Canadian Report Finds Long Wait Times for Healthcare

Canwest News Service has a story discussing an annual report from Canadian medical associations on wait times for health care: “The 2009 report card released Thursday by the Wait Time Alliance, says there remains ‘much unfinished business,’ in improving the amount of time between when a patient is referred by a family doctor to when treatment is provided by a specialist. The WTA is made up of 13 medical associations including the Canadian Medical Association. The report also notes that patients are still having a hard time accessing information about wait times.”

What really jumps out are two statistics:
1. For cancer patients, the study found that the median wait time for radiation therapy was almost seven weeks, exceeding the benchmark of four weeks.
2. Patients are also facing long delays when they go the emergency department, the WTA said, waiting an average of nine hours to be seen and treated and for patients who needed to be admitted, the average wait time was nearly 24 hours.

A median of seven weeks for cancer treatments? That means half the patients in this study waited even longer than that. Would someone be able to survive that long with no treatment? And can you imagine waiting nine hours to be seen in the emergency room?

These are just two examples of why you would not like Obama, Reid and Pelosi's proposed nationalized health care.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Canada, federal government, nationalized health care, United States To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Popularity of Patriot Bumper Stickers Expands

The Patriot Depot™ has become America's leading source for politically conservative resources. All across America, people they will never know appreciate their work and share their images via email and other means. You can see their work displayed at the growing numbers of Tax Enough Already (TEA) Parties. Their best-selling conservative bumper stickers harness the use of rhetoric to combat the mainstream media's Left-wing propaganda. Their stated mission is to inspire Americans to return to the conservative values that made America great and exercise their constitutional freedoms to elect leaders who share these values.

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Tags: bumper sticker, Chicago politics, conservatives, Freedom, Patriot Depot, TEA Parties, US Constitution To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Barbara Boxer meet Dr. Evil

Senator Barbara Boxer (D- CA) seems to believe she has "earned" the title of Senator. Well "Babs" being called Senator does not mean you earned it. It means you were elected to represent California by its citizens. You earned nothing. You are supposed to be a servant of the people not a pompous ass. But as a liberal, your main accomplishment has been to tax and spend other people money and to send the United States into the ionosphere with debt.

The general followed proper protocol by addressing you respectful as Ma'am just as he address the male senators as Sir. However, it is the General who has earned the right and deserved your respect. It is interesting that President Obama goes around referring to Senators by their first names. Maybe you should advise Obama that you were elected more times than him and therefore should be called Senator.

Has Boxer has apologized? More on this after the video with her antics: "Senator Barbara Boxer seems to have a problem with the military. And she wants respect. Barbara Boxer meet Dr. Evil."


Consider Boxer's apology as reported by the Canadian Free Press reports: "Gawd, I really looked like a b**ch!” exclaimed Mrs. Barbara Boxer, a California politician . . . as she watched a replay of her disrespectful interruption of Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . . ."

Now examine closely the alleged Boxer's apology. The Canadian Free Press continues with Boxer saying: "I am so sorry for my indefensible behavior," Missus Boxer stated, "I realize now that the term 'Madam' was not meant to be disrespectful to me as a revered member of the elite Washington Political Class. Rather, I understand now that it is a term of respect used by members of the lower and servant classes, such as military people, waiters, laborers, normal people with manners, and anyone else who does not occupy a seat in a privileged political club, such as I do. I was wrong to be so rude and I understand that the General was just trying to be nice to me, Mrs. Stewart Boxer. I was wrong to scold the great General and I hope he can see fit to forgive me."

Funny! The Canadian Free Press is "pulling out leg." Boxer apologize forget it! However, their satire does portray in Shakespearean fashion how Boxer would react seeing herself in a special class and the rest of us as her peons. To her, Generals would be equal with waiters. And as citizens, they are! But that is not what she would mean. Both waiters and Generals are more important than Senator Babs; you work for a living and contribute to society.

Californians need "Change!" - a replacement to Boxer. One possibility is California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine). He represents an area that includes almost 500,000 people in Orange County. Chuck was elected in 2004 and reelected in 2006 and in 2008. Chuck served as a Reagan White House appointee in the Pentagon from 1986 to 1988. As Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs his duties included working with Congress to advance the President’s foreign and military policy. Chuck’s official travels took him to Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central America. His initiative helped develop the Arrow Anti-Ballistic Missile program. In 1983, Chuck enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. In 1985 he was commissioned as an officer. After more than 24 years, Lt Colonel Devore retired from the Army National Guard. Candidate Chuck Devore's website.

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Tags: America, Barbara Boxer, California, Chuck Devore, military, Politics, Senate, Senator, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Gallup: Obama approval rating continue to fall

H/T Bill Dupray, DC Republican Examiner: Everybody on the left will tell you it is still high at 58%. Yep, 58 and falling.

The real trouble for Obama is that he is losing the independents. Big time. From Gallup:

Obama's approval rating was 60% from June 13-15, at which time 88% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and 25% of Republicans approved of the job he was doing. In the June 16-18 polling, Democrats' approval of him stands at 92% -- up slightly -- whereas approval is down among both independents (by seven points) and Republicans (by four points).

That's a 7 point decline in one week among independents and 4 among Republicans. I was reluctant to post this piece because I was afraid the Democrats might see the bloodletting and start governing with some sanity and maybe hold on to Congress next year. Then I figured, nah, no chance of that.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Gallup Poll, job approval, polling, presidency 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. - June 19, 2009 - Enslavement in any form is not freedom!

Yesterday, the Senate voted 91-5 to pass the conference report for the fiscal 2009 supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 2346, which funds operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, pPrior to passage, the Senate voted 60-36 to waive all points of order against the bill, preventing Republicans from getting to vote to remove the cash for clunkers legislation, which was inserted in the conference report in violation of Pay-go and without having previously passed the Senate.

Also yesterday, the Senate passed by unanimous consent a resolution to apologize for the institution of slavery, S. Con. Res. 26. The resolution included a disclaimer that "nothing in this resolution authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States.''

National Government Run Health Care: The Wall Street Journal writes today, “This was supposed to be a red-letter week for national health care, as Democrats started the process of hustling a quarter-baked bill through Congress to reorganize one-sixth of the economy on a partisan vote. Instead it was a fiasco.” Politico reports, “President Obama's campaign for health care reform by this fall, once considered highly likely to succeed, suddenly appears in real jeopardy.”

The Journal explains, “Most of the devastation was wreaked by the Congressional Budget Office, which on Tuesday reported that draft legislation from the Senate Finance Committee would increase the federal deficit by more than $1.6 trillion over the next decade while only partly denting the population of the uninsured.” And that wasn’t the only CBO score that presented a problem. Politico notes, “Democrats admit that it was a public-relations disaster this week when the Congressional Budget Office issued a report this week concluding, from a partial draft of a Senate health committee bill, that the plan would cost $1 trillion over 10 years but only provide coverage for 16 million of the estimated 50 million Americans who are uninsured.”

The Politico article also points out, “Public anxiety about red ink . . . has come roaring back, with a Gallup Poll showing deficits and spending as the only issues where more people disapprove of Obama’s performance than approve of it.” Little wonder, then, that The New York Times reports that Congressional Democrats are “scrambling to scale back their proposals or find ways to trim tens of billions of dollars a year from existing health programs.” And The Washington Post reports that Obama “conveyed his concern” about the estimates over the Senate HELP committee bill.

Though Democrats have pledged to pay for the cost of these health plans, they have not been able to find a way to do so. According to The Wall Street Journal, Democrats “would need substantial cuts to current spending, plus tax increases, to pass a bill that doesn't add to the deficit, as Democrats have vowed.” One proposal The New York Times highlights is “to tax employer-provided health benefits in excess of a certain value — say, $6,200 for individuals and $15,700 for families . . . .”

But there has also been troubling news beyond the cost of the proposed bills. The AP writes today, “President Barack Obama rarely equivocates when he promises that his health care plan will let people keep the coverage they have. His vow sounds reassuring and gets applause, but no president could guarantee such a pledge.” The story identifies that some employers might drop their health coverage under Obama’s plan, “to avoid the hassle of dealing with insurance companies, and take advantage of the fact that workers could find coverage now with government help.”

With reports about Democrats’ health care proposals revealing massive price tags, programs that fall far short of their goals, and promises that simply cannot be kept, Americans should be skeptical about a mad rush to push through a health care bill. Attention Congress! Americans don’t want another blind rush to spend yet again more trillions of dollars that we and future generations will have to pay for through higher taxes and increased national debt. The Senate apologized for institution of slavery yesterday while proceeding to enslave future generation of Americans with government debt, taxes, regulations and reduced freedoms and choices. Appears the Democrats and a few others still don't get it. Enslavement in any form is not freedom!

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Tags: health care, military funding, National Debt, nationalized health care, slavery, US Congress, 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!

Chicago Politics Now In Washington - "You don't know nothing!"

Lois Smith, ARRA Member: Before proceeding, I must clarify "I know nothing," and after you read this "you will also know nothing." I am married to the ARRA Editor, and I can assure you that "he knows nothing either."

After listening to the only remaining fair and balanced news channel, I have wondered what is going on in the minds of the people in the Obama Administration? We now have: bailouts, stimulus spending, government run auto companies, apologies to everyone, and trillions of dollars in debt. It is obvious that they "know nothing." Yesterday I received the following "don't know nothing" email. My husband, the editor, tried to tell me that he had seen it before but "what does he know? -- right, nothing!" So, in case your email has not been blessed with this, the following will help "you know nothing."

Consider the situation of Impeached Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who is accused of trying to sell the Obama seat in Congress.

Barack Obama said: "I only saw Rod Blagojevich one time ... and that was in the stands and from a distance at a Chicago Bears Football Game"

Unscripted Teleprompter : Dang! Why uh-uh, where did that uh photo come from? -------------------- Rod Blagojevich (Democrat), Barack Obama (Democrat), and Richard M. Daley (Democrat - Mayor of Chicago since 1989) during a rally in Chicago , April 16, 2007.

To understand the Obama Administration, you have to understand Chicago Politics. The Illinois Constitution actually sets forth different rules for Cook County, e.g. Chicago, and the rest of Illinois. Sort of a State within a state.

There are only three rules which anybody needs to understand. You don't even need an attorney to understand them and if you need an attorney, well, you know too much . . . so look out for Rule #3!

• RULE #1...No matter what you see, hear, or do, you don't know anybody and you don't know nothing!
• RULE #2...If you capture something on tape or camera, it doesn't reveal nothing!
• RULE #3...If you know what everybody knows in Chicago, well, you still don't know nothing.
  Now pay close attention! We don't want to have to say this more than once. It's very simple.....we'll illustrate. Remember, you know nothing.

These two? They don't know each other! They said they didn't.

The fellas in the background of this picture? Well, what fellas? We don't see nothing!

The guy on the left? For all you know he's Santa Claus. And the guy on the right . . ...well, he's the Easter Bunny! That's all you need to know.

Go to your eye doctor...your eyes are lying to you! Ca'pish?

Remember Jimmy Hoffa! He knew too much and now, well, now no one knows where he is. Is the big picture clear? Not these pictures! Remember, You've already forgot them ...

Now, ain't that simple? They don't know each other, 'cause they said so! and neither do we! And don't forget it!
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P.S. If you pass this on to your friends, don't forget, you know nothing and they will know nothing.

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Tags: Lois Smith, ARRA, bailouts, Barack Obama, Chicago, Chicago politics, political humor, Rod Blagojevich To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Two Trillion Tons of Debt - Sung by the Ghost of Tennessee Ernie Ford

H/T to HerBunk. The Ghost of Tennessee Ernie Ford comes back to warn us that Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan and budget with 2 Trillion dollars of debt is hazardous to our economic well-being. We got change - more debt. Now, Obama wants to put us another 1 to 2 trillion dollars in debt with nationalized health care. Wake-up America! You, your children and other relatives, your grandchildren and future generations are being enslaved to debt.

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Tags: buying debt, economic stimulus, economy, Federal Reserve, Karl Marx, National Debt, Obama, parody, song, video, Welfare State 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. - June 18, 2009 - Poll Results Evidence Why POTUS is Losing Sleep

Yesterday:Senate passed by unanimous consent a bill (S. 1285) sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to protect detainee photos from Freedom of Information Act requests.

Today: Senate will:

• consider a resolution to apologize for the institution of slavery, S. Con. Res. 26, which will receive a voice vote after an hour of debate.
• take up the conference report for the fiscal 2009 supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 2346, which funds operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. A vote on the bill could come this evening.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will continue its markup of a health care bill written by Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) at 10:30 AM. It is being broadcast on C-SPAN3.

Polls: New polls released yesterday from The New York Times & CBS News and The Wall Street Journal & NBC News are worth reading for a host of interesting results. But what really stands out is the drop in approval ratings for Obama on issues where Senate Republicans and conservatives have argued against President Obama’s policies.

After President Obama signed his hastily-considered executive order in January to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within one year, republicans began discussing the problems with this policy. This culminated in May in two amendments on the Senate floor, one which prohibited funding for transferring or releasing any detainee into the U.S. and removing funds to close the facility, and one which required threat assessments on every detainee before they can be released to another country. These were adopted by votes of 90-6 and 92-3, respectively. The WSJ poll shows that 56% approve of Obama’s job as president while 34% disapprove. (Last month it was 61%-30%). But when asked whether they approve of his decision to close Guantanamo, a majority of respondents opposed the decision 52%-39%.

Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly opposed the president’s $787 billion stimulus bill, which continues to generate headlines about delayed money, wasted money, poorly targeted money, and skyrocketing debt. At the time of passage of the stimulus a plurality in the WSJ poll called it a good idea by 44%-36%, but now a plurality say it was a bad idea by 39%-37%.

In the NYT poll, 63% approve of the Obama’s job as president while 26% disapprove. Yet a majority in the poll prefers deficit reduction over stimulating the economy by 52%-41%. And in the WSJ poll, a majority prefers the president and Congress keeping the deficit down, even if it means delaying a recovery by 58%-35%.

The WSJ poll offered a very similar argument about the stimulus to that made by the White House and Democrats in Congress: “The President and the Congress should worry more about boosting the economy even though it may mean larger budget deficits now and in the future.” But a majority disagreed with this statement. In fact, the public is very concerned about the deficit and debt,and Republicans have been correct in pointing out that the president’s budget includes trillion-dollar deficits over the next two years and doubles the debt in five years.

Asked about the most important economic issue facing the country, 35% of respondents to the WSJ poll said unemployment, but the second-most, at 24%, said the budget deficit, which out-polled the cost of health care, energy prices, and housing prices. And in the NYT poll, 60% said the Obama administration has not developed a clear plan for dealing with the deficit.

So clearly, deficits still matter to Americans, and the stimulus and Obama's plan to close Guantanamo are not popular.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Gitmo, health care, National Debt, nationalized health care, polling, polls, US Congress, 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!

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

LISTEN TO RONALD REAGAN - ONLY A FEW MINUTES FOR THE TRUTH! From the 1961 Operation Coffee Cup Campaign against Socialized Medicine as proposed by the Democrats, then private citizen Ronald Reagan speaks out against socialized medicine. There is no video because this was an LP sent out by the American Medical Association. -----------“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation,” James Madison, 1788

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Tags: compulsory health insurance, nationalized health care, Ronald Reagan, Socialized medicine To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Media Kowtows to Our Supreme Leader

by William Warren:

Iran is not the only nation with a controlled media. Did you notice President Obama complaining about the only media - Fox News (besides talk radio and right minded bloggers) who are not bowing down to his will for expanded government control over everything.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Iran, Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, media bias, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Americans for Prosperity Invests in Arkansas - #AFP

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has been investing a lot of time and resources in Arkansas. Can we hope to see an AFP State Chapter established in Arkansas? On Monday, at the Arkansas Tea Party event in Little Rock, Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Propriety spoke to hundreds of fired up citizens who wish to keep the pressure on Washington politicians to rein in spending and stop the tax increases on our families and businesses.

Phillips is President of both AFP and the AFP Foundation; a premier grassroots citizen lobbyist organization that focuses on promoting the free-market and issues such as budget reform, lower taxes, government transparency and accountability. Last Month, Phillips literally dropped in to Little Rock and Fayetteville in a Hot Air Balloon as part of AFP's National Cap-and-Trade Hot Air Tour. The tours next stops will be in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

In addition, AFP has established in Arkansas a Patients United Now team, led by Teresa Crossland-Okee of Rogers, Arkansas to focused on educating the public about the threat of government controlled health care. Teresa repeatedly shares, “Some are projecting that a government take-over of health care will cost a billion dollars a day. When it comes to health care and health care decisions for patients, we can’t afford to have a federal bureaucrat ‘guessing wrong’ on treatment decisions.” They have held several tour stops and participated at several events across Arkansas with several more planned. The next Patients United Now Tour will be in Bella Vista, Arkansas on Monday, June 22, at the Blowing Springs Pavilion in Bella Vista, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Speakers include former Congressman Asa Hutchinson, State Representative Tim Summers, Dr. Larry Hunter, senior policy expert for Americans for Prosperity and President of the Social Security Institute, as well as local doctors and business persons. The event will be held at the Blowing Springs Pavilion and free dinner and drinks will be provided to the first 200 participants.
At the Little Rock Tea Party. Tim Phillips shared: Things are hotter for Senator Lincoln who continues to stay on the fence when it comes to the job killing energy tax called "Cap-and-Trade." Senator Lincoln also refuses to rule out supporting President's Obama's government health care takeover that will mean a government bureaucrat between patients and their doctors, long lines for doctor's appointments, and worst of all medical procedures denied based on age or chronic illnesses.

As we head into a crucial summer for our economic freedoms, two issues dominate the landscape:
1. Will our health care system be taken over by the government, and
2. Will the biggest job-killing, energy tax in American history pass as legislation called "Cap-and-Trade"?

We have at most two months before the decisive battles in the U.S. Senate this September. We've got to be ready for an all-out effort to win these two vital issues. Will you take two steps to help us get ready for the decisive Senate battle over Cap-and-Trade and health care?

• Urge your representatives to sign our No Climate Tax Pledge, and let your elected officials know that you're watching how they vote on hidden energy taxes.
• Tell your representatives to Vote NO on any bill that puts bureaucrats before patients.

One last thing, remember that the Obama-Pelosi $1 trillion "stimulus" we fought so hard to defeat? President Obama and Speaker Pelosi promised the massive spending bill would create jobs and turn around our economy. Did you see Vice President Joe Biden on NBC's Meet the Press this past Sunday when he was asked why so many jobs were still being lost even months after the Stimulus bill passed? Biden actually said, "Everyone guessed wrong."

Think about it. They spend $1 trillion that we don't have -- taking us deeper into debt -- while promising Americans that their spending binge would "create jobs." Then, when job losses mount despite the massive spending, they shrug their shoulders and say, "Well we all guessed wrong."

We have got to make sure that when it comes to health care and Cap-and-Trade, we remind our fellow citizens that our opponents "guessed wrong" on the Stimulus and they're "guessing wrong" again! Thanks for all you are doing. But, much more lies ahead.As a member of AFP who attended AFP 's 2008 Defending the American Dream Summit in Washington, D.C., I appreciate AFP's President giving Arkansas special attention this year and investing his time and resources in aiding the voices of grassroots Arkansans. I hope in the near future to see an AFP chapter in Arkansas. Arkansas need an aggressive independent non-political voice that advocates for:

• Cutting taxes and government spending in order to halt the encroachment of government in the economic lives of citizens by fighting proposed tax increases and pointing out evidence of waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Tax and Expenditure Limitations to promote fiscal responsibility.
• Removing unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurship and opportunity by sparking citizen involvement in the regulatory process early on in order to reduce red tape.
• Restoring fairness to our judicial system.

Americans for Prosperity has numerous state chapters. To learn more, visit the AFP website; sign up and get involved!

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Tags: AFP, Americans for Prosperity, Arkansas, Bill Smith, cap-and-trade, events, healthcare, tea party, Tim Phillips 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. - June 17, 2009 - A Tidal Wave of Debt

Government Approved Tourism: Yesterday, the Senate voted 90-3 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1023. Today they will resume discussions and move toward a final vote on "creating a privately run nonprofit corporation to market the United States as a travel destination abroad.” Do we need S 1023? Please note that anyone can create a non-profit. If Congress and the Executive Branch are involved that means future tax dollars will be funneled to this "non-profit." Enough!

As if the Internet, 50 State offices of tourism, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Disneyland, Disney World, Dollywood, Las Vegas, New York City, Williamsburg, Branson, Hawaii, Alaska, the Grand Canyon, freedom, liberty, our National Parks, the low value of the dollar to foreign currency and all other etc. etc. are not enough to promote American tourism. Visit any major American tourist spot today and you begin to wonder if you are even in America with the majority of the visitors being from other countries. It is not as if people in other countries do not know that the Unites States is great place to visit - they all know! Some even come as tourists and opt to remain illegally -try that in another country!

National Government Run Health Care: The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee began its markup of a health care bill written by Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) at 10 AM. It is being broadcast on C-SPAN3.

The Washington Post writes today, “President Obama’s plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured is likely to dig the nation deeper into debt unless policymakers adopt politically painful controls on spending, such as sharp reductions in payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers, congressional budget analysts said yesterday.” The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Monday said the still-incomplete bill being considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee would cost at least $1 trillion over the next decade and fall 37 million people short of covering all uninsured Americans. Yesterday, the CBO released its estimate for the Senate Finance Committee’s bill: $1.6 trillion over 10 years and falling 15 million people short, according to The Wall Street Journal.

These “eye-popping new cost estimates,” as the AP described them, left Senate Democrats and the White House “scrambling to regain their footing,” according to The Hill. The New York Times reports, “Alarmed by cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, leaders of the Senate Finance Committee delayed releasing a detailed description of their bill for several days, as they effectively went back to the drawing board to cut the price tag.”

It’s important to remember, though, that neither of these bills are complete, and some of the most expensive components have no detailed plans yet. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on the floor this morning, called the CBO figures “staggering” and said they don’t “even account for the money that would be needed to pay for expanding Medicaid and creating a new government-run plan.”

And when those costs are added in, they are unlikely to be static, as the CBO director told USA Today. “In an interview Monday with USA TODAY, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said the cost to insure [currently uninsured] people will continue to rise, and savings from efforts to curb health care spending may be elusive.”

The WSJ notes, “Democrats, including [Senate Finance Committee Chair Max] Baucus, have said the cost of the health-care initiative will be fully offset with tax increases and spending cuts.” Despite their assurances, Sen. McConnell pointed out, “[N]o one can tell us where any of this money will come from.”

And in spite of all of this—massive cost estimates Democrats want to reduce, the lack of details for the most far-reaching and expensive components of these plans, and no concrete explanations how any of this will be paid for—Senate Democrats and President Obama want to rush a health care bill through Congress. Bloomberg points out, “[t]he largest expansion of U.S. health care since the creation of Medicare in 1965 may emerge” from a “45-day sprint.”

Sen. McConnell warned against a hurried approach today, noting that the last time a trillion dollars in spending was rushed through Congress, we wound up with the stimulus bill which “is now being called a bad guess by the very people who proposed it. . . . Just like the stimulus, we’re being told in the most urgent tones that this government takeover of health care is absolutely necessary, and that we have to approve it as soon as possible — without review, without knowing the full cost, and without knowing how it will affect people's lives. Once again, it’s rush and spend, and rush and spend — and a tidal wave of debt.”

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Tags: Barack Obama, buying debt, health care, nationalized health care, tourism, US Congress, 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!

Who is Tom Cox?

Update: Tom Cox withdrew from the race and did not file for the primary. He remains active in the TEA Party movement in Arkansas.

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Yesterday, Tom Cox announced for the United States Senate at the Arkansas Tea Party, Inc’s “Rally at the River.” We can all review his video and his website. Is he a Republican or an Independent? Some say he is a "Tea party Republican" and several sources say he will file as a Republican. However, his political affiliation is not indicated on his website. If Cox runs as a Republican, he will probably has a primary as two Republicans have announced - Kim Hendren as a confirmed candidate and Curtis Coleman is exploring the possibility. Cox owns Aloha Pontoon Boats in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a fiscal conservative, supports state sovereignty, and is very concerned about the rising cost of government and increased taxation. At his announcement yesterday he identified that he is also a social conservative stating “I am pro-life” and “In my house, we believe marriage is between a man and a woman.”

There has been a rub with some with respect to the issue that he claims speaks for the Tea Parties in Arkansas? Mark Moore at Arkansas Watch calls Tom Cox the "self-professed "Leader" of the Arkansas Tea Party." Moore goes on to report: "Tom Cox reserved the website "arkansasteaparty.com" which he calls "the official website of the Arkansas Tea Party". Strangely, those of us around the state in the Tea Party movement did not seem to know that we had a leader. In fact, we have had a couple of state-wide meetings and one thing we strongly came away with was that we do not want a centralized state leader, just a network of local groups who work together when needed. . . . It looks like the movement has been put in an awkward position by personal ambition. I hope I am wrong about that, because we need a candidate against Lincoln."

Over the next few weeks, we will learn more about Tom Cox and his campaign for the U.S. Senate. One thing for sure, is that he and his supporters know how to throw a "party" for the public on the river in downtown Little Rock, They recruited speakers like Bob Basso (Thomas Paine Actor), Tim Phillips (Americans for Prosperity), Dave Elswick (local talk radio host), Tim Howard (author of Justifying the Wicked, Can a Christian Support Liberalism? ), State Representative Dan Greenburg, David Meeks & Michael J. Nowicki (potential candidates against Rep. Vic Snyder), and other local celebrities and music. As a business owner, Cox understands he needs significant financial support to run against Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

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Tags: tea party, Tom Cox, US Senate, Arkansas, businessman, boat manufacturing, Republican
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Arkansas: Tom Cox on 2010 Senate Race: “I intend on winning”

John Allison III filed this report via the America, You Asked for It: Several hundred patriotic Arkansans braved the 90+ degree temperatures to attend Arkansas Tea Party, Inc’s “Rally at the River” yesterday. The crowd came together to celebrate Flag Day and Arkansas’ 173rd birthday, and to let the world know “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore,” while enjoying some great speakers and entertainers, including Bob Basso (Thomas Paine on YouTube.)

Curtis Coleman and David Meeks, who’ve formed exploratory committees to run for Senate and Congress respectively, were there working the crowd. But the biggest news was the announcement that local businessman, Tom Cox, plans to challenge Blanche Lincoln to represent Arkansas in the United States Senate. Cox, also President and founder of Arkansas Tea Party, Inc., put an end to the speculation we’ve seen in the blogs lately, saying “I plan on winning this next United States Senate election!” He then cast off any doubts as to whether he’s a social conservative when he stated “I am pro-life” and “In my house, we believe marriage is between a man and a woman.”

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Tags: America You Asked for It, Arkansas, Bob Basso, John Allison III, tea party, Tom Cox 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. - June 16, 2009 - Not only no, but NO - NO - NO!

Another Government Approved Non-profit: As commented on yesterday, " just what we need; another NPR / US Post Service type corporation to waste money. Like the U.S. needs to market the US as a travel destination. If there was money in promoting the U.S. a travel destination, don't you think a non-profit would have been created without the US government? Another sinkhole for future tax dollars!" Wonder which Senators really care! Well the Senate today will begin consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1023, a bill which would “create a privately run nonprofit corporation to market the United States as a travel destination abroad.” Let's watch and see.

National Government Run Health Care: Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a preliminary analysis of the health reform bill being written by Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) through the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. According to Politico the CBO found that the bill “would cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years while still leaving millions of people uninsured” and “that about 37 million people would still go without insurance once the bill is fully implemented, falling far short of President Barack Obama's promise to extend coverage to all Americans.”

This analysis only covers a few portions of the bill, while major provisions remain unwritten. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell identified today: “Large proposals that will have a significant impact on the cost such as a Medicaid expansion and a government run plan have not even been factored in. Moreover, according to the details of this HELP Committee plan, a newly-created health care exchange would result in 15 million Americans losing the employer coverage they currently have — further evidence that if you like what you have, you may well lose it under a government-run plan. . . . The details we’re seeing from the HELP Committee should make us more skeptical of a government health plan — not less. . . . The irony in this whole debate is that we’re being told America’s fiscal future will be jeopardized if we don’t allow the same people who are proposing these outrageous so-called ‘reforms’ to take over the entire health care system.”

In the Obama quick two step fashion, Americans are being told that this all has to be done quickly. Yesterday, Obama said, “We know the moment is right for health care reform. We know this is a historic opportunity we've never seen before and may not see again.” CQ reported earlier this month that the president urged Senate action on a health bill by August in a meeting with Senate Democrats.

But Americans are likely to recall the last time Congress was urged to spend more than $1 trillion hastily, since it was only four months ago. The economic stimulus bill was pushed through Congress quickly back in February. At the time, President Obama said, “If we do not move swiftly to sign the American recovery and reinvestment act into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe. … Millions more Americans will lose their jobs.” Unfortunately, the White House’s predictions that the stimulus would stop the hemorrhaging of jobs from the economy proved untrue. The unemployment rate is now up to 9.4% and 2.9 million jobs have been lost this year.

Americans have also seen the unfortunate, but very predictable consequences of passing such a massive bill on short notice. For the last few months, there has been a steady stream of news reports about waste, fraud, abuse, or simply poor decision-making regarding stimulus money. Today, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has released a list of 100 questionable stimulus projects. The Los Angeles Times reports on just a few of them. “Millions of dollars are going toward bicycle lockers, bike paths, walking trails and a skate park, Coburn said. One town in North Carolina is using stimulus funds to hire an administrator whose job will be to procure more stimulus funds, according to the report.”

Given what we have all seen from the last rush to spend $1 trillion, is it wise for Congress to rush into spending another trillion on a reform that may NOT truly improve health care for Americans and is likely to make it worse? Not only no, but NO - NO - NO!

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Tags: Barack Obama, health care, nationalized health care, US Congress, 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!

Make me an Obama CZAR!

ARRA Editor [aka Ozark Guru]: On Sunday, we reported on Another Day, Another Czar and previously a report on Sen Alexander presenting his Car Czar Award awarded right on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Well, fellow American patriots, our embedded Washington D.C. right minded blogger - K. Ryan James has decided to poke some fun at the Obama Czars and hopefully makes a couple dollars to pay for that expensive Washington D.C. reporting on those Obama Czars. Let's have James share his "special" offer just for you [folks this is real - check out the links]:

Are you feeling a bit down that President Obama has named more
Czars than the Romanovs and you’re not one of them?

Now you can be a CZAR!!!

Prove to the President that you (Yes, you!) can oversee a part of America on behalf of the administration with no oversight by the Congress!

Click here to buy your own
"Make me a CZAR" t-shirt.
BUT WAIT…. THERE’S MORE!With a your very own thick-pointed (and water-resistant) marker you (Yes, you!) can pick your area of expertise that you can lord over (because, no one knows you better that you [Yes, you!]). Available in sizes for men, women and children.
BEAT THE RUSH … ACT NOW!!!

Check out the colors. The Czar T-shirts come in Tea Party Red or Blue; Obama Brown and many other colors. Hey brother James, I want to be the Ozark Hunting Czar - so, I'll take a size XX Military Green. I would accept a size X but shirts do shrink unlike those expanding hidden administrative budgets of Obama Czars. Thanks, buddy, you know where I live - nearly in heaven right in the Arkansas Ozarks!

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Tags: Czar, Obama Czar, Ozark Guru, Ozarks

Comments on Obama Health Care Speech

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: President Obama, promoted his national public health care option to the American Medical Association. He was selling his position to the American people that a government plan which would compete with private insurers is "not your enemy; it is your friend." Text of Obama's Health Care Speech.

Some initial responses indicate that President Obama is rather naive in thinking he can persuade everyone about everything including the sight of hand of moving a government health care plan forward as just another option equal to private health care plans. We already have examples of government health care for veterans, retired military, the elderly over 65 and mandated care for anyone entering an Hospital Emergency Room for anything they need. And how is this working? Not very efficiently.

Health care analyst Michael D. Tanner on Cato@Liberty: responded:

In his speech to the American Medical Association today, President Obama repeatedly denied that he supports “socialized medicine” or “government-run” health care.

But what is important is not the terminology, but under the proposal supported by the president, government would control more and more of our health care decisions. Government would compel Americans to purchase health insurance, controlling its content, how much we pay, and the relationships between insurers, doctors, and patients. Government bureaucrats would determine whether Americans receive certain medical services.

There may be no better salesman than Barack Obama, but his product is deeply flawed. The so-called “Public Option,” or government-run plan, that President Obama supports would slowly but inexorably lead to the destruction of the private insurance market and the imposition of a government-controlled single-payer system.

But the problems with Obamacare go well beyond the Public Option, which the AMA opposes. The mandates on businesses and individuals, taxpayer subsidies, insurance regulation, and government interference in private medical decisions pose serious threats to American businesses, taxpayers, and most importantly patients.

That’s bad medicine, no matter what you call it.

Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABC News Medical Editor had a few terse comments:

Obama kept speaking about keeping what you have if you like it. "If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what."
Comment: What's the "reform" about simply allowing you to keep your present plan as is?

Obama commented on two reforms that almost everyone agrees are necessary: electronic medical records and prevention.
Comment: He ignored the fact that there is no evidence that prevention long term saves money -- e.g., we may get so good at it that everyone lives to 90 and gets Alzheimer's.

Obama's big pitch that a "Health Insurance Exchange" will be like the program for federal employees where they can choose from a list of insurance plans approved by the government -- and immediately said that "one of these options needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market."
Comment: This is the big sticking point with Republicans and something the AMA said last week they were opposed to. However, the AMA has tried to back away from that stance a little bit and today there was moderate applause for this idea. He also threw another bone to this audience by saying the annual process for setting payments for doctors -- the Sustainable Growth Rate -- needs to be reformed.

More comments will be available tomorrow as people have more time to mull over the speech. Today's news was distracted by the events in Iran as its citizens protesting their election results. Tomorrow will ring more detailed review and analysis. But in summary remember that this speech was by a president who in his first 100 days has pushed through programs which have created the largest national debt in history. He does not know a think about health care. It is therefore questionable to trust our health care to Obama plan which points towards nationalized health care.

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Tags: AMA, American Medical Association, Barack Obama, doctors, health care, health care plan, nationalized health care 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. - June 15, 2009 - Obama's Government Run Health Care

Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1023; CQ reports the bill would “create a privately run nonprofit corporation to market the United States as a travel destination abroad.” Gee just what we need; another NPR / US Post Service type corporation to waste money. Like the U.S. needs to market the US as a travel destination. If there was money in promoting the U.S. a travel destination, don't you think a non-profit would have been created without the US government? Another sinkhole for future tax dollars!

Government Run Health Care: President Obama is set to address a skeptical crowd at the American Medical Association today in an attempt to sell his health care reform, including a government-run health care plan.

The AP writes today, “The nation’s doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president's proposals to reshape the health care delivery system.” Just last week, the AMA released a statement opposing the creating of a government-run health care plan, saying it “threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70% of Americans.”

According to the AP, “Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association's annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country's long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.”

But Robert J. Samuelson makes an important point in this Washington Post column today. “The main aim of health-care ‘reform’ being fashioned in Congress is to provide insurance to most of the 46 million uncovered Americans,” Samuelson writes. “But the extra coverage might actually worsen the spending problem. . . . The one certain consequence of expanding insurance coverage is that it would raise spending. When people have insurance, they use more health services. That's one reason Obama's campaign proposal was estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a decade (the other reason is that the federal government would pick up some costs now paid by others). Indeed, the higher demand for health care might raise costs across the board, increasing both government spending and private premiums.”

In his weekly address, Obama announced plans to cut $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals and providers as a way to pay for some of his new spending. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out on Face the Nation yesterday, “The Medicare cuts that the president was talking about [Saturday] were not in the context of making the current program more sustainable… We have an unsustainable Medicare and Medicaid now.” Why add hundreds of billions in new spending on a potentially unsustainable new government health plan when the existing programs are already unsustainable? Wouldn’t it make sense to use the savings Obama is looking for to plug the existing holes in Medicare and Medicaid?

President Obama still hasn’t made clear how he intends to pay for a massive new government-run health care plan. Even if he gets the $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts (likely in the face of fierce opposition from hospitals) and the $300 billion he thinks we can save from cutting waste, that still fall short of projections of a $1.2 trillion price tag for his plans. Is this something the U.S. can afford at a time when the deficit for this year alone already exceeds $1 trillion? I doubt it - What do you think?

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Tags: Barack Obama, health care, nationalized health care, US Congress, 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!

Nancy Pelosi on Raising Taxes and Taxing Healthcare Benefits

MSNBC's Ed Schultz interviews Speaker Nancy Pelois who makes it clear for Democrats everything is on the table including raising taxes and taxing health care benefit? Schultz says, "But just come out and tell the American people that your taxes are going to go up. The American people aren't stupid. I'm not stupid." Video --->

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Tags: Ed Schultz, healthcare, MSNBC, Nancy Pelosi, taxes, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Prime Minister Netanyahu's Foreign Policy Speech to the Nation

The Israel Project: June 14, 2009 - Transcript of today's speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Bar Ilan University with applause indicated:
Honored guests, citizens of Israel.

Peace was always the desire of our people. Our prophets had a vision of peace, we greet each other with peace, our prayers end with the word peace. This evening we are in the center named for two leaders who were groundbreakers for peace - Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat - and we share their vision.

Two and a half months ago, I was sworn in at the Knesset as the Prime Minister of Israel. I promised that I would establish a unity government, and did so. I believed, and still believe, that we need unity now more than ever before. We are currently facing three tremendous challenges: The Iranian threat, the financial crisis, and the promotion of peace.

The Iranian threat still is before us in full force, as it became quite clear yesterday. The greatest danger to Israel, to the Middle East, and to all of humanity, is the encounter between extremist Islam and nuclear weapons. I discussed this with President Obama on my visit to Washington, and will be discussing it next week on my visit with European leaders. I have been working tirelessly for many years to form an international front against Iran arming itself with nuclear armaments.

With the world financial crisis, we acted immediately to bring about stability to the Israeli economy. We passed a two-year budget in the government and will pass it through the Knesset very soon.

The second challenge, rather, the third, so very important challenge, facing us today, is promoting peace. I discussed this also with President Obama. I strongly support the idea of regional peace that he is advancing. I share the President of the USA’s desire to bring about a new era of reconciliation in our region. I discussed this in my meetings with President Mubarak in Egypt and with King Abdullah in Jordan to obtain the assistance of these leaders in the effort to expand the circle of peace in our region.

I appeal tonight to the leaders of the Arab countries and say: Let us meet. Let us talk about peace. Let us make peace. I am willing to meet at any time, at any place, in Damascus, in Riyadh, in Beirut, and in Jerusalem as well. (Applause)

I call upon the leaders of the Arab countries to join together with the Palestinians and with us to promote economic peace. Economic peace is not a substitute for peace, but it is a very important component in achieving it. Together we can advance projects that can overcome the problems facing our region. For example, water desalinization. And we can utilize the advantages of our region, such as maximizing the use of solar energy, or utilizing its geographical advantages to lay pipelines, pipelines to Africa and Europe

Together we can realize the initiatives that I see in the Persian Gulf, which amaze the entire world, and also amaze me. I call upon the talented entrepreneurs of the Arab world, to come and invest here, to assist the Palestinians and us, to give the economy a jump-start. Together we can develop industrial zones, we can create thousands of jobs, and foster tourism that will draw millions, people who want to walk in the footsteps of history, in Nazareth and Bethlehem, in the heights of Jericho and on the walls of Jerusalem, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and at the baptismal site of the Jordan. There is a huge potential for the development of tourism potential here. If you only agree to work together.

I appeal to you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Let us begin peace negotiations immediately without prior conditions. Israel is committed to international agreements, and expects all sides to fulfill their obligations. I say to the Palestinians: We want to live with you in peace, quiet, and good neighborly relations. We want our children and your children to ‘know war no more.’

We do not want parents and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, to know the sorrow of bereavement. We want our children to dream of a better future for humankind. We want us and our neighbors to devote our efforts to ‘plowshares and pruning hooks’ and not to ‘swords and spears…’ I know the terror of war, I participated in battles, I lost good friends who fell [in battle], I lost a brother. I saw the pain of bereaved families from up close – very many times. I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war. (Applause)

Let us join hands and work together in peace, together with our neighbors. There is no limit to the flourishing growth that we can achieve for both peoples - in the economy, in agriculture, in commerce, tourism, education - but, above all, in the ability to give our younger generation hope to live in a place that’s good to live in, a life of creative work, a peaceful life with much of interest, with opportunity and hope.

Friends, with the advantages of peace so clear, so obvious, we must ask ourselves why is peace still so far from us, even though our hands are extended for peace? Why has the conflict going on for over 60 years? To bring an end to it, there must be a sincere, genuine answer to the question: what is the root of the conflict? In his speech at the Zionist Congress in Basel, in speaking of his grand vision of a Jewish homeland for the Jewish People, Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel, said: This is so big, we must talk about it only in the simplest words possible.

I now am asking that when we speak of the huge challenge of peace, we must use the simplest words possible, using person to person terms. Even with our eyes on the horizon, we must have our feet on the ground, firmly rooted in truth. The simple truth is that the root of the conflict has been – and remains - the refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish People to its own state in its historical homeland.

In 1947 when the United Nations proposed the Partition Plan for a Jewish state and an Arab state, the entire Arab world rejected the proposal, while the Jewish community accepted it with great rejoicing and dancing. The Arabs refused any Jewish state whatsoever, with any borders whatsoever.

Whoever thinks that the continued hostility to Israel is a result of our forces in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is confusing cause and effect. The attacks on us began in the 1920s, became an overall attack in 1948 when the state was declared, continued in the 1950s with the fedaayyin attacks, and reached their climax in 1967 on the eve of the Six-Day War, with the attempt to strangle Israel. All this happened nearly 50 years before a single Israeli soldier went into Judea and Samaria.

To our joy, Egypt and Jordan left this circle of hostility. They signed peace agreements with us which ended their hostility to Israel. It brought about peace. To our deep regret, this is not happening with the Palestinians. The closer we get to a peace agreement with them, the more they are distancing themselves from peace. They raise new demands. They are not showing us that they want to end the conflict.

A great many people are telling us that withdrawal is the key to peace with the Palestinians. But the fact is that all our withdrawals were met by huge waves of suicide bombers. We tried withdrawal by agreement, withdrawal without an agreement, we tried partial withdrawal and full withdrawal. In 2000, and once again last year, the government of Israel, based on good will, tried a nearly complete withdrawal, in exchange for the end of the conflict, and were twice refused.

We withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter, we uprooted dozens of settlements and turned thousands of Israelis out of their homes. In exchange, what we received were missiles raining down on our cities, our towns and our children. The argument that withdrawal would bring peace closer did not stand up to the test of reality.

With Hamas in the south and Hizbullah in the north, they keep on saying that they want to ‘liberate’ Ashkelon in the south and Haifa and Tiberias. Even the moderates among the Palestinians are not ready to say the most simplest things: The State of Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish People and will remain so. (Applause)

Friends, in order to achieve peace, we need courage and integrity on the part of the leaders of both sides. I am speaking today with courage and honesty. We need courage and sincerity not only on the Israeli side: we need the Palestinian leadership to rise and say, simply “We have had enough of this conflict. We recognize the right of the Jewish People to a state its own in this Land. We will live side by side in true peace.” I am looking forward to this moment.

We want them to say the simplest things, to our people and to their people. This will then open the door to solving other problems, no matter how difficult. The fundamental condition for ending the conflict is the public, binding and sincere Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish People. (Applause)

For this to have practical meaning, we need a clear agreement to solve the Palestinian refugee problem outside of the borders of the State of Israel. For it is clear to all that the demand to settle the Palestinian refugees inside of Israel, contradicts the continued existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish People. We must solve the problem of the Arab refugees. And I believe that it is possible to solve it. Because we have proven that we ourselves solved a similar problem. Tiny Israel took in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were uprooted from their homes.

Therefore, justice and logic dictates that the problem of the Palestinian refugees must be solved outside the borders of the State of Israel. There is broad national agreement on this. (Applause) I believe that with good will and international investment of we can solve this humanitarian problem once and for all.

Friends, up to now, I have been talking about the need for the Palestinians to recognize our rights. Now I will talk about the need for us to recognize their rights. The connection of the Jewish People to the Land has been in existence for more than 3,500 years. Judea and Samaria, the places where our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob walked, our forefathers David, Solomon, Isaiah and Jeremiah – this is not a foreign land, this is the Land of our Forefathers. (Applause)

The right of the Jewish People to a state in the Land of Israel does not arise from the series of disasters that befell the Jewish People over 2,000 years -- persecutions, expulsions, pogroms, blood libels, murders, which reached its climax in the Holocaust, an unprecedented tragedy in the history of nations. There are those who say that without the Holocaust the State would not have been established, but I say that if the State of Israel had been established in time, the Holocaust would not have taken place. (Applause) The tragedies that arose from the Jewish People’s helplessness show very sharply that we need a protective state.

The right to establish our sovereign state here, in the Land of Israel, arises from one simple fact: Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People. (Applause) As the first PM David Ben Gurion in the declaration of the State, the State of Israel was established here in Eretz Israel, where the People of Israel created the Book of Books, and gave it to the world.

But, friends, we must state the whole truth here. The truth is that in the area of our homeland, in the heart of our Jewish Homeland, now lives a large population of Palestinians. We do not want to rule over them. We do not want to run their lives. We do not want to force our flag and our culture on them. In my vision of peace, there are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its flag, anthem and government, with neither one threatening its neighbor’s security and existence.

These two facts – our link to the Land of Israel, and the Palestinian population who live here, have created deep disagreements within Israeli society. But the truth is that we have much more unity than disagreement.

I came here tonight to talk about the agreement and security that are broad consensus within Israeli society. This is what guides our policy. This policy must take into account the international situation. We have to recognize international agreements but also principles important to the State of Israel. I spoke tonight about the first principle - recognition. Palestinians must truly recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people. The second principle is demilitarization. Any area in Palestinian hands has to be demilitarization, with solid security measures. Without this condition, there is a real fear that there will be an armed Palestinian state which will become a terrorist base against Israel, as happened in Gaza. We do not want missiles on Petah Tikva, or Grads on the Ben-Gurion international airport. We want peace. (Applause)

And, to ensure peace we don’t want them to bring in missiles or rockets or have an army, or control of airspace, or make treaties with countries like Iran, or Hizbullah. There is broad agreement on this in Israel. We cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without ensuring that it is demilitarized. This is crucial to the existence of Israel – we must provide for our security needs.

This is why we are now asking our friends in the international community, headed by the USA, for what is necessary for our security, that in any peace agreement, the Palestinian area must be demilitarized. No army, no control of air space. Real effective measures to prevent arms coming in, not what’s going on now in Gaza. The Palestinians cannot make military treaties.

Without this, sooner or later, we will have another Hamastan. We can’t agree to this. Israel must govern its own fate and security. I told President Obama in Washington, if we get a guarantee of demilitarization, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, we are ready to agree to a real peace agreement, a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish state. (Applause) Whenever we discuss a permanent arrangement, Israel needs defensible borders with Jerusalem remaining the united capital of Israel. (Applause)

The territorial issues will be discussed in a permanent agreement. Till then we have no intention to build new settlements or set aside land for new settlements. But there is a need to have people live normal lives and let mothers and fathers raise their children like everyone in the world. The settlers are not enemies of peace. They are our brothers and sisters. (Applause)

Friends, unity among us is, to my view, vital, and unity will help with reconciliation with our neighbors. Reconciliation must begin now. A strong Palestinian government will strengthen peace. If they truly want peace, and educate their children for peace and stop incitement, we for our part will make every effort, allow them freedom of movement and accessibility, making their lives easier and this will help bring peace.

But above all, they must decide: the Palestinians must decide between path of peace and path of Hamas. They must overcome Hamas. Israel will not sit down at conference table with terrorist who seek to destroy it. (Applause) Hamas are not willing to even let the Red Cross visit our abducted soldier Gilad Shalit who has been in captivity three years, cut off from his family and his country. We want to bring him back whole and well.

With help of the international community, there is no reason why we can’t have peace. With help of USA, we can do we can do the unbelievable. In 61 years, with constant threats to our existence we have achieved so much. Our microchips power the worlds computers unbelievable, we have found cures for incurable diseases. Israeli drip irrigation waters barren lands throughout the world. Israeli researchers are making worldwide breakthroughs. If our neighbors only work for peace, we can achieve peace. (Applause)

I call upon Arab leaders and Palestinian leaders: Let’s go in the path of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein. Let’s go in the path of Prophet Isaiah, who spoke thousands of years ago, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and know war no more. Let us know war no more. Let us know peace. (Applause) -- End Transcript

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Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish people, Palestine, Palestinian, peace, speech To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Another Day, Another Czar

H/T Liberty Pen: Fox News' Neil Cavuto and Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell discuss the czar-happy tendencies of President Obama and why Americans should find this unsettling. Guess - how many unaccountable Czars has President Obama appointed? Have you heard about the new Pay Czar and Great Lakes Czar (overseas the suckers!). They are unaccountable to Congress or the public. We are not even allowed to know how much each CZAR is paid or their office staff, etc. Cato's Dan Mitchell says, "We are jumping past French style socialism to Argentinean style crony capitalism where it is the president's buddies who make decisions on who gets what resources in the economy."

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Tags: Barack Obama, Cato Institute, conservative, control, crony capitalism, Czar, Dan Mitchell, federal authority, Fox News, government, liberty, Neil Cavuto, power, tyranny, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The "Just Us" Department

by Bob Parks: Why, thanks to liberals, America remains a "nation of cowards" and how the Obama Justice Department is seeing to it we remain so. Audio follows:

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Tags: Black Panthers, Bob Parks, Eric Holder, Georgia, US Justice Dept, voter id, voter intimidation To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!