Democrat Rules of Civility and Decorum

Democrats made political theater on civility and decorum, but who should be lecturing whom? [video]

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Tags: ACORN, Ann Kirkpatrick, Baron Hill, Ciro Rodriguez, Civility, DCCC, Democrats, Disapproval, Eric Massa, hypocrisy, Joe Wilson, John Murtha, NRCC, Pelosi, Pete Stark, Town Hall, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Voter Initiated Amendment Limiting Benefits to Illegal Aliens Filed With Arkansas AG

Secure Arkansas, a grassroots organization, has submitted an initiative AMENDMENT to propose a constitutional amendment limiting benefits for illegal aliens to the Arkansas Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel, for approval of the ballot title and popular name. He has ten business days to approve and certify or to return with recommended changes. Last year, a similar initiative tied up in the Attorney General's office for a very long time and this left us too little time to collect signatures.

This initiative is very similar to the act submitted last year by Secure Arkansas. The major difference is that an initiated ACT creates a statute that may be altered or repealed by the Arkansas legislature by a two-thirds vote. The initiated AMENDMENT being submitted this year if passed by the voters may only be changed by another vote of the people, thus insuring the will of the people will be followed.

Another difference is that this initiated amendment will require signatures of 10% of the total number of votes cast for the office of governor in the last general election rather than the 8% required in 2008. However, in 2008, with less than two months' time, Secure Arkansas collected over 57,000 signatures. If the Attorney General does not delay in approving the ballot title and popular name there will be more time to collect the required signatures needed to reach 10% goal by the summer of 2010.

Secure Arkansas identified the following Action Item: Help needed to get the Attorney General's approval. Begin calling the Attorney General's office on Monday, being very polite, and requesting that he expedite his approval. Following are the telephone numbers:  1-800-482-8982 or 501-682-2007.

The time has come to begin our campaign against illegal immigration and the benefits they receive from the taxpayers. You will have a part to play in history as we are going to need your help in more ways than one. We need your money in order to pay for our legal expenses. We also need canvassers, so be sure to forward this to all your friends. NOW is your chance to make a difference, to get involved, and to ensure the will of the people wins out over the corrupt special interests that dominate our state government.

We can turn this thing around. Let's get the job done this time for the sake of our children and grandchildren. For more information, please contact Jeannie Burlsworth at info@securearkansas.com or 501-765-3325 SecureArkansas.com

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Tags: Arkansas, Attorney General, benefits, Dustin McDaniel, illegal aliens, initiated amendment, Secure Arkansas To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama Admin: Cap and Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year

by Declan McCullagh, CBS News: The Obama Administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.  A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.

A second memorandum, which was prepared for Obama's transition team after the November election, says this about climate change policies: "Economic costs will likely be on the order of 1 percent of GDP, making them equal in scale to all existing environmental regulation."  The documents (PDF) were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute and released on Tuesday. . . .

Because personal income tax revenues bring in around $1.37 trillion a year, a $200 billion additional tax would be the equivalent of a 15 percent increase a year. A $100 billion additional tax would represent a 7 or 8 percent increase a year.  . . . [Full Story]

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Tags: cap-and-trade, CBS, Obama administration To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama Pushes Amnesty To Give Illegal Aliens Taxpayer Health Care Benefits!

ALIPAC Note: Does anyone in the country need any more proof that Obama lied to the nation and Congressman Joe Wilson called it correctly regardless of whether he should have spoken out how and when he did? Also, the recent scientific and certified poll conducted by Pulse Opinion Research shows 78% of Americans oppose a 'path to citizenship' for illegal immigrants including 88% of African Americans!

Americans for Legal Immigration:    President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.   He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

"Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.   Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

Republicans said that amounts to an amnesty, calling it a backdoor effort to make sure current illegal immigrants get health care.  "It is ironic that the president told the American people that illegal immigrants should not be covered by the health care bill, but now just days later he's talking about letting them in the back door," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.  "If the American people do not want to provide government health care for illegal immigrants, why would they support giving them citizenship, the highest honor America can bestow?" Mr. Smith said.

But immigrant rights groups see the speech as a signal that Mr. Obama is committed to providing health care coverage for anyone in the United States legally, regardless of their citizenship status. "It's the first time I've certainly heard, publicly, him talking more about legal immigrants," said Eric Rodriguez, vice president for research and advocacy at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). "I think that was certainly positive progress. We were absolutely concerned about not hearing that."

On Wednesday, hours before Mr. Obama's speech, the NCLR had given the administration a public scolding, demanding that Mr. Obama needed to make "a public commitment ... to ensure that those who are here legally are covered."   A White House spokesman did not respond to questions about where the White House would make the cutoff for eligibility, and Mr. Rodriguez said he's still waiting for an answer from the administration.   "We don't know where they mean to draw the line," he said. "Our biggest concern is that most people don't realize legal immigrants are currently barred from receiving health care benefits for the first five years in the country."

Under the 1996 welfare overhaul, most federal aid programs are restricted to citizens and legal immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years. Democrats have tried this year to chip away at that rule.
Immigration has dogged Mr. Obama in the health care debate. Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, shouted, "You lie," when the president, in an address to Congress last week, said his plans wouldn't cover illegal immigrants.

Lawmakers - who got an earful from constituents back home during August - have insisted on extra checks to make sure illegal immigrants do not have access to taxpayer-funded programs. Senators have worked on language that would prevent illegal immigrants from buying insurance through a proposed insurance exchange envisioned in the health care reform package.   But the NCLR said that could lead to situations where some members of a family would be covered and others, including children of illegal immigrants, wouldn't be.

Mr. Obama said legalizing illegal immigrants is a way to take the sting out of the entire issue. But Republicans said by pushing to legalize illegal immigrants, Mr. Obama is signaling that those here illegally eventually will get access to taxpayer-funded benefits.   Still, the push to pass a legalization bill is beginning to gain steam, even as advocates fret that the White House is moving too slowly.  

On Thursday, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois Democrat and an outspoken advocate for legalization, agreed to take leadership in writing a new, more generous bill. "We simply cannot wait any longer for a bill that keeps our families together, protects our workers and allows a pathway to legalization for those who have earned it," Mr. Gutierrez said. "Saying immigration is a priority for this administration or this Congress is not the same as seeing tangible action, and the longer we wait, the more every single piece of legislation we debate will be obstructed by our failure to pass comprehensive reform."

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Tags: ALIPAC, Americans for Legal Immigration, amnesty, Barack Obama, healthcare, illegal aliens To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama Ignores Chavez Threat

Gary Bauer advises that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez announced the purchase of more than $2 billion in arms from Russia, including “little rockets,” and declared that Venezuela will get started on a nuclear program with Iran’s help. Then came news that Venezuela has signed a $16 billion investment deal to increase oil output by several hundred thousand barrels a day for China. Chavez has signaled clearly his intention to “break North American imperialist hegemony.” Barack Obama is signaling that he may let him. Read More: Obama on Chavez: Just Some Guy in My Neighborhood

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Tags: Gary Bauer, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Rationing By Any Other Name...

by Victor Morawski: We critics of ObamaCare may have been doing ourselves a bit of a disservice over the past few months by focusing on health care "rationing." Yes, "rationing&" best describes some of the most disconcerting effects of government run health care, and it strikes a chord with the general public. But it is rarely used by our duplicitous opponents, leaving the door open for them to argue that we are just raising a general alarm over nothing.

But rationing does not have to be called such to be rationing. So, perhaps, we should shift our focus away from language that we prefer and toward illuminating language used by our opponents when, in cloaked words, they discuss what we all know is nothing more (and unfortunately, nothing less) than cold and calculated government rationing.

Ezekiel Emanuel heads the Federal Council of Comparative Effectiveness Research, whose job it is, we are told, to save the government money. The GLG Group observes that, "The Commonwealth Fund& . . . has estimated that establishing a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research could save up to $634 billion between 2010 and 2020. . ." And just how would it do this?

Well, in sum total, "effectiveness" in this context is merely another term for rationing. Emanuel makes it clear that the "effectiveness" of a new drug, device or procedure is not measured by whether it works to heal a patient and save lives, but by whether it is effective relative to its cost. A drug, for instance, that adds half a year of life on average to cancer patients, but costs the Obama government $50,000 cost would not receive government backing. It's all a matter of a cold and heartless cost-benefit analysis.

Astute readers may notice that in real life, Ezekiel Emanuel now actually heads an organization that has essentially the same function as his envisioned Institute for Technology and Outcomes Assessment, which we discussed last week. From this we could glean that the word "outcomes" is another buzz word used for rationing. Only those health services whose "outcomes" justify their costs are worth Big Government's time and money. So, in short, under Obamacare, you and your loved ones are reduced to mere dollar figures.

Other words occur when members of the Obama administration, or the President himself, talk about eliminating "waste" and "Inefficiency" as Obama did last week and on July 22: "We also want to create an independent group of doctors and medical experts who are empowered to eliminate waste and inefficiency in Medicare on an annual basis."

Contrary to White House denials to the effect that this board, "will not be authorized to propose or implement Medicare changes that ration care or affect benefits, eligibility or beneficiary access to care," the CBO has recommended that the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) have exactly those powers in order to "improve the efficiency of the health care system." And improving "efficiency&" again means weighing costs over benefits in ways that produce rationed care.

The fact is, as Gertrude Stein opined, "A rose by any other name is still a rose." And government "rationing&" by any other name is still a death warrant for the elderly and infirm.
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Victor Morawski is a professor at Coppin University along with a Liberty Features Syndicated Writer.

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Tags: heath care, Obamacare, rationed care To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Jimmy Carter's Meltdown

by William Warren:

Quote: "And, anytime the worst president in modern history, Jimmy Carter, speaks on behalf of a current president it is clear that a presidency is in trouble." - Dr. Bill Smith

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Tags: Jimmy Carter, political cartoon, William Warren 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. - Sept 18, 2009 - ACORN Rolls - Poland Rolled

The Senate is not in session today; reconvene on Monday. Yesterday, the Senate voted 73-25 to pass the $122 billion fiscal 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, H.R. 3288. Prior to passage, the Senate rejected 43-53 an amendment from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to prohibit funding in the bill for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, PA. This should have been a "no brainer" to stop funding the funding the Murtha airport pork project and various related corruption charges have been reported continuously in the news. But King of Pork Murtha must have some serious control over others as he is a gatekeeper for earmarks in the House.  But has his power reached into the Senate? Not a big surprise was generally democrats voting no and republicans voting yes on the amendment. However there were some votes that were worth mentioning. Arlen Spector (D-PA) did not vote. Both Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor from Arkansas, alleged conservatives, voted to allow for continuous waste of taxpayer money on an airport with almost no passengers. Two Republicans, Bond (R-MO) and Voinovich (R-OH) surprisingly voted to keep funding the Murtha Airport. While 5 democrats voted for the amendment, one was off set of Bond's vote - Carol McCaskill (D-MO) voted to stop funding. Strange bedfellows!

Also yesterday, the Senate approved 85-11 an amendment to the Interior appropriations bill to prohibit funding in that bill from going to ACORN. And, the House of Representatives voted 345-75 to pass the Defund ACORN Act.  The senate senators also confirmed Gerard Lynch to be a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) as Secretary of the Army by unanimous consent.

When we thought that the defunding of ACORN and the ACORN scandals would occupy the news for the weekend, yesterday, President Obama played into the hand of the Russians and announced that he was pulling the security rug out from under Poland and the European community. The announcement of the cancellation of the anti-missile shield in Poland was made on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland from the east and after the Nazis attacked from the west, And, showed a total ignorance of history by Obama and his advisors. The NY Times pointed out, "‘The fact that the administration chose this day to announce new plans for this missile defense shield says a lot about the people in the White House who are making the decisions about central Europe,’ said Slawomir Debski, director of the Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw.”

The NY Times also reported yesterday, “In one of the biggest national security reversals of his young presidency, Mr. Obama canceled former President George W. Bush’s plans to station a radar facility in the Czech Republic and 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland. . . . But the decision churned domestic and international politics as Republican critics at home accused Mr. Obama of betraying allies and caving in to Russian pressure, while officials in Eastern Europe expressed discomfort and confusion at the dramatic shift.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The administration’s decision to abandon an important missile defense program for the defense of NATO and our allies in Poland and the Czech Republic, in my view, is both shortsighted and harmful to our long-term security interests. We must not turn our backs on two loyal allies in the War on Terror. Further, the administration has secured no apparent commitment from the Russians to work with us to reduce either the missile or nuclear threat from Iran. More troubling will be if the administration has made these concessions to Russia in pursuit of expediting ill-considered arms control deals.”

Today, The Washington Post editors write, “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the Obama administration's decision to scrap plans for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic was based ‘almost exclusively’ on a ‘changed intelligence assessment’ about Iran's missile capabilities and by ‘enhanced technology.’ . . . Nevertheless Mr. Gates's ‘almost’ speaks volumes -- because the suggestion by other administration spokesmen that the decision had nothing to do with Russia will probably not be credible to much of the rest of the world, including the Russians themselves. By replacing a planned radar system in the Czech Republic with another in the Caucasus and by ending a commitment to place 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland, President Obama satisfies the unjustified demands of Russia's leaders, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.” Indeed, The Post reports elsewhere that “Russia expressed cautious approval of President Obama's decision Thursday . . . .”

But, The Post editorial notes, “[T]he Obama administration has clearly bruised some of the staunchest U.S. allies in Europe while encouraging the Kremlin's hard-liners.” Many Eastern European leaders were less than pleased. According to The Washington Post, “Former president Lech Walesa, who led the Solidarity movement that challenged Communist rule, had stronger words: ‘The Americans have always tended to their interests only and have taken advantage of everyone else.’” Reactions like that certainly explain the conclusion of The Wall Street Journal editors: “President Obama promised he would win America friends where, under George W. Bush, it had antagonists. The reality is that the U.S. is working hard to create antagonists where it previously had friends.” An AP headline from this morning certainly supports that view: “Poles, Czechs: US missile defense shift a betrayal.”

The Wall Street Journal went further, lamenting, “The European switcheroo continues Mr. Obama's trend of courting adversaries while smacking allies. His Administration has sought warmer ties with Iran, Burma, North Korea, Russia and even Venezuela. But it has picked trade fights with Canada and Mexico, sat on trade treaties with Colombia and South Korea, battled Israel over West Bank settlements, ignored Japan in deciding to talk with North Korea, and sanctioned Honduras for its sin of resisting the encroachments of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.”

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Tags: ACORN, airport, Czech Republic, John Murtha, missile defense, Poland, 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!

What have we learned in 2,064 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero (55 BC)

What have we learned in 2,064 years? APPARENTLY NOT MUCH

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H/T TexasFred
Tags: Black History Month, Cicero, TexasFred To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Why "soak the rich" doesn't work

Illinois Policy Institute's John Tillman is interviewed on Good Day Chicago on September 14. John discusses the "soak the rich" tax policies being mentioned by some gubernatorial candidates and is also asked about health care reform.

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Tags: Illinois, income tax, John Tillman, soak the rich 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. - Sept 17, 2009 - Gallup Poll: Majority Still Disapproves of Obamacare

Update: America, You Asked For It! reports that "House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 345-75 to pass the Defund ACORN Act: “Today’s overwhelming bipartisan vote to stop all federal funding of ACORN is a victory for American taxpayers. Of course, it is only the beginning. We need to keep up the fight to end taxpayer funding for this troubled organization. . . ."
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The Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3288, the fiscal 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. It will then proceed to a series of votes on 4 amendments to the bill and a motion to recommit offered by Republican Whip Jon Kyl, which would rescind unspent stimulus funds for next year. Among the amendments expected to receive votes is one from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to prohibit funding in the bill for the John Murtha airport in Johnstown, PA.

Yesterday the Senate rejected several Republican amendments to the bill. Among the amendments rejected: Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to prohibit funding for stimulus project road signs and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to prohibit earmarks of funds in the bill from going to museums. Also rejected was a motion from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to recommit the bill and have it reported back with $12.7 billion less in spending. However, they approved an amendment from Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to allow the secured transport of legal firearms on Amtrak trains.

Senate will begin consideration of H.R. 2996, the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment appropriations bill. The White House billed last week’s speech as a make-or-break moment and a move to regain momentum in the health care debate. A sampling of headlines from that week is instructive: The Hill: “Obama prepares to try to reclaim lost ground in health debate — again”; VOA: “Obama Hopes to Regain Health Care Momentum With Speech to Congress”;  Los Angeles Times: “Obama set to make final healthcare push”; Guardian: “Obama to deliver make-or-break healthcare speech to Congress.”

A new Gallup poll today finds that despite a near-constant P.R. blitz by the administration, disapproval of the President’s handling of health care remains significantly higher than approval, and as Gallup puts it, “may have become fairly entrenched.” 52% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of health care, compared with 49% in August and 50% in July. His approval has stayed nearly flat, from 44% in July to 43% in August and September. The higher disapproval numbers on health care have not improved since the drop in July despite dozens of speeches, weekly addresses, town halls, innumerable interviews, a prime time press conference and his speech to the joint session of Congress.

So it seems the debate on health care is back to where it was prior to Obama’s supposedly game-changing speech. A majority of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling on health care, Democrats in Congress are touting bills that only bring both parties together in disliking major provisions in them, and the American people are left wondering where the common-sense reforms they could support are.

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Tags: ACORN, exit polls, Obamacare, 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 Race Card

by William Warren:

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Bill Smith, Editor: It is clear that the left-wing fringe is playing the Race Card in an effort to misdirect the discussion from addressing the facts about programs and issues of a stumbling presidency. The anchors on the president which may be causing the stumbling are the left-wing radicals who wish to control the president and to keep advancing a socialist agenda. The election proved that Americans were more than willing to have a black person as their president. And, a majority of Americans while upset are still waiting for the person they thought they elected to show up as president. It has been most displeasing to see a president acting self-centered, at times arrogant and too full of himself and castigating the general public and his elders. And, anytime the worst president in modern history, Jimmy Carter, speaks on behalf of a current president it is clear that a presidency is in trouble.

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Tags: left-wing, political cartoon, political satire, race card, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Main Steam Media Becoming Irrelevant

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: If you ever wondered if the main old stream media is relevant consider the following two stories:

Rush Limbaugh's August Ratings Soar; Media Ignore the Feat (CNSNews.com) - Arbitron’s “Portable People Meter” ratings for August, released last week, show that Rush Limbaugh experienced record ratings in a number of major American radio markets, something the mainstream media ignored.

Never Reviewed by NYT or WashPost, Mark Levin's 'Liberty and Tyranny' Has Now Sold 1 Million Copies (CNSNews.com) - "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto" by Mark Levin has been one of the Top Ten books on the New York Times bestseller list for 24 weeks, without ever having been reviewed by either the New York Times or the Washington Post.

Factors for the success of both Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are the strength of their personal convictions, their personalty, conservative values, talk radio and the "main street media." Main stream media is dying because it ignores the reality around them, is bias in its reporting, chases after liberal causes, distorts truth, and can't believe that people really can sort out what is true and untrue given the option to do so.

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Tags: Accuracy in Media, main stream media, main street media, Mark Levin, media bias, Rush Limbaugh To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Race Card: Sign of Desperation

Tony Perkins, Washington Update: Yesterday, the House voted 240 to 179 to censure Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.) for saying the President was lying about aspects of his health care reform plan. What was more telling than the vote was the rhetoric that surrounded it. Those pushing to publicly flog Wilson avoided the subject at hand, the health care reform plan and whether or not the President's statements were false.

Rather, House members like Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) used the opportunity to say Wilson 's actions were motivated by racial animus. In an interview with CNN, Johnson said "I guess we'll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside, intimidating people. That's the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked." On ABC's World News, referring to Wilson's comments, Lee said "Hate speech can turn into hate crimes." Working out of the Left's classic playbook, former President Jimmy Carter, interviewed on NBC Nightly News, chimed in not only on Wilson's comments but on the public opposition to the President's liberal plans saying, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American." This is a classic move by the Left when they can't win the policy debate; they try to marginalize their opponents by calling them racist.

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Tags: ACORN, race card, Tony Perkins, Washington Update To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Defund ACORN Now

Americans for Liberty calls for Congress to defund ACORN: What could possibly be more revolting than a federally funded organization using a stream of tax dollars to promote voter fraud and encourage prostitution? Perhaps the seven U.S. Senators voting to keep that organization fully funded with those tax dollars.

In the aftermath of the highly publicized disclosure of multiple videos revealing ACORN workers offering assistance to an undercover “pimp and prostitute”, the Senate sprang into action and voted to prohibit the organization from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Although it was the damning prostitution videos—which explicitly showed ACORN workers giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and harbor underage immigrant girls as prostitutes—which prompted the quick vote, ACORN already had a long history of corrupt and vile behavior. In addition to pushing the very loose-lending policies which triggered the collapse of the housing market, ACORN is also under investigation for voter registration fraud all across the country. Among others, states like Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri have each file charges.

Given the organization’s contemptible record of ill-repute, the vote to defund ACORN should have been a 100 percent unanimous vote. Even the U.S. Census has already revoked its partnership agreement with ACORN for the official 2010 Census count in light of the prostitution scandals. Seven U.S. Senators, however, voted against the bill and thus in favor of keeping ACORN fully funded. They are Roland Burris (D-IL), Robert Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). In essence, these seven are giving their stamp of approval to the prostitution of underage children—not to mention tax evasion, voter fraud, and reckless lending.

Bill Wilson, President of Americans for Limited Government, labeled the unconscionable group of senators the “Sordid Seven”. As he said in a statement:

“These seven Senators have knowingly voted to keep sending taxpayer money to a highly corrupt organization of pushers and pimps. The constituents of these seven unconscionable Senators need to know that despite ACORN’s clear track record of bad lending practices, the ‘Sordid Seven’ have chosen to look the other way.”

In addition to the “No” votes of these seven Senators, the fact that ACORN will still receive any federal funding is reprehensible. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) echoed the sentiment of many—including Americans for Limited Government—by calling upon Barack Obama to sever ties with ACORN and end all federal funds to the organization (not solely those from the Department of Housing and Urban Development). As he said in his letter to Obama:

“It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law. Immediate action is necessary to ensure that no additional tax dollars are directed to ACORN. Simply put, ACORN should not receive another penny of American taxpayers’ money.”

Unfortunately, severing ties with ACORN will not be a simple task for Barack Obama. After all, the organization practically spawned the man now occupying the oval office and was pivotal in shaping his political philosophy, strategies, and tactics. As Barack Obama himself once said:

“I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school…this is something that I know personally, the work [ACORN does], the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it.”

And now Barack Obama and seven U.S. Senators are smack dab in the middle of an ACORN prostitution scandal. This cannot go unaddressed. As Rep. Boehner articulates, there is no excuse for a single penny of tax money to go to ACORN. The latest round of incidents proves it anew. The constituents of these “Sordid Seven” senators must hold them accountable for being complicit in prostitution, tax evasion, voter fraud, and the reckless lending that helped trigger the housing collapse. And the American people must hold their president accountable for being part and parcel of one of the nation’s most corrupt and contemptible organizations.

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Tags: ACORN, Americans for Limited Government, defund To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Who to Count in the Census

by Kerby Anderson, Point of View: Next year’s census will determine how many members of the House of Representatives will be allocated to each state and will thus also determine the number of votes each state will get in the Electoral College. The procedure would seem to be straightforward. It’s not.

In the past, I have talked about the controversy that arose over who should oversee the census and who will be taking the census. Today, I would like to deal with another controversy: who should be counted in the census. Some say only legal, permanent residents should be counted. Others say everyone should be counted.

In the past, it might not have made much difference whether we counted only citizens or all residents. But with the increasing numbers of illegal aliens, that difference is considerable. If we count only citizens in California, it will have 48 House seats. If we count everyone in California, it will have 57 House seats. That’s a difference of nine House seats. Those seats are going to come from other states (like New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Illinois) that will lose representatives if illegal aliens are counted.

A little history is in order. The first Census Act of 1790 provided that enumeration of that year would count inhabitants and distinguish various subgroups by age, sex, and status as free persons. Early census questionnaires asked, “What state or foreign country were you born in?” and then questioned those born outside of the U.S. if they were naturalized.

Over time, Congress and the Census Bureau began to ask additional questions that had little to do with its constitutional purpose. By 1980, there were two census forms. The shorter form was used to establish congressional apportionment. The longer form asked various questions (including citizenship status) and went to only a sample of U.S. households. Since 1980, the census has not distinguished between citizens and those who are in the country illegally. The 2010 census will only use the short form.

It appears to me that the census is no longer following the constitutional pattern that was changed back in 1980. Some states will benefit from this change, while others will lose. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.

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Tags: Census, Census Bureau, illegal aliens, Kerby Anderson, Point of View, Representative, US Constitution, US House 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. - Sept 16, 2009 - Baucus' Expensive, Partisan Health Care Plan Draws Litany Of Complaints

The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 3288, the fiscal 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The bill provides $122 billion, including $11.1 billion for federal transit programs. Plans are to begin voting on a series of amendments to the bill. Among them are expected to be at least three amendments from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to eliminate earmarks or reduce spending and an amendment from Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to allow the secured transport of legal firearms on Amtrak trains.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 68-26 to table an amendment from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to take all money for earmarks in the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill and instead use it to modernize the air traffic control system.

The Washington Post reports, “Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled an $856 billion health-care reform plan Wednesday that would require nearly all Americans to carry health insurance while barring insurance companies from discriminating against people based on their health status or denying coverage because of preexisting conditions.” However, despite Baucus’ 3 months of work on this bill, it seems that all he’s managed to produce is a bill that has bipartisan detractors. 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “This partisan proposal cuts Medicare by nearly a half-trillion dollars, and puts massive new tax burdens on families and small businesses, to create yet another thousand-page, trillion-dollar government program. Only in Washington would anyone think that makes sense, especially in this economy.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, also said he could not support the bill, according to The New York Times. Sen. Grassley said, “I’m disappointed because it looks like we’re being pushed aside by the Democratic leadership so the Senate can move forward on a bill that, up to this point, does not meet the shared goals for affordable, accessible health coverage.” The Times notes Grassley “wanted stronger guarantees that federal money would not be used to pay for abortions or to subsidize health insurance for illegal immigrants, and he is seeking unspecified ‘medical malpractice reforms.’” The Hill reports that “Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill. . . . Snowe said she is concerned about Baucus’s plans to tax high-cost [insurance] plans.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have heaped criticism on the bill from all sides. Sen. Jay Rockefeller told The New York Times, “The way it is now, there’s no way I can vote for the Senate package.” ABC News explains his reasoning: “The West Virginia Democrat worries, however, that a lot of middle class workers, like the coal miners in his state, will end up facing ‘a big, big tax’ under the Baucus bill because they currently enjoy generous employer-provided health care benefits which they receive tax free.” Also critical was House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who “said Mr. Baucus, by paring the cost of the bill, had also cut the subsidies that would help people buy insurance,” the NYT points out.  In addition, “Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said he doubted that subsidies in the Baucus bill would be enough to enable middle-income people to buy insurance without straining family budgets, and he vowed to seek changes.” According to The Wall Street Journal, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) had similar concerns. And Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), “challenged Mr. Baucus’s plan to help finance coverage of the uninsured by imposing $4 billion a year in fees on manufacturers of medical devices and diagnostic products,” the NYT notes. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Democrat Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken sent a letter to Baucus opposing the same provision and were joined by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Richard Lugar (R-IN).

This morning, Sen. McConnell said, “While getting rid of the government [insurance] plan would be a good start, the Democrat bills we’ve seen would still grant government far too much control over the health care system. Over the past few months, Americans have been saying they’ve had enough of spending, debt, and government expansion. How are Democrats in Washington responding? By trying to rush through another trillion-dollar bill that Americans don’t even want and can’t afford. The American people want health care reform — not with more government, but with less. They don’t want a new government-run system; they want us to repair the system we’ve got. On all these points, the American people are sending a clear and persistent message. It’s time we in Congress started to listen.”

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Tags: government healthcare, Max Baucus, US Congress, US House, US Senate, H.R. 3288, 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations, federal transit programs, earmarks, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

ACORN = RICO

By Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: Now that a third ACORN video has surfaced, a patter emerges of ACORN workers willing to help people engage in prostitution, tax fraud, housing fraud, and even human trafficking. Under federal law, a RICO investigation is now warranted. Three strikes and you’re out, ACORN.

Videos show ACORN employees offering to help two undercover reporters/filmmakers posing as a prostitute and pimp in falsifying tax returns and getting a federal loan to buy a house that they could use as a brothel for underage prostitutes smuggled in from El Salvador.

When the first video emerged from such a meeting in ACORN’s Baltimore office on Thursday, ACORN fired the two workers involved. When another video surfaced on Friday, this one from ACORN’s D.C. office, the two workers involved there were fired as well, and ACORN said that these two reporters had tried and failed to carry out this sting in other offices.

One such office where ACORN said these reporters tried and failed was New York City. Yet Monday, a third video surfaced from Brooklyn in New York City. Once again, the ACORN employees on the video advise the undercover duo on how to violate federal law by filing a false income tax return to qualify for a federal housing loan.

As one worker says on the video, “honesty is not going to get you the house.” Well, not if you’re engaged in a host of felonies.

ACORN has the audacity to say that the undercover reporters may have committed a crime in the videotaping process, alleging that they doctored the tapes and that the reality is not what every viewer can plainly see and hear on the tape. (Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?)

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The reality is, there are at least a half-dozen state and federal laws that could have been broken here. Even though the undercover girl is not a prostitute and there are no El Salvadoran girls either, this could still meet the legal standard for conspiracy to commit these various crimes. At a bare minimum, depending on the state, it likely fulfills the elements for the crime of attempted conspiracy, which usually carries the exact same penalty as the underlying crimes themselves (prostitution, tax fraud, etc.).

What’s important about prostitution and human trafficking is that they are specific triggers for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO. The RICO law is designed to enable the Justice Department to go after criminal enterprises. It defines “racketeering activity” as including importing illegal aliens for immoral purposes, falsifying identification documents and immigration papers, mail and wire fraud, and the sexual exploitation of children, among others.

These are all implicated on the video tapes. The ACORN workers rattle off their how-to instructions on carrying out these crimes without needing to do more than skim a couple books that they have on hand. The clear implication is that these workers are seasoned pros on how to carry out these crimes, subsidized by federal taxpayer money.

Although everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, a RICO investigation is now warranted. There are already multiple state investigations of ACORN underway, and thirty ACORN workers have already pleaded guilty to committing crimes. Attorney General Eric Holder should immediately order a RICO investigation, while we all wait to see if more footage is forthcoming.
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Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. He submited this article to the ARRA News Service Editor which appeared first in BigGovernment.com.

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Tags: ACORN, human trafficking, Ken Blackwell, Ken Klukowski, prostitution, RICO, videos To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Blanche Lincoln's Polling Numbers Signal He Weak Position

Bill Smith, Editor: The latest Leftest DailyKos Poll of Arkansas shows that incumbent Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln (D) is not polling strong. Lincoln must surmised her falling numbers earlier when she opted to continue to build her campaign war chest. What she lacks in polling numbers, she must hope to buy with ads and events.

At present, Lincoln has only a 43% favorably rating with 49% unfavorable and 8% no opinion. Potential Republican opponents* are polled a with high no opinion numbers:

Gilbert Baker FAV 14 UNFAV 13 NO OPINION 73
Curtis Coleman FAV 12 UNFAV 13 NO OPINION 75
Tom Cox FAV 8 UNFAV 7 NO OPINION 85
Kim Hendren FAV 9 UNFAV 9 NO OPINION 85

The polling asked the question "If 2010 election for U.S. Senate were held today for whom would you vote for if the choices were between Blanche Lincoln the Democrat and ____ the Republican?" Results follow:

BLANCHE LINCOLN 45
CURTIS COLEMAN 37
UNDECIDED 18

BLANCHE LINCOLN 44
GILBERT BAKER 37
UNDECIDED 19

BLANCHE LINCOLN 46
TOM COX 29
UNDECIDED 25

BLANCHE LINCOLN 47
KIM HENDREN 28
UNDECIDED 25

In summary, Lincoln polling by this liberal polling site has Lincoln under 50% support running against far lesser know potentials (73% to 85% unknown). Lincoln has a 49% unfavorable rating while being viewed unfavorably by 29% of Democrats and 55% of independents.

Lincoln is in trouble! Arkansans know Blanche Lincoln and are not happy with her performance. With the completion of her current term, Lincoln will have been in Congress for 16 yrs (4 years in the House and 12 years in the senate). She has lost touch with the grassroots people of Arkansas. She has become part of the liberal Washington establishment.

Recently to help her, the Democrats made her the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. But, Arkansans are not concerned with Plantation Blanche being chair of an Ag committee which has aided her in the past to gain access to farm subsidies. The voters are concerned about Lincoln's failure to listen to them - the people of Arkansas - and her constant flip-flopping on her positions or refusing to identify her positions to voters.

At this time in history, Arkansans cannot afford a further threat to their beliefs and values. Arkansas gave a pass to Sen. Mark Pryor at the last election in hopes he would - per his word - be "conservative." But after seeing the results of giving Obama and Reid another vote, voters are not anxious to return another Democrat (Lincoln) to Washington D.C. to help the Obama administration advance socialism. The polling numbers confirm this and it up to the Republicans to sort out and put the best candidate forward that will be faithful in opposing the advance of the Obama administrations agenda and representing Arkansas' conservative values and beliefs. With the right Republican running against Lincoln, her days are numbered!
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* The poll did not address the numerous other candidates like retired US Army Col. Conrad Reynolds who is currently traveling the state meeting with veterans to determine their need.

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Tags: Bill Smith, Blanche Lincoln, Conrad Reynolds, Curis Coleman, DailyKos, Gilbert Baker, Kim Hendren, polling, Senate, Tom Cox To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Single-payer is the goal, no matter what they say

by John Allison, III: They're lying through their teeth when they say their goal isn't a single-payer system like Canada's and Great Britain's! Their goal is to eliminate the private health insurance market. Not for the good of the people, but to control the people.

Don't believe it? Watch what they were saying not so long ago.


Ask yourself this question, where are the most economically depressed areas in the country? The major metropolitan areas that have been run by left wing liberals for decades have the highest crime rates and the highest poverty rates of anywhere in the country. All the promises liberals have made to these constituencies have never come to fruition!

Why on Earth would you believe their pie-in-the-sky promises on health care?
- They took over Amtrak and said it would be profitable again within 3 years. Almost 40 years later, it's still billions in the red.
- The post office loses billions every year.
- The VA health care system attempts to steer vets to throw in the towel and decide life isn't worth living. This government-run health care system is well known for the substandard care it provides.
- According to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), approximately 1/3 of all the files in the custody of the government are lost.

Again I ask, is this who you want tasked with "fixing" the health care system. Do you trust these same bureaucrats to keep costs down? I don't. And I certainly don't believe their lies, because they've wanted a single payer system for a long time!

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Tags: Alan Grayson, Amtrak, Christian Values, Democrats, health care, John Allison III, Obama, Obama Lies, Obamacare, Post Office, Single payer system To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Some Blacks Now Have Doubts About Obama

by Star Parker at Townhall.com: Americans of all political persuasions agree that the nation has problems. Big problems.

And here's where we all part company. The political left, who now control our government, thinks we need more government -- a lot more. Those on the right see our problems as the result of excess government and want to move things in the opposite direction.

The fact that Democrats, with their man in the White House, and control of both houses of Congress, are having difficulty getting their big government programs passed says something about the strength of the grass roots push back now taking place. Stirring is even occurring among blacks. According to the Pew Research Center, the president's approval rating nationwide is now 10 points lower than last April. Included in this is a three-point drop in his approval among blacks.

You might say, Star, a drop in approval ratings among blacks from 95 percent to 92 percent is trivial. But I say not so. If we assume this reflects the 16 million blacks who voted for Obama last November, a three point shift means there are about a half million blacks who now have buyer's remorse. ...Full Article
H/T America, You Asked For it!

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Tags: Barack Obama, blacks, Star Parker, voters 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. - Sept 15, 2009 - Americans Concerned About Cost and Impact of Health Bills

Update (6:15 pm): House passed a resolution of disapproval against Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), for Wilson's "You lie!" shout during President Barack Obama's health care address to a joint session of Congress. 233 Democrats and 7 Republicans voted yes; 12 Democrats and 167 Republicans voted no and 5 Democrats voted present.
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The Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3288, the fiscal 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The bill provides $122 billion, including $11.1 billion for federal transit programs.

The House Democrat leadership is pushing a resolution of disapproval against Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for Wilson's "You lie!" shout during President Barack Obama's health care address to a joint session of Congress. Note that Rep. Wilson has already apologized for his remark to the President and the apology was accepted. However, Pelois and the Democrat caucus wanted Wilson to formally stand in the House and apologize again which he refused to do. Before disapproving of Wilson, Democrats need to be consistent and punish a litany of their own like John Murtha.

More polling today shows continued public skepticism of the health care reform proposals being pushed by President Obama and Democrats in Congress. Still, Senate Democrats appear determined to plow ahead, despite their seeming inability to agree on anything, according to a number of news stories today.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll after the president’s address to a joint session of Congress last week shows "Americans almost evenly divided over passing a health care bill and inclined to think it would make some of the system’s vexing problems worse, not better. . . . The president’s speech apparently failed to galvanize public opinion in the way the White House had hoped. . . . Six in 10 say Obama’s proposal, if enacted, would not achieve his goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans without raising taxes on the middle class or lowering the quality of health care. For the first time, a majority disapprove of the way he’s handling health care policy.”

A separate USA Today article is more detailed about Americans’ apprehension over Democrats’ health care proposals: “If a bill passes this year, 40% predict it will improve health care coverage, but 37% say it will make things worse. When it comes to the overall costs and quality of health care, Americans are inclined to say the legislation will cause more harm than good. Support for a bill plummets to 26% if expanding coverage means higher taxes for the middle class, and to 20% if middle-class Americans will have to pay more for health care than they do now.”

As with most of the other polling, the new USA Today/Gallup Poll also finds Americans deeply concerned about the cost of these proposals and the already record-breaking deficit. “Nearly six in 10 disapprove of [Obama’s] handling of the federal budget deficit. In response to another question, 60% say Obama’s proposals to address the country’s biggest problems call for too much government spending, and 51% say he’s called for too much expansion of government power.  In response to an open-ended question, the top reason cited by those who oppose a health care bill was concern about big government. The cost of a bill was also high on the list.”

None of this is apparently deterring Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) who continues to claim he will have a health care bill ready to present this week and begin marking up next week. The President's visit to Montana and fund raising efforts for Baucus seems to have lit a fire under Baucus.  However, his efforts still face problems from his fellow Democrats. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Some rank-and-file Senate Democrats are voicing concerns about sweeping health legislation being crafted by … Baucus, citing what they describe as excessive burdens placed on some families and concerns over financing for the $880 billion package.” The Journal reports, “Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) complained the legislation would ask working Americans to commit as much as 13% of their income to buy basic insurance. . . . ‘That’s a real hit on middle-class families.’ . . . . Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) raised concerns about Mr. Baucus’s mix of new taxes and other means of paying for the plan.”

Of course, Republicans also have serious problems with Baucus’ proposals, as The New York Times notes. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) have requested major changes to Baucus’ proposal, pointing to their concerns about a Medicaid expansion becoming an unfunded mandate on states, fees imposed on health insurance companies and manufacturers of medical equipment, and a lack of explicit prohibitions on abortion funding.

Yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell focused on Americans’ legitimate concerns about financing the massive health care overhauls envisioned by democrats: “Any school kid in America could tell you that creating a massive new government program will cost a lot of money; that cutting Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars will lead to cuts in services that people currently enjoy; and that higher taxes on small businesses will lead to even more job losses. These are serious questions; the administration’s response to them is not. Its response is to accuse anyone who asks them of being a scaremonger, and to give them the same two-word answer they gave anybody who questioned the Stimulus: ‘Trust us.’”

Who in Congress was listing listing to the people who rallied in Washington D.C. on 9-12. I believe their message was clear. They were not asking for a bipartisan effort. The people were saying, "keep your hands off our health care!"

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Tags: health care, Joe Wilson, polls, 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!

Senate Cuts Funding to ACORN

Today, Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduces an amendment to strip ACORN funding from the current Transportation-HUD appropriation bill. The amendment passed 83 to 7 and prohibits the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now from receiving funds from the current Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has previously given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 200 and $1.6 million to ACORN affiliates. The seven voting against the bill were Burris (D-IL), Casey (D-PA), Durbin (D-IL), Gillibrand (D-NY), Leahy (D-VT), Sanders (I-VT) and Whitehouse (D-RI). Nine senators did not vote: Burr (R-NC), Byrd (D-WV), Coburn (R-OK), Graham (R-SC), Gregg (R-NH), Hutchison (R-TX), McCain (R-AZ), Mikulski (D-MD), and Vitter (R-LA). McCain and Graham were at a town hall meeting in South Carolina.

With people like Reid (D-NV), Boxer (D-CA), McCaskill (D-MO), and Kerry (D-MA) voting in favor of the amendment, a caution flag is still appropriate. This amendment could be removed in reconciliation with the House. It is time to put pressure on the House to support this position.
See also: ACORN Promoting Prostitution & Tax Evasion

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Tags: ACORN, federal funding, US Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama’s OSHA Pick, David Michaels, Makes Van Jones Look Tame

by Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: At a time when the unemployment rate is nearing double-digits, President Obama’s OSHA nominee, David Michaels, threatens to be an occupational hazard.

He’s also a radical. Conservatives who were outraged by Van Jones should be apoplectic about his tenure when they consider that — according to their website — OSHA “inspected 38,579 workplaces during Fiscal Year 2006.”

David Michaels was behind the junk-science efforts to smear Bisphenol A (BPA), an innovative chemical used to make plastics stronger. A few months ago, I wrote about BPA. Here’s an excerpt:

If you’re unfamiliar with Bisphenol A (BPA), it is a chemical used to make lightweight, versatile, durable, high-performance plastics. It’s also one of the most extensively tested products in the world. For example, as Norris Alderson, the FDA's associate commissioner for science, said just last year, “a large body of available evidence” demonstrates that products made with it are safe.

As I went on to describe in that piece, the attacks on BPA were headed by organizations funded by liberals such as George Soros. As the Washington Times recently reported,

Mr. Michaels heads a group called the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP), which is extremely friendly to plaintiffs’ lawyers and is funded in large part by George Soros’ Open Society Institute.

The anti-BPA scare-campaign cost consumers untold millions of dollars and untold numbers of jobs. That’s not to mention the amount of emotional damage this junk-science inflicted on Americans who were sure they had harmed their baby by giving them the wrong plastic bottle. Oh yeah, Michaels’ also helped line the pockets of trial lawyers who made money by suing manufacturers of products made with BPA. All of this, despite countless evidence that BPA was safe.

Sadly, avoiding an over-regulated business climate that kills jobs and scares parents is not all we have to worry about. Like Obama’s other “Czars” and appointees, Michaels’ brand of radicalism extends beyond his area of expertise. In fact, Michaels sees even the 2nd Amendment as a work-place “regulatory” issue where he might, as head of OSHA, intervene. Compared to Michaels, Mr. Van Jones is Mr. Dick Van Dyke.
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Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. He submitted this article to the ARRA News Service Editor which appeared first in the Red State. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and American Civil Rights Union.

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Tags: 2nd Amendment, anti-guns, Bisphenol, BPA, czars, David Michaels, George Soros, Ken Blackwell, OSHA, Van Jones 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. - Sept 14, 2009 - ABC: "Obama's Speech Doesn't Turn The Tide"

Senate will reconvene at 2 PM today and will resume consideration of H.R. 3288, the fiscal 2010 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The bill provides $122 billion, including $11.1 billion for federal transit programs. Republicans are expected to file a number of amendments to the bill today and some votes are possible after 5:30 PM. Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska will introduce his amendment to strip ACORN funding from the current Transportation-HUD appropriation bill. After the current bill is finished, the Senate could move to the Interior-Environment, Commerce-Justice-Science, Military Construction-VA, or Defense appropriations bills.

Although President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on his health care reform proposals last week was billed as a game-changer and a major intervention by the president, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll out today shows that it appears to have had little impact. In fact, ABC News headlined its story on the poll, “Obama’s Speech Doesn’t Turn the Tide.”

In the new poll, President Obama’s approval on health care is even, 48%-48%, but a plurality (48%) remains opposed to “the proposed changes to the health care system being developed by Congress and the Obama administration,” down only two points since August. More telling is the finding that a majority of 54% agrees with the statement, “The more I hear about the health care plan, the less I like it.”

ABC’s article on the poll points to some other key findings: “65% think reform would increase the deficit. 40% t think it’d weaken Medicare, about twice the 22% who think it’d strengthen that popular program. Among seniors, 56% think reform would weaken Medicare, explaining why opposition to reform peaks in their ranks. Perhaps most basic are these: Americans divide, 35-38%, on whether reform would make the quality of care for most people better or worse (the rest expect no change). More think it would make their own care worse rather than better, by 32-16%; their own costs worse, by 40-20%; their own coverage worse, by 37-11%. Even among the uninsured, just 51% think reform would improve their own coverage. And none of these advanced after the president’s address.” Also interesting is the finding that support for caps on medical liability lawsuits grew from 57% in June to 62% now, despite the lack of serious tort reform proposals in any of the Democrats’ health care bills.

The poll continues to show that Americans are deeply concerned about the sea of debt the country seems awash in. A large majority (65%) believes Democrat proposals will increase the deficit while only 9% agree with President Obama that the deficit will shrink as a result. Little wonder, then, that the latest poll in this series finds the highest disapproval for Obama’s handling of the deficit, 55%, since he took office in January.

The extent of public concern about the deficit is apparent in the latest AP-GfK poll. When asked which they consider a higher priority, reducing the deficit or increasing government spending on health care reform, alternative energy, and education, a majority of Americans (50%) choose deficit reduction. And 79% in the poll say that increasing federal debt will harm the financial future of their children and grandchildren, a number which has remained steady since September of 2008.

It seems that President Obama’s speech has had little impact on public opinion about Democrats’ health care reform proposals compared with people learning about what is actually in their bills. And the one thing Americans seem to understand the best about these plans is that they will pile on even more debt at a time both the debt and the deficit are reaching record heights. This is not the responsible way to reform health care. However, the Democrats are expected to continue their previously planned track without regard to the will of the people. There may be some slight variation to entice the less conservative (RINO) senator to join them.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Speech, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C., ACORN funding, ACORN, poll, polls, healthcare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Speaker Nancy Pelosi - Crazy as an Out House Rat?

by William J. Murray, Chairman Religious Freedom Coalition: CRAZY AS AN OUT HOUSE RAT? - That is how one journalist referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I can't agree with him though, because I believe the situation with her is far worse than that. Nancy Pelosi is a rich white liberal who lives in a fantasy world of her own creation, and who has purchased a seat in Congress. She can afford to maintain a private home staff to take care of everything from washing her underwear to managing her wealth. Her husband is a developer who make huge sums of money from the government programs she tosses his way. She sees nothing wrong with corruption as long as the ones getting paid off are liberals like herself, who "champion the poor." The sad part of this: Nancy Pelosi is next in line after Vice President Biden to take over the presidency. Should something happen to Obama and Biden, we would have someone to the far left of Hugo Chavez in the White House, a woman who lives in a constant state of fantasy. Pray for our nation!

WHEN SANITY RULED CONGRESS - The Journals of the Continental Congress record that on Wednesday, September 7, 1774 at 9:00 AM the Congress voted to thank Rev. Mr. Duche for the prayer he gave at the beginning of the session. This was the first official prayer in the Congress to anyone's knowledge. The text of the prayer can be read on the website of the Office of the Chaplain of the House.

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Tags: congress, crazy, house rat, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, prayer, US House, William J. Murray To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

More infor on 9/12/09 Taxpayer March on Washington D. C.

Complements from the Conservative Hideout [Click for More videos and Photos]

Time Lapse Video: Gathering for March to the Washinton D.C. Mall

Is this March Racist? Check out Radio and Motivational Speaker Mason Weavor

". . . [I]ndependent confirmation of the 9-12 protest attendance . . . from the Daily Mail in the UK.

Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” as they protested the president’s health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. People were chanting “enough, enough” and “We the People.” Others yelled “You lie, you lie!” and “Pelosi has to go,” referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

. . . this is one report. . . . some people will overshoot the numbers, and the MSM will likely under-emphasize it."

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Tags: 9-12, 2009, Mason Weaver, Rally, videos, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

9/12/09 Taxpayer March on Washington D. C.

Thanks to Karole Dolen-Proffit, Sacramento Conservative Examiner for the following story:
The Taxpayer March on Washington, organized by the Tea Party Patriots, Freedomworks, [Americans For Prosperity] and the 912 Project was held today in Washington D.C.. People attending the march were told to begin gathering at Freedom Plaza at 9am, and the official March on the Capital was to begin at 11:30am. So many people showed up that they had to begin the march an hour or so early though. . . . [Full Story - Also View for All The Videos - Only Sampling Below]

Tea Party Express Inside the Crowd D.C. Part 3

Tea Party March On Washington D.C. CNN, MSNBC & FOX News

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Tags: 9-12, 2009, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Rally, videos, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!