The Best of Arkansas' Former Gov. MIke Huckabee [Videos]

A compilation of the best clips and quotes from Republican presidential nominee Mike Huckabee.


Mike Huckabee's speech at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

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

More Immigrants Mean Fewer Jobs For Blacks

by Mark Krikorian, Center for Immigration Studies: “Every hour sees the black man elbowed out of employment by some newly arrived emigrant, whose hunger and whose color are thought to give him a better title to the place.” No, this quote isn’t from today’s debate over immigration – it was written by Frederick Douglass in 1853. Mass immigration has always been detrimental to the job prospects of black Americans. . . . the admission of large numbers of foreign workers doesn’t harm blacks economically.

There are two reasons this is true – one that applies to workers in general, and one that is of special concern to black Americans. The first factor is simple numbers. The immigrant population, legal and illegal, is now at a record high of some 37 million, growing at a rate of more than a million a year. What’s more, immigrants account for nearly half of workers with less than a high school education – meaning they are in direct competition with American workers who also have less than a high school education, a group that is disproportionately made up of black Americans. . . . the second reason - the reason that black Americans specifically must be concerned about the economic effects of immigration. As Douglass’s quote suggests, immigrants simply are seen by many as preferable to native-born black Americans. That’s true whether we’re talking about Irish and Italians from the early 20th century or Mexicans and Chinese (even Jamaicans and Africans) today . . . [Read More]

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Tags: black Americans, Center for Immigration Studies, employing illegals, Fredrick Douglass, illegal immigrants, immigrants To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Arkansas Surrogacy Law Is Among the Most Liberal in the U. S.

Arkansas Has Become a Magnet for Surrogacy Parenting - Including Gay Surrogacy
Arkansas Surrogacy Law Is Among the Most Liberal in the U. S.
Much More Liberal than New York and European Laws

Women Action Group: Arkansas is one of 9 states that "allow gay surrogacy. A growing number of gay and lesbian couples and individuals are turning to the use of surrogate mothers as a means of starting their family! It's becoming quite popular," says the Lesbian & Gay Parenting Resource. In fact, it appears that Arkansas has become a magnet for gay surrogacy. The surrogacy law in Arkansas is among the most favorable in the United States, according to the website of Surrogacy Solutions in Sherwood, Arkansas . . . "There is a quiet but thriving network of Arkansas women who have been carrying babies for couples from all over the country and Europe, where surrogacy is illegal . . . Melissa Brisman, a New Jersey attorney specializing in reproductive law, said about 10 percent of the surrogates her agency uses live in Arkansas," according to Arkansas Democrat Gazette 8/5/2007.

. . . Isn't it true that buying and selling children has always been of such a depraved and immoral nature that society has never considered allowing it? We buy and sell property like cars and dogs but not children. Then why has Arkansas, the center of the Bible belt, provided the nation (not just Arkansas) with a means for "the trafficking of children", thus becoming the Land of Opportunity for Gay Surrogacy? We are sure the law was enacted by bureaucrats out of touch with the values of the people. Most of us know by now how laws are slipped through by powerful liberal legislators and written in such simple terms to disarm the innocent (and often naïve) legislators. Then the media is silent about the matter, and the law permeates the culture while no one in Arkansas even knows about it. Surely, we can ask our legislator to rectify this Arkansas surrogacy law and pass a law as conservative as that of New York and England. . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Arkansas, gay agenda, lesbian, surrogacy, Women's Prayer and Action Group

Not Another Dollar for Political Donation Until . . . [Humor]

Received a donation request from the REPUBLICANS or the DEMOCRATS lately? Print this and send it to them in their prepaid postage envelope...

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Tags: Democrats, donations, humor, political humor, political promises, Republicans To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Thompson: Roe 'bad law and bad medicine'

by John King, DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN): – Likely Republican White House hopeful Fred Thompson told CNN Friday that he would work to overturn Roe v. Wade if elected president, and would push for a constitutional amendment that protects states from being forced to honor gay marriages performed in other states. “I don’t think that one state ought to be able to pass a law requiring gay marriage or allowing gay marriage and have another state be required to follow along,” Thompson told CNN’s John King in an interview Friday. Thompson added that the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion “was bad law and bad medicine.” . . .

On the issue of Iraq, Thompson refused to provide a timeline for how much longer US forces would remain in the country under his administration, but said, “We need to make every effort to make sure that we don’t get run out of there with our tail between our legs before we’ve done the job of securing that place.” As for when he will jump into the race, the former Tennessee senator said "shortly.". . . [Read More]

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Tags: CNN, Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

RNC Chairman attacks two top GOP presidential candidates -Why?

by Stephen Dinan GOP hits 2008 candidates on illegal aliens Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, President Bush's handpicked choice for party chairman, chided former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for opposing and mischaracterizing the Senate immigration bill Mr. Martinez helped craft. . . . [Read More]

by Rachel Alexander: Why is the Republican Party attacking our two major presidential candidates? The Republican National Committee chairman, Mel Martinez, has come out criticizing the GOP's 2 top candidates for president, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney for their positions on resolving illegal immigration. What is wrong with this picture? . . . [Read More]

Sen. Mel Martinez was offered the following recommendation on June 27, 2007 by Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Open Letter to RNC General Chairman Mel Martinez Time to Resign! Senator Mel Martinez actions have now demonstrated that he is unable to be a consequential leader in rebuilding the Republican party. . . . We need a RNC that unites us! Senator Martinez do the right thing and resign as General Chairman. [Read More]

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Tags: chairman, Mel Martinez, Mitt Romney, RINO, RNC, Rudy Giuliani To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Rudy Giuliani Leads Fred Thompson Again -- GOP Race Getting Tighter

Rasmussen Reports 8/17: In the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination, it’s Rudy Giuliani at 22% and Fred Thompson at 19% among Likely Republican Primary Voters. Mitt Romney 15% and John McCain 14% Mike Huckabee 4%. The past two days are the first time all year that the top four candidates have all been within ten points of each other since January. Giuliani is viewed favorably by 71% of Republican voters, Romney by 62% and Thompson by 60%. Earlier surveys had shown Thompson with higher favorable than Romney. The numbers for McCain are 54% favorable and 39% unfavorable. . . . In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination: Hillary Clinton 38%, Barack Obama 24% and John Edwards 12% among Likely Democratic Primary Voters. Bill Richardson and Joe Biden are tied atop the second tier at 3% . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Election 2008, presidential candidates, Rasmussen Poll, Rasmussen Reports, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

People Like Mike but will the vote for him?

Below are two different postings that highlight that people like Mike Huckabee. But that does not mean they will vote for him.

Huckabee would make a great president by Robert Clegg, New Hampshire: While I congratulate anyone who runs for office, I find myself able to recommend only one Republican candidate to fill the job before us. Only one candidate has successfully worked in an atmosphere where the party in power and and the party he affiliated with were different, and yet the successes of his 10 year tenure are evident today. It is because of his leadership the state of Arkansas will see for generations the good things he accomplished, like a better infrastructure and better schools. . . . In Huckabee I see a man who wants to bring to America a sense of pride and fulfillment. I see a man who wants to be president for all of us.

I Will Not Be Voting for Huckabee by John Mark Reynolds, California: I like Mike Huckabee. I think he has done well in all the debates. I will not be voting for Mike Huckabee in the California primary. . . . He has no proven track record of appealing to voters not already in the fold. We don’t need someone who can preach to the choir, we need the equivalent of C.S. Lewis who can talk to people who hate choir music. Mike Huckabee is not that guy. He is the kind of guy who ends up as Vice President, but he is not the person to save pro-life Senators and Congressmen in trouble in Blue States. I like Mike and that means he is not the guy. Who could be? We need someone who is for our values, but can win the votes of people who are not just as we are. We need someone who can appeal to non-political junkies and people who do not go to Church on Sunday. We need someone who can win not just place second for a “moral victory.” Second place next November will not be a victory for morality. Who is the guy? Right now that is either Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney.

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Tags: California, Mike Huckabee, New Hampshire, presidential candidate, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Boozman Says Hispanics Overwhelm Northwest Arkansas Police

by Jon Gambrell: Third District U.S. Rep. John Boozman said Hispanic immigrants coming to Northwest Arkansas overwhelm police and courts with false identities, leaving warrants unserved and cases unprosecuted." There's chaos involved," the Rogers Republican told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "And along with that, the public is feeling they are paying for all of this."

"It is a problem. It is a problem now for no other reason than public perception," Boozman said. "The public feels like we're a nation of laws and there's so many little things, the DUIs, the knowledge that someone is working on an assembly line next to an individual who decides to go back home and they sell their identity to a friend." In Rogers, which absorbed many of the state's Hispanic immigrants, officers have seen dramatic increases in the number of tickets issued for drivers not having licenses. Police Chief Steve Helms said of 1,443 tickets issued last year, 1,224 went to Hispanic drivers, as whites accounted for 193 and blacks received 17. . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Arkansas, hiring illegals, illegal immigrants, John Boozman, Representative, rule of law, US House

GOP Leadership & RINO Departures

The most powerful Republican female in the House has announced that she will not seek reelection in 2008. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) was the fourth ranking member of the House Republican leadership. She will leave a void in the GOP leadership structure. Also announcing this week that he will not run again was Chip Pickering (R-MS) who is just 44. Chip is a social conservative that we regret to see leaving. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) also announced that he will not seek reelection. Three House Republicans; John Doolittle R- CA), Rick Renzi (R-AZ) and Don Young of R-AK) are undergoing FBI investigations and could be forced to leave.
See also: 8-Term Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce to Retire & Pickering Announces Retirement

Haditha Massacre: Media and Terrorist Hoax?Shame on Rep. John Murtha

by Sher Zieve, Accuracy in Media: As charges against U.S. Marines - regarding an apparent fabrication of the “Haditha massacre” - continue to be proved false and based upon unsubstantiated “evidence,” only some of the leftist media appear to be standing by their original spin on the story. This media’s bent was based upon their proposition that the Islamist terrorists were telling the truth that the accused Marines were guilty of murder. . . . former Marine and House Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) - helped their media spread the poison. Based upon no evidence at all, Murtha said that the accused Marines had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood” and “I know there was a cover-up someplace!” Neither of these ill-advised statements has proven to be true. In fact, they have been confirmed to have been bogus. . . .

The AP reports that one of the hearing officers, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, “said murder charges brought against Sharratt were based on unreliable witness accounts, poor forensic evidence and questionable legal theories.” In an 18-page report, Ware wrote: “The government version is unsupported by independent evidence. To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.” Charges against the Marines are in the process of being dropped. However, to date there has not been even a hint of a slight apology from those who blatantly and unconscionably accused these Marines of murder - including accusatory members of the Democrat-run U.S. Congress. . . . elected Democrat officials refuse to apologize to those soldiers who fight and die to protect these same officials and their right to vilify them. These are revolting behaviors from those electees who should know better . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Accuracy in Media, Democrats, Haditha Massacre, Iraq, Iraq War, John Murtha, Marine Corps, media bias, military troops To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Dennis Hastert won't seek another term

UPI: U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), the longest-serving Republican speaker ever, announced he is leaving Congress after his current term. Hastert’s departure opens up a second Republican seat in Illinois. He told The New York Times it is “time to step away,“ given the smaller role he has had since the Democrats took control of the House in January. Hastert, a former high school teacher and wrestling coach, compared his situation as a former speaker to being a retired coach sitting in the stands. “The fact is you don’t need to be there second-guessing everybody all the time,” Hastert said. . . . [Read More]

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

Ross to Run for Fifth Congressional Term

KATV 7: Fourth District Congressman Mike Ross (D) says he will run next year for a fifth term representing his south Arkansas district. But Ross says he still has his eye on the governor's mansion. Ross considered a run for governor last year, but endorsed fellow Democrat Mike Beebe. Ross says he won't see the state's top office in 2010 if Beebe seeks another term. [Source]

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Tags: Arkansas, Democrat, Mike Ross, US House

Gay clergy OK'd by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

by Susan Hogan/Albach, Religion Reporter, Chicago Sun Times: For the first time, clergy in same-sex committed relationships can serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) without threat of discipline to them, their congregations or their bishops. The historic decision, made today at a national assembly at Navy Pier, was spearheaded by Bishop Paul Landahl of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod. A day earlier, attendees voted down a measure that would have ended a ban on non-celibate gay clergy. But Saturday’s vote calls on church leaders to “refrain from or demonstrate restraint” in disciplining those who violate the policy. . . [Read More]

by Jaynan Clark Egland, president of the Word Alone Network of grassroots Lutherans: "I don't know... [what's] worse--a church with no biblical standards to govern our ministry or standards we don't intend to enforce. To refrain from discipline in the home is bad parenting, but we're about to do so in [God's House]." . . . [Read More]

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Tags: ELCA, gay clergy, Lutheran To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Fred Thompson's Gamble

David S. Broder, Op Ed, Washington Post: In a two-hour conversation over coffee at a restaurant near his Virginia headquarters, the former senator from Tennessee said that when he joins the battle next month, he "will take some risks that others are not willing to take, in terms of forcing a dialogue on our entitlement situation, our military situation and what it's going to cost" to ensure the nation's future. . . . "There's no reason for me to run just to be president," he said. "I don't desire the emoluments of the office. I don't want to live a lie and clever my way to the nomination or election. But if you can put your ideas out there -- different, more far-reaching ideas -- that is worth doing." . . .

[H]e says he thinks the public is looking for a different kind of leadership. "I think a president could go to the American people and say, 'Here's what we need to be doing. And I'm willing to go halfway. Now you have to make them [the opposition] go halfway.' " The approach Thompson says he's contemplating is one that will step on many sensitive political toes. When he says "we're getting a free ride" fighting a necessary war in Iraq with an undersized military establishment, "wearing out our people and equipment," it sounds like a criticism of the president and the Pentagon. . . .

Thompson repeatedly cites two texts as fueling his concern about the country's future. One is "Government at the Brink," a two-volume report he issued as chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee at the start of the Bush administration in 2001 and handed to the new president's budget director as a checklist of urgent management problems. . . . His second sourcebook contains the scary reports from Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, on the long-term fiscal crisis spawned by the aging of the American population and the runaway costs of health care. . . .

"Nobody in Congress or on either side in the presidential race wants to deal with it," Thompson said. "So we just rock along and try to maintain the status quo. Republicans say keep the tax cuts; Democrats say keep the entitlements. And we become a less unified country in the process, with a tax code that has become an unholy mess, and all we do is tinker around the edges." . . . But these issues -- national security and the fiscal crisis of an aging society with runaway heath-care costs -- "are worth a portion of a man's life. If I can't get elected talking that way, I probably don't deserve to be elected." Thompson says he feels "free to do it" his own way, and that freedom may just be enough to shake up the presidential race. [Read More]

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Tags: David Broder, Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, Republican, Washington Post To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Upcoming meeting fuels 'North American Union' fears

CNS News: An upcoming meeting among President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon is raising concerns on both sides of the northern border and the political aisle over sovereignty, immigration, natural resources and corporate influence over government. The Aug. 20-21 meeting is the fourth in a series of meetings among the leaders of the three countries as part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a "trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity ... through greater cooperation and information sharing." The first meeting took place in 2005 in Waco, Texas. A lack of transparency and openness about what occurs at the meetings, however, has led skeptics from both sides of the political aisle to question the SPP's goals and possible outcomes. Many opponents in the United States raise concerns about forfeiting U.S. sovereignty to the other governments -- especially Mexico -- in regard to immigration and labor policies . . . [Read More] See also: 108,000 sign petition against SPP summit & Grassfire.org Alliance citizen petition opposing a North American Union that would undermine our nation'ssovereignty and open our borders.

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Tags: Canada, Mexico, NAU, President Felipe Calderon, President George Bush, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Security and Prosperity Partnership, SPP, United States

Monkeying With Man

by Terence P. Jeffrey, Human Events: Some believe the greatest emerging threat to the human race can be found in the Middle East, where terrorists seek weapons of mass destruction. Others point to melting glaciers, adamant they have discovered proof of environmental doom. I suspect a far greater threat to our species emerged this month in a politely worded report issued by a British parliamentary committee. Last December, the British government published a white paper ostensibly calling for a ban on creating what it called "inter-species embryos." The suggested prohibition, however, was not absolute.

. . . As British parliamentarians saw it, the big question was not whether scientists should be allowed to create human-animal hybrids, but exactly what types of hybrids should be permitted and what rules should govern their willful creation and destruction. . . . The committee completely chucked the percentage approach to humanity. "We can see no clear reason why certain categories of inter-species embryo should be permitted under license and 'true' hybrids proscribed," it said. Accordingly, it re-crafted the "catch-all" rule, defining as an interspecies any embryo that has some human chromosomes as well as some animal chromosomes. It then decided to treat all embryos like animals, recommending that researchers be permitted to create them and do what they will with them -- as long as they uniformly kill them by 14 days. . . . [Read More] ARRA Comment: Shades of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau." Thus the image used for this post. Does anyone doubt that eventually some scientist will bring these interspecies embryos (part human & part animal) to full form. What then?

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Tags: inter-species cloning, interspecies embryos, killing human embryos, Monkeying With Man, monkey, man To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ronald Reagan would have a lot to say about today’s Congress

Sen. Mitch McConnell, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA: . . . President Reagan changed the way we thought about government, and his plan for putting his vision into practice had a profound impact on the nation and the world. Yet many of my colleagues on the other side seem to have come down with a serious case of amnesia about all this. . . . When Reagan took office, inflation and jobless rates were climbing steadily. Interest rates on home mortgages were as high as 20%, which is hardly even imaginable today. Marginal income tax rates were 70% and 48%. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average, . . . was hovering around 800 . . .

No one had ever communicated it the way Ronald Reagan did. . . . when he talked about the size of government. He didn’t throw numbers at you, he gave people an image they could take home with them, and one they could all relate to and laugh about. . . . Reagan communicated his philosophy with a smile, and that was much of his secret. He made many of us feel for the first time in our lives that it was okay to be a conservative, that being conservative was cool. And when he put his philosophy into action, we soon found out that having conservative views was more than just okay. As a matter of policy, it was tremendously effective.

Remember: as the Reagan Revolution began, the socialist hold on Europe was still growing tighter. . . . The burden of government in most of Old Europe today is staggering. Government spending consumes more than 50% of the entire gross national product of France and Sweden and more than 45% in Germany and Italy. Compare that to about 20% in the U.S, a country that spends much more as a percentage of GDP than all of these countries on defense. The effect of all this spending in European capitals has been alarmingly high unemployment rates and economic stagnation for much of Old Europe. Which makes sense: as services increase, people depend on them more. And as people depend on them more, taxes go up. As taxes go up, people have less incentive to work - a dangerous and unsustainable cycle. . . . ‘Europe’s economy is so bad’ . . . ‘because government is too big.’ We’ve seen a number of signs that Old Europe is finally beginning to catch on. . . . a number of European countries have been slowly moving in the direction of greater economic freedom in recent years. Last year, the average personal income tax for all Western industrialized countries was down to 43%, compared to 67% in 1980. . . . The Wall Street Journal has referred to all this as the economic counterpart to the fall of the Berlin Wall. And Ronald Reagan pulled out the first, crumbling stones. . . .

What about us? Are we acting on the lessons of 1981? Or have we already forgotten them? . . . In one of the great political ironies of our time, the new Majority in Congress seems intent on taking America down the path of bigger government and higher taxes just as Europe is frantically trying to steer themselves away from it. These guys want to turn the United States into France when even the French are beginning to have second thoughts. . . . But the only people who don’t seem to have gotten the memo just took over the House and the Senate. For the last seven months, Republicans have been fighting off a raft of proposals that seem better suited to The Hague than The Heartland.

First, there was an effort to regulate grass-roots groups into the ground by forcing them to comply with burdensome new disclosure rules. . . . Then there was a plan to dismantle a wildly successful prescription drug benefit for seniors by modeling it after a price-controlled government model. Then there was the union-backed effort to eliminate secret ballot elections from union drives -- Which even four out of five union members opposed. Then there was a budget blueprint that contemplated a tax hike three times higher than any tax increase in history. And then, just last month, the other side unveiled a plan to extend a government insurance program that was created for the uninsured children of low-income parents to the already-insured children of middle-income parents as well. If you’re anything like me, you’re scratching your head and saying, ‘I thought we already tried that.’ We did. We called it Hillarycare. . . .

So just when Europe seems to have woken up to the wisdom of Reagan’s policies, the current Congress is getting nostalgic. . . . Because many of the people who have assumed leadership roles in Congress since the last election are the Old Guard, the senior members of the party who cut their teeth as lawmakers during the era of the Great Society, well before Reagan’s policies put us on a glide path to prosperity. These are the people drafting the laws that are coming out of Congress these days, the heirs of the Lyndon Johnson era. And they don’t seem to have learned much in the interim. . . . Congress today seems intent on applying solutions that didn’t even work when they were fresh, to new challenges. . . . It’s pretty clear that the new Congress has embraced big tax hikes, Big Labor, and big government with new gusto. And the results, if these policies are enacted, should be predictable to anyone who lived through the ‘70s. . . .

Ronald Reagan would have a lot to say about today’s Congress. And he would say all of it with charm, great common sense, and good humor. He had seen the same mistaken approach to government before, and he laid out a plan for correcting the problems it created in a way that inspired and, more importantly, mobilized a nation. He made people feel like they were part of something great, and that this something was great precisely because it was American. This nation had been proud, he told us, and he restored that pride and that idealism. And we loved him for it. . . . Ronald Reagan’s success lay in the fact that he spoke about the future in the accents of the past. And if I were to offer an assessment of the new Majority in Congress, . . . I would say their ultimate undoing will be the fact that they speak about the past in the accents of the future. New problems, failed solutions. Republicans can still learn from Reagan, too. Just as our friends on the other side seem to have embraced a vision that he proved had run its course, so too should we be wary of an approach that doomed people like Barry Goldwater. Ronald Reagan ultimately outshined his conservative forbears because he articulated conservative principles with optimism and an openness to others and the world. . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Economics, economy, Europe, leadership, Mitch McConnell, Ronald Reagan, US Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Dead Men Farming

by John Stossel: By now you've probably heard that a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states: From 1999 through 2005, the USDA "paid $1.1 billion in farm payments in the names of 172,801 deceased individuals. ... 40% went to those who had been dead for three or more years, and 19% to those dead for seven or more years." One dead farmer got more than $400,000 during those years. And they say you can't take it with you. Defending the USDA, the GAO adds, "The complex nature of some farming operations -- such as entities embedded within other entities -- can make it difficult for USDA to avoid making payments to deceased individuals." Exactly. The agricultural section of the U.S. code is nearly 1,800 pages. There's an easy way to avoid such absurdities: Abolish all farm subsidies. Why are taxpayers forced to pay farmers $25 billion a year? . . . [Read More]

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Tags: farm subsidies, farming, government waste, John Stossel, pork-barrel spenders, Waste, Wasteful To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

SFLA Presidential Vote Results

Students for Life of america (SFLA) is a pro-life, student-run, non-profit organization since 1987. SFLA is the nation's oldest pro-life organization wholly devoted to educating college students about the medical and ethical issues of abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide. SFLA conducted a poll of members with 2 questions and received back responsesfrom 600 student members. Results Summary: For the Primary Election: Sen. Brownback won with 23%; with former Sen. Fred Thompson with 22%. However, for the General Election, former Sen. Fred Thompson won with 24%;with Sen. Brownback coming in second with 21%.
1. Who do you plan to vote for in the Presidential primary election?

Democrats: Joe Biden (D) 0% Hilary Clinton (D) 1% Chris Dodd (D) 0% John Edwards (D) 1% Al Gore (D) 0% Mike Gravel (D) 0% Dennis Kucinich (D) 0% Barack Obama (D) 5% General Info Other 3% No Responses 0% Bill Richardson (D) 0%

Republicans: Sam Brownback (R) 23% Newt Gingrich (R) 3% Rudy Giuliani (R) 7% Mike Huckabee (R) 5% Duncan Hunter (R) 2% John McCain (R) 5% Ron Paul (R) 10% Mitt Romney (R) 10% Tom Tancredo (R) 2% Tommy Thompson (R) 1% Fred Thompson (R) 22%

2. Who do you plan to vote for in the Presidential general election?

Democrats: Joe Biden (D) 0% Hilary Clinton (D) 1% Chris Dodd (D) 0% John Edwards (D) 1% Al Gore (D) 0% Mike Gravel (D) 0% Dennis Kucinich (D) 0% Barack Obama (D) 5% Bill Richardson (D) 0% General Info Other 3% No Responses 1%

Republicans: Sam Brownback (R) 22% Newt Gingrich (R) 3% Rudy Giuliani (R) 9% Mike Huckabee (R) 4% Duncan Hunter (R) 1% John McCain (R) 5% Ron Paul (R) 9% Mitt Romney (R) 11% Tom Tancredo (R) 2% Tommy Thompson (R) 0% Fred Thompson (R) 24%

Note: percentages were rounded and don’t total 100% [Source]

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Tags: Election 2008, Democrat, presidential candidates, Republican, SFLA, straw poll To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

William Wilberforce and Duncan Hunter

William Wilberforce . . . was a British Parliamentarian, and the leader in the abolition of the slave trade in Europe. . . . Wilberforce, under the encouragement of other abolitionists, soon became the leading member of the Abolitionist movement. For twelve years he worked to pass legislation to outlaw slavery. He faced much adversity and many obstacles, but finally, his bill passed. The ball was then rolling to end slavery worldwide. . . . Yet, the work of justice never completes itself in one instant, it is a battle we are constantly fighting and oftentimes losing. Although I do not know of another Wilberforce living among us in the present age, I am attracted to Duncan Hunter because I see the same convictions and spirit of Wilberforce alive in him.

Most specifically, I consider the issue of abortion. Although in the political realm . . . the pro-life stance is not very popular . . . The same thing happened in Wilberforce’s time. Excuse after excuse was poised as to why the slave trade should continue. Many argued that it would destroy their economy (and their reasoning was valid for the most part), others argued that the slaves were too dumb and too docile to have any objection to the trade in the first place. Despite critics, Wilberforce tried over and over again to pass his bill to end the slave trade. And today, despite the controversy and the critics, one of my modern heroes has continued the fight to end the despicable practice of abortion.

Congressman Duncan Hunter has been the author . . . at least 5 times . . . of the ‘Life at Conception Act’ which is an act that, if passed, would define life as beginning at conception. If that happened, the 14th amendment would apply to protecting the lives of the unborn. An admission made by the court in their Roe v. Wade ruling. . . . the arguments and beliefs that fueled the abolition movement are fundamental to the pro-life movement. It is an issue that goes to the core of our Constitutional, foundational beliefs. Duncan Hunter understands this. He has said this, “The Founding Fathers developed these [First Amendment] clauses to guarantee the right of all citizens to worship and to protect the church from the state, not to strip religion from the everyday lives of Americans.“
Representative Duncan Hunter’s (R-CA) Life at Conception Act [H.R. 618] was introduced in the House of Representatives on the 34th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January 22, 2007, with a record 64 original cosponsors. [Author unknown - Source for Full Article]
See also: Duncan Hunter to Speak at Values Voter Summit

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Tags: abortion, Duncan Hunter, Life at Conception Act, slavery To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Groups fight pro-homosexuality curriculum

by Erin Roach: As children across the nation head back to school, students in Montgomery County, Md., will be taught to celebrate homosexuality, and they'll likely be shielded from anyone who believes such behaviors are wrong. Pro-family groups are appealing a decision by the Maryland State Board of Education that allows Montgomery County to teach middle and high school students that homosexuality, bisexuality and transvestism are normal "innate" sexual variations and that anyone who opposes such conduct is "homophobic."

The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center is assisting Citizens . . . The law center says the curriculum (1) teaches students that homosexuality is "innate," which is an unproven theory; (2) teaches students that anal sex is just another sexual option without warning students of the increased HIV/AIDS risk of anal sex, even with a condom; (3) labels as "homophobic" children who hold traditional religious or moral beliefs about homosexuality; and (4) teaches students that transgenderism is just another "sexual orientation," even though transgenderism has been classified as a mental disorder."This curriculum is full of factual inaccuracies and runs counter to sound educational policy," Edward L. White III, trial counsel with Thomas More, said in a news release. "It should not be taught in the public school." . . . [Read More]

ARRA Editor's comment: For people on all sides of the issue, before you start commenting on this post - ask yourself, WHY are we "again" seeking a sex agenda in public school? Sex education belongs at home and not in public school. Education is already lacking in quality content related to the basic education needed by all people to succeed regardless of sexual orientation. The hidden agenda of sex education that was advanced in the late 80's was population control -- not sexual freedom. But sexual freedom was more enticing, so people did not look deeply for underlying agendas. A warning, when curriculum leaves the control of the community and becomes promoted and controlled by centralist government (even one that begins at the grassroots), the results become indoctrination and lack of freedom. In all nations where a lack of freedom exists, both GLBT and Christians have suffered, been persecuted, and killed by the governments that they hoped would protect them. Evaluate the history of communism, radical socialism (fascism), dictatorships, and governments controlled by one religious group. You will find that the people who did not meet the central standards established by the government for the population became disposable. Neither GLBT nor Christians have rights to exist under the Taliban or a country practicing strict Islamist law. Stalin and Hitler murdered in addition to Jews, the mentally handicapped, the elderly, and millions of GLBT and Christians. Be careful what you ask for -- the wolf of tyranny may be waiting for all of us.

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Tags: Christians, education, GLBT, homosexual activism, sex education, tyranny To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

San Diego firefighters no longer forced to drive in gay parade

Note: This a followup on prior story - San Diego Firefighters File Complaint for Being Forced to Attend Gay Pride Parade

LifeSiteNews.com: The San Diego Fire Department has dropped its requirement for on-duty firefighters to drive the gay parade routes after firemen complained of sexual harassment this summer. Now only volunteers will drive the route, the San Diego Tribune reports. Early this August, four firefighters were forced by their superior to drive in the parade in the Hillcrest neighborhood of the city on July 21. On August 1 they filed complaints of sexual harassment with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing after receiving sexually explicit taunts and gestures as they drove in the parade. They complained against the fire department that had forced them to be exposed to the harassment by requiring them to participate in the parade. As a result, the Fire Chief Tracy Jarman and San Diego Firefighters Local 145 revised their policy to ensure that only volunteers will drive in the parade . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Firemen, gay agenda, gay parade, San Diego, CA,sexual harassment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Sanctuary Cities

Fred Thompson Commentary: If you listen to folks who oppose immigration and border enforcement, you get the feeling they think we put locks on our doors to keep everybody out. The truth is we have locks so we can choose who comes in.

An example of what happens when we don’t make the choice took place August 4th when three Newark, New Jersey, college students with great promise were executed, gangland style. The killers’ ringleader was apparently an illegal alien indicted twice in 2007 for felonies, including the rape of a kindergarten-aged girl. Why would such a person be set free instead of being handed over to authorities for deportation? The answer is that Newark is a “sanctuary city” which bans cooperation between local officials and federal immigration officials. More than 60 sanctuary zones, including 30 of America’s largest cities, provide a national networked haven for foreign and organized criminals who recruit and operate outside those areas as well. These sanctuaries include Cambridge, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Austin and Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and New York City.

The consequences of “sanctuary cities” may be most obvious in the city that became the first in 1979 — Los Angeles. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a confidential California Department of Justice study from the mid-1990’s showed then that at least 60 percent of the members of L.A.’s most violent gangs, with membership in the tens of thousands, were illegal aliens. Of all outstanding murder warrants in Los Angeles, 95 percent are for illegal aliens. Frustrated police say they are powerless to pick up even well-known, previously deported felons.

The costs of policies that offer shelter to criminals are borne not just by the citizens of Newark, Cambridge, and other sanctuaries though. According to the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, illegal aliens made up 27 percent of the federal prison population in 2005, totaling 49,000 and costing federal taxpayers $1.2 billion. There were also more than 220,000 illegals in state and local prisons and jails. Now, I am not suggesting that all illegal aliens are violent criminals. They are not. Most are peaceful folks just trying to get by like the rest of us. But we would be far better off if we checked on people as they come into the country rather than find out who the bad ones are after they victimize people here.

We have the right to keep criminal predators out of our home. Those who want to immigrate into America need to knock, identify themselves, and ask permission first. They will not do so though if we can’t even ask who they are, which is prevented in sanctuary cities. Now I am a strong federalist, but immigration is a responsibility of the federal government, and the failures of local officials to enforce our national laws have a direct impact on communities around the country. So federal law must be enforced, or our neighborhoods will continue to be the scene of chilling and lurid crimes committed by those who broke the law in the first place to come to America. [Source]

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Tags: crime, Fred Thompson, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, sanctuary, sanctuary cities To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Religious right lining up behind Fred Thompson

by Bill Berkowitz, Media Transparency: Despite their differences, social conservatives appear ready to give two thumbs up to the former Tennessee Senator, Hollywood actor, touted as the 'Ronald Reagan of the South,' when he finally tosses his hat into the ring. . . .According to the Boston Globe's Scott Helman, longtime social conservatives including Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate who now leads American Values, a conservative public policy organization, and Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, Washington, D.C.'s most powerful conservative Christian lobbying group . . . seem willing to put any differences they might have with Thompson aside and embrace his candidacy. . . . "It's almost as if the man and the moment met," said Richard Land, who speaks for more than 16 million people as head of public policy for the nation's Southern Baptists. . . .

Support for Thompson appears to be equally based on social conservatives' disdain for the top tier candidates -- former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and for Arizona Senator John McCain . . . . Talk2Action's Frank Cocozzelli, . . . monitoring and writing about the Catholic right, wrote that Fidelis . . . "has been tag-teaming with Bill Donohue's Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to criticize Rudy Giuliani's position on abortion." Cella lashed out at Giuliani, saying that he "share[d] the exact same position on abortion as fellow Catholic John Kerry. As more people of faith who are pro-life begin to realize this, they will reject Giuliani's candidacy." . . . Thompson has been touting his campaign endorsements from the National Right to Life Committee. . . .

"Thompson has assiduously worked the leadership -- evangelical and traditionalist Catholic -- behind the scenes for some time,". . . "Taking his cues from Reagan in 1980 and Rove/Bush in 1998, Thompson has laid the requisite groundwork and cultivated a level of trust among this base that no other viable GOP Presidential candidate can match, well ahead of his speech at the Council for National Policy (CNP) in May that was followed by one-on-one meetings . . . Two weeks after that CNP speech, Paul Weyrich . . . in a commentary titled "The Man for A Desperate Hour: Fred Thompson" . . . compared Thompson to Reagan. It's a done deal." . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Election 2008, Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, religious right, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The 2008 Election Will Be A Referendum On Immigration -- The Big Winner in Ames Was Tancredo

by: Joe Murray, The Bulletin: . . . There is no doubt that Romney met expectations by winning the non-binding contest . . . But the real story of the 2007 Iowa Straw Poll resides not with its winner but with those who placed second, third, and fourth. . . . This year, though, things are different. With only 626 votes separating second place (Mike Huckabee) from fourth place (Tom Tancredo), the Straw Poll has injected a great deal of energy and momentum into these second-tier campaigns vying for first-tier status, making it evident that the big winner in Ames is Tancredo.

Going into Ames, nobody expected Tancredo to do well. His campaign is underfunded, has a scattered presence in the state and has been dwarfed by the Romney juggernaut. Tancredo, though, did not give up and kept traveling from town to town bringing his message to anyone who would listen. What is his message? Tancredo is one of the few men running for president who understands both the physical and cultural threat an unsecured border poses to our nation. While Romney was employing illegal aliens and Brownback was signing off on Kennedy-McCain amnesty, Tancredo was a lone voice defending America's right to protect her cultural integrity. . . . Tancredo decried the ethnic chauvinism that is prevalent in new Hispanic immigrants and warned the party faithful that "we are watching the Balkanization of our country." This past Saturday, the voters in Ames let it be known that they will not lose their country without a fight . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Election 2008, GOP, immigration, Iowa Straw Poll, presidential candidate, Republican, Tom Tancredo To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

A letter from the Office of the SpeakerReading between the lines!

by Dr. Bill Smith: ARRA Editor: Today, the mail brought me a surprise letter from the Office of Speaker, US House of Representatives., Congress of the Unites States. It was signed by Nancy Pelosi (or at least machine signed). After all the letters I have written, I was in "awe" to be holding this official envelope with a letter addressed to me. I wondered -- to what issue was the Speaker responding; what would be her positions -- or excuses. I had received letters from the President, from Senators, Congressmen, business leaders, clergy and candidates running for office, kids -- and oh yes, my granddaughters. But I had never received a letter from the Democrat Speaker of the House.

The letter, dated July 23, 2007, took only three weeks to arrive. Must have been the US Post Office; it couldn't have been the staff with Pelosi's free mailing privileges. But I have to give her staff credit, they sent me her response. Maybe they delayed her response, so she could be on congressional recess when I received her response. What was she going to say. I gathered my wife to me and said, let's read this together -- a response from Nancy Pelosi. The letter was addresses respectfully and I believe it best to share the entire body of the letter so that you may relish her response:

Dear Dr. Smith,
Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts about an issue important to our nation. I encourage you, if you have not already, to contact your particular Member of Congress on this issue as well.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your comments and look forward to continuing to communicate on matters of concern.
Sincerely,
{signed}
NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House

I transitioned from "awe" to "concern." Why had the United States Speaker of the House (or her staff) sent me a response that said nothing of substance - failing even to identify one of the many issues on which I had communicated to her. Then, I had the fleeting thought that as a Democrat she had nothing to say.

But on reading again the letter that on any other occasion would have been an inept response, I suddenly saw her true response -- or at least the response of her staff -- to all my letters. Yes, it was unwritten but it was still there between the two short paragraphs. I started to laugh. I was honored that the Democrat Speaker of the House or her staff would even send me such a silent reply. Do you see it! It's right to the point. "Don't bother writing me again you sorry "$&%#." I don't need hearing from John Q public."

Should I stop writing and faxing her? No, I think, I will continue. I am looking forward to the next response. Will they say the same thing with fewer words or maybe even respond to a real issue with a position? Please continue to write, fax, and send email the leaders of Congress, your congressional delegation, the White House, cabinet members, etc. Not only is it good for your soul, it makes a difference, and maybe you too will get a reply where the message is unwritten between the lines.

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Tags: Arkansas Republican Assembly, ARRA, Bill Smith, Democrat, letter, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the house To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Public Support Strong for New Immigration Enforcement

Rasmussen Reports: 79% of American adults favor a proposal requiring employers to fire workers who falsify identity documents; 9% are opposed while 12% are not sure. The survey was conducted as the Bush Administration announced a series of proposals designed to crack down on illegal immigration. One proposal would require companies to fire workers if proper documents are not provided by the employee within 90 days. While this proposal has upset some immigrant-rights leaders, most Americans would like to go even further - 74% believe that if a person wants to rent an apartment they should be required to provide documents proving they are in the country legally. Just 17% are opposed. . . .

68% of Americans believe it is Very Important to improve border enforcement and reduce illegal immigration. That view is held by 80% of Republicans, 62% of Democrats, and 64% of those not affiliated with either major political party. Those figures are little changed from earlier in the year. The government currently has little credibility in this arena. Just 12% of Americans believe the federal government is doing enough to secure the border and reduce illegal immigration. 71% say it is not doing enough . . . [Read More]

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Tags: immigration enforcement, Rasmussen Poll, Rasmussen Reports. support for immigration enforcement, immigration engorcement, illegals, illegal aliens To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Knee Jerk Reactions by Democrats Could Increase Cost Of Drinking Water

by John Henley Jr., The Morning News: The cost for drinking water could increase if some U.S. senators get their way. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) introduced a bill in May 2006 that would provide grants for water treatment facilities to switch from using chlorine gas as a disinfectant to a safer alternative. Drinking water has to be treated before being dispersed to the public. Treatment facilities have since the early 1900s used chlorine gas as a disinfecting agent. The chlorine in the water helps people drinking that water fight off certain diseases and has saved millions of lives since being introduced, said Larry Lloyd, chief operating officer of Beaver Water District. Biden was joined by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and former Sen. James Jeffords in introducing legislation . . .

"It was a knee-jerk reaction to what was going on in Iraq last year," said Scott Borman, manager of Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority. Terrorists in Iraq strapped explosives to cylinders of chlorine gas and created a bomb that released a toxic cloud of gas. . . . Biden's bill did not make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. However, aides in Biden's office said he plans to rewrite the bill and introduce it in the future, said Lisa Ackerman, press secretary for Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR).

There is also another bill making its way through the Senate Environment Committee that was introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). Inhofe's bill would provide $245 million in EPA grants for security enhancements at drinking water and wastewater facilities, if risk assessments and vulnerability studies have been done, according to . . . Inhofe's website. The bill is being considered in the environment committee."Inhofe's bill is a good one because it provides treatment facilities with the means to shore up the problems highlighted in the vulnerability assessment," Borman said. . . . [Read More] [ARRA Editor: And Biden wants to be president? Pursues a knee jerk reaction to increase cost of processes and thus the cost of water to Americans while ignoring the option to fund securing water production facilities. Could Biden and the Democrats have other reasons for proposing this option?]

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Tags: Democrats, Homeland Security, James Inhofe, Joe Biden, terrorism, water, water treatment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Karl Rove to Resign

by John D. Mckinnon: The Wall Street Journal: Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas . . . Mr. Rove revealed his plans in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal: "I just think it's time," Mr. Rove said in the interview. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family." Mr. Rove and his wife have a home in Ingram, Texas, and a son who attends college in nearby San Antonio . . . [Read More]

The Strong Conservative comments to the above story: Rove was seen as a political genius after engineering Republican victories in 2000, 2002, and 2004. However, the loss of Congress to the Democrats in 2006 was a major setback for the Bush administration and Rove. The strategy taken on illegal immigration was particularly infuriating to the GOP base. The Iraq War strategy was seriously flawed until General Patraeus was installed and a new strategy implemented. It will be interesting if Democrats react with joy to Rove's resignation or if they will be disappointed they won't get a chance to indict him. Then again, they may continue to call him before Committees to try to catch him in a legal snare. Rove will be remembered as a controversial yet brilliant figure and perhaps the most hated Republican by the media and the left.
See also: Rove departure seen as 'good news for conservatives'

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Tags: Carl Rove, President George Bush, Republican, Texas To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Newt proposes citizenship test in felony arrests

News Staff Reports, NY Daily News: Citing the arrest of an undocumented immigrant in the execution-style Newark murders, Newt Gingrich yesterday called for emergency legislation requiring anyone arrested for a felony to immediately have their legal status checked. "Four young people, working hard, studying, doing the right things, three of them were killed, all four were shot in an execution style by somebody who should not have been in America in the first place," the former speaker of the House said in a speech in Ames, Iowa.

Gingrich noted that Peruvian immigrant Jose Carranza had been arrested twice before the slayings, adding, "Twice, he was released back on the streets."
The Georgia Republican, who's considered a potential presidential contender, called on President Bush to summon a special session of Congress to pass the emergency legislation. "Imagine that those four college students had been your children," Gingrich said. "Imagine they'd been your nieces or nephews. We cannot expect Mayor [Cory] Booker to defend Newark if the government of the United States does not defend America, and we need to win the war at home fully as much as we need to win the war overseas." [Source]

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Tags: Felon, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, Newt Gingrich To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

GOP hopeful Tommy Thompson abandons presidential bid

Mark Preston, CNN Political Editor: Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is abandoning his presidential bid, his campaign announced Sunday night. Thompson, who also served in the Bush Cabinet, did not meet the expectations he set for himself in the Ames Republican straw poll held Saturday. "I want to thank the people of Iowa who were welcoming and supportive as well as my volunteers and contributors from around the country,"Thompson said in a written statement. . . . "There's no sense in looking back," he said. In his statement, Thompson said he had "no regrets about running." "I felt my record as governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services gave me the experience I needed to serve as president," he said. "But I respect the decision of the voters. I am leaving the campaign trail today, but I will not leave the challenges of improving health care and welfare in America." Tommy Thompson had raised just over $890,000 dollars for his campaign as of June 30, according to the Federal Election Commission . . . [Read More]

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

Who is John Cox?

Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: In the Iowa Republican Straw poll the candidate on the bottom of the list is John Cox with 0.1%. I had the opportunity to meet John Cox at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies convention in St Louis. He spoke to the convention attendees and he espoused a clear platform of conservative ideas.

Cox is a 52-year-old Chicago businessman, who vows he is the "only real conservative" running for President in 2008. I interviewed two delegates from Republican Assembly of Lake County Illinois (RALC): Raymond and Doreen True. Raymond is Chairman of the RALC and Doreen is Secretary. They shared that Cox is a member of the RALC and a long-time Republican activist. Cox has served as president of the Cook County Republican Party and was on the state steering committee for former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp's presidential run in 1988. He ran for the GOP nomination in the 10th Congressional District in Illinois in 2000; the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in 2002.

He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating with honors and a degree in Accounting and Political Science. While attending night school at ITT / Chicago Kent College of Law, Cox landed his first job with the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand. After graduating from law school he worked as an associate at a prestigious law firm before starting his own practice. He opened a law and accounting firm in 1981 and then an investment advisory firm, real estate management company and a venture capital firm. In the 1990's, Cox led the investment group that purchased Jays Foods, a major regional potato chip manufacturer, saving over 600 local jobs. He recruited and led a team of professional managers who turned a $17 million loss into a $3 million profit in less than a year. Cox and his wife, the former Sarah Hall, reside in Chicago. He is the author of three publications, "Campaign for Prosperity and Renewal", "A Blueprint for the Renewal and Rebirth of the Illinois Republican Party" and a new book, "Politic$, Inc." which addresses changing American politics by bringing back statesmanship.

In his bid for the Republican nomination, Cox identified that he has invested over $800,000 of his own money in his campaign and has visited 99 counties in Iowa and traveled 24 times to New Hampshire and South Carolina. Despite these efforts he has been "iced out" of the presidential debate. Although the Iowa's Caucus results may signal the beginning of the end of his current campaign, Cox is someone to keep an eye on in the future. As a self-made successful businessman, he is like another Republican that sought the Republican presidential candidacy - Steve Forbes.

People like Forbes and Cox who are not politicians are needed to help solve many of America's critical problems. However, it takes more than intellect, personal ability and wealth to become a party's candidate for president. It takes building a successful coalition of faithful supporters and donors. Hopefully John Cox is observing and learning form other candidates like Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, both former governors, who are experienced in building a willing coalition of volunteers and donors to promote both them and their message. To learn more about John Cox, visit John Cox for President and read the Weekly Standard article on John Cox on the RALC website.

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

Words from the Pundits on Iowa Straw Poll Result (Updated)

Toby Harnden, Daily Telegraph: Mitt Romney won handsomely with 31.5% of the vote. But Huckabee’s 18.1% showing has the potential to lift him into the top tier of Republican candidates. It was especially impressive because of his shoestring straw poll operation compared to the mega outlay by Romney. And in politics, exceeding expectations is often everything. “We over-performed,” Huckabee said to a throng of reporters, many of whom (including me) had been heading out to hear Romney’s victory speech when we thought better of it and decided to listen instead to what the ex-governor had to say. “If you look at those above us and below us there were a lot who under-performed,” he said. “If you think about how little money we had, how little we spent to get here it says more than being in second place.” He added: “Nobody’s getting the miles per gallon out of a campaign that we are.”

Byron York, National Review: When it was all over, there was no doubt that the winner of the day was Huckabee. “It is beyond huge,” Huckabee told reporters. “Tonight, for all practical purposes, we won the Iowa straw poll. No one was even saying we would come in second…You gotta admit, for what we had to work with, the resources we had, for us to surge, coming in second, is the victory, it is the story.”

Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarter's: However the real winner may be the man who spent nothing but time and effort in hopes of breaking out of the second tier.

Chris Cillizza, Washington Post: The biggest political event of the 2007 calendar year gave former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a victory, but the biggest winner may well be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who placed a surprising second.

Jonathan Martin, The Politico: While Romney’s 31.5 percent win had been widely forecast, the runner-up competition yielded a surprise: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee picked up 18.1 percent to finish in second.

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Tags: Iowa Straw Poll, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Politics To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!