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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Wrong Diagnosis and the Wrong Prescription
Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) released the following statement following the historic health care vote (220 to 215) in Congress:
“After countless hours, days, weeks and months of debate, I have found there are certain things we can all agree on: we need to increase access to affordable, quality health care coverage.
“I have said in numerous town hall meetings and tele-town halls throughout my District that we do not need to turn the entire health care system on its head. Instead, we need to implement common sense reforms that will actually help those who are struggling because they have not only lost a job, but their employer-based health care coverage as well. There are other ways to expand access to affordable health care. A combination of tax credits and subsidies can be made available that would allow individuals and families to purchase coverage that meets their needs. We should allow Americans to purchase health care plans across state lines.
“We can provide for the creation of statewide exchanges – one-stop marketplaces – where everyone – not a select few, like the bill passed tonight – can buy coverage. This will offer not only access, but choice. That is the right prescription for America. Unfortunately, that is not what we did on the House Floor tonight. Instead the House of Representatives passed an historic bill which cuts 440 billion from Medicare for our seniors, kills jobs, adds $1.3 Trillion dollars to our skyrocketing debt and imposes a government plan on the public which will shift costs to private insurance plans and increase the costs of premiums for millions of Americans.”
Tags:Dan Lungren, health care, PelosiTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Valerie Jarrett: The Next Van Jones - Obam said: she can "speaks for me"
Ben Johnson, Front Page Magazine: Many have wondered how anyone as extreme as Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones – a self-described "Communist" obsessed with racial conspiracy theories – could have been named to head a federal agency. David Horowitz described the radicalization of the Democratic Party as the appointment's subtext. Closer to the fore, Jones owed his elevation to another new factor: the unparalleled influence of Valerie Jarrett. To call Jarrett a presidential adviser, even a close adviser, is misleading. She is an alter ego, an inner conscience, a touchstone of clarity for both President Obama and first lady Michelle. In the frenzy of the presidency, she reminds both Obamas of their identity and deepest-held beliefs. In exchange, the president makes no decision without her and has said she can “speak for me.” . . . [Read Full Article] Tags:Barack Obama, communist, corruption, Obama administration, Valerie JarrettTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
This Little Piggie - Remembering Tea Party Patriots
With another major spending and liberty destroying bill (the Pelosi health care) before the the House of Representatives today, it seemed only right to remember the faithful 9-12 Washington, D.C. patriots and the above sign - This Little Piggie. Patriot Unknown but appreciated. Tags:federal spending, health care, Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi, signs, TEA PartiesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
William J. Murray, Chairman Religious Freedom Coalition: On the first anniversary of his election, President Barack Obama still does not understand that Americas did not vote for him because they wanted to "fundamentally change America." He and radical leftist Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi both believe in their hearts that they were given a mandate to turn the United States into a socialist "utopia." Insiders in the White House say Obama has been "stunned" that there is so much resistance to his plans to raise fuel and energy prices as a means of "saving the planet," and so much resistance to creating a socialistic health care system. The real problem ... rich liberals like Obama and Pelosi live inside a fantasy, believing that everyone can somehow have all the comforts they have as millionaires, but furnished by the government rather than by hard work. (After all, neither Obama nor Pelosi ever had a real job before being elected to public office). The Obama-Pelosi logic has the same fatal flaw as did that of Karl Marx. In order for their Utopian fantasy to work, there must be unlimited resources that do not require rationing.Tags:Barack Obama, Impeach Nancy Pelosi, socialism, William J. MurrayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: Every American this morning should be outraged not only about the murderous rampage against U.S. soldiers in Ft. Hood, Texas, by Major Nidal M. Hasan, but also by the sickening effort of Big Media, and even some U.S. officials, to deceive us about what has taken place.
For eight years we have been fighting radical Islamists around the world, and we have been the victims of jihadist attacks by lone radical Muslims repeatedly here in the U.S. Yet as the story broke of the carnage yesterday, 13 dead and 30 wounded, virtually every major media outlet, along with our own government, seemed to have as their main goal convincing us that the event had nothing to do with terrorism or radical Islam.
But minute-by-minute, more information is coming to light that can’t be ignored. We have found out that six months ago Major Hasan may have defended Muslim suicide bombers on his web page, comparing such acts to the sacrifice a U.S. solider makes when he falls on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. Col. Terry Lee, who worked with the killer, said Major Hasan had said, “Muslims shouldn’t be fighting Muslims.” Back in June, when a Muslim convert assassinated a U.S. soldier at a recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas, Col. Lee said that Major Hasan seemed happy about the event and that he was confronted by other officers. (You may recall that it took days for Obama to acknowledge that attack, yet the White House issued a rare Sunday statement when late-term abortionist George Tiller was killed.)
In recent weeks, while off the base, Major Hasan started wearing Arabic and religious clothing. He passed out Korans on the morning of the shooting. Survivors in the facility where Major Hasan went on the attack reported that he yelled, “Allahu Akbar,” (Allah is great) before he opened fire – the same words shouted by the jihadists on 9/11 and which have been repeated by our enemy in every attack since.
Nor is this an isolated incident. In June 2003, Sergeant Hasan K. Akbar attacked his fellow soldiers as they gathered in Kuwait to start the liberation of Iraq. He killed two officers and wounded many more. Numerous plots by American Muslims have been uncovered in recent years to attack Fort Dix, the Quantico Marine Corps base and other military facilities.
No one is suggesting that an Al Qaeda operative contacted Major Hasan and ordered yesterday’s attack. But the evidence certainly indicates that Major Hasan was becoming more and more committed to radical Islam and growing increasingly hostile to the American military that paid for his education and repeatedly promoted him. NPR reports, “Hasan was put on probation early in his postgraduate work… He was disciplined for proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues…”
I understand the media’s politically correct mindset. What is inexcusable is why the military and the FBI continue to be so reticent about acknowledging the nature of the enemy we are confronting. Instead of going into denial, our military, the FBI and other intelligence agencies need to admit the obvious. While thousands of loyal American Muslims have served in the military, and some have died with other Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are also “sleeper cells” or “sleeper individuals” who are jihadist ticking time bombs inside our own ranks. Similar attacks are inevitable the longer our leaders engage in self-deception. The brave men and women in uniform, who are on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq, should not have to worry about being killed at home by the same enemy they are fighting abroad. Tags:Gary Bauer, jihad, militaryTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Government-Run Healthcare at Your Fingertips - Inherited National Debt
Although Nancy Pelosi is no laughing matter, this video brings a chuckle:
Here is a video addressing Inherited National Debt:
Tags:health care, Nancy Pelosi, National Debt, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 6, 2009 - Record Unemployment Rate 10.2% - Pelosi Ignores Americans
The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 3072, the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill. No votes are scheduled in the Senate today. Yesterday, the Senate voted 71-28 to pass the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, H.R. 2847. Prior to final passage, the Senate rejected several GOP amendments to the bill. The Senate voted 54-45 to kill an amendment from Sens. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Jim Webb (D-VA) which would have prohibited funding to try 9/11 co-conspirators being held in Guantanamo Bay in civilian courts in the U.S. So the Democrats want to give foreign terrorists the right to trial in civilian courts. Also voted down were amendments from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) which would have cut funding for political science from the National Science Foundation and moved $5 million for renovating the Commerce Department building to funding its Office of Inspector General.
Phil Kerpen, Americans for Prosperity reports that "yesterday, more than 20,000 Americans from all across the nation traveled to Washington to demand real reform that expands choice and puts patients first." Newt Gingrich, American Solutions is reporting that "House Speaker Pelosi will try to ram her 1,990 page government health care bill this weekend." Pelois is moving forward not in spite of the fact that a majority of Americans oppose her bill and in total lack of concern regarding the national tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas yesterday.
Record Unemployment Rate: The AP reports today, “The unemployed rate jumped to 10.2 percent last month, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs, more than economists had expected.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this morning: “I know the administration shares our goals of job creation and economic growth. But more debt, more spending, higher taxes and growing the size of government clearly has not worked—particularly in a time of double-digit unemployment.”
Once again, it’s worth looking at the predictions and promises made by the Obama administration when it was pushing to pass its massive $787 billion economic stimulus package in an attempt to prevent the recession from getting worse. Back in February, President Obama declared, “[I]f we don't act immediately, millions of more jobs will be lost. The national unemployment rates will approach double digits not just here in [Indiana], all across the country.” And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on CBS’ Face the Nation, “[T]he economic team believes that this bill will help us stay away from those double-digit economic unemployment numbers.” A month before those statements, administration economic advisers Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein released a report saying that if Congress passed the administration’s stimulus plan, unemployment would not exceed 8%.
Yet the country now faces 10.2% unemployment, with nearly 3.5 million jobs lost since February. And still the administration is trying to claim the stimulus was a success, mostly by trying to point to jobs it says have been “saved or created.” But reports over the past two weeks have shown that these numbers have been unreliable or inflated. And this week, the AP reports that “The inflated job count is at least partly the product of the administration instructing local community agencies that received money to count the raises as jobs saved.” In Texas, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Virginia, and elsewhere, reports have shown that stimulus money was used for pay raises but reported by the administration as saved jobs.
As Sen. McConnell said this summer, “The president said rush and spend it; pass it, we'll hold unemployment to 8% . . . . By any measurable index, the stimulus package has been a failure.” Now we have noted that the Obama administration has demonstrated the old adage: "statistics never lie but liars use statistics." Tags:Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, unemployment rate, 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!
This One Will Hurt - 24 Hours to Stop Pelosi - Contact Your Representatives!
Contact Your U.S. Representative! Newt Gingrich, American Solutions: This Saturday, Speaker Pelosi will try to ram her 1,990 page government health care bill through the House of Representatives. If you want to defeat this, you must make our voice heard. Urge him or her to vote NO on H.R. 3962. We don't need a government takeover of health care. Remember, the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. Please take a moment and make the call. Remind Congress that in America, we the people shape the future. Thank you for taking a stand. Know that there are millions of other Americans standing with you.
Phil Kerpen, AFP Director of Policy: Yesterday, more than 20,000 Americans - people from all across the nation - traveled to Washington to say "Hands Off Our Health Care!" and demand real reform that expands choice and puts patients first. The atmosphere was electric. It's clear that the energy of this summer's protests has only grown as Congress tries to rush us towards a reckless multi-trillion-dollar health care takeover. Tens of thousands of Americans made "Emergency House Calls" yesterday to their Representatives' local offices. We saw huge crowds in Missouri, Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, North Carolina, Arkansas, and other key states. Our message and our enthusiasm have clearly resonated with Republican legislators. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip, told the crowd in Washington that not a single Republican will vote for Nancy Pelosi's Washington takeover of health care, scheduled for this Saturday. You and I must hold the Republican legislators to this commitment. But we must also, right now, break through to wavering Democratic legislators and demand that they vote "No" this Saturday. Please help by calling your member of Congress today. Then, encourage everyone you know to contact their member of Congress.
Thomas A. Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste: The House of Representatives is expected to vote on H.R. 3962, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA.) disastrous health care reform bill. I urge you, to tell your U.S. Representative that you OPPOSE this unaffordable government takeover of health care! H.R. 3962 poses a fundamental threat not only to our nation’s and your own financial health and prosperity, but to every American’s individual liberties and right to free choice! According to an initial estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 3962 will cost our country a minimum of $894 billion over 10 years. Robert Pear of The New York Times reported, “By the most commonly used yardstick, the bill would cost $1.05 trillion over 10 years.” H.R. 3962 would also inflict a whole host of new taxes and costly mandates on individuals and businesses as American families struggle to make ends meet and unemployment approaches double digits.
The most dangerous part of Pelosi’s healthcare “reform” bill is that it paves the way to a complete government takeover of healthcare in this country that will dramatically expand the size of government; allow bureaucrats and politicians to dictate your choice of doctors, treatments, and medicines; and ration quality care to control costs. H.R. 3962 creates 111 new federal boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs. It also expands Medicaid to all individuals with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, an estimated 10 million Americans. Speaker Pelosi proposes to pay for this government takeover of health care with massive cuts to Medicare. Those include more than $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage Plans that will gut the program, forcing the more than 10 million seniors who opt for it back into traditional fee-for-service Medicare, which has higher out-of-pocket expenses. It’s so vitally important that you tell your U.S. Representative to vote NO on H.R. 3962 today!
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council: On Saturday, Congress will vote on the massive health care legislation which currently will spend your money on all elective abortion! Speaker Nancy Pelosi's health care bill authorizes the government run "public option" to fund elective abortion and would subsidize private plans that cover elective abortion. Pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak and Republican Rep. Joe Pitts want to offer a pro-life amendment to strike the abortion funding from the bill. However, Speaker Pelosi won't allow it. Instead, they have inserted a fake "compromise" to allow the government to fund abortion through private contractors, but this would still be GOVERNMENT funding of abortion (Medicare also uses private contractors to process fees and no one would call Medicare "private" funding.) Speaker Pelosi will not allow a vote on a true amendment that would stop funding of abortion so you need to ask your Representative today to oppose the Rule that prevents a vote on the Stupak-Pitts amendment. And if that Rule passes they need to oppose final passage of the bill.
Phyllis Schlafly, President, Eagle Forum: Less than 24 hours remain for Members of Congress to do the right thing and listen to their constituents who have passionately risen up to oppose this 2,000-page pile of junk policy which Nancy Pelosi is masquerading as health care reform. This bill is stealth amnesty for illegal immigrants and abortion on demand rolled into one. H.R. 3962 is the feminists’ dream bill because it provides for the largest expansion of government sanctioned abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. It’s unprecedented. It would for the very first time allow direct government funding of elective abortions. Pelosi’s bill has done nothing to close those pesky loopholes that existed in the Democrats’ first health care bill. It still allows illegal immigrants open access to the Insurance Exchange, it still provides no reliable verification mechanism, and it still allows that even if only one person qualifies for the family affordability credit, then the entire family is eligible for the pickings.
Tags:72 Hour, AFP, American Solutions, Americans for Prosperity, CAGW, Impeach Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, Newt Gingrich, political cartoon, US House, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Choose Ye Whom Ye Shall Serve in the People's House - The People or Pelosi
by Robert Romano, Senior ALG Editor: Yesterday, at noon, on the steps of the Capitol in Washington D.C., thousands of patriotic Americans gathered to express their heated opposition to the government capture of the nation’s entire health care sector.
These individuals, many of whom traveled from across the country, were protesting the takeover of more than one-sixth of the nation’s economy by a government that can’t even balance its own budget. They were rightly wary of bureaucrats getting between them and their doctors. They opposed of the rationing of health care away from seniors. And they refused to meekly accept the unsustainable hundreds of billions of dollars of taxes and spending riddled in the 2,000 pages of the bill.
In total, Americans for Limited Government estimates this bill will cost taxpayers some $2.1 trillion over ten years once fully implemented. All of which will be added to trillions of dollars in annual deficits, and a national debt expected to equal the entire Gross Domestic Product in 2011.
Several Republican members of Congress, led by the courageous Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann and Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) thrilled the crowd with speeches as the gathered throng chanted “Kill the bill!” and “No you can’t!” They were joined by top radio host and author of Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin, and acclaimed actor Jon Voight.
Upon the conclusion of the rally, these concerned constituents stormed the House of Representatives office buildings to petition their members of Congress in person, fulfilling a critical civic duty. They may have arrived in just a nick of time.
Bachmann said their country needed them to defeat the bill as she encouraged them to speak up against Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. “The biggest vote in the United States, the biggest voice in the United States is your voice,” said Bachmann. “Quite simply, the Republicans don’t have the votes to kill this bill… We knew we were limited, but what we knew was unlimited was the voice of persuasion of the American people. And that’s why you’re here today.”
To defeat the bill its opponents —including 54 percent of the American people according to Rasmussen — need to be at least 41 House Democrats voting with Republicans. However, despite the huge majority Pelosi has to work with, House Democrats are still working to achieve a plurality. In short, she does not yet have the votes.
According to the Wall Street Journal: "As of Wednesday, House leaders didn't appear to have secured the 218 votes they need to pass the bill. They were moving to quickly swear in two Democrats elected Tuesday, which would give the party 258 seats in the House and allow leaders to lose as many as 40 Democratic votes without losing their majority… House leaders spent Wednesday scrambling to secure votes from freshmen and lawmakers in swing districts.”
Adding urgency to the American people’s presence at the Capitol are moves in Congress to speedily move to a vote on the bill, H.R. 3962, in the House. According to top Capitol Hill sources, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has announced that the House will convene an emergency session on Saturday, November 7th with votes occurring as early as 9AM. The single purpose in Pelosi’s mind: to rush the bill through as quickly and covertly as possible — in the face of a tidal wave of public opposition.
Fortunately, throughout the year, the American people have made their voices heard against the unbridled expansion of government. They’ve stood up and spoke out at tea parties. At the summer town halls. On the phone and fax. Via email. And in person. They have said, “No!” They are not alone. According to Rasmussen Reports, 54 percent of voters oppose the “public option” proposed, which only 42 percent support. But defeating this bill is no easy task.
Moderate and conservative members of the Democrat caucus are actually the American people’s only hope to kill this bill. As Congresswoman Bachmann noted, there are not enough Republicans to defeat ObamaCare.
In response, activists nationwide have begun focusing on those vulnerable members of the Democrat majority who are concerned about a tough election battle in 2010. Some have already begun to cave in to constituent pressure—especially after crushing GOP victories in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday. Americans for Limited Government is urging its 400 thousand members to target some 92 House Democrats, including all members of the Blue Dog coalition.
In the end, it is the vulnerable members of the majority who will have to “choose ye this day whom ye shall ye shall serve”: those citizens who traveled hundreds, even thousands, of miles to demand the right to their own health care choices — or the politically powerful liberal elite. Now, the choice is theirs. It won’t be on November 2nd, 2010. Tags:ALG, health care, Nancy PelosiTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Eagle Forum: Last week, liberal Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) introduced her "new and improved" plan to facilitate a government takeover of the best health care system in the world, which just so happens to make up one-sixth of the U.S. economy. After months of witnessing an American uprising to oppose Congress' first health care proposal, famously remembered asH.R. 3200, liberals in Congress are now pushing a twice as long, yet almost identical bill under the guise that it is a new compromise that won't push America further into bankruptcy. But, Americans will not be fooled.
Pelosi's "new" bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), has been scheduled to go to the House floor for only a few hours of debate this week! Debate could begin as early as Thursday, November 5th, and a vote could occur shortly thereafter. Pelosi's goal is for this bill to receive as little attention and scrutiny as possible before the vote, so please be aware that once this bill goes to the floor, it will move fast. We need you to continue sounding the alarm and urging opposition to this 2,000-page monstrosity of massive new bureaucracy, redistribution of wealth, and rationed medical care.
Nancy Pelosi's H.R. 3962 contains the following provisions:
Permits federal taxpayer funding of abortion services, above and beyond the status quo of current law.
Provides for a "health care czar" called the Health Choices Commissioner, who could forcibly enroll individuals in government-run insurance and whose tasks include requiring random compliance audits on Americans' health benefits plans.
Allows for "community organizations" like ACORN and Planned Parenthood to assist the Health Choices Commissioner in enrolling individuals in the Health Insurance Exchange.
Encourages identity fraud for illegal immigrants seeking to gain taxpayer-subsidized health benefits through inadequate citizenship and legal status verification standards. Page 255, Section 345 of H.R. 3962 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies, and while the bill currently does include a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify that person's identity, a key component of effective verification.
Provides for 13 new and different tax increases, including an employer mandate excise tax.
"Grandfathers" out of existence individual health insurance coverage.
Retains the "death panels" by providing for bureaucrats working for a new comparative effectiveness institute funded by a tax on health benefits. The institute could publish the protocols needed to deny patients access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds.
Contains NO ban on federal promotion of assisted suicide and/or health care rationing of treatments.
Facilitates leftist, social engineering policies such as rewriting current tax law to allow domestic partners to be treated as "spouses."
Retains both the individual and employer mandates to purchase health insurance or else face a financial penalty, and compliance to this mandate will be enforced by the IRS.
Imposes a 2.5% tax on an individual's modified adjusted gross income if they fail to purchase "acceptable" health care coverage.
Imposes a surtax, starting in 2011, on "high"-income people - that is, couples with adjusted gross income over $1 million and individuals over $500,000.
Fails to hold Members of Congress to the same health care system requirements that Americans will have to live by under the public health insurance option.
Prohibits states from using tort reform to reduce health care costs.
Mandates that all health insurance companies accept all applicants, that they cannot deny anyone for pre-existing conditions, and that they cannot increase the monthly premiums for less healthy, more costly consumers.
Accommodates "whistleblower" provisions for trial lawyers to bring suit against employers.
Slashes Medicare payments to providers by more than $400 billion.
Creates dozens of new bureaucracies (111 to be exact) including the Health Benefits Advisory Committee and the Health Choices Administration.
Encourages people to drop their insurance in favor of the public option as it provides for underpaying medical providers, who will in turn jack up their rates for those patients who have private insurance, driving more people to the cheaper, government plan.
Authorizes Medicare to pay doctors for providing advice to patients on end-of-life care.
Grants the authority to negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Considers individuals to be treated as "children" up to the age of 26 for the purpose of remaining on their parents' insurance plan.
Imposes an excise tax on medical devices.
Cuts $170 billion from the Medicare Advantage program.
Institutes $729.5 billion in job-killing tax increases on all Americans, fines those who can't afford to purchase government-forced insurance, and cripples businesses by taxing health benefits.
If all of this weren't enough, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) even predicts that the public option's premiums will end up being quite high because it will attract less healthy people, who are more costly to the insurer. But, with a government-run plan, the government is the insurer, so higher cost projections for the government really means higher costs to American taxpayers.
In addition to all of this bureaucracy, taxation, and theft of individual liberty, the very same CBO has estimated the 10-year cost of H.R. 3962 to be a whopping $1.1 trillion, and that doesn't even include the "Doc Fix" legislation, which seeks to lump $245 billion of Medicare reimbursement payments into the national debt. The exclusion of the healthcare-related "Doc Fix" legislation into the overall pricetag of H.R. 3962 is nothing more than a Washington numbers gimmick, intended to deceive the American people about the true cost of the liberals' plan. So, now is the time to pick up the phone and demand the defeat of a government takeover of health care! TAKE ACTION!
The clock is ticking. The vote WILL occur at the end of this week. We will keep you updated everyday with the latest details, but there are only a few short days to do all you can to contact your Representatives and to make your voice heard in opposition to this bill. Phone calls are best, so please try to phone both your Representative's Capitol Hill office and his/her district office at least once a day, everyday this week.
For your convenience, here is our list of crucial target Members of Congress. These Members need extra pressure to stand up to Nancy Pelosi and vote NO on H.R. 3962 this week. If your own Representative is solidly opposed to this bill, please phone one of your friends or family members who lives in a district who has a Representative on the fence or who may be leaning toward supporting it, and encourage them to get involved in this fight!
You stopped Congress from steamrolling forward on this legislation last summer, so it's time to do it again this week!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Tags:Eagle Forum, Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Our Prayers Go Out to the Military and Their Families at Ft. Hood
At Ft Hood, Texas, an Army psychiatrist opened fire today on soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq, killing at least 12 and wounding 30. Our prayers go out to the victims, their families, friends and fellow soldiers. Tags:militaryTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 5, 2009 - Tuesday Results Should Make Dems Nervous About Obama Agenda
The Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 2847, the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill. The bill provides $65 billion in funding, including $7.3 billion for the Census Bureau. At 12:15 PM, the Senate will vote on cloture on the substitute amendment to the CJS bill. If cloture is invoked, the Senate will then consider pending amendments to the bill. One of those amendments is offered by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that would prohibit funding to try 9/11 co-conspirators being held in Guantanamo Bay in civilian courts in the U.S. They would instead be tried by military commission. Earlier today 150 family members of victims of the 9/11 attacks released a letter supporting the amendment. A vote could come this afternoon.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 98-0 to pass the unemployment insurance extension bill, H.R. 3548.
Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) has taken the lead in calling for citizens concerned about a government take over of health care to rally at the U.S. Capitol today (Nov. 5th) and make “house calls” on their members of Congress. Info on that event can be found here. Fox News is reporting that people are already rallying at the Capitol. In addition, today, the House Republicans will release their proposed health care alternative.
Politico writes today, “Election Day losses in Virginia and New Jersey have congressional Democrats focused like never before on jobs — their own. While the White House and party leaders are urging calm, Democratic incumbents from red states and Republican-leaning districts are anything but; Tuesday's statehouse defeats have left them acutely aware that their votes on health care reform and other major Obama initiatives could be career-enders in 2010 or beyond.” Democrats getting nervous over the liberal agenda of their leadership in Congress and the White House seems to be the theme of the day.
The Wall Street Journaleditorializes today, “Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial sweep revealed an electorate deeply anxious about jobs, the state of the economy and the wider Obama agenda.” And The Washington Post’sDavid Broder writes, “Despite White House efforts to discount the importance of the loss of the only two governorships on the off-year ballot, especially in New Jersey, where Obama had campaigned heavily for embattled Gov. Jon Corzine, the implications were clear to other Democrats. Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a leader of the moderate-conservative ‘Blue Dogs,’ called the result ‘a wake-up call for Congress. A tidal wave could be coming.’” Even a skeptical Washington Post editorial mostly critical of a number of Republicans admitted, “There is a lesson here for Republicans, and perhaps also for Democrats: The results in Virginia and New Jersey may or may not represent a repudiation of the Obama presidency; we tend to think they do not. But they did signal to Democratic members of Congress -- especially those who represent Republican-leaning states -- that voters are getting nervous about the size and indebtedness of the federal government.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican Leader John Boehner sat down with ABC News to discuss the impact of Tuesday’s elections yesterday. ABC writes, “McConnell, R-Ky., said the election results will make it more difficult for the president to convince Democrats to support a sweeping health care bill. ‘You’ve got a lot of newly elected Democrats -- as they had two good years in a row -- who are hanging on by their fingernails, and being pushed by the speaker and the majority leader to support legislation that they now know for sure their constituents don’t approve of,’ McConnell said.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial examines why the Democrats’ health care bill should make rank-and-file members so nervous. “Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to spare 95% of Americans from tax increases, but the American middle class is slowly figuring out that it will eventually be asked—that's the polite way of putting it—to pay for all of this. These looming bills, and not only from the $787 billion stimulus, are clouding the investment outlook. Nowhere is this more true than on health care.”
“Taken together, the health care plan we’ve seen would impose roughly half a trillion dollars in new taxes, fees, and penalties at a time when Americans are already struggling to dig themselves out of a recession. What’s worse, an independent analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation suggests that nearly 80 percent of the burden would fall on middle-class Americans. So a reform that was meant to make life easier is now expected to make life harder.”
“This is not the reform Americans were asking for. And that’s precisely why more Americans now oppose this health care plan than support it.” Certainly, that, combined with Tuesday’s election results must be weighing on the minds of Democrats as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushes for a vote on her health care reform bill this weekend."
Tags:nationalized health care, 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!
Since April, 114 Children Have Died from H1N1 - 700,000 Have Died from Abortion
by Karen Schuberg, CNS News: [H1N1] has claimed the lives of at least 114 children in the United States since April, according to the latest data available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But an estimated 2,247 to 3,305 babies lose their lives to abortion each day, based on statistics compiled by both the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute, a private research foundation tied to the abortion industry.
A CDC report released last Friday placed the death toll from H1N1 at 114 for persons aged 18 or younger. The week of Oct. 18-24 saw 19 laboratory-confirmed pediatric deaths from H1N1. Since August, 65 children have died from the virus and 12 have died from an unkown subtype of Influenza A. Since April 26, only 1 child has died from seasonal flu.
Meanwhile, in a 2008 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the CDC said that in 2005, the most recent year for which abortion data is available, 820,151 legal abortions were reported from 49 reporting areas. According to Guttmacher data, which are considered more up-to-date and more accurate than federal government statistics, 3,305 babies on average lose their lives to abortion daily. In 2005, the number of abortions totaled 1,206,200 children . . . [Full Story]Tags:INSERT TAGSTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!Tags:abortion, children, CNS, H1N1, swine fluTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by William Warren: Tags:Barack Obama, politcial cartoon, political satire, United States, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
This video features the testimonials for House Republican Doctors on the ongoing health care debate. Seems it is time to listen to experienced doctors who agreed to also serve as our representatives verses listening to inexperienced liberals who seek expanded government bureaucracy, increased taxes, limiting services, and interjecting government (be it an agency or an official) between us and our doctors and between us and our health insurance plan.
Tags:doctors, health care, House RepublicansTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
House Republican Moms Speak on the Pelosi Health Care Bill
Republican House Legislators who happen to be women and moms speak frankly about Speaker Pelois' $1 trillion dollar health care bill. [Video]
Tags:GOP, health care, House Republicans, Representative, WomenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Congressman Mike Pence appeared on the MSNBC program "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan" to discuss the House Republican alternative proposal in health care reform. [Video]
Excerpts- Comments by Rep. Mike Pence: "Well Republicans believe we listened to the American people that don't want a government takeover of health care, but they do want Congress to act to lower the cost of health insurance and lower the cost of health care in the long-term. We think we do that by allowing Americans to purchase health insurance the way you buy car insurance, across state lines. Also allow groups of businesses in the city and on the farm to create national insurance risk pools and buy insurance for their employees the way that major corporations can but it today.
"You put in medical malpractice reforms on a nationwide basis so nationwide caps will reign in some of these runaway massive law suits that drive defensive medicine and drive up the cost of premiums. And then you use those savings, lastly, to strengthen the existing state funds and insurance programs that cover people with preexisting conditions. We believe we can do that all in a fiscally responsible way without mandates, bureaucracy, a government takeover, or government run insurance."
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"I've debated colleagues on this on the airwaves, on the floor, and in private over it. There's a lot of talk about, you know, if you allowed Americans to purchase health insurance as individuals or businesses across state lines, that I've heard the word ‘race to the bottom,' but you know, I think with extraordinary increase in the cost of health insurance premiums, there's a lot of Americans, a lot of small businesses out there that would like to race to the bottom of cost. And I think that's the fundamental difference between the approach between the Democratic majority and the White House and the Republicans' approach.
"They're launching this massive expansion of government bureaucracy, taxes, and mandates to achieve what they call universal coverage, which is their every right to pursue. We believe the American people are most concerned about the cost of health insurance, the cost of health care, and so our plans are designed to bring down the cost using the power of the individual as you described."
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"Yeah, right, and you got them in there at the end. The insurance companies, you know, and state governments, you know, we've had over the last 100 years state governments and legislatures control what insurance is offered. They regulate the insurance companies within those individual states, and they provide a barrier. It really is odd to think that someone that lives across the river in New Jersey can't go online or pick up the phone and call and insurance company in New York City and buy insurance there. A big corporation can, but an individual can't.
"We really do believe, and I want to give the president a bit of rhetorical credit here, from very early on President Obama has said we need to bring competition into the system and more choice. Well our proposal, and there's a one-page summary online right now, we'll have our bill out online in the coming hours, Dylan, for people to look at line by line, but our bill really is about that idea, not with a so-called government insurance option or bureaucracy, but allow more competition between the 1,300 insurance companies that exist today across the country." Tags:GOP, health care, Mike Pence, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 4, 2009 - Yesterday's Elections Results Show Disapproval of Obama's Policies
Senate will resume consideration of the unemployment insurance extension bill, H.R. 3548 and is expected to vote to invoke cloture on the bill.
In the House, Speaker Pelosi is still pushing for a vote this week on her heath care bill. Various Capitol Hill media are reporting that immigration remains one of the reasons that Pelosi still can't count on 218 votes to pass her health care bill. Many Democratic representatives are balking at supporting the bill until the verification of illegal aliens is stronger to prevent illegals from receiving health care. Sen. Reid appears to not have the needed votes for his Senate heath care bill. With the the pressure from voters across the county (and possibly the election results in Virginia and New Jersey), various news services are reporting that Sen. Reid has indicated that more time was needed for the Senate to consider health care reform.
Yesterday’s big wins by Republicans in gubernatorial races, Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey, have national implications, especially for President Barack Obama’s policy agenda. As Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chair of the Republican Governor’s Association, explained, “It’s not about the president personally. The president’s not unpopular. Americans want our presidents to succeed. But the president’s policies are very unpopular, and they are hurting Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey, New York.”
Indeed, as The Washington Post’sDan Balz writes in a good analysis today, “The most significant change came among independent voters, who solidly backed Democrats in 2006 and 2008 but moved decisively to the Republicans on Tuesday, according to exit polls. . . . For months, polls have shown that independents were increasingly disaffected with some of Obama’s domestic policies. They have expressed reservations about the president’s health-care efforts and have shown concerns about the growth in government spending and the federal deficit under his leadership.”
In fact, several national issues came up in the races in Virginia and New Jersey. During a debate at the beginning of October, Chris Christie said, “New Jersey is in a crisis … We’re in a crisis because we tax too much, because we spend too much and because we borrow too much. What we need to do is reduce spending in this state.” As the Senate was debating President Obama’s more than $3 trillion budget, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The first thing people should know is the one thing many already do know: the administration’s budget simply taxes too much, spends too much, and borrows too much at a moment when we can least afford it.”
In May, when Republicans were explaining the problems with Obama’s hasty decision to close Guantanamo Bay and the Senate voted 90-6 to prohibit funding for Guantanamo detainees to be transferred to the U.S., Bob McDonnell said, “I oppose transferring any Guantanamo Bay detainees to Virginia.” McDonnell also said, “I strongly oppose the trials of any Guantanamo Bay detainees being conducted in Alexandria, or anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Just last month when Senate Democrats renewed their push for carbon cap-and-trade legislation that would raise energy prices for Americans, Politico’sBen Smith reported, “Here’s a clear sign of how heavy a lift carbon regulation is proving to be: [Democrat gubernatorial candidate] Creigh Deeds is running an ad in Southwest Virginia . . . reassuring voters he opposes it.”
And perhaps most importantly, ABC News reported last month, “One week before Barack Obama reinjects himself into the Virginia governor’s race, Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate, said that he would ‘certainly’ consider taking his state out of a government insurance option if given the chance.” Deeds said, “I don’t think the public option is necessary in any plan and I think Virginia--certainly, I would certainly consider, opting out if that were available to Virginia.”
Therefore, it’s hard to believe the White House spin that Virginia and New Jersey had little to do with President Obama’s policies. Republicans won independent voters who polls show increasingly disapproved of Obama policies such as deficit spending, closing Guantanamo, raising energy taxes, and an expensive government takeover of health care. Meanwhile, Republican candidates ran against those policies as Democrat candidates ran from them. Americans made their preferences pretty clear yesterday. Tags:2009, elections, gubernatorial races, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, New Jersey, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Virginia, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by William Warren StopJarrett.com Tags:Chicago, political cartoon, Valerie Jarrett, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Democrats defeated in both New Jersey and Virgina.
by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Chris Christie's gutsy win in New Jersey puts the arrogant big spender Jon Corzine in his place. But it is the election in Virginia that probably has more to say to marginal Democratic congressmen who are considering how to vote on health care reform.
Obviously Christie's victory is a body blow to Obama after Corzine outspent the Republican by 5:1. Corzine's defeat sends a message that the nation is moving sharply against Obama. But it is the Virginia results that are the most important. More than 80 Democratic congressmen and 20 senators come from states that McCain carried in 2008. For them, the sudden switch in Virginia, a swing state that Obama actually carried, heralds tough political times ahead.
New Jersey is the quintessential blue state. If it goes Republican, blue-state congressmen need not worry. Their districts are likely still safe. But when a Republican in Virginia wins by twenty points, it sends a message to red-state Democratic Congressmen to take cover. Polls indicate a declining level of popular approval of the Obama policies (Rasmussen shows his job approval at 46 percent), but to see actual Democrats losing or barely squeaking out victories in solidly blue states sends a far clearer message to the Democrats in Congress.
Until last night, Democratic moderates, the so-called blue dogs, could bask in the light of their candidate’s success in 2008. But now, they must hear hoof beats behind them. . . . [Read Full Story] Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: "My conclusion: We can make massive gains in Congress next year and take back the White House in 2012, if we can build on this momentum at the grassroots, recruit solid candidates and raise the necessary funds." Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: "Ditto!"Tags:2009, Dick Morris, Eileen McGann, election, New Jersey, VirginiaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Thomas Sowell: Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50% or 90%?
Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers — that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish? Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?
Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?
Does any of this sound like America? How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough. How much of America would be left if the federal government continued on this path? President Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more than two centuries.
We already have local police forces all across the country and military forces for national defense, as well as the FBI for federal crimes and the National Guard for local emergencies. What would be the role of a national police force created by Barack Obama, with all its leaders appointed by him? It would seem more like the brown shirts of dictators than like anything American.
How far the President will go depends of course on how much resistance he meets. But the direction in which he is trying to go tells us more than all his rhetoric or media spin. Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.
Jeremiah Wright said it with words: "[G'd] America!" Bill Ayers said it with bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their contempt for the rights of other people. Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.
Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House? Nothing is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people in government — people who reject American values, resent Americans in general and successful Americans in particular, as well as resenting America's influence in the world.
Any miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the administration's enemies list.
Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year — each bill more than a thousand pages long — too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question — and the biggest question for this generation . . . FOR PART II, PLEASE CLICK HERE
------------- Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social commentator, and author of dozens of books. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University. He is a retired professor of Economic and presently is a Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Tags:Dismantling America, America, Czar, socialism, Thomas SowellTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The truth about government healthcare: If you don't have insurance you will be taxed $1,000... excuse me a "fine." [video]
Tags:capital gains taxes, fines, government healthcareTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 3, 2009 - Dem's Actions on Health Care and Cap-And-Tax Contribute to America's Frustration
This morning, Senators and Representatives attended a Joint Session of Congress in the House chamber for an address from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Senate will resume consideration of the unemployment insurance extension bill, H.R. 3548 and post-cloture debate of the Reid-Baucus substitute amendment. Yesterday, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the Reid-Baucus substitute amendment to H.R. 3548. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has also filed cloture on the underlying bill.
This is a busy week politically, with today’s elections, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s apparent intention to take up her 2,000 page $1 trillion health care bill garnering the lion’s share of news coverage. In response, House Republicans have set up a “Reading Room” today from 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m, where they will read through the Pelosi Health Care bill. Click to view live via a webcast . Click to download the unamended Pelosi bill.
The Washington News Observer released the following quotes from their interview of Rep. Allyson Schwartz (R-PA) where she evidences Democrats talking about how they want to let Americans keep their private insurance while in the very same interview noting that there will be a “very strong public option” in their bill:
Quote 1:"For many Members of Congress they take, like federal employees, have access to insurance through their workplace, and we're going to continue that option. And some of the members are actually thinking if they could get into it they would but of course we are trying to keep the employer based coverage, which I think is what the Republicans want us to do so some of this is not very genuine in my opinion." Quote 2:"Well there's going to be a public option and it's going to be a strong public option. And I think the final decision is being made as to how we reimburse hospitals and doctors."
The two goals are not mutually exclusive. Does anyone really believe that creating 111 new federal bureaucracies, as the Democrat bill does, does not equal a government takeover of health care in our country?
In addition. there is some Senate action on another major issue worth keeping an eye on. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is preparing to attempt to push her thousand-page tax-raising carbon cap-and-trade bill through the Environment and Public Works Committee this week, over the objections of Republicans.
According to Politico, “Barbara Boxer may not only force her climate bill through the Environment and Public Works Committee without any Republican votes; aides say she could also do it without any Republicans in the room at all. Boxer (D-Calif.) could exploit a loophole in committee rules that will allow her to approve the bill with a simple majority of the 12 Democrats on the committee, even if no Republicans are present. Republicans have vowed to boycott the proceeding. This end run around Republicans — ignoring the usual rules that require at least two Republicans to be present for a quorum — could further hinder the chances for an already troubled cap-and-trade bill.”
Republicans are not pleased with the partisan manner Boxer is handling her sweeping climate bill. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Six ranking Republican U.S. senators Monday warned the head of the environment committee that pushing ahead with a vote on a landmark climate bill this week would ‘severely damage’ the chances of passing the legislation.”
Boxer wants to hold a vote without a full analysis from the EPA. According to the WSJ, “Although the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a short analysis of the Senate bill, the agency said a comprehensive analysis wouldn't be finished for a few more weeks.” As Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), ranking Republican on the EPW Committee, said, “[Y]ou can't properly consider a 1,000-page bill to restructure the entire American economy without a full economic analysis of its costs on jobs, consumers, families, and small businesses.”
Even Democrats are uncomfortable with Boxer’s partisan approach. A Democrat aide told Politico, “She poisoned the waters.” And “[Sen. John] Kerry, say Democratic aides, has tried to distance himself from Boxer’s committee — even though the committee is debating the legislation he sponsored.”
Democrats do not have a great track record on bipartisanship and transparency when it comes to their favored climate legislation. When the House version was jammed through this summer, Republicans were allowed only one vote on an alternative and no opportunity to amend the bill on the floor. Further, Democrat leaders added a last minute addition to the already massive bill just hours prior to the final vote.
Americans should keep all this in mind as Democrats attempt to rush a 1,000 page energy tax bill through Senate committees and a 2,000 page tax-hiking Medicare-cutting health bill through the House. No wonder only 25% of Americans said they approved of the job Congress was doing in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Clearly, moves like Boxer’s, Reid and Pelosi are contributing to Americans’ deep sense of frustration with Washington, DC. Tags:Barbara Boxer, cap-and-trade, deficit, increased taxes, Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, 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!
by William Warren: Tags:Barack Obama, Harry Reid, health care, Nancy Pelosi, opt out, political satire, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Teresa Crossland-Oelke, Director, Arkansas Americans for Prosperity: If Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi thought they were wearing us down, last week we proved them WRONG. Our health care town halls with Fox Correspondent John Stossel were a huge success. We began our meetings before day break in Texarkana with over 350 people and ended after dark with more than 550 people in Jonesboro. In Little Rock, we had almost 900 join with us to say “Hands Off My Health Care.”
Even though Arkansans overwhelmingly reject the proposed government takeover of health care, Senators Lincoln and Pryor may vote to pass it anyway! A KEY vote--the Cloture vote--which will end the debate on health care reform is coming up soon. If our Senators cave to pressure and vote YES, they will guarantee passage of government-run health care.
We are not going to let that happen on our watch. Here are some very important things you can do this week to fight back:
- Wednesday 11/4, In northwest Arkansas, join Arkansas Unite at 4:30 p.m. in front of Senator Lincoln’s district office in Fayetteville to say “Hands Off My Health Care.” I’ll be there-- 208 N. College Avenue-- in Fayetteville. You can take a stand with us and find out more details by Clicking Here!
- Thursday 11/5, Join our “Congressional House Call” day at 12:00 noon on November 5th. Before these critical votes are made, we need to make sure our Representatives hear from us! Find the office closest to you and let us know you are taking a stand by Clicking here! We will have volunteers at all of Senator Lincoln’s offices on Thursday at 12:00 noon handing out “Hands Off My Health Care” bumper stickers!
Please forward this information to at least five of your family and friends. We need as many Arkansans as possible to take a stand, and you are the best recruiter because they know and trust you. We've got to show Congress that Arkansans like you are still in the fight, still focused, still willing to stand up and be counted.
Bill Smith, Editor: As you watch the below video and listen to the past voices of both Democrats and Republicans who served our country as president, ask yourself is this the message of today's President and today's leaders of Congress? Have we as a Nation fallen into such covetousness that we would seek (even if through the actions by the government) to take from our fellow citizens in order to maybe benefit ourselves?
Is this present generation, unwilling to protect the gift our forefathers gave us - the gift of freedom for each citizen the have the opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness? With this gift, we received no guarantees of success. But, as free people, we have an opportunity within the decency of society to pursue the achievement of our goals. Our forefathers established in the Constitution a framework which granted, as long as we could preserve them, certain rights and protections.
Now the opportunities to pursue life, liberty and happiness are at risk. They are endanger of being taken away by the present leadership in Congress and the White House. These leaders are seeking in blunt boldness to control us and our countrymen by establishing government laws and regulations which would limit what goods we may pursue or possess, how we use those goods, what services we are allowed and the quality and the quantity of those goods and service be they health care, energy, our own homes, our property, our money, and more. They are seeking to limit what we are allowed to pursue, to possess and to retain. And to monitor you and all others, they are pushing for the establishment of regulations and new agencies. And to pay for this expanded government, they plan to take (steal) from our friends, family, neighbors and even ourselves via taxation, repeal of former granted benefits, and limiting choice and quality of services.
They seek to enslave all free citizens through entitlement programs defined and limited by government and they intend to order us to pay for the system of enslavement. This is not a new concept in history; it has been forced upon mankind before in varying forms. In the end only the elites, at least for a while, determine and control the care and welfare of the enslaved people. But even the elites' days are numbered because the burden of such a system is doomed to chaos and the eventual rise of more dictatorial control.
Is this our destiny? Shall we sell our birthright and the birthright of future generations for health care, for carbon credits, for climate control or for any thing else? Have a majority of Americans so lost their appreciation for their freedoms that they are willing to exchange them for entitlements and enslavement with the government controlling all aspects of our lives? This is not a novel or fictional movie. America! Enslavement is at the door! Will you stand boldly against it or will you surrender to empty rhetoric and promises?
Tags:America, ARRA News Service, big government, Bill Smith, enslavement, FreedomTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 2, 2009 - Americans rise up and let your voices be heard
Senate will resume consideration of the unemployment insurance extension bill, H.R. 3548. At 5 PM, the Senate will vote on cloture on the Baucus-Reid substitute amendment, which includes the unemployment benefits extension and an extension of the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit.
In the Senate, Harry Reid continues to push for his "behind the doors" health care bill. It has been sent to the CBO for scoring and he plans to bring the bill to the floor in hopes of getting 60 votes. Also as detailed later, in the Senate EPA Committee, Sen. Boxer(D-CA) is proceeding to push the Cap and Trade (eg. crap-n-tax )bill. Republicans are considering boycotting the committee in hopes of raising the level of interest with the public. Present rules require that two republicans must be present for action to occur in the committee. However, Boxer has indicated that she is willing go around the rule.
Congressman Mike Pence releasedthe following video, urging all Americans to “rise up and let their voices be heard.”
As several states gear up for elections tomorrow, across America, there is a great deal of frustration with Washington, DC and the policies Democrats in Congress are pushing on a skeptical public. And as already mentioned above, this week we’re likely to see two of the worst move ahead in both houses of Congress with little debate and little opportunity to change them.
The Hill reports, “Ready or not, House Democratic leaders say they are pushing for a healthcare vote this week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is poised to send a bill to the floor Monday in its final form, setting up a vote as early as Thursday.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said of Pelosi’s health care reform bill last week, “This latest bill is the strongest evidence yet that Democrats in Washington are blowing past the American people and pushing ahead with a 1,990-page, trillion-dollar experiment that raises health insurance premiums, raises taxes, and slashes Medicare.” Indeed, The Wall Street Journal cuts right to the chase in a scathing, must-read editorial today, declaring that it “may well be the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced.” The WSJ excoriates the bill for “The spending surge;” “expanding Medicaid, gutting private Medicare;” “European levels of taxation;” and “the insurance takeover,” explaining, “Essentially, all insurers will become government contractors, in the business of fulfilling political demands . . . .”
And yet this nearly 2,000-page $1.055 trillion bill is expected to come to the floor of the House and get not much more than a full day of debate. In fact, House Republicans are not expected to be allowed more than one vote on any of their ideas. Folk this isn't just a few Republican representatives being denied the right to vote; it is actions by the Speaker to silence the people that these congressmen represent and in many cased a multitude of other citizens in states where they feel disenfranchised by their elected Democrat representatives. Pelois is seeking to ignore the American citizens in an effort to achieve her agenda which is not in the best interests of the county.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, The Washington Post notes that Environment and Public Works Committee chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is planning on beginning a mark up for her carbon cap-and-trade bill this week. Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander described the bill last week: “At a time of 10 percent unemployment in America, it will impose a new national energy tax that will raise utilities bills and send jobs overseas looking for cheap energy.” This costly, complicated bill is 1,000 pages and yet it may not get more than one day of committee consideration.
Even Democrats seem to recognize the problems with the Boxer bill. According to today’s Washington Post, “The measure has deeply divided Democrats. With states in the Midwest, South and Rocky Mountain West dependent on fossil fuels for energy, many senators are worried about the legislation's impact on industry and consumers. ‘I think at the end of the day, the people who turn the switch on at home will be disadvantaged,’ Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told CNBC on Friday, explaining why he did not think the bill [Sen. John] Kerry [D-MA] had sponsored along with Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) could pass.”
With Democrats in Congress poised to jam through massive bills that will raise taxes, hurt American competitiveness, increase insurance premiums, and cut Medicare, all while unemployment hovers just under 10%, Americans are right to be frustrated with Washington. Democrats will have the opportunity to see how those frustrations will play out at the polls this week. Tags:Barbara Boxer, cap-and-trade, deficit, increased taxes, Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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