News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that.
– Michelle Obama, to a group of women at a local day care center in Zanesville, Ohio
However, according to Byron York at National Review . . .
What she doesn’t mention is that the helping industry has treated her pretty well. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office. And that does not count the money Mrs. Obama receives from serving on corporate boards.
Mrs. Obama also bemoaned the amount of money she has to spend — nearly one-third of the median household income in Zanesville — on piano, dance, and other lessons for her two children. But she was grateful for the concern her husband's supporters have shown for her. "Everywhere I go, no matter what, the women in the audience, their first question for me is, 'How on earth are you managing it, how are you keeping it all together?'" she told the women.
What a typical, liberal hypocrite.Tags:Bob Parks, hypocrisy, Michelle Obama, Outside the WireTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Conservatives Place Hold on Obama's Global Poverty Bill
by Pete Winn, CNSNews: Two conservative members of the U.S. Senate have anonymously placed a hold on Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) global poverty bill. . . . The effort is an attempt to slow down the progress of a bill (S. 2433) that conservative analysts say could eventually force the U.S. to increase its foreign aid by hundreds of billions of dollars. . . . S. 2433 has been getting "a pass" from Congress. It received absolutely no scrutiny in the House last fall, when it was passed on a voice vote, and no scrutiny last week in the Senate, when the Foreign Relations Committee also passed it on a voice vote. . . . Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-DL) placed it on a fast-track in recent weeks as Obama's presidential campaign started heating up. The Illinois Democrat praised Biden and the committee's ranking Republican, Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, for "moving so quickly." Obama is the chief Senate sponsor of the bill. . . . [Read More] ARRA NOTE: Sen. Obama's the United Nations “Global Poverty Act" would also commits nations UN's Millennium Declaration which includes banning “small arms and light weapons” and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prior Related Stories:Obama's sovereignty giveaway plan; Oppose Law of the Sea Treaty & Global Poverty Act; Obama's Global Tax Up For Senate Vote Tags:Barack Obama, Election 2008, Global tax, gun control, treaties, treaty, UN, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Christian couple can't foster - must condone homsexuality
From Britain - Could be the United States next! Report by David Wilkes: They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 20 vulnerable children. But Eunice and Owen Johns have been forced to abandon their good work because they refuse to tell children as young as ten that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle. To do so, they say, would go against their Christian beliefs.
The devastated couple withdrew an application to their council to continue as foster carers after being told they must condone homosexuality to adhere to gay rights laws. The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation), which came into force last April, makes it illegal for any business or organisation providing a public service to discriminate against anyone because of their sexuality. . . . Their case has been taken up by the Christian Legal Centre, which is to seek a judicial review if the council does not reverse its decision. Religious campaigners say Mr and Mrs Johns are the victims of an equality drive which puts gay rights above religious beliefs. Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice said: "The fostering service is in danger of losing an experienced Christian couple all for the sake of worshipping at the altar of diversity." . . . [Read More]Tags:children, Christian Values, Christians, foster care, gay agenda, Great Britian, Homosexual Agenda, homosexualityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Douglas V. Gibbs, Conservative Crusader: culture may be regarded as a ramification of the changing political atmosphere, a behavior manipulated by a particular technology applied to a particular set of conditions, or a learned response to a constantly changing society. But sometimes this kind of change may be detrimental to certain facets of a culture. The term "Americanism," as understood by most citizens of the United States of America, refers to the American Culture, which includes a set of values and standards that are uniquely American. The overall culture of the United States is an eclectic blend of Constitutional influences, historical experiences, and a multitude of worldwide cultures.
When asked the question, "What is an American?" a minority of individuals may respond that an American is simply an inhabitant of the continents of North or South America. The majority of people, however, will no doubt automatically respond that an American is a citizen of the United States. However, no matter how simple the answer to that question may seem to these individuals, the question regarding the culture of "Americanism" that accompanies such a designation can be a complex matter. . . . [Read More] Tags:America, American, Americanism, cultureTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Barack Obama Plans for Disarming America [Listen to His own words - Video]
Bradley A. Blakeman, Freedom's Watch: A premature withdrawal from Iraq, giving al Qaeda a huge victory and giving terrorists a base from which to attack America, Europe, and Israel. An end to developing a missile defense system to protect us from missile attack, and "deep cuts in our nuclear arsenal." Cutting billions of dollars in programs needed to modernize our Army so it remains the most powerful force on earth. See and hear Senator Barack Obama's plan for a national "defense." View this videoand share it with your friends:
Barack Obama Plans for Disarming America
We've seen drastic reductions in our military capabilities from liberal administrations before - with disastrous results. In 1996, defense spending in America was fully 40% lower than in 1985 under Ronald Reagan. These cuts led to a loss of air and sea lift capability, reduced research and development in new technologies, and the delay or cancellation of critical modernization programs. As a result, when America was attacked in 2001, former Reagan Administration Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said that defense cuts had been so severe that our capability to fight the War on Terror had been greatly diminished. We are still paying the price for that "holiday from history."
At a time when we face increasingly hostile rogue nations like Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, which are actively seeking or supporting those who seek nuclear weapons to threaten the United States and its allies, it makes no sense to pursue a policy of disarmament. We must maintain a strong nuclear deterrent, including a robust arsenal and defense shield, and modernize our military to protect America. Join Freedom's Watch, a permanent voice fighting for mainstream conservative values. Speak up to encourage Senator Obama to change his position on national defense by calling his office at 202-224-2854.Don't allow liberals in Washington to degrade our military and debilitate our defenses. Tags:Barack Obama, Bradley Blakeman, Disarming America, Freedoms Watch, military defenseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Hat Tip to GOPUSA: "Obama's Words" by Gary McCoy Tags:Barack Obama, Gary McCoy, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor: Senate: reconvened resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3221, which is expected to be the vehicle for Democrats’ housing legislation (S. 2636). Yesterday, the Senate shelved Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill asking for a report on a strategy to defeat al Qaeda and limit troop deployments (S. 2634). The day before Feingold’s latest Iraq withdrawal proposal was pulled from the floor. House: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to get cloture on the motion to proceed to the Democrats’ housing bill (H.R. 3221) yesterday after refusing an agreement on amendments offered by Republicans. Like last fall’s debate on the farm bill, Reid has insisted that he approve Republicans’ amendments before they are offered. Republicans once again rejected that approach by denying cloture on the bill.
From Senate & News Sources:CQ Today reports that House Democrats are planning to bring to the floor a “replacement bill” for the Senate-passed FISA modernization bill. It’s unclear whether the bill will include the provision granting telecommunications companies immunity from lawsuits over their cooperation with terror surveillance programs.
House Republicans are rightly insisting on the House just passing the Senate bill to quickly reverse the degradation of our intelligence capabilities since the Protect America Act expired and secure the continued cooperation of telecoms. In the Examiner today, Quin Hillyer explains the outrageous lawsuits that telecoms are faced with over their prior cooperation with the government on terror surveillance and why it is important to prevent such suits.
While House Democrats haggle over FISA, Senate Democrats wasted little time in shelving their Iraq bills in favor of housing legislation, though promising they would try once again in April when more funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will need to be appropriated. However, Democrats may have an even more difficult time in their next round of calls for retreat, according to a new Pew poll. Pew finds, “Public perceptions about U.S. progress in Iraq continue to improve. In fact, in a number of areas those with positive evaluations outnumber those with negative views.” The poll shows rapidly decreasing support for a quick withdrawal and that perceptions of progress have increased across party lines over the last year.
With Iraq debate sidelined, Senate Democrats turned their attention to a bill stuffed full of money for cities and states to rehabilitate houses and homeowner counseling services that Democrats are branding as another “stimulus” bill. Unfortunately, the bill appears poised to stimulate higher mortgage payments. What you haven’t read in the press about this bill, though, is that the money for homeowner counseling programs will go to certain groups that Democrats believe are “experts” in this area. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) (video link) was candid enough to note two of those groups in remarks on the Senate floor yesterday: ACORN and La Raza. Hot Air has he details and recalls what ACORN is better known for. Tags:ACORN, democrat, stimulus” bill, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The year 2008 is a leap year. If you look at a 2008 calendar, you will see that February has five Fridays–the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between the years 1904 and 2096, leap years that share the same day of week for each date repeat only every 28 years. The most recent year in which February comprised five Fridays was in 1980, and the next occurrence will be in 2036. February 29, the leap day, has been associated with age-old traditions, superstitions and folklore.
A leap year is a year in which one extra day has been inserted, or intercalated, at the end of February. A leap year consists of 366 days, whereas other years, called common years, have 365 days. In the Gregorian calendar, the calendar used by most modern countries, the following three criteria determine which years will be leap years: Every year that is divisible by four is a leap year; of those years, if it can be divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless the year is divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.
According to the above criteria, that means that years 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years, while year 2000 and 2400 are leap years. It is interesting to note that 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world. Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun. . . . [Learn More about Leap Year]
Bob Hester, Director of Arkansas Family Coalition: The Family Council Action Committee is sponsoring a proposed initiated act to be on the ballot in the fall that will prevent adoptive and foster care children from being placed in homes with individuals who are cohabiting with a sexual partner. This initiative would protect children from being adopted by homosexuals and would prevent foster children from being placed in homes of homosexuals as well as from being placed in the homes of cohabiting heterosexual couples. .
In order to place this initiated act on the Nov. 2008 General Election ballot, The Family Council Action Committee must gather over 100,000 petition signatures of Arkansas voters by July 1, 2008. The participation of everyone concerned about this issue is critical. Please check to see if your church is circulating these petitions and sign one. If they are not circulating them, check with your pastor to see if you can get them circulated in your church. This is perfectly legal for churches to do.
County coordinators are needed for the Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act in the several counties. Coordinators are primarily responsible for recruiting volunteers to circulate petitions in churches by the end of April. We all also need to get as many signatures from our neighborhood, friends, and family as we can. Get More InfoSee also:Arkansas Has Become a Magnet for Surrogacy Parenting
Tags:adoption, Arkansas, foster care, homosexualsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Net Neutrality Bill Means Eight Sideshows & One Useless Study
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has condemned the introduction of the misnamed Internet Freedom Preservation Act, H.R. 5353, by House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Charles Pickering (R-MS). The bill would mandate eight Federal Communications Commission hearings and a study of applying net neutrality regulations to high-speed Internet access services. Net neutrality would mandate that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) carry every single piece of content and every service available, regardless of cost. Content providers have expressed concern that ISPs will either block content or create different tiers of online services. Such differential pricing occurs in virtually all forms of commerce, such as charging more for faster delivery of packages by UPS or Federal Express. Should net neutrality become law and traffic on the Internet continue to skyrocket, the delivery of important content, such as medical information, will receive the same treatment as spam. “The introduction of the bill appears to be just another move to provide taxpayer-funded megaphones for the special interest groups promoting so-called net neutrality,” said CCAGW Vice President of Policy David Williams. [Read more] Tags:CAGW, Citizens Against Government Waste, Internet, Net NeutralityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Jennifer Mesko, Editor, CitizenLink:'Whether it's abortion or end-of-life issues, he's been consistently anti-life.' During the 20th Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said the one vote he would take back was his 2005 U.S. Senate vote to help save the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-injured Florida woman. "We adjourned with a unanimous agreement that eventually allowed Congress to interject itself into that decision-making process of the families," Obama said. "It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake."
Schiavo was not dying nor terminally ill; she was not brain-dead nor in a coma. Yet for seven years, her husband, Michael, sought to have her feeding tube removed. Congress intervened toward the end, but it was not enough. Schiavo died March 31, 2005, after 13 days of court-ordered dehydration and starvation. Jill Stanek, a pro-life speaker and blogger, called Obama "utterly pro-death." . . . [Read More] Tags:anti-life, Barack Obama, pro-death, Terry SchiavoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Patent Reform Cheats Inventors! Property Rights In Danger!
Eagle Forum has been following the developments regarding the Patent Reform Act (S. 1145), sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). This dangerous legislation could come up in the Senate for a vote. The House version (H.R. 1908) already passed by a vote of 220-175 (Roll Call 863) on September 7, 2007. Despite recent changes made to the bill, it is a terrible cheat on small inventors, and also would be a gigantic giveaway of American technology, which is the key to our standard of living. First,this Patent Act would make it cheaper for infringers to steal patented inventions by limiting damages to the patent's "specific contribution over the prior art" — an unworkable test that would result in artificially low damages awards and increased litigation costs. Because damages are often the only remedy available to a small inventor, this ill-advised provision will decrease the value of patent property rights and undermine the ability of small firms to fend off large infringers.
Second,this Patent Act would make it mandatory for the U.S. patent office to post on the internet the details of all inventions only 18 months after date of application. The big winner of this nasty provision would be Asian pirates who sit at their computers and steal American inventions in the time period between posting on the internet at 18 months and 32 months, which is how long it takes for a patent to be granted.
Third, this Patent Act would abandon the American system of granting a patent to the first person to invent something new, and instead adopt the foreign system of granting a patent to the first person to file an application. There is no good reason to prefer any foreign procedure over the successful American system. And there is a mighty good reason not to: first-to-file would bring an avalanche of applications ground out by the large staffs of multinationals, leaving the small inventors buried in paper. It would also diminish patent quality by encouraging large companies to race to the patent office with poorly drafted applications.
Fourth, the Patent Act would create something called post-grant review, a process that would make it far easier for patent infringers to invalidate a patent anytime after it is issued, thereby making the inventor's property rights vulnerable and reducing his ability to attract venture capital. The big winners again would be the multinationals with lots of lawyers.
Add it all up, and it is clear that the new Patent "Reform" bill is a big attack on the constitutional property rights of individual inventors and small enterprises. About a third of all U.S.-origin patent applications are filed by individual inventors, small companies, universities, and non-profit groups. If Congress wants to do something constructive for our patent system, Congress should reinstate the rule that the Patent Office may not publish a patent application until a patent is granted, and if it is denied the application must be returned to the inventor, secrets intact. The Senate should vote NO on S. 1145, the Patent Reform bill. >Please Contact your senators!and urge them to vote NO!
Tags:cheats inventors, legislature, patent reform, patent system, property rights, US Senate, Eagle ForumTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor:In the Senate - Following morning business, the Senate resumes consideration of the motion to proceed to Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill asking for a report on a strategy to defeat al Qaeda and limit troop deployments (S. 2634). Yesterday the Senate voted to proceed with debate on the motion to proceed to the Feingold al Qaeda report bill. In the House: Democrats again blocked an attempt by Republicans to pass the Senate FISA modernization bill. House Democrats alsovoted against making permanent the child tax credit and the elimination of the marriage penalty. The House then passed a bill to raise taxes on oil & gas companies.
From Senate & News Sources: At a press conference this morning President Bush again called on the House Democrat leadership to vote on the Senate-passed FISA reform bill. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Vice Chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees respectively, held their own press conference last night calling for House passage of the Senate bill.
Unfortunately, according to The Washington Post, the response from House Democrat leadership was another accusation of “fear mongering” by House Democrat Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). CQ Todayhas noted that a group of 20 Blue Dog Democrats met with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer yesterday “and pressed for another vote [on FISA] before the spring recess, even if it means simply clearing the Senate-passed version of the bill — a course being pushed by the GOP.” Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), one of the leaders of Blue Dogs, said, “We don’t want for inaction to become the controversy.”
Of course, it’s not just the inaction of the House that is the controversy. It is also the degradation of our intelligence capacity, which Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Vito Fossella (R-NY) warn about in an op-ed in The Washington Times: “Half of all the information we obtain on future attacks against our nation comes from electronic surveillance, according to National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who warned that failure to pass the Senate bill will degrade all intercepts by two-thirds. We can't expect intelligence officials to connect the dots when they have one arm tied behind their back collecting them.”
Reps. King and Fossella also announced that they have begun organizing a discharge petition for the Senate FISA bill, “which would require a vote on [the] bill once a majority of the House signs onto the effort.” Meanwhile, the Senate is continuing debate on Sen. Feingold’s resolutions concerning Iraq and al Qaeda. Democrats are not particularly interested in this debate at the moment. As The Washington Post notes, “Rather than hold a final vote on either measure, the Senate could just shift its attention to the housing legislation.”
According to Roll Call, “The housing bill has little in common with the $156 billion economic stimulus of tax rebates, but that hasn’t stopped Democrats from dubbing it their ‘second stimulus’ bill. It’s a branding approach that Democrats said will be a common sight this year.” It's hard, though, to see how a bill whose effect would be to raise interest rates on mortgages is supposed to stimulate the economy. Tags:economic stimulus, FISA, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
"Obama Flakes" by Gary Varvel Tags:Barack Obama, Gary Varvel, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Competitive Enterprise Institute: CEI’s new online video spot, Where’s the Warming?, challenges global warming alarmists to justify their calls for restrictions on energy use. Carbon dioxide from man's energy use has continued to increase in the atmosphere in recent years, but recent studies show that average global temperatures have not.
The following two-minute YouTube video pays tribute to the famous “Where’s the Beef?” ads of two decades ago. It contrasts clips from Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, with actual temperature data. The basic alarmist contention is that we must restrict affordable energy use because CO2 is the most important determinant of global temperatures. But this year’s unexpectedly cold winter and, more importantly, the temperature trends of the last few years tell a different story. There has been practically no global warming in the last five years or more. Even prominent climate modelers have admitted natural factors are coming into play.
CEI Senior Fellow Iain Murray commented, "Temperatures ought to be at a peak, but instead they've held steady for at least the last five years and by some accounts, they've actually dropped. The case for urgent action to restrict energy use is getting weaker, not stronger. Given that affordable energy is the best hope of escape from poverty for billions around the globe, politicians need to ask themselves "where's the beef" before pushing their anti-energy policies."
Tags:Al Gore, beef, CEI, climate change, CO2, Competitive Enterprise Institute, global warming, Inconvenient TruthTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
In a prior post, we provided a link to Trumpet Gala 2007 in which Louis Farrakhan is the cover story on the November/December 2007 issue of Trinity United Church of Christ’s magazine run by the pastor's daughter. Farrakhan, minister for the Nation of Islam, received the church's “Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Trumpeteer” Award at the 2007 Trumpet Gala held on Nov. 2, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Although, the link was removed from the church's website, Sweetness and Light has saved the information on Barack Obama church leader honoring a Muslim leader with the church leader's "Lifetime Achievement" award. The following details the award: Tags:Barack Obama, Election 2008, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Muslim, Nation of IslamTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Universal Health Care at What Cost & What Individual Choice?
by Tony Perkins, FRC: In what could be the last debate between Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Il.), the two tangoed on several issues, but it was universal health care that stole center stage. The discussion quickly digressed into a contest of whose plan would cover the most people. But lost in the candidates' rosy promise of "health care for all" was the reality of what kind of policies will best preserve consumer choice, hold down skyrocketing costs by allowing market forces to work, and protect private rights of conscience. Although both candidates have retreated from the liberal dream of a government-run or "single-payer" health care system, the array of mandates they would impose on individuals, employers, and insurance companies would hardly result in the free market we need. The bureaucratic nightmare aside, entrusting the government with our health care also means allowing them to make value judgments on our core beliefs. They may let you choose your doctor, but probably won't let you choose an insurance plan that doesn't pay for abortion. Without competition, the quality of health care will suffer, while waste and inefficiency grow. Our system may need a dose of reform, but the cure is not abdicating our freedom and values to achieve it. Additional Resources Family Coverage Tags:Barack Obama, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, universal healthcareTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
With the passing of William F. Buckley, we lose a great conservative whose brilliant mind and distinctive voice carried out stirred many to the take a stand for conservative values. We will long continue to impact us through both his writings and many disciples of thought and principles. Below we quote from a voice of liberalism and appreciate their respectful comments about their nemesis in thought: New York Times: William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said. . . He was found at his desk in the study of his home, . . . “He might have been working on a column,” . . .
Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine, National Review. He also found time to write more than 45 books, ranging from sailing odysseys to spy novels to celebrations of his own dashing daily life, and edit five more. The more than 4.5 million words of his 5,600 biweekly newspaper columns, “On the Right,” would fill 45 more medium-sized books.
Mr. Buckley’s greatest achievement was making conservatism — not just electoral Republicanism, but conservatism as a system of ideas — respectable in liberal post-World War II America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Barry Goldwater in 1964, and saw his dreams fulfilled when Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office. To Mr. Buckley’s enormous delight, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., the historian, termed him “the scourge of liberalism.” . . . at National Review’s 30th anniversary in 1985, President Reagan joked that he picked up his first issue of the magazine in a plain brown wrapper and still anxiously awaited his biweekly edition — “without the wrapper.” “You didn’t just part the Red Sea — you rolled it back, dried it up and left exposed, for all the world to see, the naked desert that is statism,” Mr. Reagan said. “And then, as if that weren’t enough,” the president continued, “you gave the world something different, something in its weariness it desperately needed, the sound of laughter and the sight of the rich, green uplands of freedom.”
The liberal advance had begun with the New Deal, and so accelerated in the next generation that Lionel Trilling, one of America’s leading intellectuals, wrote in 1950: “In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation.” Mr. Buckley declared war on this liberal order, beginning with his blistering assault on Yale as a traitorous den of atheistic collectivism . . . George Will wrote in the National Review in 1980, “And before there was Ronald Reagan, there was Barry Goldwater, and before there was Barry Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was Bill Buckley with a spark in his mind, and the spark in 1980 has become a conflagration.” Mr. Buckley weaved [sic] the tapestry of what became the new American conservatism from libertarian writers like Max Eastman, free market economists like Milton Friedman, traditionalist scholars like Russell Kirk and anti-Communist writers like Whittaker Chambers. But the persuasiveness of his argument hinged not on these perhaps arcane sources, but on his own tightly argued case for a conservatism based on the national interest and a higher morality. His most receptive audience became young conservatives first energized by Barry Goldwater’s emergence at the Republican convention in 1960 as the right-wing alternative to Nixon. Some met in Sept., 1960, at Mr. Buckley’s Connecticut estate to form Young Americans for Freedom. . . . [Read More]See Also:Other Facts on William F. Buckley, Jr. Tags:conservatism, conservative, New York Times, Ronald Reagan, William Buckley, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, ARRA News Editor:With the growth and success of the ARRA News Servicesite and the update of the parent organization's website: Arkansas Republican Assemblysome of our viewers and email subscribers have experienced pop-up window identifying our old website domain (ar.gopwing.com) in a box and a request for password. Please ignore this. We are NOT collecting passwords or information on readers or subscribers.
We believe we have located and corrected the cause of this problem. It appears that the image in our Feedburner feed was still linked to our old domain verses new domain. We have corrected this problem. The image is now being extracted from the new site and all pop-up windows should stop occurring. We regret any problems regarding this issue. If anyone experiences this problem after 24 hours of this post, please email "webmaster "at" arragopwing.com". Thank you for subscribing to the ARRA News Service. Tags:ARRA, ARRA News Service, feed, subscriptionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today. The Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the Reid-Feingold Iraq withdrawal bill (S. 2633). Votes are possible on the withdrawal bill or on cloture on the motion to proceed to Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill asking for a report on the strategy to defeat al Qaeda and limit troop deployments (S. 2634).
Yesterday, senators voted70-24 to allow a debate on the Feingold Iraq troop withdrawal bill to proceed. The Senate also completed work on the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200), passing it by a vote of 83-10. Prior to passage, the Senate approved an amendment by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) which banned the use of Indian Health Service funds for abortions, with the standard Hyde amendment exceptions.
In the House, Republicans lost a motion appealing a ruling that their attempt to attach the Senate-passed FISA bill was not germane. Republicans also tried to block consideration of a public housing bill and instead consider the Senate FISA bill, but lost that vote 212-198.
From Senate & News Sources: CQ Today writes, “Senate Republicans seized an opportunity [yesterday] to turn what was supposed to be a quick clash over Iraq War policy into a much longer debate over an issue they see as breaking their way.” When Sen. Harry Reid attempted to bring up the latest Democrat bill mandating troop withdrawals from Iraq, Politicoreports, “Republicans used Reid’s move — and the unhappiness it caused among some in his party — to turn the tables on Democrats. Instead of blocking consideration of the troop withdrawal measure as expected, they called the Democrats’ bluff, voting to proceed to the bill and to devote as many as 30 hours of debate to it.”
Democrats had expected cloture on the motion to proceed to the Feingold bill to fail, and instead wanted to move on to the Democrats’ housing and mortgage proposals. Roll Call reports that Democrats were also grumbling about Reid’s decision to schedule a vote on the bill in the first place. After spending a year denouncing Republicans for opposing cloture on Democrat bills, Majority Whip Dick Durbin found himself in the awkward position of complaining about Republicans voting for cloture. Durbin “accused Republicans of ‘obstruction,’ even though the GOP had just voted to allow debate instead of blocking the Iraq bill,” notes Politico.
Senate GOP Leader McConnell explained the GOP move: “Since they’re [Democrats] the ones who want to turn back to the subject, we’d like to spend the time talking about the dramatic improvements in Iraq” over the last year thanks to the troop surge and Gen. David Petraeus’ counterinsurgency strategy. In light of the clear improved progress in Iraq, the Reid-Feingold bill looks divorced from reality. The Feingold proposal was written over 10 months ago, before all the surge troops were even in Iraq. Sen. McConnell summarized what the Feingold bill would “tear up the Petraeus Plan and cut off funds for the very troops who are carrying it out.”
National Review Online sharply criticized the Feigold bill today: “It would eviscerate our successful counterinsurgency campaign and squander all the progress we’ve made over the last year. . . . By enabling the return of al-Qaeda and stopping us from continuing to fight it effectively — while at the same time preventing us from enhancing the proficiency of our allies — Feingold-Reid would be a boon to our enemies. It’s the most shameful legislation in Congress since ... well, since the Democrats offered their last cutoff bill, in December.”
The Washington Times accused Senate Democrats of “living in a time warp,” adhering to “the pre-surge notion that the situation was hopeless when the facts say otherwise.” While Senate Democrats proposed yet another plan to declare defeat and withdraw from Iraq, House Democrats were busy blocking Republican attempts to get a vote on the crucial Senate-passed FISA modernization bill. Democrats voted down a Republican attempt to force a vote on the FISA billas well as a later attempt to add that bill to another the House was working on.
The Hill reports": Democratic leaders dialed up their rhetoric, accusing the administration of whipping up the public’s fear to hide its own questionable conduct. "They think they did something wrong and they don’t want it disclosed," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). "It has nothing to do with our nation’s security." ARRA Editor:Rep. Hoyer get your head out of where ever it is at! To say that FISA has nothing to do with national secutity shows your stupidity! Tags:Indian Health Service funds, no abortions, federal housing, FISA, Iraq War, military troops, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
WorldNetDaily: A decision by the Florida Board of Education to qualify evolution as a "theory" when the concept is taught in public schools has triggered a gusher of outrage from those faithful to Darwinian philosophy." Creationism is NOT science and is for fools who believe in fairy tales," wrote boston85 on a Tampa Bay Online forum after the state board simply voted to describe evolution as a "theory." It wasn't even considering allowing teaching alternative beliefs about the origins of the universe, such as creationism or intelligent design . . .[Read More]See also: Florida will teach evolution, but only as theory& Florida board approves evolution compromise Tags:creationism, education, evolution, Florida, intelligent design, theoryTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Media downplayed Bill Clinton's outburst at pro-life advocates
LifeNews.com: Former president Bill Clinton lashed out at pro-life advocates over the issue of abortion during an appearance in Ohio over the weekend. But the lack of news coverage of this outburst compared to other prior comments he's made on the campaign trial prompts one observer to chastise the mainstream media.As LifeNews.com reported, Clinton yelled at pro-life advocates and accused them of wanting to put women in jail who have had abortions . . . [Read More]See also:Former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders defends Bill Clinton's abortion diatribe (LifeNews.com)Tags:abortion, Bill Clinton, media bias, pro-lifeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The below excerpts address the cost andd Impact of illegal immigrants; two are from print articles and one is a video:
1) How immigration and inflation are linkedby Bonnie Erbe: "How are illegal immigration and inflation tied together? In 2005, Bear, Stearns Senior Managing Director Robert Justich and a team of his economists issued a study on the impact of illegal immigration on U.S. economic indicators. They found that undocumented immigrants account for some 8 percent of American workers, a much higher figure than the government reports. Justich's report explained that the number of people counted in productivity calculations is artificially boosted when there are more people working than are reported to the government. American productivity is based on the amount our economy produces divided by the number of people working. If there are a lot more people working than the government takes into account, this makes productivity look artificially high. It can also help to conceal underlying inflation."
2) India growing source of U.S. illegal immigrants by Mike Swift: Turning stereotypes on their head, a recent federal analysis of unauthorized immigration says the most rapidly growing source of illegal immigration is India -- the same country whose engineers and programmers help power Google and other Silicon Valley companies, whose doctors heal the Bay Area's sick, and whose entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have become a force on both sides of the international date line.
The U.S. Dept of Homeland Security estimates there are 270,000 unauthorized Indian natives in the United States -- a 125 percent jump since 2000, the largest percentage increase of any nation with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in the United States. . . . Yet, considering the high level of education of many Indians, immigration experts say the federal report hints at a new phenomenon: a highly-skilled undocumented workforce to go along with the nation's sizable numbers of low-skilled illegal workers.
If trends continue, within three years India would trail only Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala as a source of illegal immigration. Another national immigration expert, Jeffrey S. Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center, estimates that the number of illegal Indians is even higher, at 400,000 people. Virtually all entered the U.S. legally but violated the terms of their visas, say experts who study the nation's much maligned immigration system.
Does America "owe" the citizens of foreign nations jobs and money? And…NAFTA, was it really a bad thing?
Plus, our interview with Phyllis Schlafly
100% Preventable! American citizens continue to suffer and die due to open borders! When will the madness end?
Tags:El Salvadore, Guatemala, hiring illegals, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, Indian, inflation, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Dear Senator McCain:
It's been my pleasure sharing the stage with you this past year, as we have worked to promote our ideas to lead this county. I have the deepest respect for you as a person, politician, and an American hero – and I appreciate the way you have run such an issue-based, positive campaign.
Now that the race for the Republican nomination is down to just the two of us, I believe this is the time for a real discussion about our vision for the future of this great country. I encourage you to join me in a Lincoln Douglas-style debate so that voters can better understand our views on critical issues such as health care, education, energy independence, terrorism and national security.
Our Democratic counterparts, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have had recent opportunities to underscore the differences in their positions. It seems only fitting to me that Republican primary voters are offered the same.
I look forward to working with your staff to schedule this as soon as possible. I would suggest we set the debate before the March Fourth Primaries. It is my hope that one of the TV networks would offer to sponsor such an event.
Senator, let's lead by example and get the ball rolling. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this idea and debating you in front of the American people
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
Tags:debate, Election 2008, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidatesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
For some time, we have warned readers about Sen. Barack Obama's United Nations Global Poverty Act (S. 2433) which would place at risk the sovereignty of the citizen's of the United States. The bill has cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote last week – without any hearings.Phyllis Schlafly ask this week:
Why are Republicans in Congress trying to help Barack Obama? Republicans allowed a bill that carries his name, among nine others, to pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote last week – without any hearings. That means there was no roll-call vote so no member can be held accountable. The same bill passed the House by voice vote last year.
The Obama bill passed out of committee with the cooperation of the co-sponsor, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-IN, A Rhodes scholar like former President Bill Clinton. Lugar has never seen a United Nations enhancement he didn't like. Obama's costly, dangerous and altogether bad bill (S. 2433), which could come up in the Senate any day, is called the Global Poverty Act. It would commit U.S. taxpayers to spend 0.7 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on foreign handouts, which is at least $30 billion over and above the exorbitant and wasted sums we already give away overseas.
In a prior post: Voting McCain, we identifed Obama sponsorship of the United Nations “Global Poverty Act" which commits nations to banning “small arms and light weapons” and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We also sent out a Legislative Alert: Oppose Law of the Sea Treaty & Global Poverty Act and warned readers that Obama's Global Tax Up For Senate Vote.
As detailed by Schlafly, "The scariest phrase in the bill is "Millennium Development Goal."
There is much more to the Millennium Goals than merely extorting more money from U.S. taxpayers. The goals set forth a comprehensive plan to put the United States under U.N. global governance.
These goals include a "standing peace force" (i.e., a U.N. standing army), a "U.N. Arms Register" of all small arms and light weapons, "peace education" covering "all levels from preschool through university," and "political control of the global economy." The goals call for implementing all U.N. treaties that the United States has never ratified, all of which set up U.N. monitoring committees to compromise U.S. sovereignty.
To achieve this level of control over U.S. domestic law, the plan calls for "strengthening the United Nations for the 21st century" by "eliminating" the veto and permanent membership in the Security Council. The goal is to reduce U.S. influence to one out of 192 nations, so we would have merely the same vote as Cuba.
The Global Poverty Act would be a giant step toward the Millennium Goals of global governance and international taxes on Americans.
On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 10 PM today resumed consideration of the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200). A series of roll call votes on four amendments to the bill is expected this morning, followed by a vote on final passage. Among the amendments to be voted on is one by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) banning funds in the bill from being used to pay for abortions. After 2:30 PM, votes on motions to proceed to the Reid-Feingold Iraq withdrawal proposal (S. 2633) and another bill (S. 2634) requiring a report on fighting al Qaeda that would make recommendations based on limiting troop deployments.
Among the reruns in the Senate is the vote on another proposal by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) that would cut off funds for troops in Iraq 120 days after its enactment. This is a baffling proposal given all the progress that has been made in Iraq over the last year. As Sen. McConnell said on the floor this morning, “the outcome of the final vote on the Feingold bill is obvious: the U.S. Senate is on record not once but four times that it will not cut off funds while our troops are in the field. All the more so will we oppose it when the fight in Iraq, by all accounts, is showing clear-cut tactical progress, and now, at last, some important political progress is also being made.” Today is another demonstration of where the priorities of Democrats in Congress lie. Clearly, they need to be reevaluated.
In the House: It still appears to have no plans to bring up the Senate FISA bill. Instead, it will be voting on a bill to raise energy taxes on oil and gas companies, the first in a series of what Roll Call dubbed legislative “reruns” being offered by Congressional Democrats.
From Senate & News Sources: In National Review Online, Andrew McCarthyreminds us that it was 15 years ago today that terrorist first struck at the World Trade Center. It was a stroke of luck that the jihadists failed to kill as many as they’d planned to. McCarthy solemnly notes, though, “In hindsight, we now know [that] silver lining caused us to miss the ferocity and determination of our enemies.” Democrats have claimed that the White House and others pointing out our now degraded intelligence capabilities are engaged in “fear-mongering.” McCarthy addresses that argument in another articletoday and explains why “[w]e need aggressive, uninhibited surveillance authority.”
There is now little doubt as to our enemies’ intentions, making the need to know what they are doing and plotting all the more important. With that in mind, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell writes in Investor’s Business Daily today about the consequences of the ongoing failure of House Democrats to pass the bipartisan Senate FISA modernization bill: “House Democrats ignored a majority in Congress [which supported the Senate FISA bill] as well as the views of Adm. McConnell, whom Democrats and Republicans tapped three years ago to ‘connect the dots.’ Faced with an urgent warning by the director of national intelligence, House Democrats closed up shop and went home. That decision, according to top intelligence officials, left the U.S. more vulnerable to attack.”
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Kit Bond (R-MO), House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) agrees: “We are less safe today and will remain so until Congress clears up the legal uncertainty for companies that assist in collecting intelligence for the government -- and until it gives explicit permission to our intelligence agencies to intercept, without a warrant, foreign communications that pass through the U.S.” Tags:American Indian Health, FISA, Iraq War, terrorism, troop surge, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tony Perkins, FRC: When Congress returned this week from its 10-day recess, several pieces of legislation await--not the least of which are two bills that could determine whether American taxpayers will become the biggest patrons of global abortion. As part of the bill to reauthorize health coverage for Native Americans, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) has proposed an amendment to ensure that "health care" does not include tax-funded abortion. Vitter's proposal mirrors that of the Hyde amendment, which prevents the federal government from funding abortion through Medicaid. Because the Indian Health Service (IHS) is subsidized by Interior Department appropriations, the Hyde amendment does not apply. If the measure passes, the longstanding policy would be codified, and IHS could not use government funds to pay for abortion-on-demand. Please call your senators at 202-224-3121 and ask them to support the Vitter amendment to S.1200. While you're at it, urge them to preserve the ABC model in this week's battle for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The current PEPFAR program, one-third of which is dedicated to abstinence-only programs, is set to expire this year. President Bush has called for Congress to double the initial $15 billion budget, which would raise PEPFAR's 2009-2013 budget to $30 billion, while Democrats hope to more the triple the spending at $50 billion. If the federal government hopes to spare more lives from the devastation of HIV/AIDS, abortion is not the answer. Abstinence and fidelity are. Contact your senators! Tags:American Indian Health, FRC, PEPFAR, Tony PerkinsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
London Telegraph: Ralph Nader, the consumer rights activist blamed by many Democrats for losing them the 2000 election, announced he is to make another independent attempt to win the presidency. Making his announcement on NBC's Meet the Press, he said if the Democrats could not win this year by a "landslide," despite his involvement, then "they should just close down" . . . [Read More] Tags:Election 2008, Independent, presidential candidate, Ralph NaderTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Georgia pro-life activist arrested on public sidewalk
Christian Newswire: As things begin to heat up in a busy legislative session in Georgia, and state lawmakers fight over their own special interests some of these political tensions have clearly lead to the arrest of one demonstrator this week. Robert Roethlisberger Jr., of Clarkston, Georgia, was arrested on Feb. 15, 2008, while holding a sign promoting House Resolution 536 known as the "Human Life Amendment." It is an attempt to place on this year's election ballot an amendment to the state Constitution that would protect human life at every stage of development. "Having been arrested for criminal trespass while standing on a street corner can only give you the idea that someone wants your message to disappear," said Roethlisberger. . . . [Read More] Tags:Georgia, Human Life Amendment, pro-lifeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Drudge Report posted a photo circulated by Clinton staffers over the weekend of a "dressed" Barack Obama. The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat front runner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa. Allegedly, a Hillary Clinton campaign staff member asked,"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?"
ARRA News Service Editor: We do not see anything wrong with people trying on the "garb" of their ancestors. Scottish-Americans dress up in quilts, etc. However, in Sen. Obama's situation, our concern extends not to his ancestral interest but to the beliefs to which he has continued to associate himself and his family. We could overlook his Muslim heritage and maybe his recent endorsement by the minister of the Nation of Islam because Obama claims to be a Christian. However, in viewing the stated description of his church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL, we find that his church has detailed an intolerant form of Christianity: "We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. . . . We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community. . . . A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA. A congregation committed to LIBERATION. A congregation committed to RESTORATION. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY." We find none of these segregationist ideals presented in Scripture. Thus, we are concerned! If Sen. Obama believes and supports such commitments, how can we believe he would be a president of all the people. Imagine the outcry if these same statements were written down for the churches of other candidates only substituting the word White, Irish, German, Vietnamese (or any other color or racial epithet) for the word Black. Tags:Barack Obama, Drudge Report, Election 2008, presidential candidate, racismTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Radical Muslim Leader Praises - "Endorses" - Obama
Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan during a Chicago speech Sunday spent most of his two-hour remarks praising Barack Obama:
“This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better. . . . This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama’s audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed. . . . Why do you hate him so that you want to make me a stumbling block? I want to see that brother successful and I don't want them to use me or that Nation of Islam."
Farrakhan's speech culminated a 3 day event geared toward unifying “Nation of Islam” followers, a group of mostly blacks who, amongst other things, have often preached separatism of black and non-black cultures. Farrakhan pointed out that the Nation of Islam’s founder, Fard Muhammad, also had a white mother and black father. “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.”
Farrakhan's two-hour speech, titled "The Gods At War -- The Future is All About Y.O.U.th," closed the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day Convention, which commemorates the birth of the movement's founder, Wallace D. Fard Muhammad. According to the Nation of Islam:
"We beleive that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited "Messiah" of the Christians and the "Mahdi" of the Muslims. We believe further and lastly that Allah is God and besides HIM there is no god and He will bring about a universal government of peace wherein we all can live in peace together.
After Farrakhan's speech, some Nation of Islam members such as Jabari Muhammad, said Farrakhan's comments had changed their opinions of Obama. In the Nation of Islam in the US, a political recommendation by Farrakhan of a candidate of one candidate over another is more than a “suggestion”; it is more of a command for the ‘congregation’ to vote for that candidate. Tags:Barack Obama, Democrat, Election 2008, endorsement, Louis Farrakhan, Muslim, Nation of IslamTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor: Their Back! The Senate reconvenes at 3 PM today and following a reading of George Washington’s Farewell Address will resume consideration of the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200). A cloture vote to cut off debate on a substitute amendment by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is expected at 5:30 PM. Work on the bill could be completed Tuesday.
Tomorrow, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to another bill mandating troop withdrawals from Iraq is expected. Politico referred to the measure as “doomed” on Friday. A vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to a bill by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) demanding more reports from the administration on the War on Terror is also expected.
The House also reconvenes this afternoon. House GOP Conference Chairman Adam Putnam notes, “House Democrats face a stark choice: They can continue on the political course they have embraced - or they can prove that their complacency was but a momentary lapse of judgment, and give the bipartisan Senate bill the up-or-down vote it deserves.”
From Senate & News Sources:CongressDaily reports that bills concerning energy tax hikes, housing and foreclosure issues, and South American trade agreements could see floor action before Easter. The annual budget showdown is also likely to begin in the next three weeks.
Congress will begin a second week of degraded intelligence gathering thanks to House Democrats’ refusal to pass the bipartisan Senate bill modifying FISA. On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey sent a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) explaining the issues the intelligence community faces with the expiration of the Protect America Act last week. They wrote in part, “Our experience in the past few days since the expiration of the Act demonstrates that these concerns are neither speculative nor theoretical: allowing the Act to expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill has had real and negative consequences for our national security. Indeed, this has led directly to a degraded intelligence capability.”
Matthew Continetti has an excellent piece in the Weekly Standard discussing the background of the FISA fight. Continetti writes, “Speaker Pelosi continues to indicate she will not allow a vote on the bipartisan Senate surveillance bill. This demonstrates a fundamental lack of seriousness about national security on the part of congressional Democrats.”Tags:FISA, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, blocking vote, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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