Obama a Presidential Approval Index Rating Is Minus 9

The American must be enamored with all that bowing to kings and emperors. Not!

Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday:
Barack Obama performance as President:
38% Strongly Disapprove
29% Strongly Approve
Presidential Approval Index rating: -9
[The other 33% must be stunned into silence.]

Expect Obama's future negative numbers to be commensurate with the depth of his bows to other world leaders.

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

Obama Bows Again!

Even the Los Angeles Times noticed and reported on President Obama "progress" in bowing to foreign Kings, Emperors and potentates. Did he miss the history lesson that we don't do that anymore! The President of the United States according to international protocol usually hold the highest dignitary position in any photo op (head up and not butt out), reception line, etc. The reason is that the President of the United States is both Head of State and Head of Government. Whereas most other world leaders and figureheads do not hold both positions in their country. Maybe - just maybe - bowing by the U.S. to other Countries is buried somewhere in the "Kyoto Protocol."

The LA Times asks in their headline: "How low will he go? Obama give Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow." Andrew Malcolm reports for the LA Times:

How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty?

This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference for a superior.

To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect.

Obama could receive some frowns back home as he did for his not-quite-this-low-or-maybe-about-the-same-bow to the Saudi king not so long ago.

Obama is getting more than a few frowns back home. A lot of us who sacrificed for America would like to kick his backside every time he bows to some other world leader. The only reason there is an Emperor of Japan is that 5-Star General Douglas MacArthur decided "to allow Japan to keep its emperor as a ceremonial unifying institution within a nascent democracy." If there was any bowing to be done - it should have been solely on the part of the figure head Emperor (god of Japan) to the leader of the United States. [The LA Times' Full Story] No gasping or bowing allowed!

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Tags: Barack Obama, bows, Japan, Kyoto Protocol, United States To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

What Reggie Littlejohn Will Learn - Obama Is World's Premier Abortion Backer

by Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker has written a powerful commentary on the appalling issue of forced abortion in China. Miss Parker interviewed Reggie Littlejohn, a women's rights activist, who testified at Tuesday's hearings on Capitol Hill. Reggie Littlejohn is a petite woman who heads Women's Rights Without Frontiers. Attorney Littlejohn gave up a profitable practice to work for human rights.

Dr. Littlejohn showed how China's brutal policy actually works. Women in China pregnant with their second or third "unauthorized" child, are rounded up and harassed until they submit to abortion -- even in the eighth or ninth month. Estimates range as high as 50 million a year. China's communist rulers claim it's all voluntary. Littlejohn knows better. She provided congressional members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission with incontrovertible evidence that forced abortion is official government policy and that it is widespread.

Dr. Littlejohn is calling upon Planned Parenthood and NARAL to speak up for the women of China who are daily denied their rights. She also hopes President Obama will raise the issue of human rights during his current Asia trip.

What Reggie Littlejohn will learn is what Steven W. Mosher learned more than 25 years ago. Steve Mosher was a young researcher from Stanford University. He was studying village life in rural China. Then, Steve was "pro-choice." But he discovered -- in fact he was the first Westerner to discover -- the way pregnant Chinese women were rounded up, thrown roughly into open trucks, hauled off to abortion centers by Communist Party cadres, and yelled at and stressed until they agreed to have abortions.

Steve was shocked by this denial of choice to these women. So he went public. He wrote about this story. He was promptly thrown out of China. And Beijing threatened Stanford University: If you want to send any more graduate students to China, you had better expel Steve Mosher. Stanford, you'll remember, was the home of Jesse Jackson-led demonstrations in which student protestors chanted: "Hey hey, Ho ho, Western Civ has got to go." Western Civilization was expelled from Stanford and so was Stephen Mosher. He was found to have violated rules passed by the Stanford faculty senate after he departed for China. Steve Mosher thought Planned Parenthood and NARAL would rise to his defense. They didn't.

And I seriously doubt they will be heard from now. We've heard precious little from them about China's obvious, aggravated denial of choice to Chinese women. Mosher did get a nice editorial in the New York Times tsk-tsking forced
abortions in China. The Times, we should be reminded, is not unlike Winston Churchill's description of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin: "He occasionally stumbles over the truth, but he picks himself up and proceeds as if nothing had happened.

So it will be with President Obama. Reggie Littlejohn hopes the President will raise the issue with the Chinese. He won't. We read in Kathleen Parker's column about Chinese doctors sending emails back and forth describing the terrible problem of infants born alive after induced labor abortions. Senior party members advise puncturing their skulls as they are in the birth canal to avoid such dreaded complications.

Anyone who expects Barack Obama to raise this issue with Chinese officials is whistling in the dark. Barack Obama as Illinois state senator led the opposition to the Infant Born Alive Protection Act. He later said he would have voted for the bill if it had been like the one that passed at the federal level. Except that it was similar.

Of course, the world's Number One enabler of China's forced abortion policy is President Obama. He hesitated not at all last January before revoking the Mexico City policy initiated by President Reagan. After January 23rd, we are all forced to back abortion. Our tax dollars are backing the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and International Planned Parenthood. Between financial support for China's brutality and a bailout of the world's largest abortion provider, Obama has claimed the crown as the world's premier abortion backer. Maybe that's why he won the Peace Prize.
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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 the The American Spectator. 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: abortion, Barack Obama, China, forced abortion, Ken Blackwell, Planned Parenthood, pregnancy To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Is God or Man in Control of the Earth? Christian Coalition Lie on Man Made Global Warming

Ed Stoddard in story for Reuters reported:

The Christian Coalition of America in the 1990s was an electoral force to be reckoned with as it mobilized millions of conservative Christians to vote for mostly Republican Party candidates and causes. It has since lost influence and political ground to other “religious right” groups such as the Family Research Council. . . .

So it will no doubt surprise some to see that this week it has joined with the National Wildlife Federation – whose 4 million members and supporters includes 420,000 sportsmen and women – to run an ad urging the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that among other things addresses the pressing problem of climate change.

"Defending the status quo is no longer an option. We need swift action to ensure America is the world leader in clean energy technology. We can put Americans to work making and installing the clean, renewable energy technologies that reduce our dependency on foreign oil and address climate change. Senators should work together to move forward with a clean energy plan for America,” says the ad, which ran this week in Politico. . . .

Roberta Combs, the [new] president of the Christian Coalition, told me in a telephone interview that her group joined forces with the NWF on this issue because it saw a biblical need to look after God’s creation. But she said it also wants America to pursue alternative energy policies to reduce its independence on foreign oil including expanding its use of nuclear power . . .

According to a Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday, 36 percent of Americans say global warming is a result of human activity, down from 47 percent in April 2008."

In addition to the ad in Political, the CCA has run radio ad supporting Cap and Trade across the county. One such ad ran on Little Rock 102.9 KARN. This station is predominately a conservative talk radio with the usual line up of major conservative talk hosts who happen to oppose cap and trade (known by some as "Crap and Tax").

It is evident that Ms. Roberta Combs' CCA ad is trying to influence the opposition to the Cap and Trade and the votes of Senators Lincoln and Pryor. It is sad when a former solid social conservative group aligns itself with the false belief that man is primarily responsible for Global Warming and destroying the earth when both the science and the scriptures Ms Combs allegedly believes also clearly identifies that man is but a vapor and that God not man remains in control of the world. Questions for CCA, Did God make a mistake designing a carbon based life on the Earth? Did God create an abundance of carbon based fuel options to be ignored? Doesn't man and all other animals breath oxygen expel Carbon Dioxide? And based on God's balanced design don't the trees and plants breath (take in) Carbon Dioxide and expel Oxygen?

Well one KARN conservative listener Kenneth Wallis responded to the Christian Coalition of America ad supporting Cap & Trade that he heard on 102.9 KARN:

Our inability to use our own fossil fuels has made us dependent on the Narco-Regime of Mexico for oil.

"First, we agree that climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security. "

"The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for just 3.27% of the carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere each year, while the biosphere and oceans account for 55.28% and 41.46%, respectively."

"Forty-nine percent of respondents believe Saudi Arabia exports the most oil to the U.S., while just 13% correctly identified Canada as our top foreign supplier. According to the EIA, the U.S. imported 58.2% of its petroleum (including crude oil) in 2007, but only 16.1% of all imports came from Persian Gulf countries."

Energy Information Administration (EIA) survey January 2009 responses of 1,000 Americans, chosen to be representative of public opinion generally, on matters such as the sources of U.S. energy, the extent of the oil supply, the rate of global warming, the safety of nuclear power, and the promise of renewable energy sources. http://www.manhattan-institute.org/energymyths/index.htm

The rest of the commentary is based on a lie so there's no need for another quote. Why would the Christian Coalition allow commentary from RINO Lindsey GrAmnesty and one of the most leftist Democrats in the Senate John Kerry, when there are so many real conservative Republicans and moderate Democrats to talk to? It's bad enough the lame-stream media + Fox News gives air time to Leftist & RINOs, they don't need it here.

Man-made global warming is a lie from the same people who lied about DDT, The Global ICE Age, The Ozone Layer, Global Warming and now Climate Change. There's alternative energy plans by Michele Bachmann that has America use our own fossil fuels, build refineries, build nuclear power plants, and create real jobs instead of tax-funded green jobs. (HR1810, 1811, & 1812) The CCofA should be running ads supporting those plans, not supporting Crap & Trade.

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

Senate Dems Allowed 9-11 Terrorist & GITMO Detainees To Be Tried In NYC

by Sam Adams MMIV:The AP reports this morning, “Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday.”

This is a terrible idea for a whole host of reasons. Last month, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey explained why in an essential op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. Mukasey wrote, “The Justice Department claims that our courts are well suited to the task. Based on my experience trying such cases, and what I saw as attorney general, they aren't.” As Mukasey pointed out, “the rules for conducting criminal trials in federal courts have been fashioned to prosecute conventional crimes by conventional criminals. Defendants are granted access to information relating to their case that might be useful in meeting the charges and shaping a defense, without regard to the wider impact such information might have. That can provide a cornucopia of valuable information to terrorists, both those in custody and those at large.”

Indeed, previous terrorism trials in civilian courts have inadvertently aided the enemy including Osama bin Laden & al Qaeda. During the trial of Omar Abdel Rahman, otherwise known as “The Blind Sheik,” during the 1990s his lawyer smuggled orders to terrorists, Mukasey notes “it was later learned that soon after the government's disclosure the list of unindicted co-conspirators had made its way to Bin Laden in Khartoum, Sudan.” Also, Rahman’s incarceration spurred plots to free him, like one from Zacarias Moussaoui. Moussaui’s own trial leaked sensitive information. The trial of Ramzi Yousef for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center tipped off terrorists at large that a communications link had been compromised. And the trials of those involved in the 1998 terrorist attacks on American embassies in East Africa revealed in public details of bin Laden’s cell phone use. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, “Shortly thereafter, bin Laden's organization stopped using cell phones to discuss sensitive operational details, U.S. intelligence sources said.”

The Moussaoui trial presented another major problem: he used to for propaganda and even mocked victims of the 9/11 attacks. Last week, writing in support of an amendment to block 9/11 conspirators from being brought to the U.S., nearly 150 family members of 9/11 victims explained, “there is the sickening prospect of men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being brought to the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, … just a few blocks away from the scene of carnage eight years ago, being given a Constitutionally mandated platform upon which he can mock his victims, exult in the suffering of their families, condemn the judge and his own lawyers, and rally his followers to continue jihad against the men and women of the U.S. military, fighting and dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan on behalf of us all.”

The Senate had the opportunity to heed the warnings of these family members, of intelligence officials, and of Mukasey last week. But instead 54 Senate Democrats voted to allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants to be brought to New York by the Obama administration.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time, “The American people have made themselves clear on this issue. They don’t want Guantanamo terrorists brought to the U.S., and they certainly don’t want the men who planned the 9/11 attacks on America to be tried in civilian courts — risking national security and civic disruption in the process. . . . [W]hat material benefit is derived by bringing avowed foreign combatants like KSM into a civilian court and giving them all the rights and privileges of a United States citizen; and why should we further delay justice for the families of the victims of 9/11?”

Thia afternoon, Sen. McConnell released the following additional statement: “The White House’s decision today to bring the 9/11 plotters within our borders and into our communities instead of trying them at the secure detention facility at Guantanamo is a step backwards for the security of our country and puts Americans unnecessarily at risk.

“This misguided decision is based on the false belief that the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans in one day on U.S. soil are common criminals—not war criminals.  But there are needless risks from this decision: classified information can be inadvertently leaked, as it was in the first World Trade Center trial; our cities will face enormous security problems; and our communities will be potential targets for attack.”

Despite an overwhelming bipartisan Senate vote earlier this year to keep Guantanamo detainees out of the United States, today’s action by the administration was endorsed by 54 Senate Democrats last week by opposing the Lieberman-Graham amendment that sought to bar the 9/11 plotters from being brought to the U.S. for civilian trial.

There’s ample evidence that previous civilian trials of terrorists have inadvertently aided the enemy.  Previously,  several Democrats, including President Obama himself, have questioned the idea of bringing terrorists to the US for trial. Today, Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) had harsh criticisms for the administration’s decision today. Webb: "It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts." Lieberman: “It is inconceivable that we would bring these alleged terrorists back to New York for trial, to the scene of the carnage they created eight years ago, and give them a platform to mock the suffering of their victims and the victims’ families, and rally their followers to continue waging jihad against America.” [Sam Adams MMIV is a pen name for an un-named beltway source.]

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Additional info: (CNSNews.com) – House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) says the Obama administration is putting “liberal special interests before the safety and security of the American people” in deciding to bring the 9/11 mastermind to the United States for trial in federal civilian court.

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Tags: 9-11, Democrat, Eric Holder, terrorists, US Justice Dept, US Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Don't Copy Europe's Mistakes: Less Government Is the Right Way to Fix Healthcare

Eline van den Broek explains that government interference is driving up healthcare costs in America and warns that European style health "reform" will make the situation even worse. Based on what has happened in Europe, she explains that universal health coverage is not the same as universal healthcare, that insurance mandates mean more government control, and that price controls simply do not work.

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H/T Boot Berry and America, You Asked For It!

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Tags: Europe, government healthcare, health care, insurance mandates, Obamacare, socialism, United States, universal healthcare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Michele Bachmann – GOP Rising Star

by Ellen Sauerbrey: There is a new star in the GOP firmament and she is principled, savvy, articulate and beautiful. No, I don't mean Sarah, though the former Alaska Governor has already demonstrated the ability of a conservative woman to connect with the voters.

The rising star is Michele Bachmann, the Congresswoman from Minnesota, an outspoken media-savvy conservative, who is about as feisty as they come. Last week Bachmann asked people to pay a house call on Washington DC, and they came from all over the country by the thousands.

In doing so, the two term Congresswoman was chancing becoming the object of ridicule. If few had responded to her call to action, imagine how the media would have ridiculed her bold effort. However, her gambit was hugely successful as she demonstrated a rare ability to read the mood of the people and to put herself forward as the spark that could light a fire.

"I called and YOU came" she called out to the huge crowd that gathered on the Capitol lawn. Not many politicians have both the courage to issue such a strong battle call and the ability to motivate people to hop on airplanes, trains and cars to pour into Washington on very short notice.  As a member of Congress, Michelle Bachmann has repeatedly demonstrated conviction and leadership. She is a true believer in the basic principles of less government and more personal freedom. She has championed a taxpayer bill of rights, earmark reform, increased domestic energy exploration.

An outspoken critic of Democrat proposals for health care reform, cap and trade, and stimulus spending, she describes the Obama policies as "economic Marxism." Supporting that label, she cites a study by University of Arizona economist, Professor William Boyes, contending that the federal government now owns or controls 30 percent of private wealth in America and will exceed 50% if Obama care becomes law. Posing a very different image than the much-maligned "angry white Republican male," Michelle is already being demonized in much the same manner as Sarah Palin. There is already a DumpBachmann blog and a Censure Bachmann campaign. The left calls her everything from a right wing extremist to a retarded Wingnut.

In an interview with Sean Hannity, she cited Thomas Jefferson's statement that a revolution every now and then is a good thing. "We are at the point, Sean, of revolution. And by that, what I mean, is an orderly revolution - where the people of this country wake up, get up and make a decision that this is not going to happen on their watch. It won't be our children and grandchildren that are in debt. It is we who are in debt, we who will be bankrupting this country, inside of ten years, if we don't get a grip. And we can't let the Democrats achieve their ends any longer."

Her words were a clear call to action; certainly not a call to arms. But the hysterical left wing blogosphere reported the interview as the "first prominent Neocon to openly call for the violent overthrow of the Obama administration." The Democrat Congressional Committee website speaks of "her outrageous, out of touch agenda (that) she seems eager to promote on national cable networks." Congresswoman Bachmann is far from out of touch. She and her husband, Marcus employ 42 people in a small business mental health care practice. She is the mother of five children and has also opened her heart to 23 foster children. Like Sarah Palin, she is the real deal.

It is an unwritten rule in politics that the more effective one is, the more vicious and shrill are the attacks from those who fear you. No doubt the left wing media is already scouring for a skeleton in the closet; and preparing to launch non-stop ethics probes! Bachmann is dangerous, so expect an all out effort to destroy her. [Ellen Sauerbrey, former Assistant Secretary of State, is a Liberty Features Syndicated writer.]

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Tags: Barack Obama, Ellen Sauerbrey, Michele Bachmann, NetRight Nation, US Congress, US House, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Valerie Jarrett’s “Gangster Government”

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way.” — Jim Malone, The Untouchables.

Call it “gangster government”— an over-glorified protection racket that favors those who tow the party line, and viciously retaliates against those who dare to depart from the dogma of the Dear Leader.

Said Congressman Steve King in an exclusive interview with the Washington News Observer, “In Chicago, you have gangster government. Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that—she’s been brokering power for a long time—and the links she has with William Ayers and other nefarious characters in Chicago tell us what we’ve got in the White House itself.”

In other words, either you pay tribute to Obama, or you pay the price — Chicago-style. As Jarrett recently stated at the recent World Economic Forum in Switzerland that, “I think knowing Chicago is essential to knowing America and our new President.”

That’s it, a racket. And Jarrett is at the heart of it. According to CNN, “Obama says he runs every important decision by Jarrett, trusts her completely and considers her family.” And, you never go against the family.

In fact, anyone that dares to speak out against the Administration is made an overt political target by Jarrett and Obama. Just ask FOX News and the Chamber of Commerce. Or Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge. Or the GM and Chrysler bondholders. Or Humana. Or America’s Health Insurance Plans, an insurance industry lobby. Or Edmunds.com, which made the disastrous mistake of criticizing the failed “cash for clunkers” program.

Or, for that matter, the American people, who were called liars by Obama in his address to Congress and labeled extremists, “un-American”, and “political terrorists” by their own representatives.

This is right out of Saul Alinsky’s playbook — “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.” The idea is to isolate the opposition and to make them pariahs, freeing the way for the Administration to act with impunity.

Which is exactly what has happened. Since Barack Obama has been elected, de facto one-party rule has reigned in Washington on virtually every policy measure pushed through either Congress or by executive fiat. The so-called trillion-dollar “stimulus.” Nationalizing the auto industry. The national energy tax. They’re all of a piece. In just one year, Republicans have been shut out of discussions on everything from creating jobs to health care in the House and Senate. They have been completely isolated — and vilified.

But not if you ask Valerie Jarrett. According to the top Obama advisor, Obama has been the model “bipartisan” president, who meets with his opponents and reaches compromises. “He has reached out,” Jarrett assured Stephanopoulos. “He has listened. He has reached across the aisle. Just recently meeting with both the Democrats—the Republicans and the Democrats in both the House and in the Senate. His effort has been sustained throughout the year.” Really?

If so, the record clearly doesn’t show it. In fact, Obama’s “bipartisan approach” has been so anemic that not a single House Republican voted for the “stimulus.” Only one voted for the controversial health care takeover on Saturday. And the energy cap-and-tax drew far more Democrat votes against than Republican votes for, courting only eight Republicans in support versus 44 Democrats who opposed it. In fact, the only real bipartisanship in Washington as of late has been against Administration policies. 39 Democrats joined with 176 Republicans in voting against the Pelosi health bill in the House on Saturday.

Senate Republicans have fared little better. According to Senator John McCain, speaking to FOX News, as health care legislation has proceeded through Congress, “Republicans have been completely shut out of any conversation or negotiation. And you know that during the campaign — I wish our viewers could see it over and over again. The president is saying when we take up health care reform, C-SPAN will be in the room, Republicans will be there, and the American people will be able to see who’s on the side of the pharmaceutical companies and who’s on the side of the American citizens.”

But, said McCain, that never happened. “Behind closed doors they cut deals with the pharmaceutical companies, with the hospital people… [I]t’s business as usual. There is no change.” In other words, it has been one-party rule from the very beginning from the President who told Republican Congressional leaders on day one: “I won, you lost.” And Jarrett knows it—because she has orchestrated it. And yet, when asked by Stephanopoulos why Obama had failed to “heal the partisan divide,” she said, “Well, you should ask that question to the Republican Party.”

No, he shouldn’t. Stephanopoulos was asking the right person the question. In essence, why is the Obama regime so divisive, thuggish, and pushy? Because it was designed to be. And one of the top engineers of this “gangster government” is Valerie Jarrett.

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This post was authored by Robert Romano, the ALG Senior News Editor.

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Tags: ALG News, gangster government, Robert Romano, Valerie Jarrett To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Jihad at Fort Hood - Part IV (14 Murdered) & Jihadists in the Military

by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: The “Crazy” Hasan - ABC and several other news outlets are reporting that Major Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood killer, had contacts with numerous Muslim extremists and had visited jihadist “chat rooms” on the Internet. Anonymous FBI officials predict the details of his other suspicious activities will become public soon. I hope so. But there are a lot of important people, from the president to media mavens, who are obviously committed to convincing us that we shouldn’t believe our own eyes and ears.

First they suggested that Hasan was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Obama was pushing that idea earlier this week when he suggested that sometimes soldiers just “crack.” And it was the first and most popular speculation by reporters right after they told us not to jump to conclusions. But the PTSD explanation itself began to crack when it became apparent that Major Hasan had never been in combat and had never formally asked to leave the Army.

Now the “jihadist deniers” are suggesting Hasan was just plain crazy – paranoid, delusional, and a psychotic. His acts didn’t have anything to do with Islam, they argue. Rather, he had a chemical imbalance leading to some brain cells misfiring.

Under this theory, the Palestinian mother who encourages her children to become suicide bombers to kill Jews just needs some counseling. The jihadists who throw acid in the faces of little Afghan girls because they want to go to school could be helped with a prescription of Prozac. The American Muslims arrested in recent months in plots to attack Ft. Dix, Quantico, and other U.S. military bases could get counseling under universal health care. Perhaps President Obama should send 40,000 psychiatrists to Afghanistan instead of soldiers.

Islamofascism is by definition crazy, certainly by our standards. How else can one explain radical Muslims who hail the 9/11 hijackers as heroes, while at the same time arguing that the Jews or the CIA or both attacked America that day to provoke us to attack Muslim countries?  Islamofascists are molded, directed and inspired by what the jihadists have concluded their faith requires of them. There are plenty of imams, Islamic “scholars,” Islamic schools, web sites, books, movies and mosques encouraging them to be “soldiers for Allah.”

If our leaders – after all the beheadings, homicide bombings, honor killings and other atrocities – still don’t get it, then I think the evidence is clear that they – not “crazy” Hasan – are the ones who are delusional.

Why Not 14? The Army officially charged Major Hasan today with 13 counts of premeditated murder. Why not 14 counts? One of Hasan’s victims, 21 year-old Francheska Velez of Chicago, was nine weeks into her pregnancy. Hasan should be charged with the murder of her unborn baby and could be charged under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, otherwise known as Laci and Conner’s Law.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act was signed into law by President Bush in 2004. It acknowledges the obvious: In a violent crime against a pregnant woman there are two victims – the mother and the baby. Today, our staff double-checked the law, and it covers the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In fairness, officials announcing the charges today made it clear that additional charges were possible, and the Associated Press reports that a 14th murder charge for Private Velez’ baby is under consideration.

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by Kerby Anderson, Point of View: Jihadists in the Military - This week many broadcasters have tried to understand the shooting that took place last week at Fort Hood. But callers and guests have routinely rejected the idea that Major Hasan's actions were merely an anomaly or an aberration. Instead they believe it will happen again unless the military is willing to identify jihadists within the armed services.

A recent editorial in Investor's Business Daily provides a list of other jihadists in uniform. Perhaps you remember the story of another devout Muslim in the Army, Sergeant Hasan Akbar. In March 2003, he was guilt of fragging 17 fellow soldiers and killed two. Soldiers who survived his grenade attack heard him say: "You guys are coming into our countries, and you’re going to rape our women and kill our children."

Navy Signalman Hassan Abujihaad last year was convicted of tipping off al Qaeda to battle group movements in the Persian Gulf, including disclosing classified documents detailing the group’s vulnerability to terror attack. Army reservist Jeffrey Battle in 2003 pleaded guilty to conspiring to wage war against the U.S., confessing he enlisted "to receive military training to use against America"

Army Sergeant Ali Mohamed trained Green Berets at Fort Bragg's elite special warfare school before stealing military secrets for al Qaeda and helping plan bombings at three U.S. embassies in 1998. Army Specialist Ryan Anderson in 2004 was convicted of leaking military intelligence to al Qaeda terrorists, including sensitive information about the vulnerabilities of armored Humvees.

In light of this list, we should immediately admit that good and decent Muslim soldiers have served in the U.S. military with distinction. But the growing list of jihadists in the military illustrates the need to protect us from those who intend to weaken the U.S. military or bring down America. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

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Tags: anti-military, Campaign for Working Families, Gary Bauer, jihad, Kerby Anderson, Media, Point of View, political cartoon, political correctness, 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. - Nov 12, 2009 - Post-American Democrats Don't Care What the People Want

Congress is in recess until Monday. Many of us are feeling these days: can they just stay home even longer? The Senate will then resume consideration of H.R. 3082, the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill, and begin working on amendments.

This past Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on the nomination of David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. A vote is currently scheduled for next week. Also, Reid began the Rule 14 process on the House health care bill, which allows it to be brought to the Senate calendar, although it does not mean the Senate will take up the bill yet. A bill Reid has put together is still being scored by CBO.

Politico reports today, “Under pressure from a double-digit unemployment rate, President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he will hold a jobs summit at the White House in December.” The announcement comes less than a week after the unemployment rate hit 10.2%. The timing recalls other press events held by the White House in the face of unpleasant news. For instance, a week after signing the $787 billion stimulus bill, Obama decided to host a “fiscal responsibility summit.”

Of course, this is all while the administration continues to come under fire for the problems with its first attempt to address unemployment. The Boston Globe reported yesterday, “While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.” Sounds like many of the people counting these days are prevaricators. This comes on the heels of a story from The Denver Post on Tuesday which reported that numbers in Colorado were “inflated by at least 1,000 jobs” and similar stories across the country.

The editors at the San Diego Union-Tribune are not amused and wrote in a scathing editorial yesterday: “The errors were not of a minor or technical nature. They were egregious. . . . It’s not government as usual. Instead, it appears to reflect a decision to distort government data collection to support explicitly political agendas. With U.S. unemployment now topping 10 percent, the Obama administration is struggling more than ever to fashion credible counterarguments to the assertion made by this editorial page and many pundits and economists that the massive stimulus measure was a poorly thought-out pork fest that wouldn’t work. What’s the easiest way to defend the stimulus? Make up claims about its glorious results.”

At the same time as the administration is looking for new ways to address the ailing economy, its allies in Congress seem to be pushing plans that will only serve to weaken it. According to the AP, “Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials said Wednesday. These officials said one of the options Reid has had under review would raise the payroll tax that goes to Medicare, but only on income above $250,000 a year. Current law sets the tax at 1.45 percent of income, an amount matched by employers.” And The Wall Street Journal editors note, “House Democrats are funding their new entitlement with a 5.4% surtax on incomes above $500,000 for individuals and above $1 million for joint filers. The surcharge is intended to snag the greatest number of taxpayers to raise some $460.5 billion, and so the House has written it to apply to modified adjusted gross income. That means it includes both capital gains and dividends.”

With respect to the prior non-committed of Stimulus money and recent actions, we could speculate that the Obama Administration will use these funds to "buy votes" from Congressmen on bills supporting their agenda, or they will release funds by the end of second quarter of 2010 in the districts of Democrat incumbents to bolster their re-election efforts. In truth, if President Obama were looking for ways to address unemployment, he could ask Democrats in Congress to back off the job-killing aspects of the massive health care bills, especially the hundreds of billions in tax hikes. Instead, the White House appears to be more interested in holding events for the press and attempting to justify the wasteful stimulus bill as more Americans lose their jobs. Folks, "Post-American" Democrats don't care what the majority of the American people want. They intend to finance their agenda with More Debt to be paid by your children and grandchildren.

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Tags: government healthcare, unemployment, 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!

H.B. 3962 - The Wrong Prescription for the Economy - Dick Morris Speaking in Arkansas

Americans For Prosperity Arkansas Director Teresa Crossland-Oelke and local medical professionals will be holding a hold a press conference today, November 12th, at noon, outside of Congressman Vic Snyder’s Office in Little Rock, AR. Oelke said,
Congressman Vic Snyder’s recent vote on what the Wall Street Journal has deemed “the worst bill ever.” While our national economy suffers with over 10% unemployment and people are losing jobs, Congressman Vic Snyder rushed through a government takeover of our health care that will cost even more jobs and hurt the economy. Please join us as we send a message to the Congressman that his vote was exactly the wrong prescription for Arkansas and America."In addition, Americans For Prosperity Arkansas is sponsoring another "Hands Off My Health Care Bus Tour" and is bringing Fox News contributor and former Clinton Advisor Dick Morris to speak at some of the events. The sign the Hands Off our Health Care petition visit joinpatientsfirst.com . AFP Arkansas is working on behalf of Arkansans to send Berry, Snyder, Lincoln, & Pryor a clear message – represent the people who voted for you! Join them at one of the following bus stop rallies:
Thursday, November 19th
Confirmed Speakers:  Dick Morris, Jim Martin - President of 60 Plus, Shawn Danko, Teresa Oelke
12:00-1:00  Little Rock, State Capitol, 1 Capitol Avenue
2:00-3:00   Conway, Simon Park, Front Street, Downtown Conway
4:30-5:30  Hot Springs Village, Balboa Pavilion, 480 Ponce De Leon Dr
Friday, November 20
Confirmed Speakers:   Jim Martin - President of 60 Plus, Dr. Kathy Chenault, Shawn Danko, Teresa Oelke 8:30 Heber Springs, Courthouse Square
10:30  Batesville, TBA
1:30  Mountain View
4:30  Harrison, TBA
Saturday, November 21
Confirmed Speakers:   Jim Martin - President of 60 Plus, Mayor Steve Womack, Teresa Oelke 10:00   J.B. Hunt Office Building, 3333 Pinnacle Hills Park, next to John Q. Hammons Hotel, Rogers
[Note: the above ad is planned by AFP for selected papers across Arkansas.  ARRA News Service identified the ad as a free public service - no funds we paid to display this ad.]

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Tags: AFP, Arkansas, bus tour, healthcare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

ARRA Salutes Our Veterans & the Men & Women Serving in the Military

This note from a friend and is worth sharing with all our readers because her words are said and thought by many on this day: Thank you for your service to our country, for preserving our precious American way of life, and for the sacrifices you've made in the name of Freedom! You are all my heroes ... Suzan [Video]

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Tags: military, veterans, Veterans Day To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Veterans Day Created to Honor WWI Veterans - But Still No Memorial

by TheSouthernJackAss: [As of Aug 31, 2011 this source blog is no longer online.]  Veterans Day, usually observed on November 11, is a legal federal holiday on which we honor those who have served in the armed forces of the United States. The observation was originally designated in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson as Armistice Day. Wilson selected November 11 because the Armistice ending World War I had been signed on this date in 1918. Wilson wanted to make sure that Americans did not forget the tragedies of the war. In 1938, Congress passed legislation which designated Armistice Day as a federal holiday. The name was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 so that all veterans would be honored. For a brief period (1971-1977), the holiday was celebrated on the fourth Monday in October. On Veterans Day, special services take place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery and all across the United States.

Of those deserving of honor on this day, one man in particular merits special recognition ... 108-year-old Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known living American-born veteran of World War I ... born in Harrison County, Missouri in 1901, and raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered the "war to end all wars" in April 1917 ... an underage but eager recruit, he was rejected by the Marines and by the Navy, but after eventually persuading an Army captain that he was 18-years-of-age, and that Missouri did not keep public records of birth, he was permitted to enlist ... Buckles subsequently sailed for England in 1917 aboard the Carpathia, which is known for it's rescue of Titanic survivors, and spent his tour of duty working mainly as a diver and a warehouse clerk in Germany and France ... he rose to rank of corporal, and after Armistice Day he helped return prisoners of war to Germany ... he drove motorcycles, cars, and ambulances in England and France, and during the Occupation, he guarded German prisoners ... Buckles eventually went to work for the White Star steamship line and was in Manila on business in December 1941 when the Japanese invaded ... he spent over three years as a prisoner of war at the city's University of Santo Tomas.

Frank Buckles, who now resides in Charles Town, West Virginia, has been an invited guest at the Pentagon, met with President Bush in Washington, D.C. and rode in the annual Armed Forces Day Parade in his home state since his status as one of the last living from the "Great War" was discovered nearly three years ago ... in 2008, his photograph was hung in the main hallway of the National World War I Museum, which he toured for the first time, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States presented him with the Gold Medal of Merit ... federal officials have also arranged for his eventual burial at Arlington National Cemetery ... "I had a feeling of longevity and that I might be among those who survived, but I didn't know I'd be the No. 1." -- Frank Buckles

A word from Frank Buckles: Dear Fellow Patriot, Thank-you for your interest in my story as America's last World War One Survivor. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers and am humbled to be the representative of nearly 5 million Americans who served with me. 92 years ago I was stationed in France to serve the United States of America when I heard the news that the war had ended. 92 years have passed and there is still not a WWI memorial to our service in our nation's capitol - Washington, DC. 4,734,991 Americans served and 116,561 Americans died during WWI. It is my last hope and my desire that there will be a monument in Washington DC so that our sacrifice will not be forgotten. If you wish to thank me please write your congressmen and ask them to support HR 482 by Congressmen Ted Poe. For more information please visit Frank Buckles and WWI MEMORIAL ORG

The Ozark Guru joins with SJA in a special thank you to all veterans for their dedicated and loyal service to America ... may God bless them all.

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Tags: Veterans Day, World War I, veterans To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Happy Veterans Day

This Veterans Day please take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made by our nations heroes and their families. When our nation called they answered and we will forever be in their debt.

[Video] The quote is from Judge William S. Sessions, former FBI Director and Captain – United States Air Force 1951-1955 - and read by his son, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions.

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Tags: NRSC, tribute, veterans, Veterans Day To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

THANK YOU, VETERANS!

by FTG-1 Norm Beznoska Jr., US Navy 1958-64, Strongsville, Ohio: When I was 17-years old, I proudly took the Oath of Enlistment in the United States Navy. Like the men and women who came before and after me, I took this Oath* seriously and its’ words mean even more to me, today, some 50 years later:

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed Over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

How can I forget the men and women I was honored to serve with in the Armed Forces of the United States? - Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen, who came from all parts of America. From farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England and the South, from the big cities of the West, the mountains and the prairies, and from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them, just as they trusted and depended on me - for comradeship, for courage, and for our very lives. In a word, they were and will forever be my “shipmates.”

Recalling the words of an anonymous poem by a World War II Veteran, I ask you, my fellow citizens, whatever your opinions or beliefs, to respect and honor those who have and are answering the call to serve our country by saying “Thank You”, this 11th day of November:It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us Freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us Freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us Freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the community organizer,
who has given us Freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the Right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who was willing to give his life for you.

It is the VETERAN, who salutes the flag,
who served the flag and someday,
will be buried under that flag!Please take a few moments from your busy day to pause, reflect, and thank those who have served and are serving our country. While military conflicts are never easy to accept, neither are the denial of basic human rights, or Freedom by those in government who would deny us all our constitutional rights under the guise of “social justice”, “redistribution of wealth”, or “change.”

Keeping that Oath of Enlistment I took in mind, I can’t help but recall the words of Samuel Adams, a Veteran of the American Revolution:

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin”.

To my fellow Veterans, if there ever was time to remember we swore a sacred oath to always defend Our Constitution, and our countrymen, and prevent the ruin of our beloved country, let that time be today…Veterans Day 2009!

Remember: “A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." -- John Adams

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Norm Beznoska is a Navy Veteran and known to his friends as "Navyman Norm." He and Mrs B. have 3 children one of them served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Navy pilot. He is a proud member of Rolling Thunder and subscribes to the ARRA News Service. He lives by the Navy motto: "Non Sibi, Sed Patriae".... Not for Self, but For Country!
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*Officers since 13 May 1884 take this Oath: "I, ------, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

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Tags: military, tribute, US Navy, veterans, Veterans Day To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Jihad at Fort Hood - Part III

by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: We now know that Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hasan sent between 10 and 20 messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, an Islamofascist cleric known for his exhortations for Muslims to rise up and kill the infidels. Counterterrorism officials intercepted the communications but concluded (are you sitting down?) that the e-mails were probably part of a research project on post-traumatic stress disorder that the psychiatrist had been conducting at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Really? Anwar al-Awlaki is an expert on jihadist exhortation and incitement. He can wax eloquent about how to cut the throat of the non-believer and what an appropriate ritual beheading requires. He is not in any normal world a resource for research into post-traumatic stress. No matter how “innocent” the e-mails seemed to our “intelligence” community, alarm bells should have gone off when an Army major sent messages to a murderous thug. Even a cursory examination would have turned up other information on Hasan’s rants, his increasing anti-Americanism and the evidence he was becoming a Muslim warrior.

After the Fort Hood rampage, al-Awlaki praised Nidal Hasan on his web page. He wrote, “Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people. This is a contradiction that many Muslims brush aside and just pretend that it doesn’t exist. Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a U.S. soldier.”

Here’s a thought: Perhaps our homeland security people are so traumatized by the constant leftwing attack accusing them of violating constitutional rights that they have been rendered ineffective. CIA officers have been threatened with prosecutions, and phone companies may be sued out of business for cooperating with the Bush Administration on wiretaps in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Some of our counterterrorism officials may be so worried about ending up in jail if they are too aggressive that they have become paralyzed by political correctness.

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by Carter Clews, ALG News Editor - Time to Jump to Some Conclusions: Thirteen brave soldiers are dead today because the United States Army decided to put the tender sensibilities of radical Muslims above the personal safety of the American people. An overstatement? Not hardly. And to make matters worse, it is now clear that under Commander in Chief Barack Hussein Obama, the Army intends to continue this lunacy – no matter how many innocent lives are lost. And no matter how thoroughly it devastates our army's ability to combat terrorism both abroad, and at home.

Lest there be any doubt about the Obama policies, consider his admonition immediately following Nidal Malik Hasan's terrorist attack on U.S. soldiers at Fort Hood. No sooner had Hasan finished mowing down the unarmed "infidels" … no sooner had the assassin's screams of "Allah Akbar" faded from his lips … than Barack Obama warned the American people "don't jump to conclusions." Now, lest anyone think that by this, Obama meant not to jump to the conclusion that Hasan was the shooter, such, unfortunately, is not the case. Said the President shortly after the massacre, "This past Thursday, on a clear Texas afternoon, an Army psychiatrist walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, and began shooting his fellow soldiers."

No, what this President meant is clear to any who listened as he soft-peddled radical Islam throughout his presidential campaign. His words are clear to any who heard his speech to the Egyptian parliament apologizing for America's intolerance. They are clear to all who know that his first call to a foreign leader was to Palestinian strongman Mahmoud Abbas They are clear to those who recall that his first formal interview was to Al Arabiya, when he condemned, not Islamic terrorism, but Israeli settlements.

And they are abundantly clear to any who remember Obama's own words from page 261 of his self-adulating autobiography Audacity of Hope. Apologizing for what he considers the horror Muslims have suffered at the hands of everyday Americans, he writes: "They [the Muslims] have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Little wonder, then that Obama has, at best, consented with his silence as his Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and his top military commanders clear Nidal Malik Hasan of any radical Islamic motives. And even less wonder that he has allowed his Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George Casey, to take such patent idiocy a far step further. Indeed, asked by ABC's George Stephanopolous if the Amy had "dropped the ball" by not recognizing any of a hundred and one different warning signs that Hasan had become a dangerous radical, Casey recited the Obama Administration's official mantra. We shouldn't "jump to conclusions," he intoned, based on "early tidbits."

And what were those "early tidbits?" In 2001, Hasan attended the notorious Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, where he listened in rapt attention as the fiery, anti-American imam Anwar Al-Awlaki encouraged his followers to attack the infidels. Not so coincidentally, among Hasan's fellow attendees at the Center were two of the September 11 terrorists.

During his time at Walter Reed Hospital and the Uniformed Services University, Hasan, according to the New York Times, became increasingly hostile towards the War on Terror and Americans who defended it. Wrote the Times: "A former classmate in the master's degree program said Major Hasan gave a PowerPoint presentation about a year ago in an environmental health seminar titled "Why the War on Terror Is a War on Islam." He did not socialize with his classmates, other than to argue in the hallways on why the wars were wrong … [S]ome students complained to their professors about Major Hasan."

Even more recently, according to an ABC News Online article, intelligence sources had a level of knowledge that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda assets abroad. And according to the highly reliable web site, the Northeast Intelligence Network, "this and information similar but not directly related to such communications became a 'political issue' between government agencies and officials 'at the policy making levels' of the administration."

So, in view of all this – and the 13 martyred soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas -- are the Obama Administration and the U.S. Army, at last, ready to start heeding reports of radical activity among Muslim soldiers – before more shots are fired and additional lives are lost?

Not a chance. Here is the Obama Administration's official response, as enunciated by Gen. Casey on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning: "As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse." That, of course, is sheer idiocy. And it is time for Barack Hussein Obama to step to the fore and declare once and for all – honestly and openly – whether he still intends to "stand with" the radical Muslims even to the extent of protecting "diversity" over American lives. If not, we have every right to "jump" to our own conclusions.

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Tags: ALG News, anti-military, Carter Clews, domestic terrorists, Gary Bauer, Islamic terrorist, jihad, Muslim To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Democrats' Health Care Plan

by Lisa Benson

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Tags: conservative democrats, government healthcare, Lisa Benson, political cartoon, political satire To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

20 Years After the Berlin Wall Fell

by William Warren:
Morning Bell: Reagan, Obama and the Berlin Wall:  On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and said: “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

On November 9, 1989, just two years after Reagan made his Brandenburg Gate speech, the people of Germany did tear down “this wall” and in so doing they freed hundreds of millions of people from the tyranny of communism. Reagan by no means single-handily brought about the fall of the Berlin Wall, but his leadership against despotism was widely recognized by the victims of communism. When he visited Poland in 1990, a dissident leader presented Reagan with a sword explaining: “I am giving you this saber for helping us to chop off the head of communism.”

But the leftists in America do not want us to remember Reagan’s role in history. That is why President Barack Obama (the same man who found time to jet to Copenhagen at the drop of a rumor that his presence could win the Olympics for his hometown of Chicago) could not be bothered to attend the 20th anniversary of the wall’s fall last night. Instead, President Obama taped a video message that completely failed to mention Reagan or British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

More than petty partisan slights are at stake here. President Obama’s refusal to recognize the role President Reagan’s and Prime Minister Thatcher’s leadership played in defeating despotism goes to the core of Obama’s foreign policy priorities. Heritage scholar Nile Gardiner explains:

Barack Obama simply does not view the world as Reagan did, in terms of good versus evil, as a world divided between the forces of freedom on one side and totalitarianism on the other. For the Obama administration the advancement of human rights and individual liberty on the world stage is a distinctly low priority, as we have seen with its engagement strategy towards the likes of Iran, Burma, Sudan, Venezuela and Russia

We commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall to celebrate the collapse of communism, to honor those who died resisting communism, and to resolve that never again will peoples and nations allow so evil a tyranny to terrorize the world. Yet, at a time when the United States currently faces challenges as complicated as those confronted by Reagan (war in Afghanistan, the global fight against Islamist terrorism, the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran) Obama is bent on apologizing for our nation’s actions, betraying Cold War allies, and dithering on troop deployments.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Berlin, communism, Morning Bell, political cartoon, Ronald Reagan, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Flip Flop Blanche Lincoln

NRSC released the following video which addresses Sen. Blanche Lincoln and national health care:

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Tags: Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, Flip-Flop, NRSC 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. - Nov 10, 2009 - Gallup: 54% Say Health Care System Will Not Improve Under Democrat Plan

The Senate held a moment of silence for the victims of the attack at Ft. Hood.  It will resume consideration of H.R. 3082, the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA) appropriations bill. Last night the Senate voted 72-16 to confirm Andre Davis to the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals and 88-0 to confirm Charlene Honeywell as District Judge for the Middle District of Florida. Congress is in recess the rest of the week for Veterans Day.

As the health care debate rolls on, there are times when it’s instructive to take another look at the broader landscape of health care reform, and yesterday’s Gallup poll affords such an opportunity. Gallup finds that since October, the percentage of Americans who would urge their member of Congress to vote for the Democrats’ health care reform bills has dropped 11 points. More would now advise their member of Congress to vote against the bill (38%) than for the bill (29%). By 2 to 1, independents are opposed to their member of Congress voting for a health care bill this year and interestingly only 55 percent of Democrats support the bills.

Why might this be? According to Gallup, “The debate over new healthcare legislation now shifts to the Senate, at a time when the majority of Americans are not convinced that a new law would benefit either the national healthcare system or their own personal healthcare situations in the long term.” Gallup further explains, “All in all, the data reinforce previous research showing some skepticism about the long-term benefits of healthcare legislation, particularly at the personal level. Less than half of the public at this juncture perceives that if a new healthcare bill is passed into law, it would improve either the broad U.S. healthcare system or their own healthcare situations.”

In particular, only 26% believe their health care situation will improve if the current health care legislation is passed. Most believe it will get worse (36%) or stay the same (31%). And only 41% believe the U.S. health care system will improve, while most think it will get worse (40%) or stay the same (14%). This once again shows that fewer than 50% of Americans think the bills being pushed by Democrats will have a positive impact on their health care or that of others.

Likely one reason Americans think so is the nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare that is a feature of the Democrat bills. In an interview with President Obama last night, ABC’s Jake Tapper asked, “Are you willing to pledge that whatever cuts in Medicare are being made to fund health insurance, one third of it, that you will veto anything that tries to undo that?” Obama answered, “Yes.” Pledging cuts to Medicare that could lead to benefit cuts doesn’t sound to most people like something that will improve health care.

It’s clear that the more Americans learn about the Democrats’ health care reform plans, the less they like them. As Senator McConnell has explained many times, “[We] know that at its core this bill would also lead to higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare to fund new government programs. This is not the reform the American people were looking for.”

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Tags: Gallup Poll, government healthcare, 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 Huge Mistake - Climate Change Solutions 2009

H/T to Leo_Pusateri on Twitter for promoting this The Heritage Foundation alert. Watch the video before it is taken down again. First some background information:

The New York Times

The Environmental Protection Agency has directed two of its lawyers to makes changes to a YouTube video they posted that is critical of the Obama administration’s climate change policy.

The EPA lawyers did take their video down. But not before others reposted it. Read an op-ed the lawyers wrote for the Washington Post. The Heritage Foundation does not endorse the couple's call for carbon taxes, but their analysis of the futility of cap and trade is dead on.

Read about how the economists who first thought up cap and trade, do not believe it can control carbon. Read about how carbon credits are an absolute fraud, here, here, here, and here.

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Tags: cap-and-trade, climate change, EPA, Heritage Foundation To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Who Got the Bribes for Obamacare Endorsements

In the following article, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann reveal the truth behind the AMA, AARP, and Insurance companies -- strange bedfellows -- endorsement of Obamacare. The AMA endorsement is disturbing because they represent one of the five groups of people who are classified as "professionals" and who by definition are not supposed to be placing money above ethics and responsibility to their profession and their clients. This AMA endorsement has added to the growing tarnish on all medical professionals.

As for the endorsement by the insurance industry, we can expect they might want to make money or even survive the changes being proposed for Obamacare. But, they are quite myopic failing to see that just because they line up under pressure to support Obamacare doesn't mean that they will not find themselves in the lines to ruin. With failure comes finger pointing which is going to fall heavily on the insurance industry as the government throws them under the bus to achieve becoming the single source for health insurance.

However, most disturbing is AARP who was supposed to be a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that advocated on behalf of seniors.  However, AARP has used its membership roster to line the pockets of the corporate AARP offices through kickbacks from service provided to seniors including medical coverage to seniors. The AARP is already experiencing reductions in their membership. Seniors may be slow to change but they are not stupid and when they are angry watch out. Maybe it is time for a class action law suit by seniors for a return of several years of dues from AARP for their deceptive actions.

I appreciate the Morris' identifying the medical device makers who have stood with their clients - those who use their devices. The medical devise makers would not endorse Obamacare and now may suffer or at least their clients will suffer because people of no conscious, like Pelosi and other liberal democrats, would tax people who need heath care devices to sustain their lives. So, when grandma needs a pacemaker, not only will grandma most likely have to wait in line to get approval from a bureaucrat verses her doctor, but once approved. she will have to pay more because medicare reimbursements have been reduced. Then to add insult to injury, she will have to pay a federal tax for the privilege of being allowed to have the pacemaker. Liberals do not really care about the needy; their goal is to control the lives of people from cradle to grave.

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by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann: As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama health care reform despite the drubbing their party took in the '09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these – and the other endorsements – his package has received are all bought and paid for.

Here are the deals:

• The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians' reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5 percent to 6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill...or else!
• The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the health care bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues. Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP -- which supposedly represents them -- will make more money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group . . . .)
• The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.
• Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don't buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn't go along with Obama's blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stints, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accouterments of health care.

So these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent on passing its program at any cost.

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