Call Congress Back Into Session #dontgo

Read & Sign --> Call Congress Back -- Join US!

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Tags: congress, gas prices, House Republicans, oil drilling To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Americans Want To Produce More Energy - Today in Washington D. C. - Aug 7, 2008 #dontgo

House Republicans are expected to continue their floor protest today and through the rest of the week. We hope they many of their collegues will return and continue it even longer. Not only Republicans, but American's object to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to close down debate in the House and leave town without holding a vote on legislation to lower gas prices.

The editors at National Review Online in a must-read editorial yesterday blasted Democrats for being “on the wrong side of the of the most important issue to Americans right now” and urging Republicans to “keep applying pressure” on oil exploration. The editors write,

“Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid find themselves on the wrong side of
the drilling question, and it has thrown their party into disarray. All three
Democrats are tangled on the same tripwire: Their friends in the environmental
movement want to stop oil exploration. Unlike most politicians, who face public
outcry when gas gets pricey, environmental groups are willing to argue that gas
should to be more expensive in order to make alternative sources of energy seem
cost-efficient by comparison.”

Appearing on The Dennis Miller Show yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was critical of this attitude, saying,

“For years they actually thought that high gas prices were a good idea.
Most liberals have always thought that gas tax increases were a good idea and
high-price gas was a good idea, thereby just forcing less consumption. Of
course, that is a very, very elitist notion. Unless you’re fortunate
enough to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and can run downstairs and
get on the subway, most Americans depend on their automobiles to get their kids
to school, to get to work, and to get to the grocery store.”

Today, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) notes,

“From my travels across this state, it is clear that Minnesotans are united in
the belief that any solution to our nation’s energy crisis that doesn’t produce
a single drop more of oil is half-hearted. . . . I believe the most effective
way to lower prices is to increase supply while lowering demand – it’s basic
economics. The great news is that America is blessed with the tools to affect
both supply and demand, if Congress would just act to unlock the nation’s energy
potential. . . . Not only did Democratic leaders block a vote on my
amendment, but they went so far as to object to drilling even if gas were to
reach $10 a gallon. How high do prices have to get before producing more becomes
a viable option?”

Democrats seem content to sit back and try to wait out the outcry from their constituents to produce more American energy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told The Hill reporters on a conference call yesterday, “maybe, in a month, I’ll let everyone, kind of, cool down and approach it [energy] a little differently than we have in the past.” Reid may be dismissive of calls for increasing domestic energy supplies, but Americans are not about to cool down on such a critical issue. Witness the success of the Don’t Go Movement, where people are cheering on House Republicans to keep up the pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to come back to Washington and allow a vote on more oil drilling.

As NRO says, “It’s time to keep applying pressure.”

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Tags: gas prices, oil drilling, 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!

Supply Matters

Morning Bell: Political experts across the country keep asking why Barack Obama continues to conspicuously fail to cross the 50% threshold against John McCain . . . . It may have something to do with the fact that the top issues on voters’ minds this year are energy and the economy, and voters just are not buying the left’s solutions. Look closely at the laundry list of plans the left has put forward (from both Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House and Barack Obama’s campaign): higher taxes on oil companies, new restrictions on oil commodity markets, forcing oil companies to drill where there is no oil, releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, free money for everybody, increased fuel efficiency mandates, increased infrastructure spending, government investments in electric cars, etc. What do all of these “solutions” have in common? None of them increase our energy supply.

The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) numbers show the U.S. currently has 986,000 megawatts of capacity to supply the nation’s demand for electricity. EIA predicts that over the next 20 years, the U.S. will need another 292,000 megawatts to keep the economy running. To meet that demand, EIA sees 54% and 36% of that new capacity coming from coal and natural gas power plants. Currently, solar, wind and geothermal power contribute only 1% of our nation’s energy. There is simply no way these sources can produce enough electricity to meet the energy needs of a growing U.S. economy.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) . . . new tactic: “a new theme portraying GOP support for drilling as a giveaway to big oil companies.” Like all the other tactics the left has tried on energy, this one also does nothing to increase energy supply. But Schumer does have a point, the United States needs a lot more than more oil drilling to meet its energy needs. But only conservatives are offering solutions that include more energy. The plans coming from John McCain and congressional conservatives have their differences . . . but they both share one thing in common: they take an “all of the above” approach to expanding U.S. energy supply. Many conservatives are less than impressed with McCain’s arbitrary target of 45 new nuclear power plants . . . but at least McCain is paying more than lip service to nuclear’s future.

Obama’s energy plan calls for “1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars” by 2015. Where does he think these cars will get the electricity needed to run? We suggest he start looking in all the federal lands that his environmental allies have restricted from natural gas production. The EIA estimates there are 83.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in these areas alone.

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Tags: Barack Obama, energy plan, energy policy, energy prices, John McCain, natural gas prices, nuclear energy, oil prices, Supply and Demand To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Cattle-Car Airport "Security"

Paul Jacob, Common Sense: One of the biggest post-9/11 policy blunders was the Sovietization of airport security. Some TSA screeners try to be civil even as they grab your almost-empty tube of toothpaste, as if there were a security risk there. A few seem to be in a permanent bad mood, ready to snarl if you give the least evidence of expecting civility.

You can actually be arrested just for “distracting” a TSA officer. What counts as an actionable distraction? Who knows? Let’s just say that despite all the new and mysterious “security” precautions, passengers with inquisitive minds are hardly secure from the security personnel themselves. Alas, excuses for surliness are about to multiply. By the end of the year, the TSA wizards are promising to install some 600 “behavior detection officers” in airports. Their job will be to interpret your facial twitches to see if you have bad intentions. I’m not kidding. Let’s say you manifest disgust with how the screeners are treating you. Hmm. Very suspicious.

Rampant rudeness is unavoidable in such a system. The TSA screeners do monotonous work all day long, and any “mistake” or comment that someone makes may have been perpetrated 200 times already that day. And these irritated bureaucrats have the power to make life very tough for you. And me. Let’s face it: A cattle-car-like security regime is going to treat people like cattle. This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Tags: airport security, Common Sense, Paul Jacob, TSA To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Mike Huckabee Revamped!

H/T to One Mom for letting us know:

There’s a revamped version of MikeHuckabee.com. Stop by and read what Mike is up to and what he stands for … 2012 isn’t THAT far away!

Although the site is a seperate site from HuckPac, the site is "Paid for by Huck PAC, Inc." This fact alone means former Gov. and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is still looking at political options for the future. Now if we could only get him to defeat Sen Blanche Lincoln in two years.

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Tags: 2012, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, website To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

China Turns Away Joey Cheek

Tony Perlins, FRC: Mere days before China hoped to show the world its hospitable side, the regime made a bad first impression when it was revealed that the government has denied a visa to Olympic gold-medalist Joey Cheek. The speed skater, who is cosponsoring Team Darfur to draw attention to the human rights violations in the war-torn region, hoped to attend the Games to cheer on the other 70 athletes who signed on to compete in honor of Darfur. Although the U.S. government is protesting the decision, few expect the Chinese to bend. If Cheek is banned from Beijing, it will only serve as further confirmation to those who doubted China's sincerity in welcoming Western values of free speech and religion. While Cheek is a social justice activist, he's also an Olympic champion with philanthropic ties to the Sudanese. Like many others, we encourage the International Olympic Committee to help right this wrong and pressure China to reinstate Cheek, who has more than earned the right to appear at the Games in support of this worthy cause. [China revokes ex-speedskater Joey Cheek's visa]

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Tags: China, Darfur, FRC, H-2B visa, human rights, Joey Chek, Olympics, Tony Perkins To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Christian Publishers Sued

Kerby Anderson, Point of View: A Michigan man is suing two Christian publishers for emotional distress and mental instability because of their Bible translations. He is a homosexual and blames them for his emotional problems because their Bibles refer to homosexuality as a sin.

As I point out in my book, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality, various denominations and gay theologians have been trying to rewrite the Bible concerning homosexuality. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone would sue the publishers for their Bible translations.

The homosexual man bringing the lawsuit contends that the Bible translations refer to homosexuals as sinners and only reflect an individual opinion or a group's conclusion. In particular, he argues that deliberate changes made to 1 Corinthians 6:9 are to blame. They have, according to him, caused homosexuals "to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence."

First, let me say that verbal or physical actions toward homosexuals or other people are wrong and should be condemned. But the Bible or a Bible translation should not be blamed for what sinful people do to others. Even when we may disagree with someone, we should always be gracious and always treat others with respect.

Second, we should take the Christian publishers at their word. One of the publishers stated that they do not translate the Bible nor even own the copyright for the translation. Instead, they "rely on the scholarly judgment of the highly respected and credible translation committees behind each translation."

The problem that this homosexual man and other gay activists have is not really with a Christian publisher. It is with the Word of God itself. God intended that sex is to be between a man and a woman in marriage. Any other sex outside of marriage is sinful and wrong. This homosexual man's problem is not with a particular Bible translation. It is with God Himself. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

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Tags: Bible, Christian, gay activist, homosexuality, Kerby Anderson To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Your Voice is Being Heard on Capitol Hill

Dave Ryan, President of American Solutions: Poll after poll shows that we are winning the argument about how to lower gas and diesel prices and develop more American energy now. But the even bigger news is that the anti-energy elites are desperately worried. They are not only criticizing us, but they are admitting that they are losing the argument.

And friends, that's big. In fact, considering the source, that's huge. Recently, liberal group MoveOn.org in an email to their supporters sounded dejected. They wrote "Here's the truth: Right now, progressives are losing this argument." That can mean only one thing - WE ARE WINNING THIS ARGUMENT! In the energy debate, common sense is winning and it's got the anti-energy elites rattled because they offer no solutions to lowering gas and diesel prices.

American Solutions, on the other hand, has taken a bold stand and has been leading the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" movement that has energized millions of Americans around a positive solution. Because of your help and the help of more than a million others, today an overwhelming majority of Americans support opening up new areas for exploration and drilling of American oil and gas, including offshore. . . . there is still more work to be done. Congress has left for a 5-week vacation without doing anything to address the soaring cost of gas and diesel. This inaction is unacceptable to the American people, many of whom can't afford a vacation this year.

Earlier today, American Solutions held a press conference with Speaker Gingrich and Members of Congress still in Washington working to pass an energy bill. Our message to them was simple: On behalf of the 1.4 million Americans who have signed the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition, it's time for Congress to take immediate action to lower gas and diesel prices. The Video --->

Now more than ever, we need your help to keep the pressure on Congress. You can help by forwarding this email to 5 of your friends, telling them we are winning the argument, and urging them to sign the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition. If we get 2 million petition signatures we will make a big impact at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Thank you for all you are doing - we're really making a difference.

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Tags: American Solutions, Dave Ryan, drill here, drill now, Newt Gingrich, offshore drilling, pay less, petitions To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Pray for Rain - Aug 28th in Denver

Citizenlink Video Removed by Source.

Stuart Shepard is looking for people who will pray for rain -- on a certain day, at a certain time, in a certain location. If you conservative, pro-life, in favor of marriage as being between one man and one woman and would like the next president to be one who will select Justices that agree with the same, Join Shepard in praying for an unanticipated, unforcasted rain that beings 2 minutes before "the speech" is set to begin on Aug 28th at Mile High stadium in Denver, Colorado.

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Tags: CitizenLink, Colorado, Denver, Rain, Stoplight, Stuart Shepard To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Interview of Mike Huckabee

Catalyst Podcast: Listen in to this exclusive interview with Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and 2008 presidential candidate as we discuss leadership and the role of evangelicals in the political realm. The interview is on podcast - click to listen: Episode_55_-_Mike_Huckabee_2nd_edit.mp3

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

World Court Interfers with US and Texas' Soverignty

Update 8/5/08 - Murder/Rapist Jose Medellin Executed - pronounced dead at 9:57 p.m. Medellin, 33, was condemned for participating in the 1993 gang rape, beating and strangling of Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14. He and five fellow gang members attacked the Houston girls as they were walking home on a June night, raped and tortured them for an hour, then kicked and stomped them before using a belt and shoelaces to strangle them. Note: One of Medellin's fellow gang members, Derrick O'Brien, was executed two years ago. Another, Peter Cantu, the ringleader of the group, is on death row. Two others, Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court barred executions for those who were 17 at the time of their crimes. The sixth person convicted, Medellin's brother, Vernancio, was 14 at the time and is serving a 40-year prison term.
Update 7/17/08 - Gov. Rick Perry said that Texas will proceed with the scheduled Aug. 5 execution of Houston rapist-killer Jose Medellin despite Wednesday's United Nations world court order for a stay. "The world court has no standing in Texas and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It's very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for killing our citizens." [Source] Note that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that Texas has no obligation to grant Medellin a new hearing, regardless of what the World Court says. See Medellin v. Texas, No. 06-984.) ARRA Summary: Don't Mess With Texas (Rape & Kill Children)! It seems that the needle is a little to easy on Rapist and Murderer Medellin who lead gang members to rape two girls for over an hours and then killed them.

[7/16/08]: The U.N.'s highest court today ordered the United States to stay the executions of five Mexicans on Texas death row pending review of their cases. Mexico had appealed to the World Court to block the executions. At hastily convened hearings last month, Mexico argued that the United States is defying a 2004 International Court of Justice order to review the cases of 51 Mexicans sentenced to death by state courts. The World Court, the tribunal is the U.N.'s judicial arm for resolving disputes among nations. Its decisions are binding and final, but it has no enforcement powers. Will the U.S. Supreme Court or President Bush interfere with Texas' sovereignty. What will the reaction of Texas' Governor Rick Perry be in regard to this order? . . . . [Read More

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Tags: death penalty, death sentence, illegal aliens, Mexico, Texas, United States, World Court To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ilegality of Illegal Aliens Attending College

Letter to Editor by Bobbie Warner*, Little Rock, Arkansas:

Laura Kellams, in a recent news story, stated," It's just a question of how much the students should pay to attend, not whether they can attend. Higher Education officials say no law requires colleges and universities to verify students' legal status for admission." Kellams' statements could be propaganda. She quoted a Department of Homeland Security statement that it "does not require any school to determine a student's status,"but she doesn't give the rest of the story.

According to Internet blogs, the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's Pat Reilly said that the only way foreign nationals can attend college in the United States legally is through the agency's International Student Exchange and Visitors Program. Reilly explained why they don't go after the illegal aliens in colleges: The agency is more worried about enforcing immigration law in the workplace because it's the prospect of jobs that lures immigrants to the country illegally in the first place.

In 8 U. S. C. Section 1621, postsecondary education is listed as one of the state and local benefits for which illegal aliens are not eligible. Then why shouldn't the question be whether illegal aliens can attend college in Arkansas? This is a question numerous citizens should ask our governor since Mike Beebe was quoted by The Associated Press as saying," If you don't like the law, you try to change it in the way this country was set up and designed to change the law."

[*This letter to the editor was provided by email. The letter was also provided to newspapers and the NW Edition of the Arkansas-Democrat Gazzette also ran it today under the title: "Attendance is question."]

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

Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever the Politics Demand

Listen to Obama in his own words on Iraq:
What I said -- No, No -- What I said ...

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Tags: Barack Obama, documentary, election, Election 2008, GOP, Iraq, judgment, national security, peace, Politics, video, war To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Dems Dance Around GOP's Drilling Session

H/T to Mike Church for the following:

The House Republicans refused to leave on Friday and called their own informal session to demand a vote on offshore drilling expansion. . . . Congressional Dems adjourned anyway for a 5 week paid vacation, and Nancy Pelosi ordered the CSPAN cameras to be shut off. The Republicans were giving speeches on high gas prices and she had he lights turned off in the middle of their speeches on top of that!

There is another element to the whole issue of oil and energy. In the East people are already starting to cut trees down for heat in the winter to anticipate the high cost of oil. People are not going to wait for someone to solve this problem, and they are being repsonsible to provide for their famillies. It’s Nazi Pelosi and the enviormentalists that are being irresponsible. Are the libs going to start saying we cannot chainsaw our way out of a heating problem? My point is that you are not waiting, yet it bothers me that we have such a high tolerance for our leaders. You are not going to change the laws of supply and demand . . . and you are a fool if you wait on the Congress to come wipe your butt, fill your tank, or heat your home.

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Tags: Democrats, environmentalists, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, oil drilling To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama's Energy Plan - Socialism in Action

Courtesy of Tempus Fugit:

Barack Obama’s plan to reduce the economic burden of gasoline prices is to tax the oil companies, and give $1,000 “rebate” checks to consumers. Which, of course, will result in oil companies raising the price of their product to make up for the additional cost of the tax, erasing any benefit (and raising the price of everything that uses oil to get to its destination). Consumers lose, as oil prices and the price of everything goes up. The oil companies lose a little, as the increased price somewhat mutes demand (gasoline is inelastic, but not completely so), and the government gains more power. Hooray for big government solutions.

To quote Scot Martin, "You tell me, is this politics as usual or "hope and change?" Or hopeless usualness?"

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Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, energy plan, socialism To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Rush: On Top Because of Courage

by Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum: Rush Limbaugh's 20-year domination of talk radio is a remarkable testament to the durability of conservative ideas as well as to Rush's skill and courage in explaining controversial conservative principles in an entertaining style. Rush has been the top-rated radio talk show since rankings started 17 years ago, and nobody else is even close. Listeners realize his extraordinary talent for timing and relevance anytime he uses a substitute host.

One of the secrets of Rush's success is that he is not intimidated into appeasing the organized pressure groups that frighten so many others into platitudinous mush. He takes them all on: the radical feminists, the wacky environmentalists, the open-borders crowd, and even George W. Bush's deviation from conservatism. From the get-go, even in the feminists' glory days of the 1980s when they were fawned over by the national media, Rush was not scared off. He is one of a handful of men in public life willing to stand up to the feminists. When feminists make outrageous demands, Rush calls them feminazis. When feminists insist that he apologize for a remark contrary to their agenda, he makes a joke about it but does not apologize. . . .

Rush is the most important and influential conservative since Ronald Reagan. It's astounding that after 20 years on the air, he continues to draw an audience of 20 million people per week. Without a script, Rush can hold an audience for three hours a day, five days a week. He entertains, informs and teaches with plenty of solid, fact-based arguments that, for many Americans, is the only conservative message they ever hear. . . .

Liberals can do well reading a speech from a teleprompter (look closely at Barack Obama's televised coverage and note the teleprompter placed inconspicuously in the corner of the screen). But very few liberals are sufficiently well informed and internally confident to talk for three hours on a live microphone without goofing, and even take random questions from callers. Many others are afraid to criticize the media darling, Barack Obama, but Rush says, "I'm not going to bow to political correctness. I'm going to do it with humor. I'm going to focus on the issues. I'm going to react to what he says. Simple."

But it isn't simple. Before Rush, there wasn't interesting talk radio. There were only sour liberals who pontificated to a shrinking audience. Rush turned AM radio into a lively genre where liberals are completely outclassed because they are boring, just regurgitating tired notions that are a proven failure and can't be intelligently defended. Al Sharpton says that Rush is "the most dangerous guy we have to deal with on the right." Indeed, he is.

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Tags: Phyllis Schlafly, Rush Limbaugh, talk radio To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The People's House, Not Pelosi's Politburo

The Foundry - Morning Bell: This Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi again promised to use all her power to prevent the House from voting on any measure that would allow new oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf. A majority of Americans support new oil exploration in these regions. Pelosi has tried to prevent the House from even debating whether or not to increase domestic energy production, but this past Friday a small group of conservatives took over the House floor after Democrats voted to go on a five-week paid vacation.

After the vote to adjourn, 48 conservatives simply refused to leave, continuing to speak from the well of the House floor. The lights were turned off, the microphones were shut off, and the C-SPAN cameras were ordered to go dark, but the remaining members stayed to do the people’s business. Reporters were asked to leave the speaker’s lobby but the remaining conservatives escorted the press one by one to a press gallery directly above it. When Capitol Police closed the tourist galleries, the House members invited the visitors down to the chamber floor. A boy in the visitors gallery asked, “When do you think you’re going to get this vote?” Republican Policy Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) declared, “This is the People’s House. This is not Pelosi’s Politburo.”

Asked Sunday why she refused to participate in a debate on increased domestic oil exploration, Pelosi said she refused to “mislead the American people as to thinking it’s going to reduce the price at the pump.” This is a common talking point for Pelosi and her global warming alarmist allies. And they almost always cite the same Energy Information Administration study that “any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.” But the left, as always, does not tell you the whole story. First of all, the study only looks at possible oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf. It does not even consider the combined impact of ANWR and Outer Continental Shelf oil production. Furthermore, the study only analyzes a possible Outer Continental Shelf ban lifting in 2012. Conservatives want to lift the ban today.

But more importantly, the left simply does not understand how markets, particularly commodity markets, work. The purpose of commodity markets is to send signals to producers and consumers today about expected supply and demand conditions in the future. Since prices in commodity markets are set at the margins, even a small amount of expected increased future production can have significant price impacts today. . . .

In other words, the concept that anticipated increased oil production in the future can significantly lower prices today is so fundamental that new research proving the point is too redundant to be published. The EIA estimates that there is more than 31 billion barrels of oil in ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf combined. Compare that to just the 22 billion barrels of proven oil reserves the United States has today.

More conservatives will return to the House floor again this morning to resume the debate on our energy future. . . . [The People’s House, Not Pelosi’s Politburo]

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Tags: ANWR, congress, Democrats, domestic oil production, energy, gas prices, Nancy Pelosi, OCS, oil prices, oil reserves, Politburo, Republicans, US House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The American Lula

The following is written by a Brazilian who is obviously concerned about the survival of America. While many in the world would like us to join them in their slide into socialism, others in the world want America to remain the guiding light of freedom and independence. This author gives voice to what many of us have either thought in passing or noticed but few have been willing to voice . While we will probably never meet Olavo de Carvalho, we welcome his article. The article has been translated by Alessandro Cota and Bruno Mori.

by Olavo de Carvalho, Jornal do Brasil, July 24, 2008: Besides listening to the national anthem with his hands over his genitals instead of over his heart, Barack Hussein Obama has adulterated the presidential seal so as to make it into one of his campaign logos, declared that the American flag is “a symbol of oppression,” and, as a finishing stroke, removed the stars and stripes from the tail of his campaign jet, replacing them with the “O” that stands for. . . himself.

More than plain and simple contempt, this attitude denotes a conscious effort at destroying the national symbols. This effort, in its turn, does not require symbolic interpretation: its meaning is self-evident. It gives electoral expression to the cultural war that has been waged against the United States, from within and from abroad, ever since the sixties: the point is to erect, upon the rubble of patriotism and sovereignty, a new system of loyalties, based on the alliance between every anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Christian hatred and the billionaire interests engrossed in the implementation of the world government. The clearest token of this alliance are the candidate’s sources of funding: radical and pro-terrorist groups, on the one side, and the globalist egafortunes plus the mainstream media in full, on the other. Hence the vigor of his campaign, which has four times as much money as his opponent’s and—without any exaggeration—gets twenty or thirty times as much media coverage.

With this backup, he presumes not only to defy every convention but also to trample on the most elementary legal requirements: after withholding for months his birth certificate, he at last produced a manifestly spurious one (see . . .). The original document, which is still missing, is necessary to clear up an essential question: Is Obama an American citizen, or is he an alien and therefore ineligible? The concealment and the subsequent fraud speak in favor of the latter hypothesis, but the steadfast enthusiasm of Obamaniacs, contrasting with their absolute lack of interest in clarifying this question, shows that they would rather demolish the American electoral system at one blow than allow Republicans to stay in power: the new system of loyalties is already in force, placing over national integrity the partisan ambitions of the Left.

With the same self-confident insolence, Obama’s government plans run flagrantly counter to the will of the majority, without the candidate having to fear the loss of even a single vote. The nation wants gas prices down; Obama promises to send them up, by maintaining the ban on new oil drilling. America wants to see illegal immigrants depart; Obama promises not only to grant them amnesty but also to give them taxpayer-funded health care. The nation wants fewer taxes; Obama promises to create a few more. If millions of American citizens who think and want the opposite of what Obama does have sworn to vote for Obama for president, it is not on account of what he promises, but in spite of his promising them even hell itself. The attraction of the hypnotic image is stronger than the cost-benefit analysis.

Obama’s campaign is a work of precision psychological engineering, planned not to win over voters through rational persuasion, but to weaken, shock, and stupefy them to the point of making them accept every loss, every humiliation, every defeat, just in order not to contradict the assumed moral obligation to elect him, it being of little importance whether he actually is an enemy in disguise. Here is what Obama is demanding—and obtaining—from voters: that they sacrifice everything to a fetish, that they do so to some extent consciously, sharing therefore the blame for the operation and becoming in advance unable to fight against it once it has been accomplished.

We have already seen this operation be carried out in Brazil, on the basis of the stereotypical image of the “worker president,” against whose crimes and perfidies no one can raise an audible voice anymore, for everyone, dragged by the psychological blackmail, became an accomplice somehow in the rite of sacrifice before the altar of the idol.

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Tags: America, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Obama, Brazil To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Call Congress Back Into Session

Sign Rep Cantor's Online Petition: Call Congress Back Into Session.

The Situation: Gas prices are out of control. House Republicans have a plan to lower gas prices, a plan that has the votes to pass. Speaker Pelosi refuses to allow a vote. In fact, she just shut down Congress for a five-week paid vacation.

House Republicans took the floor demanding a vote for an energy plan to lower gas prices. Pelosi turned off the lights, the microphones, and the tv cameras. House Republicans refused to give up. With the cameras off, and no television audience, these Republicans spoke passionately for their belief that Congress must not wait to do something about skyrocketing gas prices that are causing families to suffer.

Democrats in Congress have done nothing to lower your gas prices. They have refused to allow a vote and now they have decided to take a vacation. It is truly ironic that, in a year when many American families are canceling their vacation plans because of high gas prices, House Democrats are taking theirs before doing anything to lower those gas prices. Sign Rep Cantor's Online Petition: Call Congress Back Into Session.

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Tags: congress, gas prices, House Republicans, oil drilling To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Today in Washington D. C. - Aug 4, 2008 - Democrats Abandon Responsibility

Congress is out on its August recess (until Sept. 8th) -- or at least the Democrats are. House Republicans on Friday started a floor protest to support the majority of the Americans who want Congress to lift the ban on drilling. The Republicans have declared their intentions to resume their protest this week. GOP Leader John Boehner wrote in a press release, “House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.”

While in recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is again playing games and has scheduled pro forma sessions for the Senate during the recess, in order to prevent the president from making recess appointments. The Senate will not conduct business but it will have someone open and close the Senate on Aug. 5, Aug. 8, Aug. 12, Aug. 15, Aug. 19, Aug. 22, Aug. 29, Sept. 2 and Sept. 5. This effort is solely being used by Reid to prevent the President from appointing people to critical positions for the remaining five months until the new Congressional term begins Instead of allowing the Senate to do its responsibility, Reid continues to block Senators from voting up or down on appointment.

As Congress begins its August recess, it’s clear that the Democrats continue to feel the pressure to hold a vote on producing more American energy. Over the weekend, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) seemed flip-flop on his opposition to new offshore drilling while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) squirmed when confronted to explain her complete refusal to allow a drilling vote on the floor of the House. On Saturday, Fox News reported that Obama told the Palm Beach Post, “If, in order to get [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.” Yet Obama quickly walked this statement back, saying, “What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems,” according to CNN. Of course this puts Obama with the 30% of people, according to CNN’s own poll, opposed to new drilling.

On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi had an amazing interview with George Stephanopoulos, where Stephanopoulos asked the speaker an incredible eight times if she would allow a vote on drilling on the floor of the House. Pelosi dodged and shifted blame each time. Little wonder, then, that House Republicans have pledged to continue their protests by returning to the empty House chamber to demand a vote. Though Pelosi has turned off the lights and the cameras, Republicans will speak to the crowds touring the Capitol and millions more Americans on the Internet.

In lieu of addressing the problem of energy supplies, Democrats have tried to divert attention from the drilling issue by repeatedly putting forward a slew of bad ideas that will not produce a drop of new energy. The Wall Street Journal writes today, “The ‘windfall profits’ tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies.” This time, though, Obama is suggesting that he would be taking those profits and using them to shower the populace with stimulus checks. The Journal examines the idea of “windfall profits” in its editorial today and concludes, “what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. . . . [A] windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.”

Today, The New York Times editors blasted the Senate for its “selfishly partisan approach to the nation’s energy challenge in the days leading up to its August recess.” Being The New York Times, the paper has little kind to say about drilling, but even its editors recognize that “most economists believe that [speculators] have little or nothing to do with oil prices.” And The Times lays into Harry Reid, writing, “The most vivid symbol of the Senate’s ineptitude was the majority leader, Harry Reid, who tried to make the best of a terrible two weeks by asking his opposite number, Mitch McConnell, to join him in an ‘energy summit’ in Las Vegas. . . . Mr. Reid has to know how silly this looks and what it really says about the Senate’s capacity for action.”

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Tags: gas prices, Harry Reid, house revolt, Nancy Pelosi, oil drilling, 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 Future of Iraq

Hat tip CJ at A Soldier's Perspective:

This is commercial being shown on Iraqi television - you know, the kind of television that was banned under Saddam Hussein. For me, this makes what I and my fellow Soldiers did totally worth it.
Translation:
“We are Shias and Sunnis
Who gathers us is God and Mohammed
No Sunni No Shia
We have one goal
Stay together
God bless you all
Who separates us
is not from us”

Additionally, President Bush said today that security gains in Iraq will allow Army deployments to be shortened from fifteen to twelve months effective August 1st. Proof that we have NOT lost this war, Mr. Reid. Proof that the surge HAS worked Mr. Obama. Proof that this war can and was won militarily Mr. Murtha. Proof that our military can do anything we're tasked to do.

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Tags: Baghdad, Iraq, Iraq War, military, President George Bush, Shia, Sunni, unity

Sunday Humor

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Tags: Barack Obama, humor, Media, oil drilling, political cartoon, Politics To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Blogs 4 Borders! Postville, Iowa Edition!

Blogs 4 Borders (072808) traveled out to Postville Iowa to cover the rallies of those both opposed and supporting the raid on Agriprocessors meat plant. We had a chance to speak with several local residents and get their take on the situation along with lots of coverage of the loony open borders folks.

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Tags: agriprocessors, Blogs for Borders, deportation, ICE, illegal aliens, illegal immigration, Iowa, open borders To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama Rejects Townhall Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Barack Obama continues to show that he want to be not only the "one" but the "only one." He feels more comfortable with staged debates than rubbing shoulders with voters in a series of Lincoln-Douglas townhall debates with John McCain. On Saturday, Barack Obama backed away from rival John McCain's challenge for a series of Lincoln-Douglas townhall debates. While Obama said he would welcome a series of townhall meetings with McCain, now that he, and not Mrs. Clinton, is the Democrat's presumptive candidate, he has flip-flopped his way out of his previous statement.

Obama had time to fly to Europe and to the Middle East to create false media image of his competency in meeting with heads of states. Did the first term Senator consider if his intrusion was proper protocol? He imposed himself on the leaders of other countries. Obviously, European or Middle East leaders were not willing to refuse meeting with a person who "might" be the next president of the United States. He does as he wishes in the hopes of impressing voters back in the U.S. Then he speaks at a rally in Germany to an alleged 200,000 Germans after two rock groups had played. He announces his presumptive status to be president of the World and skips visiting with wounded U.S. military in Germany.

Obama could do campaign stunts with leaders of the other countries who didn't even wish to see him, he could take time extolling a one world utopia at a German rally, and then does what no other U.S. Senator would do - he skips visiting with wounded troops. Fortunately, Europeans don't vote for America's president. Americans vote and it appears that the last persons Obama want to confront are the American voters in town hall meetings. Instead, Obama prefers the controlled debate formats before cameras that are structured to afford him the protection of a biased media.

Obama agreed to only participate in the standard three debates in the fall proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. In a letter to the commission, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the short period between the last political convention and the first proposed debate made it likely that the commission-sponsored debates would be the only ones in the fall. "We've committed to the three debates on the table," campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an interview. "It's likely they will be the three appearances by the candidates this fall." The first debate is set for Sept. 26 in Oxford, Miss., three weeks after the Republican National Convention concludes on Sept. 4. The other presidential debates are set for Oct. 7 and Oct. 15 and the vice presidential debate for Oct. 2.

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Tags: Barack Obama, debate, John McCain, Lincoln-Douglas, presidential debate, Townhall To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The Philosophy Behind the Democracy

Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: I have obviously missed the boat in sharing certain ideals and beliefs with our readers. Although my final degree is in philosophy, I have not taken time to set forth in simple clear vignettes the philosophical beliefs or thoughts of great minds upon which our government was founded. Today, I begin to make amends but not in my words but in a summary of concepts by former great philosophers which have been set forth clearly by another - Publius. At Write Idea. Publius details The Philosophy Behind the Democracy we Know Today:

The American tradition is rich and vibrant. This is a short examination of the beliefs of some of the more popular philosophers.

Aristotle’s Three Forms of Government
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) stated that "The true forms of government…are those in which the one, or the few, or the many govern, with a view to the common interest:

1. A Monarchy. That is, a government a government run by one person.
2. An Aristocracy. Government by the few.
3. A Polity. We now call this a Constitutional Democracy.

However, to these three forms of good government, three forms of bad government correspond:

1. A Tyranny. That is, a monarchy ruled by an antagonistic monarch.
2. An Oligarchy. That is, a rule by a few corrupt men.
3. A Democracy. That is, rule by the masses.

Of the three deviations, tyranny is the worst, and mob rule is the least evil.

Plato’s Condemnation of Democracy
Plato (428-327 BC) argued against democracy. His primary reasons are summarized as follows:

1. Democracy leads inevitably to “mob rule.” Those in power pander to “pleasure-seekers” whose chief goals are the fulfillment of their immediate desires.
2. Democracy leads to rule by the stupid, who while they may have fine rhetorical (speaking) skills; they have no true knowledge itself.
3. Democracy leads to disagreement and conflict, which leads to the weakening of governments and should usually be avoided.

What about America
America is a Polity, or a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy, as so many people believe. This is why in the pledge allegiance we pledge allegiance to the "republic."

Why Democracy?
Vox populi, vox Dei, “The voice of the people, is the voice of God.” As illustrated in the words of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, all men intrinsically have a conscience. He proclaimed, “Conscience, conscience! Divine instinct, immortal and celestial voice.” Similarly, Seneca wrote, “God is near of you, with you, in you. A sacred spirit has its seat in us. It is the observer and keeper of our good deeds and our wrongdoings.” This is the idea of conscience: it is divine.

In Western governments, law arises from the will of “the people.” The people know what to do because they listen to their conscience. Thus, the law is based, or should be based, on the conscience of the people. To put it simply:

• Men have consciences
• Men elect people who represent their conscience
• Elected officials rule according to their conscience

Conclusion
This is simply the tip of the iceberg. Read Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and Hobbs. Government is an important institution. It can be used for good...or for evil.... [If you liked this summary, drop by Write Idea and leave Publius a comment.]

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Tags: America, Arsenal of Democracy, Constitutional Republic, Oligarchy, philosopher, philosophy, tyranny To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Raisin' McCain by John Rich

RAISIN' MCCAIN
Music and lyrics by John Rich
Well we're all just raisin' McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We're all just raisin' McCain

And we're all just raisin' McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We're all just raisin' McCain

Well he got shot down in a Vietnam town
Fighting for the red, white and blue
And they locked him up in the Hanoi Hilton
Thinking they could break him in two

He stayed strong, stayed extra long
'Til they let all the other boys out
Now we've got a real man with an American plan
We're going to put him in the big White House

Well we're all just raisin' McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We're all just raisin' McCain

Play that American guitar, son
And we're all just raisin' McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way

We're all just raisin' McCain
I said we're all just raisin' McCain
Everywhere across the USA
You can get on the train or get out of the way
We're all just raisin' McCain

Well you can get on the train or get out of the way
We're all just raisin' McCain

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Tags: country western, Election 2008, John McCain, John Rich, music To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Upper Level Meth Drug Dealers Are Illegal Immigrants

Jonesboro Arkansas Police Chief Michael Yates spoke to a public meeting called Thursday to discuss the problem of drugs. Jonesborro is home to Arkansas State University, the flag ship of the ASU Educational System with many colleges in Eastern Arkansas. Like many large university communities, Joneboro faces the issues and problems created by illegal drug use. But of special interest is that while the drug use problem may be a local, many of the upper-level drug dealers who control the flow of meth out of Mexico tend to be illegal immigrants.

A story by George Jared in The Jonesboro Sun today (Aug 2) reported Chief Yates comments:

A cultural wave of drug abuse and violence has started across the country . . . Unlike the drug and cultural revolution of the 1960s, this new shift is more tied to gang activity . . . . Most of the fight against the sale and consumption of illegal drugs occurs at the local level, but some national policies are making the problem worse, even in Jonesboro. . .

Over the last couple of years the bulk of methamphetamine has come into the city from Mexico . . . Local meth dealers were hampered by laws passed by the Arkansas Legislature in 2005 limiting the amount of ephedrine or similar drugs that could be purchased. These substances are a primary ingredient in producing meth. When local supplies withered, “Mexican Ice,” as its called on the street, began to appear in greater quantities . . .

Mexican meth tends to be higher quality, which makes it more dangerous . . . Many of the upper-level drug dealers who control the flow of meth out of Mexico tend to be illegal immigrants . . . . To stem the tide of Mexican meth, Yates said more inspections of cargo on the border are necessary, and all immigrants need to be accounted for.

“I’m not against people coming here to find jobs and improve their lives,” Yates said. “What I can see is how illegal immigration affects the law enforcement side of the equation.” . . . Some of his opinions about how to curtail the area’s drug problems aren’t “politically correct,” and Yates said he’s more than aware of that. “If I get into trouble for telling the truth, so be it” . . . [Yates weighs in on drug woes]

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Tags: Arkansas, cimes by illegals, drug cartel, drug smuggler, Drugs, illegal aliens, Jonesboro, Mexicans, Mexico, Narco-Corridas, organized crime, police cheif To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Executive Summary - Presidential Candidates

I know that some of you don't like to read long, drawn-out missives...
so here's the Executive Summary:

Candidate	Congress	Military
John McCain	26 Years	22 Years
Barack Obama	143 Days	-0- Years

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Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, experience, John Mccain, presidential candidates To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Out of Bounds with Same-Sex 'Marriage'

Tony Perkins, FRC Washington Update: Not to be outdone by California, the Massachusetts legislature became the second state to allow out-of-state homosexuals to "marry." With only 35 votes against (and 118 for), House leaders moved swiftly to repeal the 1913 law that barred non-residents from taking advantage of the state's same-sex "marriage" ruling. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) was quick to sign the measure, which went into effect immediately under the new language-unlike other laws which are subject to a 90-day delay. Until voters decide the fate of California marriage, both coasts are open for business from gay couples eager to throw lavish ceremonies before exporting their relationships home. Although 46 states outlaw counterfeit marriage in some form, the 23 without constitutional amendments will be most vulnerable to the legal challenges this law is certain to bring in other states.

As a writer for the Boston Globe puts it, "...[This repeal] will impose Massachusetts' liberal values on unwilling states." Despite the growing migration of "married" homosexuals, the U.S. Census Bureau has declined to count same-sex "spouses" in its 2010 survey, citing the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). As more states sweep traditional marriage aside, the federal government may not be far behind. If elected President, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has already stated that he would abolish DOMA. An Obama White House would support stripping the states of the protection the federal government now provides under the Clinton-era policy. This would open the doors to radical new government policies on social security, Medicaid/Medicare, domestic partner benefits, and much more. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed her support for the move, promising to help Obama repeal the Act. When Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Durbin (D-IL.) were asked about their position, both were noncommittal. Although both voted in favor of DOMA in 1996, Schumer said, "I don't know [what my position would be]." Durbin also evaded the question, saying he "hasn't even thought about it. But I will look at [Obama's] decision."

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Tags: DOMA, FRC, gay marriage, homosexual activism, marriage amendment, Massachusetts, Tony Perkins, Washington Update To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Do You Know Obama's & McCain's Positions on Abortion?

National Right to Life PAC: Polls show that only 10% of Americans know or believe that Barack Obama supports abortion for any reason, essentially at any time during pregnancy. With Supreme Court Justices and a potential "Freedom of Choice Act," which would make partial birth abortion legal again and require taxpayer funding of abortion on demand, at stake this fall, it is crucial that America knows the truth about the candidates’ positions on abortion.

To help America know its candidates, the National Right to Life PAC has launched two new websites for this fall's election. StopObamaInfo.org and ProlifeMcCain.org provide clear statements on the candidates’ records on life issues. They provide voting records, analysis of the candidates’ positions and statements, and access to all of the NRL PAC's resources. Available on the site are candidate comparisons and factsheets to download and distribute, video montages of the candidates to view, and information on this fall's grassroots movement. You can also sign a petition to Barack Obama entitled, "America Does Not Agree with You, Senator Obama," use interactive forms to share info with your friends and family, and post information to your facebook page.

Please visit StopObamaInfo.org and ProlifeMcCain.org to arm yourself for this fall. Join the StopObamaInfo and ProlifeMcCain facebook group and promote the sites and information as much as you can. It is crucial that America learns the positions of its presidential candidates. Help the unborn by learning the facts, sharing them with your family and friends, and joining the grassroots movement for life.

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Tags: abortion, Barack Obama, Election 2008, John Mccain, National Right to Life, NRTL, presidential candidates, pro-life To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ready To Pay $10 Per Gallon for Gas?

At what price do Democrats consider the price per gallon a high enough to warrant action on opening up more domestic areas for energy exploration? Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wondered at exactly what price would Democrats be willing to let drilling legislation through. Below is a video of the exchange on the floor of the Senate where Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) objects to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s proposals to at least set price when the Senate Democrats would finally agree to discuss domestic drilling for oil. With Democrats willing to do nothing at $4 per gallon, McConnell ask for at least a trigger point when gas reaches $4.50, $5.00, $7.50, or even $10 per gallon. Unfortunately for Americans, the answers by Democrats is always no:

With Democrats determined to block new American energy production, Americans are left to spend the rest of their summer paying $4 per gallon or more every time they fill up their tank. And the price is even higher for Truckers using Diesel. The cost of mowing lawns, local delivery services, farmers, and others are impacted. Consumer prices are rising on all goods and services which is punishing all families, especially the poor. The Democrat leadership is pursuing actions (or lack thereof) that will force businesses to cut jobs to adjust to rising prices. The Democrats lack of action are forcing the elderly and poor to make choices that seriously affect there existence.

The Democrat leadership hopes that the public (you) will blame the problems the are creating and facilitating on the Republicans and President George Bush even though they are not responsible this time. They hope that rhetoric verses facts will cover their trail as they seek to take over cover control of all three branches of Government.

Sen. McConnell summed up this sorry situation in a speech on the floor this morning: “Every crisis is a call for leadership, and this one was no different. This was an opportunity for the Democrats who control Congress to demonstrate courage and resolve. They squandered it. In their hunt for more seats in Congress and control of the White House, they took the path of least resistance. They decided that they could increase their hold on Congress by avoiding tough votes [voting for oil drilling], and then blaming the mess that followed on a party that wasn’t even in charge. . . . When Americans demanded action, the Democrats played games.” The result was gridlock, and Americans are left holding the bill.

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Tags: Democrats, gas prices, Ken Salazar, Mitch McConnell, oil drilling, Republicans To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Today in Washington D. C. - Aug 1, 2008 - Democrat Message - No Help On Gas Prices!

Congress will leave town today having done exactly nothing to advance serious energy legislation to bring down the price of gasoline. Senate Republicans voted to stay in session both in the House and Senate to address the energy crisis, but Democrats were desperate to get out of Washington and avoid any votes on drilling. Democrats win

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to the Defense authorization bill (S. 3001). Yesterday, The Senate approved the Consumer Product Safety Commission overhaul (H.R. 4040) and Higher Education Act reauthorization (H.R. 4137) conference reports, which are privileged, and did not displace energy legislation.

Senate Democrats tried one more time to vote to extract themselves from an energy debate, this time by attempting to bring up the Defense authorization bill. But Republicans led in blocking the maneuver. Regardless, at the end of the night, a vote was held on the adjournment resolution (H. Con. Res. 398). While Republicans voted going on vacation, Democrats had enough votes (48-40) to allow Congress to begin its August break next week having not addressed domestic oil drilling.

From Senate & News Sources: Democrats spent the last month blocking and stalling any serious, comprehensive attempts to address high energy and gas prices. The Wall Street Journal has a scathing editorial today, rightly laying the blame for Congressional inaction at the feet of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Journal writes, “the [Democrats’] leadership won't bend even a bit, and so Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid have spent the summer using every parliamentary deception to evade debating the issue that the American public cares most about.”

Why are Democrats so determined to avoid votes on drilling? The Wall Street Journal posts one explanation: “Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know that they would lose if a vote ever came to the floor, and they’re desperate to suppress an insurrection among those Democrats who are pragmatic about one of the top economic issues.” Indeed, Roll Call has two stories this morning noting the nervousness of Democrats in both chambers. In the House, “Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces growing pressure from within her Caucus — and especially from some of her freshman Members who are being bombarded on the issue in their districts — to bring offshore drilling to the floor as part of a comprehensive energy package in September.” In the Senate, “Democrats also revealed their nervousness in having to block Republicans from getting votes on amendments intended to spur domestic oil drilling.” The unease over drilling among Senate Democrats prompted Sen. Chuck Schumer to write a letter reminding his colleagues to blame everything on “big oil,” in lieu of accepting drilling. The San Francisco Chronicle was more explicit about Pelosi’s motivations, writing, “She believes a vote [on drilling] would only help the GOP blame Democrats for high gas prices.”

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Tags: energy prices, gas prices, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, 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!