News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
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, February 20, 2010
Mike Pence Rocked CPAC 2010
Bill Smith, Editor: CPAC 2010 speakers on Thursday through Saturday were a great success. Rep Mike Pence (R-IN) spoke and he delineated a clear conservative message. His speech alone may be one of the reasons that President Barack Obama, Sen Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are planning an end run to force Obamacare on the United States through the process of reconciliation. The Democrats are in fear and hoping that if forced on America, that the people will eventually be willing to give up more of their freedoms for nationalized health care.
I have heard Mike Pence speak on several occasions. I have wished that most of our other congressman understood their constitutional requirements to stay out of the business of expanding government and limiting freedom for Americans. Enjoy this video of his speech:
To share or to post to your site, click on the date / link for the post. Please mention or link to us. Thanks! http://arranewsservice.comTags:2010, acceptance speech, CPAC, Mike PenceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: The blogs have been having a lot of fun with Vice President Joe Biden’s latest gaffe. The veep claimed that the U.S. would be the world economic leader “throughout the twentieth century.” I guess that was a safe bet.
President Obama’s gaffes are less frequent than Biden’s gaffe-a-day act, but they are no less revealing. YouTube watchers have had a laugh at the Commander-in-Chief’s latest stumble. Speaking about the military, he referred to a medical corpsmen as a “corpse-man.” The President apparently was unfamiliar with the term. And no one on his staff thought to prep him with a phonetic key.
Small matter? Not really. It stands with his famous 52-second video from the 2008 campaign where he stumbled over the term “Quadrennial Defense Review.” Civilian policy makers who have responsibility for military matters are wholly conversant with the QDR, and the term trips off their lips. Then-Sen. Obama showed how unfamiliar he was with military issues not just by his verbal stumble. He said he would not “weaponize” space. He meant he would dismantle Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. But the Left’s slogan about not weaponizing space forgets the fact that the old Soviet Union weaponized space back in 1957 when it launched the first earth satellite, Sputnik. The U.S. submarine fleet is equipped with tens of thousands of nuclear-tipped missiles--all of which would travel through space to their targets if the President had to order a retaliatory attack. Let’s pray he never does. And let’s pray this President learns something about the U.S. military before a crisis hits.
President Obama’s plan to repeal “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” is a further example of his lack of knowledge of the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates pleaded before a Senate committee for a year to study and implement the Obama repeal of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.” Among the practical questions Gates is going to have to answer are these:
1. Will the military be ordered to recruit gays by quota? All other sub-groups in our all-volunteer military are recruited by quota. Women, minorities, specialties like doctors and lawyers, all are subject to quotas. 2. If the answer to No. 1 is Yes, then what would the gay quota be? Would it be the widely discredited 10% figure that gay activists like Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings always cite? Or would it be the more realistic “less than 3% figure?” 3. If large numbers of those volunteers currently serving in our military don’t re-enlist, or if sufficient new recruits cannot be attracted to the Obama military, will this administration bring back the draft?
These are all very serious questions to which Sec. Gates must apply himself. He must do this even while he is trying to win the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once the Obama military has been formed, how will the new gay troops be housed? And what about the stress on military health care? Already, this alternate lifestyle has created what the gay groups themselves refer to as a Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Do the American people want to bring this health crisis into the ranks of our volunteer military?
In his address to the gay lobby, President Obama spoke of extending the right to serve in the military to all groups, regardless of sexual orientation. There is no right to serve in the military. There has never been a right to serve in the military.
Of course it was wrong ever to restrict the military service of black Americans, but it was also the fact that black Americans had served in every one of our wars, and from the first days of our Navy. President Harry Truman’s Executive Order that did away with segregated units in the Army was promptly obeyed in 1948 and generously praised by Gen. Colin Powell fifty years later. But, as Gen. Powell said the last time the issue of recruiting gays by quota for the military was raised, sexual orientation is essentially different from the “benign characteristic” of skin color.
President Obama’s plans can cause a crisis of confidence in the military. This plan threatens unit cohesion at a time when the Ft. Hood shootings already demonstrate a major failure of leadership in the Army. Barack Obama is showing that his only real interest in the military is to use it as a platform for radical social engineering. That does not pass the test of leadership.
----------------- Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. He submitted this article to the ARRA News Service Editor which also appeared in his TownHall.com. 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. Tags:Barack Obama, gays, Joe Biden, Ken Blackwell, militaryTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor: Writing for this site bring me into contact with many different people. Today, you get to hear one of them. Catfish Willie sent me a note sharing his appreciation for the ARRA News Service and our commitment to exposing Washington spending and corruption and preserving the constitution! He understands that “we the people” to be heard must unite for a stronger, safer country and smaller government.
Since I live in the Ozarks, I like his performance name. Catfish Willie is a conservative musician and songwriter who loves his country! He has is shifting his musical career to help contribute to the movement. He has written a series of seven new songs as part of demo in support of the conservative tea party movement. The songs from the demo will be the basis of a new album to be recorded by his Catfish Willie band to record the new album. However, he made available one of his demo song on Amazon, Apple iTunes, the band's group's website and his new YouTube account. We need people from all walks of life to be part of the cause - to just do something. So listen to Catfish Willie's new demo and enjoy some of the pictures used on the YouTube presentation. F you like it, leave him a comment and pass this on to others:
Tags:song, video, YouTubeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today, Princella Smith announced for the Republican nomination to represent Arkansas' 1st Congressional District. Smith, a former spokeswoman for Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), will run for Rep. Marion Berry's (D-R) seat. Smith, an Arkansas native and former aide to Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. John Boozman (R-AR), and worked for Newt Gingrich at American Solutions.
Smith, who is in her mid-20s and is African-American and became first known as an Arkansas Young Republican who spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention after winning an MTV contest. At present, she would be running against Rick Crawford of Jonesboro, Arkansas for the Republican primary nomination.
Princella Smith officially launched her campaign for the U.S. Congress today with a rally at E.U DeShay Park in Wynne, Arkansas. Joined by family and friends from all over the district, Smith told the crowd:
“Today is the beginning. A beginning that is part of a larger calling heard from every county in Arkansas and every State in America – a calling for responsibility, vision and honesty. A calling that reminds me of lessons I learned right here in Wynne, Arkansas; lessons that taught me the difference between right and wrong, the importance of an honest day’s work and that honest people can disagree with the dignity and respect that every Arkansan should show both his neighbor and a stranger.
“Today, I humbly stand before you asking for your support. Not for me, but for what together we represent. A long-ago-forgotten commitment to do what is right instead of what is easy. A promise to our children that we will leave them a better Arkansas – and a better America – than what we have been so fortunate to enjoy – and an unwavering loyalty to our people, our freedom, and our creator.
“While Washington is working on legislation that will use your tax dollars to pay for abortion, restrict your right to own and bear arms and desecrate the traditional Arkansas family, we need to rise up and demand better. Together we can do better. Together we can run a different kind of campaign, with a different kind of candidate – committed to a different kind of service.”
Born and raised in Wynne by her father John Smith, a former school board Vice President and the minister at Christian Fellowship Church and her mother Sandra Smith, the vice principal at Wynne High School, Princella will work to bring real solutions and new leadership to Arkansas. Princella is the granddaughter of a farmer and educator—both of whom passed down the values of hard work, discipline, and determination to her family. Princella is a graduate of Wynne High School, Ouachita Baptist University, and the Buckley School of Public Speaking.
The First Congressional District is represented by Rep. Marion Berry who has announced he will not seek reelection. The Washington Post has identified the district as a top-10 race in the U.S. in 2010. For more information, visit PrincellaSmith.com Tags:AR-01, Arkansas, candidate, Marion Berry, Princella SmithTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tiger Woods apologizes, admits he cheated and says he is undergoing therapy
Some stories do not need much details, this is one of them. The Washington Post headline used for this post says it all. "In a 13 1/2 - minute statement carried live by major television networks and cable channels, Woods apologized for his marital infidelity, chastised the media for intruding upon his family's personal life, acknowledged having undergone treatment to address his behavior and vowed to return to professional golf, perhaps this year."
As much as I regret the sorted details of Tigers affairs off the golf course, he is still the best golfer in the world. It would be a shame if we never see him play again. I hope he is able to get his life back together. Enough said! To share or to post to your site, click on the date / link for the post. Please mention or link to us. Thanks! http://arranewsservice.com
by Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum: The Senate's decisive defeat of confirmation of radical labor lawyer Craig Becker is the first tangible result of the Massachusetts Miracle, which made Scott Brown the 41st Republican in the U.S. Senate. Two red-state Democrats also voted not to proceed toward a vote on President Obama's nomination of Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Becker is a top lawyer for the Service Employees International Union, which spent $60 million to elect Obama. SEIU's boss, Andy Stern, was the most frequent visitor to Obama's White House last year.
The NLRB is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of labor disputes. Becker had other plans for the NLRB; he was expected to try to implement what is called "Card Check" even though Congress has declined to pass it. Card Check is a bill to eliminate the secret ballot by which employees have the right to vote yea or nay on authorizing a union as their bargaining agent. Card Check would replace the secret ballot with allowing union officials to intimidate employees into just signing a card. The left-wing magazine In These Timeswrote that Becker "helped lay the intellectual foundation" for Card Check. He wrote a law review article to propose using the NLRB's regulatory power to achieve the goals of Card Check without action by Congress.
While working for the SEIU, Becker also helped write three pro-labor executive orders that Obama signed just a week after taking office. Oder Americans may fondly remember bygone days when some unions played a positive role in our free economy. In the 1950s, many unions expelled Communist agitators.
Today's unions, by contrast, promote big-government solutions to every problem. That's because of the dramatic change in the membership of powerful unions. An important milestone was reached last year when, for the first time, the majority of union members (51.4 percent) were federal or state government employees. The political power of government workers unions is a major reason why government spending is now out of control.
The average pay of federal workers is over $71,000 (in Washington, D.C., it's $94,047), whereas the average pay in the private sector (if you have a job) is $50,028. Annual raises are a matter of course, and government employees enjoy close to lifetime job security and benefits including retirement. Rising star Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) commented, "I about fell off my chair when I saw that the number of federal employees making more than $150,000 have more than doubled in the last 18 months."
Another Washington labor lawyer, Joseph Sandler, who is described as a "renowned expert on election law," has created a crow's nest of front groups whose goal is to undermine the Tea Party movement. These groups have funneled vast amounts of union dues money, including $10 million from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), into fronts with innocuous names such as "Patriot Majority" and "Citizens for Progress."
To defeat Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to protect traditional marriage, the SEIU spent $500,000 and the California teachers union spent $1,250,000. After the voters approved Prop 8, over 50 unions (including the national AFL-CIO) signed a brief asking the courts to overturn the will of the people.
SEIU plays rough. It was a bunch of SEIU thugs, clearly identified by their purple shirts emblazoned with "SEIU," who attended a Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) Town Hall Meeting and beat up Kenneth Gladney, a black man passing out flags that read "Don't Tread On Me."
The day after the Senate rejected Becker, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a measure to abolish the Senate filibuster, and thereby nullify the value of Scott Brown becoming the 41st Republican. That bill isn't going to pass because it would take 67 votes, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) can't round up. Some namby-pamby Republicans think that the President is entitled to get confirmation of all his judicial nominees despite the Senate's constitutional power to accept or reject them. The defeat of Craig Becker should give all Republicans the backbone to use the filibuster to reject any court nominee who believes in a "living" Constitution.
The prospective nominees who are reputed to be on Obama's short list for the next Supreme Court vacancy are weirdos of various flavors. One says it's OK for the Indiana Legislature to open with an invocation honoring Allah but not Jesus; another calls himself a transnationalist and wants to integrate foreign law into U.S. domestic law; and another wants dogs to have lawyers, and says the government owns the organs of any person who may soon die, and can remove the organs without any consent.
Now that Republicans have 41 Senators, our republic can be saved from such nonsense by a filibuster. So, go to it, Republicans. Tags:Eagle Forum, government, labor unions, Phyllis SchlaflyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill O'Reilly Displays Ignorance of Military Oaths and Unlawful Orders
Bill O'Reilly gives credence to Southern Poverty "Leftist" Law Center Director Mark Potok and his comments about Oath Keepers.
Then on Feb 18th, O'Reilly had Stewart Rhodes, Founder of Oath Keepers, on Fox News "The Factor" in response to the previous nights appearance by SPLC's Mark Potok.
Stewart Rhodes presents a good explanation for the time allotted. In the interview, O'Reilly acts ignorant of the right for people to retain their constitution rights even in a state of emergency and that the U.S. District Court determined that taking guns from people during the "state of emergency" was unconstitutional. Wake-up O'Reilly. Then he evidences his extreme ignorance of the Oaths taken especially by military officers and that the military clearly understands that they are not required to follow unlawful orders of the their superiors up to and including the President of the United States.
Mr. "Fair and Balanced" Bill O'Reilly shows an extreme ignorance that the requirement not to obey "unlawful" orders exists to protect him and others from someone in the military, the civilian secretaries of the services or even the President acting in a manner that would threaten or diminish citizens' rights under the Constitution. Yes Mr. O'Reilly, members of the military, law enforcement and others are required to think. Failure to do so is not an excuse for following orders which violate the U.S. Constitution. O'Reilly should have read the material presented on the Oath Keepers website which addressed types of unlawful orders. If by chance he read the material, he demonstrated by his comments a complete lack of understanding of oaths and Oath Keepers.
Bill O’Reilly interviewed Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, tonight. During their discussion O’Reilly supported gun confiscation during hurricanes. He told the Oathkeeper that his views on the Second Amendment were “extreme.” Bill O’Reilly stated clearly that any mayor – such as in New Orleans after Katrina – had a perfect right to confiscate guns because they had to maintain “control.”
Huh? Last I checked, the Second Amendment doesn’t mention anything about severe storms. For the record, I support Bill O’Reilly on several of his positions. Not this one.
More…Glenn Reynolds added: That’s funny. O’Reilly calls the opposing position “extreme,” but such gun confiscation is illegal under federal statute, and as a matter of constitutional law; in fact, the city of New Orleans lost a lawsuit over gun confiscation during Katrina. But then, O’Reilly’s no libertarian, to put things mildly. And he’s consistently weak on the law, also to put things mildly. Still, he should have been better briefed for this show, as he came across looking like a fool, and making his “extreme” guest look sober and well-informed by comparison.
O'Reilly has a way of "spinning" issues in his "no spin zone." Will be watching to see how he does this, or will he "duck and cover." Tags:Bill O'Reilly, oath, Southern Poverty Law CenterTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Unprecedented Danger of Trying Alien Enemy Combatants in Article III Courts
Students for Victory:The issues surrounding counterterrorism policies are often confusing, and the circumstances surrounding the proposed New York City civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other four 9/11 enemy combatants have not been laid out clearly in the media.
To help equip you with more information about the threat posed by the potential civilian trial for these alien enemy combatants, Students for Victory has just released a new fact sheet [pdf format] to help counter misinformation out there in any conversations you may have over the issue.
The Unprecedented Danger of Trying Alien Enemy Combatants in Article III Courts
Since the Obama Administration announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other enemy combatants would be tried in civilian courts for their role in the September 11th terrorist attacks, the decision has come under fire. Each of the five defendants in the planned trial, United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al. are enemy combatants captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan1,2,3,4,5. Having failed to meet the standards required of the Geneva Conventions to qualify as prisoners of war, the five have been held as enemy combatants since their capture.
In recent testimony before Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder offered four arguments in defense of the Administration’s decision to try enemy combatants in civilian courts for the first time in American history 6.
First, a federal court was the best venue for KSM because it is the forum "most likely to obtain justice."
Second, the attacks of 9/11 were not only acts of war, but also crimes.
Third, "justice has been delayed for eight years," and the Administration was committed to obtaining swift and certain justice for the perpetrators of 9/11 through federal court trials.
Fourth, there have been hundreds of successful terrorism trials in federal court and we have enjoyed a conviction rate of over 90 percent in those cases.
Unfortunately all of these reasons for trying enemy combatants in civilian courts rather than under the laws of war through military commissions hold major flaws.
First, as Senator John Kyl pointed out, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others were begging to plead guilty in their military trials, so it is difficult to argue that justice will be better served in a contested civilian trial.
Second, the Administration lacks a clear plan to distinguish between terrorism cases which should be handled in civilian court and which should be handled by military courts. The Obama Administration continues to prosecute terrorists by military commission to this day7. Treating the 9/11 attacks as both crimes and acts of war only serves to muddy the legal waters surrounding counterterrorism.
Third, the principle reason there were so few military trials is the tireless campaign conducted by left-wing lawyers to derail military tribunals and challenging them in the courts8. Any delay in holding the 9/11 enemy combatants to account for their violation of the laws of war is wholly due to the actions of attorneys like Holder, who worked to delay justice through constant legal challenges, not due to any inherent delay in the military commission system.
Finally, and most importantly, there has never been a case where an enemy combatant captured on a battlefield was successfully tried in civilian court9. Without any precedent for trying an alien enemy combatant in civilian court, the argument that United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al. would surely provide a conviction rests on no historical foundation whatsoever.
In the absence of precedent for successful trials of alien enemy combatants, members of the Administration from Attorney General Holder to President Obama himself have repeatedly asserted that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other four defendants will certainly be convicted of their crimes and executed.10,11,12 The insistence of the Administration that a particular verdict will be reached in a civilian trial before it has even taken place only serves to undermine the fairness of our civilian justice system and underscores the fact that it is inappropriate for alien enemy combatants captured on the battlefield to be tried in Article III civilian courts.
During the discovery process, the civilian trial will serve as an “intelligence bonanza for Al-Qaeda as terrorists' lawyers use discovery rules and testimony to reveal national defense secrets to the enemy.13" Furthermore, KSM will use it as a propaganda platform, and as a matter of national strategy for counterterrorism, it displays unwillingness of the US to deter future attacks and instead focus on punishing past offenders, which threatens our national security. The Administration should end this civilian trial and allow the military commissions system to work as it was designed.
Tags:enemy combatants, Students for Victory, terrorist trialsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Democrats Leadership Just Don’t Get It - Their Stuck on Stupid
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Last week I suggested that upcoming healthcare summit at the White House was just for show – a play fake to give Obama the appearance of bi-partisanship, but was really intended to set the stage for Democrats to “go nuclear” and ram ObamaCare through Congress using budget reconciliation rules. We got some unfortunate evidence validating my concerns yesterday.
More than a dozen Senate Democrats and 119 House Democrats are asking the president not only to use reconciliation, but also to include the most radical ideas, such as the so-called “public option.” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the third highest ranking House Democrat, said yesterday, “If you’re not going to do a 60-vote strategy, but instead a 50-plus-one strategy [reconciliation], the public option could very well be part of this package.”
This is a very disturbing development. Here’s why: The public option is a gigantic leap toward socialism and Big Government control over your life. The public option is the vehicle liberal Democrats will use to achieve single-payer socialized medicine in America. Barney Frank admits it. The radical Left knows it. And Barack Obama wants it.
The Democrats just don’t get it. Their liberal leadership is “stuck on stupid.” They have deluded themselves into believing that electoral success this November means appeasing their militant leftwing fringe by aggressively acting on the radical agenda that cost them the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, along with Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat. While Democrats on Capitol Hill keep chanting “Yes We Can,” the American people are screaming “Don’t You Dare!” In 257 days, you’ll get the final word. Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted this article in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser. Tags:Campaign for Working Families, Democrats, Gary Bauer, government healthcare, Obamacare, public option, stupidityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The following video previously shared on July 2, 2009 has proven true and worth reviewing again in Feb 2010 ----> NO JOBS: The video targets the failure of Washington Democrats trillion-dollar stimulus bill and asking where are the jobs? The tongue-in-cheek web video features a job-sniffing GOP bloodhound named Ellie Mae. The underlying point is no laughing matter! Americans are looking to Washington for leadership, the trillion-dollar stimulus has been a wasteful failure. Americans were promised the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate from going above eight percent. Whoa missed on that one! Where are the jobs?
Just last week, ABC reported on another stimulus program that has not turned out as promised. “Despite all the talk of green jobs, the overwhelming majority of stimulus money spent on wind power has gone to foreign companies, according to a new report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at the American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C. . . . ‘Most of the jobs are going overseas,’ said Russ Choma at the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He analyzed which foreign firms had accepted the most stimulus money. ‘According to our estimates, about 6,000 jobs have been created overseas, and maybe a couple hundred have been created in the U.S.’” Tags:American jobs, jobs, bloodhounds, stimulus billTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Barack Obama, Congress, nuclear power, nuclear waste, political cartoon, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Census Is Getting Personal - Census Bureau Refuses or Fails to Answer Questions
by Jerry Day: This is an expose' of the Census Bureau. This video itemizes the fundamental legal questions that the Census Bureau refuses or fails to answer about its collection and use of personal information from every American (see questions below). This program aired on Matrix News Network (syndicated national television) in January of 2010.
Without any apparent authority the Census Bureau has expanded it's information gathering activities. In addition to the once-in-10-years Census authorized by the Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts more in-depth "Surveys" of 250,000 Americans every month of every year. It has no Constitutional authority for that, in fact the Bureau is violating the 4th Amendment to the Bill of Rights by suggesting that Americans are "obligated" to provide any personal information whatsoever to government.
The Constitution allows the government to count people once every ten years, but does not require any American to BE COUNTED, OR TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION AT ALL, much less to provide personal information to the temporary worker and stranger who comes to your door with a Census Bureau badge.
Americans have been given very false impressions and presumptions of the authority of government to invade their lives. Even the Census takers themselves are sometimes misinformed of the limits of government. . . . [Read More] Tags:Blogburst, video, Census Bureau, invasion, privacy, U.S. Census, US ConstitutionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Signing The Mount Vernon Statement; "Reaffirming Constitutional, Limited Government"
Today (Feb. 17th, 2010), Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA News Service Editor and National Political Director, Conservative Solutions, joined other free market and limited government leaders and citizens by signing online the Mount Vernon Statement which is a "reaffirmation of constitutional, limited government as the only means of preserving liberty, promoting prosperity, and opposing tyranny in America, and throughout the world." You too can sign this statement! Bill Smith, Editor: The Mt. Vernon Statement comes almost fifty years after the 1960 Sharon Statement by William F. Buckley, Jr. that many consider to be one of the founding documents of the modern conservative movement. Today's statement is relevant to the current political climate with the rise of the tea party movement and increasing citizen opposition to government-run health care, runaway spending and debt creation, are all evidence that Americans still believe in constitutional principles of limited government and the rule of law.
Having served over 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, it was important to me as an Oath Keeper to use this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to my Oath to supports and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and that begins with all the constitutional rights. The Mount Vernon Statement represents all American people who have shown throughout our history a willingness to defend their constitutional rights. Today, I joined others in in affirming those rights.
According to the Mount Vernon Statement, "The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant." The statement continues, "The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution."
Another signer, Bill Wilson, President of the Americans for Limited Government, said, "The Mount Vernon Statement seeks to chart a new course for the 21st century. History has shown that out of control growth in the federal government has established entitlements that threaten to bankrupt the nation, increasingly taken on new powers to tax and regulate practically every human activity imaginable, and weakened the nation's economic standing in the world by debasing our currency, bailing out politically-favored institutions, revoking property rights, and placing primacy into the hands of government over the people."
Fellow Citizens, you can also sign the statement at TheMountVernonStatement.com. Preview of the Mount Vernon Statement:
The Mount Vernon Statement Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century
We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.
These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.
Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America's principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The self-evident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.
Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn't this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?
The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature's God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man's self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.
The conservatism of the Constitution limits government's powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.
A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America's safety and leadership role in the world.
A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.
It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.
It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.
It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
It supports America's national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.
It informs conservatism's firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.
If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.
We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America's founding principles.
To share or to post to your site, click on the date / link for the post. Please mention or link to us. Thanks! http://arranewsservice.com Tags:beliefs, Bill Smith, conservative, conservatives, constitution, first principles, founding principles, Mount Vernon Statement, valuesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Demino Effect = Domino Effect for 2010 Democrats Heading for Obama in 2012
Note that The Hill is reporting on a CNN poll: 52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012. Tags:2010, 2010 Elections, Barack Obama, change, Democrats, Hope, political cartoon, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A year ago, President Obama and Democrats in Washington pushed through their massive $787 billion stimulus package. They claimed this stimulus bill was the silver bullet to fix the economy and and bring back jobs. They claimed the best way to end the recession was to go on an unprecedented spending spree. They were wrong. Watch the following NRSC web video!
Tags:ad, Democrats, Googling, NRSC, stimulus billTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Albany Police Officers Union President Chris Mesley says that, regardless of the faltering economy, a no-raise new contract is unacceptable. And to hell with the public.
"I'm not running a popularity contest here," Mesley said. "If I'm the bad guy to the average citizen . . . and their taxes have go up to cover my raise, I'm very sorry about that, but I have to look out for myself and my membership." Mesley added: "As the president of the local, I will not accept 'zeroes.' If that means . . . ticking off some taxpayers, then so be it."
In the real world, when bubbles pop and markets contract, everyone has to take a haircut. In the world of politicians and unions, political muscle wins, regardless of economic circumstance.
Other unions are just as bad. When mayor Bloomberg proposed to increase teacher salaries by “just” 2 percent last month, the UFT responded, “The Mayor’s proposal is simply unacceptable… The UFT will continue - as we have always done - to work to protect the schools of New York City.”
But the teacher’s union recently turned down $700 million in federal funding for NY schools teachers because the extra money would have been paid based on performance. The NY Daily Newsreports:
“[T]he union submitted a document stating, "Test score data cannot be used for teacher evaluation or individual compensation." [Union president] Mulgrew also demanded extra arbitration for teachers found ineffective under a new grading system.”
In other words: whatever you do, don’t change our insane work rules, and don’t make it possible to get rid of ineffective teachers. On my FBN show Thursday, I’ll cover more of the failings of the government education monopoly. Tags:civil unions, John StosselTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
One Year Later: The $862 Billon Stimulus Bill Still Sucks!
One year ago today, President Barack Obama signed the Democrats’ $787 billion stimulus bill into law. Well, actually, it costs $862 billion, since the Congressional Budget Office revised its estimates last month. The cost surpasses $1 trillion when interest payments on the debt taken out to pay for the legislation are included.
When the bill was signed, the administration made expansive promises of its effects. Christina Romer, chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors made a representative claim, saying on Feb. 12, 2009, “From the very beginning, the president has said as his goal that he wanted to be sure it created between three and four million jobs. And we absolutely think it’s going to do that.” Vice President Joe Biden said within 18 months, the bill would “create 3.5 million jobs.” Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, said, “Yeah, the plan will create 3 million to 4 million jobs . . . .” And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, “This bill creates 3.5 million jobs.”
But even the most optimistic job estimates from the administration claim they’ve created 2 million jobs, as Joe Biden does in an op-ed for USA Today. Of course, these numbers are questionable, given extensive reporting on the Obama administration overstating the number of jobs the stimulus created. Indeed, back in October, the AP found “[a]n early progress report on President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan overstate[d] by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program.” And ABC News famously discovered that the administration was reporting stimulus money was creating jobs in nonexistent congressional districts and zip codes.
Another key promise from the Obama administration last year was that the stimulus bill would hold down unemployment. Romer famously produced a graph showing that with a stimulus bill, unemployment would not exceed 8% and would be around 7.6% today. Last year, President Obama wrote, “If nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits.” And Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told CBS, “[T]he economic team believes that this bill will help us stay away from those double-digit economic unemployment numbers.”
Yet for much of the fall, unemployment was 10%. And unemployment today stands at 9.7%, not 7.6%.
Further, new reports continually crop up of stimulus money failing to reach those places where it’s needed most. Back in October, The New York Times reported, “Businesses with federal stimulus contracts have created few jobs in states with the worst unemployment rates, according to data released Thursday by the federal government.”
On top of that, throughout the year, reports surfaced of stimulus dollars financing dubious and even wasteful projects. A list of just 15 of the worst includes things like $390,000 to study malt liquor and marijuana consumption, $219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen, $3.4 million for a turtle tunnel in Florida, $54 million in stimulus funds used for the Napa Valley Wine Train, and $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for Major League teams.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell summed up the problems, saying this morning, “In the first year of the trillion-dollar stimulus, Americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10%, the deficit continues to soar and we’re inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse. This was not the plan Americans asked for or the results they were promised.”
Representative Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, summarized the opinion of House Republicans,"One year later, one thing is clear: the stimulus bill has failed. One year later, not one net job has been created as unemployment rose from 7.6 percent to nearly 10 percent nationwide. Mr. President, millions of Americans are asking, 'where are the jobs?' It is time for Washington to take a new approach to get this economy moving again based on time-honored solutions: fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C. and immediate tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms. Let's put American families first, set aside the big government schemes on health care and energy and take decisive action to get this economy growing again."
Given everything Americans have seen about the stimulus bill over the past year, it’s little wonder that last week’s New York Times/CBS News poll found that only 6% of Americans think stimulus bill has created jobs. And for the first time, more people now believe that the stimulus hasn’t—and won’t—create jobs, than believe it has or ever will.
The stimulus has failed to live up to the promises Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration made when they sold it to Americans a year ago, and the public has clearly recognized this. When the administration makes promises about its policies on health care and energy taxes, Americans would do well to keep the results of the stimulus in mind. In Summary: One Year Later: the $862 Billion Stimulus Bill Still Sucks! Tags:Joe Biden, Obama administration, stimulus bill, unemploymentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Corporations Pulling Out Of U.S. Climate Change Partnership
The almost daily scandals becoming public about the climate change alarmist movement, appear to be taking their toll on their agenda. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Catepillar have all announced that they will be leaving the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI): Myron Ebell, CEI's Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy and Freedom Action, released the following statement on this situation: "In dropping out of the U. S. Climate Action Partnership, BP America, Conoco Phillips, and Caterpillar are recognizing that cap-and-trade legislation is dead in the U. S. Congress and that global warming alarmism is collapsing rapidly. We hope that other major corporations will soon see the light and drop their support for cap-and-trade and other energy-rationing legislation.
These announcements are most welcome, but they do not mean that we can relax our efforts to defeat and roll back energy-rationing legislation and regulations. Many policies and proposals that would raise energy prices through the roof for American consumers and destroy millions of jobs in energy-intensive industries still pose a huge threat. These include the EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act, environmental pressure group efforts to use the Endangered Species Act to stop energy production and new power plants, the higher fuel economy standards for new passenger vehicles enacted in 2007, presidential executive orders, and bills in Congress to require more renewable electricity, higher energy efficiency standards for buildings, and low carbon transportation fuel standards." Tags:cap-and-trade, CEI, EPA, EPA Restrictions, global warmingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
One Year Later: 15 More Questionable Stimulus Projects
Stimulus Anniversary Gifts To Taxpayers
One Year Of Spending Taxpayer Dollars Studying Malt Liquor And Marijuana, Researching Drunk Mice, Funding Martini Bars And Steakhouses, And Examining Facebook
1.$100,000 IN STIMULUS FUNDS USED FOR A MARTINI BAR & BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE:SHERYL ATKINSON, CBS News: “You probably wouldn't guess that a martini bar and a Brazilian steakhouse would be on tap for stimulus funds, but in St. Joseph, Missouri, two privately owned facilities are getting 100,000 of your tax dollars.” (CBS's “CBS Evening News,” 12/9/09)
4.$1 MILLION TO STUDY ANTS:“Half A Million Dollars Went To Arizona State University To Study The Genetic Makeup Of Ants To Determine Distinctive Roles In Ant Colonies; $450,000 Went To The University Of Arizona To Study The Division Of Labor In Ant Colonies.”(“Senate GOP Point Out 'Pure Waste' Found In Stimulus Package,” The Hill, 12/8/09)
6.$4,200-$5,500 TAX CREDIT FOR PURCHASING GOLF CARTS:“President Obama’s Stimulus Plan… Is Now Paying Americans To Buy That Great Necessity Of Modern Life, The Golf Cart.” “Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama's stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart. The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart.” (“Cash For Clubbers,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/17/09)
7.$219,000 TO STUDY THE SEX LIVES OF FEMALE COLLEGE FRESHMEN:“Five Hundred Syracuse University Freshmen Will Divulge The Details Of Their Sex Lives … $219,000 In Stimulus Funds For The Study.” “Five hundred Syracuse University freshmen will divulge the details of their sex lives as part of a women's health study called ‘The Women's Health Project,’ being conducted by Michael Carey, SU professor of psychology and medicine. Carey has found himself the target of nationwide criticism from conservatives since he received $219,000 in stimulus funds for the study, which looks at the sex patterns of college women.”(“SU Sex Study Raises Concern,” The [Syracuse] Daily Orange, 9/8/09)
8.$1 MILLION TO RENOVATE “THE SUNSET STRIP”: “Sunset Boulevard, Also Known As ‘The Sunset Strip’ And One Of The Most Famous Streets In The World, Will Be Getting A $7 Million Facelift After More Than 75 Years Of Use, With A Free Million Dollar Nose Job Coming From Uncle Sam. The City of West Hollywood Council received one million dollars in federal funds from the Federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), (otherwise known as the $700 billion federal stimulus package), for the long-planned Sunset Strip Beautification Project, which is scheduled to break ground soon. The guaranteed funding will allow the City to increase the already nearly $7 million budgeted for this project by an additional $1,105,000, meaning enhancements to a project that already included the resurfacing of the roadway, sidewalk and improved landscaping.” (“Feds Stimulus Sunset Strip Beautification Project,” WeHoNews, 9/28/09)
9.$325,394 TO STUDY “MATING DECISIONS” OF CACTUS BUGS:The Cactus Bug Project At The University Of Florida Is More Ambitious, Spending $325,394 In Stimulus Money To Determine How Environment Affects The Mating Decisions Of Females. According to the project proposal, it should also answer the question, ‘Whether males with large weapons are more or less attractive to females.’”(“Stimulus Money And Weird Science: Benefit Or Boondoggle?” The Orlando Sentinel, 2/16/10)
10.$500,000 TO STUDY “SOCIAL NETWORKS LIKE FACEBOOK”:“A $498,000, Three-Year Grant” To Study “Social Networks Like Facebook.” “Millions of Internet users have been enjoying the fun -- and free -- services provided by advertiser-supported online social networks like Facebook. But Landon Cox, a Duke University assistant professor of computer science, worries about the possible down side -- privacy problems. … To delve deeper into these issues and begin the search for alternatives, Cox recently won a $498,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding is part of the federal stimulus package called the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).” (“Seeking Privacy In The Clouds: Research Aims At Isolating Social Network Information >From ‘Control Of A Central Entity,’” Science Daily, 10/15/09)
11.$3.4 MILLION FOR A TURTLE TUNNEL IN FLORIDA:“The Other Third Of The Stimulus, Government Infrastructure Spending, Has Been The Most Controversial From The Start. Some Proposals Have Been Criticized As Wasteful, Such As … A $3.4 Million ‘Ecopassage’ To Help Turtles Cross A Highway In Tallahassee, Fla.”(“The Challenge In Counting Stimulus Returns,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/09)
12. $30 MILLION FOR A SPRING TRAINING BASEBALL COMPLEX FOR THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS AND COLORADO ROCKIES:“A Big Chunk Of The Money That Will Pay For A New Spring-Training Baseball Complex On Tribal Land In The East Valley Will Be Delivered Via A Financing Program That's Part Of The Federal Economic-Stimulus Plan. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community says it may borrow as much as $30 million of the estimated cost of the $100 million complex near Scottsdale that will become the spring home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies.” (“Stimulus To Help Tribe Build Baseball Complex,” The Arizona Republic, 9/17/09)
13.$54 MILLION IN STIMULUS FUNDS USED FOR THE NAPA VALLEY WINE TRAIN:JONATHAN KARL, ABC News: “The Napa Valley Wine Train, To Tourists A Great Way To See America's Most Celebrated Wine Region, To Others Exhibit A In What’s Wrong With The Stimulus.”SEN. TOM COBURN: “What that is, is a situation where you see the wealthy or well connected get taken care of and the community suffers.” KARL: “He's talking about the Napa Valley wine train relocation project, 54 million stimulus dollars to build a new rail bridge, elevate and relocate 3,300 ft of tracks and put flood walls around the train's main station.” (ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” 2/2/10)
14.$50,000 IN STIMULUS FUNDS USED FOR A TENNIS COURT IN MONTANA:DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN: “I Came To Bozeman To Find A City On Thin Ice Over How It's Spending Stimulus Money -- $50,000 To Erase All Of These Cracks And Potholes In City Tennis Court. ... Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer wants to make Bozeman an example of how not to spend stimulus money.” ... GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER: “What they violated was that rule of common sense. There ought to be that little guy in your head that waves his finger at you and says, wait a minute, we might want to rethink this thing.” (CNN, 1/25/10)
15.$250 STIMULUS CHECKS WENT TO PRISONERS:MEGYN KELLY, Fox News: “Thousands To A Million Of Your Stimulus Dollars Have Gone Straight To Convicts. That's Right, The Feds Sending $250 Stimulus Checks To Thousands Upon Thousands Of Prisoners... We're Talking First Degree Murders Who Are Getting Your Money.”(Fox News’ “America's Newsroom,” 8/26/09)
Tags:Democrats, earmarks, government waste, stimulus, taxpayersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (D) shocked the political establishment yesterday by announcing that he will not seek reelection. While the roiling political landscape guaranteed Bayh a tough run, most political analysts gave the two-term senator better than even odds at reelection. Adding to the surprise of Bayhs announcement is that he has the third largest war chest among Senate incumbents with just under $13 million in the bank. None of his Republican challengers is close to having that much cash.
This morning, many pundits are singing Bayhs praises and bemoaning his retirement. I feel compelled to devote some space in this report to debunking the myth of Evan Bayh, the bi-partisan moderate. While Bayh occasionally threw a bone to his conservative Hoosier constituency, his rating with Citizens Against Government Waste is 25%, and 19% with the National Taxpayers Union. Bayhs lifetime pro-family score with Campaign for Working Families is just 18%. Thats pathetic for someone who purportedly represents the moderate center of American politics. Heres a sample of Bayhs voting record:
FOR socialized medicine.
FOR hate crimes legislation.
FOR Obamas pork-barrel spending stimulus bill.
FOR taxpayer-funding of groups that promote abortion.
FOR card-check legislation.
AGAINST English as our national language.
AGAINST efforts to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
AGAINST the confirmation of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
AGAINST domestic oil exploration.
Only in a party dominated by liberals like Barney Frank, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi could a record like that be considered moderate.
With Bayh out of the race, the Indiana Senate seat is virtually guaranteed to go to the GOP. In fact, the idea of a Republican Senate majority emerging from the 2010 elections is no longer laughed at by seasoned political observers. One year ago, most were betting that the GOP would lose Senate seats in November. Its remarkable how dramatically the winds of change have shifted! Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted this article in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser. Tags:Campaign for Working Families, Evan Bayh, Gary Bauer, Indiana, liberal, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Barack Obama, Olympics, flawless style, execution problems, political cartoon, political satire, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Does Obama Walk the Walk When It Comes to Christians and Jews?
by Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: President Obama is big on civility. He talks a very good game. But his nominee for a top slot at the Department of Justice--Dawn Johnsen--is a leading exponent of incivility. Johnsen worked with the ACLU for years. And she joined ARM--the so-called Abortion Rights Mobilization--to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status because of its pro-life advocacy. The Catholic Church eventually won that case--but not until it had spent years and millions of dollars defending itself. The Catholic Church was just the biggest ARM target. If they had succeeded against the Catholics, they surely would have come after the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals, and The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.
If Mr. Obama is serious about civility he needs to withdraw Dawn Johnsen’s nomination. If she is confirmed, we will see a radical anti-Catholic, pro-abortion zealot influencing policy thoughout the Justice Department—but also policy throughout the entire federal government.
What we are witnessing right now is an anti-Christian programmatic pogrom. What is a “pogrom” it’s the word that describes anti-Jewish raids by Cossacks and others in czarist Russia, but a programmatic pogrom best describes what is happening right now. These are not isolated attacks. And while we no longer have Cossacks to threaten, we now have left-wing bloggers who actually call themselves Kossacks (after the Daily Kos).
In North Carolina, the Catholic college Belmont Abbey, is threatened with closure for its refusal to dispense contraceptives. Radicals are not impressed with the college president’s response: We don’t give contraceptives to female staffers--or to the monks! In this case, the local branch of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission smells discrimination.
In Washington, President Obama’s nominee to the federal EEOC, Prof. Chai Feldblum of Georgetown University, is blunt: If there’s a clash between the gay agenda and religious liberty, your liberties lose. If confirmed, she would be in position to pursue the pogrom nationwide.
On the West Coast, the Christian Legal Society (CLS) is under assault from the Hastings Law Center of the University of California. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Christian Legal Society v. Martinez this term. Radicals are trying to force CLS to accept officers who are openly homosexual. David French, speaking for the pro-family Alliance Defense Fund, says: “The Left is trying to create a right that destroys a right. As of now, there is simply no widely recognized right of private citizens to join any private expressive association they want to join — regardless of their belief or conduct. In fact, even in the campus environment, only the courts of the Ninth Circuit have forcibly opened private associations to non-adherents.”
Creating rights to destroy rights. That sums it up well. The Supreme Court has already spoken to the issues raised in this case. In Boston, gay activists demanded to be included in the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But the parade was organized and run by an Irish veterans’ group that did not want its message hijacked by homosexuals. In 1995, the Supreme Court slapped down their claim 9-0.
The Supreme Court also recognized the right of association of the Boy Scouts. The Court ruled in 2000 that James Dale could not force the Scouts to keep him as a Scout leader after he had declared his homosexuality. All of these cases put great financial burdens on churches and private colleges and voluntary organizations like the Scouts and the Christian Legal Society. The threat of lawsuits by well-funded, media-backed Leftist activists forces too many groups to cave in to pressure. And all our rights suffer as a result.
President Obama is forever “reaching out” to Christian groups. He is happy to breakfast with Christians and defend himself from charges that he is a Muslim or a non-citizen. But when it comes actually to protecting the rights of Christians and Jews, where is his administration?
It’s hard to call for an end to the culture wars when your own side is manning the barricades. So far, Mr. Obama’s eloquent words are not matched by deeds. They remind me of the beefy Chicago Alderman who was told he needed to lose weight. He took up jogging. But he soon quit that, complaining that when you jog, “there’s nobody to knock down.” Is Mr. Obama’s idea of amity and concord one where we are all knocked down? ----------------- Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. He submitted this article to the ARRA News Service Editor which also appears in his FoxNews.com. 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. Tags:anti-christian, Barack Obama, Dawn Johnsen, Ken Blackwell, nominationsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tony Perkins, AFP Washington Update: One year ago this week, President Obama signed the so-called "Stimulus" bill. Instead of forgetting the anniversary of the failed legislation, the Democrats plan on holding a big party on Wednesday to celebrate this $787 billion monstrosity. Since it became law, the Obama Stimulus plan has been knee-deep in deception with figures made out of thin air, which was appropriate since it was matched with Congressional districts that didn't even exist!
As for the jobs actually created, they were so outrageous you would think someone made them up. A $200,000 stimulus grant going to the University of California at San Diego to study why Africans vote, actually did create twelve jobs, but only five of those jobs went to U.S. citizens, the other seven went to Africans in Africa. However, all the money isn't going overseas. The $389,000 grant going to the State University of New York at Buffalo is being used to pay one hundred Buffalonians $45 each to record how much malt liquor they drink and how much pot they smoke.
Instead of rejoicing, maybe it's time politicians in Washington became serious about controlling the undisciplined spending of taxpayer dollars. FRC Action Senior Vice President Tom McClusky has a piece in today's Washington Times detailing how one Senator, Dr. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), is trying to get his fellow legislators to wise up -- or the next job that could be lost is their own. Tags:FRC, government waste, lies, Stimulus, Tony Perkins, Washington UpdateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor: Today was President's Day. But Who Cares! Well maybe the government workers, bank employees, those on school holiday, and a few others care - they weren't working. Over the last 40 years, give or take a few years, "political correctness" has eroded the value of prior holidays and has left us with today's meaningless holiday commemorating all of our past Presidents.
One great testimony to our Republic is that it has managed to survive most of the men that have been president. If we evaluated America based on the character, actions, and behavior of our dead and still living presidents, we would find ourselves most disappointed. Fortunately, in our Republic, the majority of Americans are actually better in character, actions and behavior than their "temporary" chief executives of the Federal Government.
However, there are a few former great presidents worth singling out as examples to our children. But "officially" these men of valor have been condemned to an amalgamation which is called President's Day. Holidays like George Washington's birthday are no longer officially celebrated. Those who occupy the city named after him and who walk among his images in the Capital have condemned him to be forgotten.
Teachers "once upon a time," at least until mid-1960's, celebrated George Washington's birthday and called him "The Father of His Country." Next Monday, on Feb 22nd, I will remember again this great man - hope you will join me. Tags:George Washington, presidentsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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Some stories do not need much details, this is one of them. 
