police officerTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
4 Muslims Charged in Terrorist Plot on New York City's JFK Airport
FoxNews: Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.
Arrested were Russell Defreitas, 63, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK air cargo employee. Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, were in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought in Trinidad. Authorities said Kadir and Nur were longtime associates of a Trinidadian radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, which launched an unsuccessful rebellion in 1990 that left 24 dead. Kadir, a former member of Parliament in Guyana, was arrested in Trinidad for attempting to secure money for "terrorist operations," according to a Guyanese police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kadir left his position in Parliament last year. Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West. Defreitas was recorded saying he "wanted to do something to get those bastards" and he boasted that he had been taught to make bombs in Guyana . . . [Read More] See also:Al-Qaeda’s Inroads into the Caribbean Tags:JFK Airport, Muslim, terrorism, terroristTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Financial Times: George W. Bush on Thursday unveiled a striking about-face on global warming, calling on the world's leading economies to join the US in agreeing a global target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions before the end of his term in office. The US president was speaking just ahead of a G8 summit at which climate change was expected to be high on the agenda of European governments. He explained that his apparent conversion – which follows almost seven years of having rejected precisely the road he outlined – was prompted by new scientific findings . . . [Read More] See also:Bush’s green noises greeted with scepticism Tags:G8 Summit, global warming, President, George BushTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Republican revolt over immigration RNC fires all phone solicitors as cash 'evaporates' over Bush
WorldNetDaily: Just two days after President Bush slammed critics of his immigration policy, the Republican National Committee has reportedly fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, as donors are said to be furious over the Bush's stance to give legal status to millions of illegal aliens. "Every donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99% of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," a fired phone-bank employee told the Washington Times. Ousted staff members told the paper Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitors and told them they were out of work, effective immediately. They claim the reasons they were given were an estimated 40 percent plunge in small-donor contributions, as well as aging phone-bank equipment the RNC said would cost too much to modernize. The committee, however, is denying any drop-off in the influx of cash . . .
"We have not heard anyone in our donor calls who supported the president on immigration," said a fired phone solicitor, who described himself as a Republican activist. "We write these comments up from each call, and give them to a supervisor who passes them on to the finance director or the national chairman," he said. "But when I talked with the White House, the people there told me they got nothing but positive comments on the president's immigration stand."
. . . opponents of the controversial immigration deal forged by the White House and a bipartisan group of senators in private meetings "don't want to do what's right for America," according to President Bush in a speech Tuesday . . . Bush acknowledged many Americans "are skeptical about immigration reform, primarily because they don't think the government can fix the problems . . . Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don't try to kill this bill before it gets moving." . . . A Rasmussen poll last week showed only 26% of American voters favor the Senate plan. The public is most passionate about enforcement, the survey indicated. About 72 % of voters said it's "very important" for "the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration." The figure jumped to 89% among Republicans, while 65% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters believed enforcement is "very important."[Read Full Article] See also:RNC fires solicitors Tags:illegal aliens, immigration reform, President George Bush, Republican National Committee, RNCTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Too Bad - President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder
by Peggy Noonan: What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker -- "At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future . . . [Read More] Tags:conservative, Peggy Noonan, President George Bush, Republican, conservative coalitionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R-KY) is the U.S. Senate minority leader: At the beginning of this Congress, Republicans and Democrats pledged to work together across party lines to benefit hard-working Americans. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ 2008 budget -- which penalizes Americans with an extra $736 billion in taxes, ignores the crisis of entitlement programs, and plunges our nation deeper into debt -- does not live up to that promise. Make no mistake, after only a few months on the job and waves of election rhetoric promising tax relief for the middle-class and the return to fiscal sense in Washington, this Democratic-controlled Congress has reverted to its tax-and-spend roots . . . [Read More] Editorial comment: McConnell also writes about the Republican legislation being offered to “restrain spending, balance the budget, and make it harder to raise taxes.” Which the Democrats will assuredly reject - Of course! Tags:Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Budget, Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, Republican, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Progress In Iraq - more provinces take on security responsibility Iraqi Kurdistan Assumes Responsibility for Security
From Jon Henke, Senate GOP Communications, Washington D.C.: While the American public news Media remained pretty much silent, three Iraqi provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan: Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, took responsibility for their own security operations yesterday. According to DOD these three provinces join four other provinces, Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, and Najaf, now completely responsible for providing their own security. This is very positive. A self-sufficient Iraqi security force is a prerequisite for our gradual withdrawal.
In addition, another potential breakthrough taking shape in Iraq? Several indications point to US progress at co-opting Iraq's Sunni minority, which has been the backbone of the insurgency in that country. Tired of the random violence wrought by al Qaeda terrorists, some Sunni political leaders and communities appear to be allying themselves with the US in an effort to rid themselves of al Qaeda. If those trends are confirmed, they could amount to a key watershed for the US mission. One can hope. The threat of US withdrawal should certainly have a clarifying effect on the Sunnis. Tags:Iraq Kurdistan, Iraq WarTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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