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, August 28, 2010
Restoring Honor in America Rally - Numbers Being Debated
Today, I attended the Restoring Honor in America and I find it amazing how the lame street media is reporting on the number of attendees. It seems to be a trend for the old line press to deflate any numbers associated in any way with conservative or faith based events held in Washington, D.C. It is as if they believe that by deflating the size of the numbers both the subject and the supporters will cease to exist.
ABC reports: "Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally Draws Thousands." - "the rally has attracted more than 100,000 people."
Both the rally arrangers and those that attended know that the space reserved for the event if filled (which it was) would be 500,000 300,000 attendees. However the number of attendees far exceeded the space planned for the event and some are estimating the crowd as over 700,000. Take a look at the following photo taken by the BBC (yes the BBC; not NBC). What is your opinion on the number of attendees?
Tags:Restoring Honor, America, rally, BBC, Washington D.C., To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bob Weeks: At Americans for Prosperity, George Will Is Optimistic
Bill Smith, Editor: The following article on George Will's speech was written by one of the most committed investigative bloogers in Kansas who has upset more than one politician or bureaucrat by his investigative reports bringing to light corruption or abuse. Bob Weeks was my predecessor as AFP's 2009 Blogger of the Year and he shared with me tonight his personal congratulations. While all bloggers have different styles in addressing stories and national issues, Bob often shows us the way. by Bob Weeks, Voice For Liberty in Wichita: Friday night’s dinner at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation fourth annual Defending the American Dream summit featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Will as keynote speaker. Will’s message was that while progress in limiting the growth of government has been reversed, this can be overcome, and he believes that a restoration of liberty and economic freedom will happen.
As the dinner was a tribute to former President Ronald Reagan, Will told the audience one of his favorite lines from Reagan during the 1980 campaign: “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job.” Continuing, he said that “Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter 2.0 and it is time to hit the delete button.”
Will told the audience that the “retreat of the state” that started with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and the election of Ronald Reagan has been reversed. This should be reversed again, he said. On the federal stimulus, Will said that the downward revision of GDP from a bad number to an even worse number is evidence that the stimulus is not working.
There are two things that the administration is saying that are “funny,” Will said. One is that our current crisis was brought on because there was too little government regulation and administration. The second is that the problem with the stimulus is that Republicans made it too small. “The government is dangerously frugal at the moment,” he said to laughter from the audience. But Will said that the government controls the money supply and interest rates, leading to control of home mortgages. He traced the edicts of government that increasing percentages of mortgages must be given to those with poor credit. These expansions of the federal government, along with the No Child Left Behind education law, happened under Republican administrations, evidence that not only Democrats are too blame.
Government is dominating the energy sector too. He said that matters because “no less of an authority of energy” than Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that “America should use more natural gas rather than fossil fuels.”
In health care, half of spending is already government money, and that will increase, as will the 138,000 pages of health care regulations. As to the alleged dangerous frugality of the government, Will said we are “marching into the most predictable financial crisis the world has ever seen.” This crisis is self-inflicted, he said.
Illustrating the size of government, he said that at the time of the first world war, when federal government spending exploded, the richest man in American could have personally retired the federal debt. But today’s richest man could pay for only two month’s interest on the deficit. The administration’s planned spending program will result in a situation ten years from now when federal entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) plus the interest on the federal debt will consume 93 percent of federal revenue. The debt will be one hundred percent of GDP. This will crowd out private borrowing and investment. As a nation, he said we don’t save enough to fund both government and the investment needs of the private sector economy.
Will noted the remarkable progress of American medicine during his lifetime. But both presidential candidates campaigned against the pharmaceutical industry in 2008, which Will said was “shocking.” “It is time to quit stigmatizing those who create wealth, those who extend life, those who reduce pain. Get the government out of the way, and let them get on.” The economy is fragile, Will said, and we need not burden it more with taxes. He referred to Congressman Paul Ryan, who said we have a nation with “too many takers and not enough makers.”
On education, he said we need an education system that “equips people to compete in a free society.” He criticized the short school year in the U.S., as compared to other countries. He told the audience that a major problem with schools is the teachers unions. The increased spending on schools has not worked. 90 percent of the difference between schools can be explained by characteristics of the students’ families, he said. “Don’t tell me the pupil-teacher ratio, tell me the parent-pupil ratio.”
Even with as many problems as there are, he said that an “aroused citizenry” like that in the room tonight can fix the problems. He’s not pessimistic, he said, because Obama has stimulated a “new clarity” from the American people.
There is a tension today between freedom and equality, two polar values. Liberals today stress equality of outcomes, and believe that the multiplication of entitlement programs to produce this equality serves the public good. But conservatives stress freedom, and that multiplication of entitlement programs is “subversive of the attitudes and aptitudes essential for a free society of self-reliant, far-sighted, thrifty and industrious people.”
The Obama presidency has passed its apogee, Will told the audience. Quoting Winston Churchill, he said that “The American people invariably do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the alternatives.” Will said he believes that Americans believe that “a benevolent government is not always a benefactor, capitalism doesn’t just make us better off, it makes us better.”
Will told the audience that “Americans for Prosperity exists on the principle that when you change the nation’s economy, you change the national character in the process.” Urging the citizen activists to get involved, he echoed a remark made by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who had spoken earlier: “You are the point of the lance. Go to work.”
Before his speech, Americans for Prosperity Foundation Chairman David H. Koch awarded Will the George Washington award. This is AFP’s highest award, given to Will for his work in defending and advancing economic freedom. Koch also spoke about the goals of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which he said are to advance economic freedom and prosperity by limiting government growth, spending, and taxation. It is a grassroots movement that holds political leaders of every party accountable. AFP advocates for the free market economy, which he said improves lives and created the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. Tags:Bob Weeks, Americans for Prosperity, American Defended the American Dream, George Will, Barack Obama, Capitalism, Economics, Education, Free markets, Health care, Regulation, TaxationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Herman Cain Answers Questions at Defending the American Dream 2010
Herman Cain visited with new media bloggers at the Americans For Prosperity Defending the American Dream 2010 Washington, D.C. Below are two videos from this time with Mr. Cain:
[Video]
Dustin Siggins interviews radio star and potential presidential candidate Herman Cain on how conservatives can attract the minority vote; Herman Cain explains the history of the Democratic Party.
Cain: Democrats started the KKK. Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
[Video]
Herman Cain talks to Allie Duzett, the author of How to Save America: A Tactical Guide for Practical Patriots, about what practical patriots can do TODAY to make a difference.
Cain: The number one thing people should be doing right now is reading the U.S. Constitution - the whole Constitution - so you know whats in it! Tags:AFP, Defending the American Dream, Allie Duzett, Dustin Siggins, Herman Cain, civil rights, Republicans, education, Democrats, KKK, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
AFP Blogger of the Year 2010 Defending the American Dream
Dr. Bill Smith, editor: Today, officially kicked off the speeches and workshops at the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Defending the American Dream (DAD) 2010 in Washington, D.C. Over 3200 people attended and that figure did not include people found wandering the hall. Some of these wanderers were people who had come to Washington, D.C. for the Honoring America 8/28 rally and were also staying at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
The day was a little different than normal for me and so not much is written today. I will post some articles about AFP DAD 2010 over the next few days. When I arrived yesterday around 6 pm, I saw lots of people I knew from other events. Some friendly chat and the getting to my room took another hour. It was great to see people from great groups like Smart Girl Politics and from Arkansas including the Faulkner County Tea Party. After an hour or so, I made it to my room, dropped my stuff and went down to event registration to pick up my media credentials. As I said that I was a blogger, a volunteer sent me down to blogger's row where credentials for new media bloggers and radio media were waiting. But, my credentials were not there. So, back to the event desk. Let me add that the event desk is close to 50 yards in length, so they had lots of volunteers and staff helping.
When I arrived back at the event desk, two of the AFP staff recognized me and said that my credentials were in the VIP section and walked me up to the section. Indeed, my name was on the VIP list. I chuckled and said I am not VIP, I am just an old blogger and that there must be a mistake. They said no, you are registered as a VIP. They even had a special information packet for me. They advised me that I would was to attend a breakfast, lunch and a series of presentations in the morning for VIPs and closed reception in the evening before the dinner. They also said that I would be at one of the head tables and gave me my seat assignment.
I showed up at the morning event with my computer and camera. Met some of the officers of AFP, state supporters and heard some interesting insights on strategy. After lunch, I slipped out a few minutes early because I wanted to visit the Arkansas delegation who were having a working lunch. Last year we had 8 people from Arkansas; but, this year there were over 150 people from Arkansas who attended.
I then went to bloggers row and and found the end of a table and set up operations. Besides meeting other great bloggers and video new media, I talked with some campaign staffers, other activists, and met Michele Bachmann. Also, after speaking at the main even, Herman Cain, a contributing author on the ARRA News Service, stopped by and spent a considerable time with the bloggers. If the photos turn out, I will post them next week. Some others made some video interviews which I hope to also be able to post.
At 5:30 pm, I attended an AFP Chairman's VIP reception before the evening dinner. At the reception, met people from the morning and also other AFP State leaders and friends of AFP. Rep Eric Cantor dropped by for a few minutes and spoke. Surprisingly, a lady who had sat next to me on the flight from Memphis to Washington, D.C. and was meeting her husband in Washington was also at the reception - sometimes it is small world.
As with all prior AFP Defending the American Dream summits, the "Tribute to Ronald Reagan" dinner was a success. Michele Bachmann gave a rousing speech and conservative columnist writer George Will gave an exceptional insightful speech full of wit, sarcasm, and even baseball metaphors. Then at the closing, they awarded a couple of awards. It was then that I learned why I was a VIP on this day. Americans for Prosperity presented the Blogger of the Year 2010 to me "in recognition of leadership in advancing economic freedom and liberty through modern media." I was indeed surprised, humbled and thankful. And, I am especially thankful for Americans for Prosperity.
Tomorrow, everyone is heading to the Honoring America 8/28 rally at the Lincoln Memorial. A crowd of between 500,000 and a million people are expected. Regardless, it should be both fun and educational. Tags:AFP, Defending American Dream, 2010, Washington, D.C., VIP, blogger, award, Bill Smith To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
More Grim Economic News Underscores Obama Admins' Failed Policies
The Obama administration has spent much of the week touting their failed $862 billion stimulus bill, but there’s been little to celebrate in what the White House wanted to call “recovery summer.” The AP reports on the latest disappointing economic news today: “The economy grew at a much slower pace this spring than previously estimated, mostly due to the largest surge in imports in 26 years and a slowdown in companies' restocking of goods. The nation's gross domestic product - the broadest measure of the economy's output - grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the April-to-June period, the Commerce Department said Friday. That's down from an initial estimate of 2.4 percent last month and much slower than the first quarter's 3.7 percent pace. The revision follows a week of disappointing economic reports. The housing sector is slumping badly after the expiration of a government homebuyer tax credit. And business spending on big-ticket manufactured items such as machinery and software, an important source of growth earlier this year, is also tapering off. As a result, most analysts expect the economy will grow at a similarly weak pace for the rest of this year.”
This is, of course, 18 months after Vice President Joe Biden said that the stimulus “is about getting this out and spent in 18 months to create 3.5 million jobs and to . . . tee this up so the rest of the good work that's being done here literally drop-kicks us out of this recession . . . .” Instead, since the stimulus was passed we’ve seen record deficits, 3.3 million jobs lost, and a steady stream of grim economic news.
As ABC News explained Tuesday, “[T]outing summer 2010 as ‘the most active Recovery Act season yet’ and, implicitly, as a period of job growth, belies a reality many Americans say they are experiencing.” In his Wall Street Journal column yesterday, Karl Rove pointed out, “Mr. Obama’s credibility is crumbling, and for good reason: He and his people are saying things people don’t believe.” Indeed, rel="nofollow" target="new">CBS News reported Thursday, “Americans are more pessimistic about the country’s economy than they were last month, a new CBS News poll reveals. Thirty-four percent now say the economy is getting worse, up from 26 percent last month. Only 20 percent now say the economy is getting better, according to the poll, conducted Aug. 20 - 24.”
Business leaders, too, are getting fed up. The Wall Street Journal editors write today, “American business leaders were remarkably quiescent during the Obama Administration's first 18 months, but more are now speaking up as the threats to the economic recovery and long-term U.S. prosperity become more serious. The latest is Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who warned a technology forum this week that without a change in U.S. government policy ‘the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here. And wealth will not accrue here.’” Otellini went on to say, “I think this group [the administration] does not understand what it takes to create jobs. And I think they're flummoxed by their experiment in Keynesian economics not working.”
Even some Democrats in Congress seem to finally understand how badly the economy is performing. The Washington Post reports today, “With the economy rapidly weakening, some senior Democrats are having second thoughts about raising taxes on the nation's wealthiest families and are pressing party leaders to consider extending the full array of Bush administration tax cuts, at least through next year. . . . “a growing cadre of Democrats - alarmed by evidence that the recovery is losing steam and fearful of wounding conservative Democrats in a tough election year - are advocating a plan that would permanently extend tax cuts benefiting the middle class while renewing breaks for the wealthy through 2011, senior Democratic aides said.”
Business leaders, some Democrats in Congress, and Americans in every corner of the country are seeing how the Obama administration’s economic policies have failed to bring about the recovery Democrats predicted. Certainly, as Rove wrote yesterday, “recovery summer” “will rank as one of the all-time presidential PR disasters.” Unfortunately, as the WSJ editors lament, “Our sense is that President Obama and his advisers believe their own advertising that the stimulus has been a smashing success, that tax rates don't matter to investment, and that CEOs are merely self-interested rich guys who want to get richer.” It’s long past time for this administration and this Democrat-run Congress to stop punishing job creators, scrap plans for massive tax hikes, and reject more regulations, more government intrusion, and more government spending as the answers to our economic problems. Tags:the economy, Democrats, failed programs, Obama administrationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Unions, Marxist Groups Join Forces, Use Bailout Money for Get-Out-The-Vote Efforts
By Catherine Snow, CitizenLink: With a little more than two months to go before the Nov. 2 elections – and the stark reality that their days of influence and handouts may be numbered – organized labor unions have pledged more than $100 million to defend pro-union candidates, most of whom are liberal Democrats.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) plans to kick in about $50 million. Former rivals, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO have united and committed a combined $88 million to defend eight Senate and 34 House seats, located in 26 states.
The SEIU, which richly benefited from President Obama’s health care reform bill, identified 15 top-priority Democrat House members to defend, including: Reps. John Boccieri of Ohio, Bill Foster of Illinois, Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Gary Peters of Michigan and Dina Titus of Nevada.
Notwithstanding the numerous bailouts from which they have already benefited – the latest being House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “emergency” $26 billion union bailout on Aug. 4 – labor leaders still bemoan the fact that many of their priorities have yet to be passed.
GET-OUT-THE-VOTE
Despite dramatically diminished membership roles – from its peak in 1945 of one-third of the workforce to just 7.2 percent in 2009 – unions still wield tremendous power, as seen in the 2008 elections, and California’s marriage amendment.
Christopher Prandoni, executive director of the Alliance For Worker Freedom (AWF) – a project of Americans for Tax Reform – said that organized labor has seen its ranks dwindle, as they cannot win on the merits of their argument.
“Unions are lobbying Congress and state legislatures to enact laws that make it easier for them to unionize workers – workers that don’t want to be unionized,” Prandoni said. “With the American public increasingly disenchanted with labor’s prerogatives, unions have looked to skew the election process, and by doing so, subvert the democratic principles this country was founded on.”
AWF reports that 9 out of the top 10 political action committees (PACs) and 4 out of the top 5 organizations donating to 527s that contribute to Democrat candidates are labor unions. . . . [Full Article] Tags:Unions, Marxists, bailout money, votes, get out the votes, fraudTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Earlier this week, I commented on the Obama Administration’s apologetic report to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council. The report was a travesty on many levels, and yesterday Maggie Gallagher identified one more: ObamaCare.
When most of us think of rights, we think of the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence – the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Or we think of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution – the right to free speech, worship, etc.
But as Gallagher writes, the president’s report to the U.N. crows about the establishment of ObamaCare, noting, “On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. The Act makes great strides toward the goal that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.” Looking ahead to the elections, Gallagher asks, “If a new Congress retools this deeply unpopular bill, does [Obama] suggest to the council we are now violating international human rights standards?”
Remember, friends, this tribute to socialized medicine is contained in a report to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, and it is very revealing of Obama’s mindset. To Obama, defending human rights is about promoting Big Government.
And therein lies Obama’s great disconnect with the foundational values of America: Our rights do not come from government, but rather from God. They do not require taxpayer-subsidies or socialist redistribution schemes. Rather, they guarantee the liberty of each individual to pursue his or her happiness.
That is not Obama’s view. In 2001, he described the Constitution as “a charter of negative liberties. [It] says what the states can’t do to you. [It] says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.” Most Americans think the government is doing too much and taxing too much, but not Barack Obama – he thinks healthcare is a human right. Vacations will be next. ------------- 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 the above 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:Barack Obama, new rights, UN, United Nations, Obamacare, vacations, Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Vice President Spends His Day Touting A Stimulus Program That Has Delivered Roughly 10% Of What He Promised
“DRIVING THE V.P.’S DAY, Per The White House: ‘Vice President Biden Will Visit The Home Of A Manchester, NH Family Where He’ll Announce A Major Recovery Act Milestone – The Weatherizing Of 200,000 Homes Under The Recovery Act.’”(Politico’s “Playbook,” 8/26/10)
THE ORIGINAL SALE
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “ >We Also Have Put In Money [In The Stimulus] That Provide [sic] For The Weatherization Of Millions Of Homes Across The Country.”(President Obama, Remarks, Elkhart, IN, 2/9/09)
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:“We Have A Weatherization Program In This Project [The Stimulus]. We're Going To Weatherize 2 Million Homes.”(VP Biden, Remarks, 2/11/09)
Non-Partisan Government Accountability Office Says Weatherization Project Slowed By Union Requirements And Burdensome Government Regulations
Davis–Bacon Requirements: “Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program became subject to the Davis-Bacon requirements for the first time after having been previously exempt from those requirements… States used only a small percentage of their available funds in 2009, mostly because state and local agencies needed time to develop the infrastructures required for managing the significant increase in weatherization funding and for ensuring compliance with Recovery Act requirements, including Davis-Bacon requirements.” (“Recovery Act: Project Selection And Starts Are Influenced By Certain Federal Requirements And Other Factors,” GAO, P.16, 2/10)
National Historic Preservation Trust:“…officials from the Michigan Department of Human Services told us that the NHPA requires that weatherization projects receiving federal funds undergo a state historic preservation review. According to Michigan officials, this requirement means that the state historic preservation office may review every home over 50 years of age if any work is to be conducted, regardless of whether the home is in a historic district or on a national registry. State officials told us that an estimated 90 percent of the homes to be weatherized would need a historic review. These reviews are a departure from Michigan’s previous experience…” (“Recovery Act: Project Selection And Starts Are Influenced By Certain Federal Requirements And Other Factors,” GAO, P.18, 2/10)
Regulations Overwhelm Localities: “In addition, as we reported in December 2009, smaller localities, which are often rural, told us that they faced challenges because of a lack of staff to understand, apply for, and comply with requirements for federal Recovery Act grants… In the District of Columbia, moreover, Department of the Environment officials explained that weatherization funds had not been spent as quickly as anticipated because officials needed to develop the infrastructure to administer the program. For example, the department needed to hire six new staff members to oversee and manage the program. Officials reported that, as of late January 2010, the department had still not hired any of the six new staff required. However, the job posting was closed, and Department of the Environment officials expected Recovery Act-funded weatherization work to begin in early February 2010.” (“Recovery Act: Project Selection And Starts Are Influenced By Certain Federal Requirements And Other Factors,” GAO, P.23, 2/10)
Tags:weatherization program, government, Joe Biden, unions, Davis Bacon wages, regulationsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
AP's Reporting: "It's Starting To Feel Like Another Recession"
Karl Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column today, “In what will rank as one of the all-time presidential PR disasters, we’re now well over half way through what the White House called ‘the summer of recovery.’ And what a recovery it’s been.” Indeed, an AP story from last night declared, “It’s starting to feel like another recession. Businesses are ordering fewer goods. Home sales are the slowest in decades. Jobs are scarce, and unemployment claims are rising. Perhaps most worrisome, manufacturing activity, which had been one of the economy’s few bright spots, is faltering.” Even Democrats’ favorite economist, Mark Zandi, had little positive to say, telling the AP, “The odds of a double-dip are rising and uncomfortably high . . . . Nothing else can go wrong. There is no cushion left.”
Rove listed some of the gloomy statistics: “Earlier this month, first-time claims for unemployment hit a nine-month high. The unemployment rate remains at 9.5% and 18.4% of workers are out of a job, can only get part-time work, or have given up looking for a job altogether. Sales of existing homes dropped 27% from June to July, hitting the lowest point since data were first collected in 1999.”
As Rove explains, “All of this has helped shatter public confidence in the president. . . . Mr. Obama’s credibility is crumbling, and for good reason: He and his people are saying things people don’t believe. At the start of his summer of recovery road show, the president flatly asserted that last year’s massive stimulus package had ‘worked.’ Vice President Joe Biden, not to be outdone, promised monthly job gains of up to 500,000 and insisted that the recovery’s pace ‘continues to increase, not decrease’ as stimulus spending was ‘moving into its highest gear.’”
Clearly Americans are not seeing the administration’s rosy predictions play out. According to CBS News, “Americans are more pessimistic about the country’s economy than they were last month, a new CBS News poll reveals. Thirty-four percent now say the economy is getting worse, up from 26 percent last month. Only 20 percent now say the economy is getting better, according to the poll, conducted Aug. 20 - 24.”
For most Americans, this is anything but a “recovery summer,” and the grim economic numbers bear that out. Yet the Obama administration persists in claiming that the $862 billion stimulus bill was a success and that job-killing bills like the health care law and the Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation will improve the economy. We’ve already seen how costly both bills are to small businesses, let alone the rest of the economy. No wonder Americans are so fed up with the White House’s agenda of “[j]ob-stifling taxes, regulations, government intrusion,” as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell described it recently. Tags:recession, recovery summer, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Unleash Your Secret Power This November . . . Here’s How!
by Elizabeth B. Letchworth: You have power that no one is telling you about. It works this way. Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid are planning to call Congress back in session AFTER the November elections. This rare Lame Duck session will be called so they can try and pass Immigration, Cap ‘N Trade, tax increases, Card Check…just to name a few. They hope the session will be a real “doozie”. You see, even if you vote your Member of Congress out of office in November, he/she still keeps the job until Jan., 2011.
But, there are 6 U.S. Senate seats that are different. They are the seats where appointed Senators were selected to fill vacancies like the one created when Pres. Obama won the Presidency. They are CO, DE, FL, IL, NY & WVA. The state election law in each of these states (except NY) says that once the Nov. elections take place, the winner of the Senate race becomes the Senator right away, and doesn’t wait until January to be sworn-in.
So……your vote on November 2 will not only change the next Congress, but it will also affect what happens in the Lame Duck session. If you are voting in 1 of the 5 states where they currently have one of these “Special Senate seats” you will be making history with the power of your vote. Tell your friends and family that vote in the states of Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois and West Virginia about their unknown power and very unique opportunity.
Stay tuned -- and tell Congress no lame duck session on GradeGov.com.
----------- Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, four-times-elected United States Senate Secretary for the Majority and Minority. She is the founder of GradeGov.com. Tags:US Congress, Lame Duck, Congress, secret power, GradeGov.com, Elizabeth Letchworth, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
John McCain after successfully stiff arming his opponents in the Arizona GOP primary, left nothing to chance when claiming victory. He employed the use of teleprompters.
We are still investigating the source of the teleprompters. Wonder if those little Obama America stickers mean something? Like the teleprompters were on loan from BHO. After all, McCain's "good friend across the isle" is now the supreme leader. Recall when McCain admonished America that we had nothing to fear from Barack Obama were to become the president. Yes, I believe I agree with what you are thinking about McCain's prophetic assertion. Let's say it together - "John! Stuff it!!"
[Note: Hat Tip eGOPNewsfor the photo which is real. The comments however are bitter satire.] Tags:John McCain, Arizona, GOP, teleprompter, photo, eGOPNews, satireTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
But today, the AP reports, “A plan by Medicare to try to make it simpler for consumers to pick drug coverage could force 3 million seniors to switch plans next year whether they like it or not, says an independent analysis.” The AP even points out, “That risks undercutting President Barack Obama's promise that people can keep their health plans if they like them. And it could be an unwelcome surprise for many seniors who hadn't intended to make a change during Medicare's open enrollment season this fall.”
As the article explains, “Medicare has already notified insurers they will no longer be able to offer more than one ‘basic’ drug plan in any given location. Several major prescription plans, including CVS-Caremark and AARP, offered two basic options throughout the country this year, Washington said. Eliminating that particular form of duplication among the top plans would force 2.75 million beneficiaries to find new coverage . . . .” In fact, the AP notes, “When other changes are taken into account, as many as 3.7 million Medicare recipients may have to switch, the analysis concluded. That amounts to about 20 percent of the 17.5 million enrolled in stand-alone drug plans.”
But that’s not the only story showcasing how the administration’s health care plans are likely to break their “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” promise. Yesterday, Kaiser Health News reported, “Colleges and universities say that some rules in the new health law could keep them from offering low-cost, limited-benefit student insurance policies, and they're seeking federal authority to continue offering them. . . . Without a number of changes, it may be impossible to continue to offer student health plans, says a letter that the American Council on Education sent Aug. 12 to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, signed by 12 other trade associations that represent colleges.”
And this isn’t the only broken health care promise highlighted by a news story this month. A few weeks ago, the AP reported, “the new health care law doesn't improve Medicare’s solvency by much,” even though Obama claimed, “This law doesn't weaken Medicare; it strengthens it and extends its life almost by a decade.” And Politico noted that when it came to the “agencies, boards and commissions created under the new health care law, “Estimating the number is ‘impossible,’ a recent Congressional Research Service report says, and a true count ‘unknowable.’” That’s despite a claim from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) that “this bill does not increase government.”
Max Baucus was one of the Democrats’ point men on their unpopular health care bill. Yesterday in Montana he responded to his constituent:“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill."The Hill has the story picked up from the Flathead Beacon in Montana:
Speaking at a forum in his home state, Baucus and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were asked by an audience member if they had read the whole bill and "if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.” “I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill," Baucus said, according to the Flathead Beacon. "You know why? It’s statutory language ... We hire experts." . . .
At the town hall event, Baucus defended the sweeping law. “It’s not perfect, nothing’s perfect, but I’m telling you, ma’am, it’s a good start,” Baucus said. “Mark my words, several years from now you’re going to look back and say, ‘eh, maybe it isn’t so bad.’”
Baucus response to the lady's question sounded more like the reply of a deranged assailant speaking to his distraught victim saying "several years from now you’re going to look back and say, ‘eh, maybe it isn’t so bad."
This is the same Senator Max Baucus who in 1979 failed to get the facts and sided with unions to call for the United States Air Force to investigate an Air Force contracting officer's contracting decisions on a multimillion dollar housing renovation contract at Malmstrom AFB. MT. The Air Force Inspector General did investigate with a team headed by an Air Force Brigadier General. The Air Force IG investigation identified that the officer had acted properly. Baucus still pandering to his union constituents refused to accept the findings of the Air Force IG and called for the General Accounting Office (GAO) to investigate. The GAO did investigate and found that the Air Force officer's decisions were fair and reasonable and in accordance with the required rules, regulations and procedures. These investigations affected numerous lives and increased cost to the government. But, Max Baucus achieved his objective of securing constituent support for his future elections.
Baucus seems to have the dysfunctional pattern of trying to get by without completely reviewing and reading required information. Now it is the massive take over of health care. But his habit began over 30 years ago when he failed then to make an unbiased inquiry into the situation which would have prevented the unnecessary investigations, when he brought political pressure on military officers in Montana, when he refused to accept (probably didn't read that either) the Air Force Inspector General investigation report and when he called for further investigations thereby wasting even more government money.
Baucus actions 30 years ago only cost the taxpayers money and threatened a few peoples careers. But today, his behavior has escalated to the point of having devastating affects on all Americans. We could just as well have called the health care bill BaucusCare verses ObamaCare.
Baucus and other liberal Democrats were continually warned that the health care bill would not do what Democrats were claiming, and in fact would often do the opposite: raise taxes, increase premiums, grow government, increase health care costs, cut Medicare, reduce benefits, and force many Americans off the health care plans they currently like. This is exactly what is happening and the American people don't like it. Regardless of what you call the bill - ObamaCare / BaucusCare / LincolnCare / ReidCare / PelosiCare - it should be repealed!
And for Montana voters, it is time to Repeal Max Baucus! Neither you nor America can afford his ineptitude any longer. Tags:Max Baucus, Montana, Kathleen Sebelius, Barack Obama, democrats, health care, ObamaCare, BaucusCare, MountainTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
ICYMI: The Contract From America Is Alive And Well
When the Contract From America was unveiled last April, the left went crazy. Brad Woodhouse, the communications director of the Democratic National Committee told ABC, "These are bumper sticker slogans -- not a plan."
Woodhouse went on to make a statement which we would today call a LOL moment if it were not for the tragic effects of the Democrat programs unleashed on American. He said, "If the Tea Party activists would put aside their rhetoric and rage long enough to look at facts, they would see that the president and Democrats have done more for working families, more to reduce the deficit, more to provide tax relief to average Americans, and more to make government work for the middle class in the past 15 months than Republicans did in eight years."
In light of today's economic situation, Woodhouse statement evidences the need for the Contract From America even more important.
Another liberal "mystic dumtank," Crooks and Liars responded in April, just four months ago: " . . . the Tea Party "Contract from America." But rather than following Newt Gingrich's gimmicky 1994 path to retaking control of Congress, the Tea Partiers sound more like Ronald Reagan circa 1980. . . . Undeterred, today's Tea Baggers [Yes they said the slur TEA Baggers] would condemn America to repeating that history of fiscal disaster, only on a far larger scale. Among the other inanities in their self-contradictory 10-point manifesto, three taken together represent the budgetary equivalent of declaring the sun rises in the west and that the law of gravity no longer applies . . ." Tags:FreedomWorks, Contract From America IsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Ronald Reagan, Time For Choosing, speech, Democrats, intellectual elites, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Franks, Alcee Hastings, Joe Biden, Dick Durbin, unemployment, debt, economy, taxes, AmericaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
James Cameron - King of Hypocrites - Backs Out of Global Warming Challenge
James Cameron
by Ann McElhinney, Not Evil Just Wrong Blog: Last March James Cameron sounded defiant. The Avatar director was determined to expose journalists, such as myself, who thought it was important to ask questions about climate change orthodoxy and the radical "solutions" being proposed.
Cameron said was itching to debate the issue and show skeptical journalists and scientists that they were wrong. “I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads," he said in an interview.
Well, a few weeks ago Mr. Cameron seemed to honor his word. His representatives contacted myself and two other well known skeptics, Marc Morano of the Climate Depot website and Andrew Breitbart, the new media entrepreneur.
Mr. Cameron was attending the AREDAY environmental conference in Aspen Colorado 19-22 August. He wanted the conference to end with a debate on climate change. Cameron would be flanked with two scientists. It would be 90 minutes long. It would be streamed live on the internet.
They hoped the debate would attract a lot of media coverage. "We are delighted to have Fox News, Newsmax, The Washington Times and anyone else you'd like. The more the better," one of James Cameron's organizers said in an email.
It looked like James Cameron really was a man of his word who would get to take on the skeptics he felt were so endangering humanity.& Everyone on our side agreed with their conditions. The debate was even listed on the AREDAY agenda.
But then as the debate approached James Cameron's side started changing the rules.
They wanted to change their team. We agreed.
They wanted to change the format to less of a debate—to "a roundtable". We agreed.
Then they wanted to ban our cameras from the debate. We could have access to their footage. We agreed.
Bizarrely, for a brief while, the worlds most successful film maker suggested that no cameras should be allowed-that sound only should be recorded. We agreed
Then finally James Cameron, who so publicly announced that he "wanted to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out," decided to ban the media from the shoot out. He even wanted to ban the public. The debate / roundtable would only be open to those who attended the conference. No media would be allowed and there would be no streaming on the internet. No one would be allowed to record it in any way. We all agreed to that.
And then, yesterday, just one day before the debate, his representatives sent an email that Mr. "shoot it out " Cameron no longer wanted to take part. The debate was canceled.
James Cameron's behavior raises some very important questions. Does he genuinely believe in man made climate change? If he believes it is a danger to humanity surely he should be debating the issue every chance he gets? Or is it just a pose?
The man who called for an open and public debate at "high noon" suddenly doesn't want his policies open to serious scrutiny.
I was looking forward to debating with the film maker. I was looking forward to finding out where we agreed and disagreed and finding a way forward that would help the poorest people in the developing and developed world. But that is not going to happen because somewhere along the way James Cameron, a great film maker, has moved from King of the World to being King of the Hypocrites. Tags:James Cameron, Hypocrites, film maker, global warming, Ann McElhinneyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Herman Cain, Contributing Author: Three cheers for Politico.com! The liberals tried to keep it secret, but thanks to Politico, they are busted! The Health Care Deform legislation has bombed with even their liberal constituency. And now they are trying to spin- as in distract, deceive and lie – their way to public acceptance of bad legislation.
As expected, the mainstream media is providing plenty of distractions so people will not focus on this critical story, and cause Democrats to get “beat up” again during the August recess as they did in 2009. If they have the nerve to even face their constituency, they may as well get ready for another whupping.
Distractions such as the president’s vacations, the proposed mosque in New York City, slow processing of damage claims from the BP oil disaster, a special session of Congress to spend more money we do not have, a research project paid for by taxpayers to determine the effects of cocaine on monkeys, speculation that Hillary Clinton might be Obama’s running mate in 2012, the president’s low approval ratings and many more stories might be interesting. But not critical.
National security, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our stalled economy, tax increases on January 1, 2011, Social Security and Medicare, an exploding national debt and the impact of the health care legislation are critical stories we ought to hear about in the news every day. But we don’t.
We should hear stories everyday telling us that:
There is no such thing as a “jobless economic recovery” as the administration is claiming. Just ask the nearly 15 million people who cannot find jobs! The administration’s economic policies are not working.
Raising taxes on any group in any way is going to make our economic situation worse! Just look at history.
The Social Security system, Medicare and Medicaid are economic disasters and getting worse. The new health care legislation is another disaster.
The national debt is unsustainable according to the Congressional Budget Office and a lot of other smart people in this country, but none of them appear to be in the Obama Administration or congressional leadership.
“The confidential presentation (prepared by Senate Democrats, senior staff and an official with the White House) provided to POLITICO by a source on the call, suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failureof their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled. Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public and to defend the legislation — in particular, the individual mandate — from a push for repeal.”
The health care legislation has not grown more popular because a growing number of people are not as stupid as the president and the Democrats think we are. In fact, it was clear that a majority of voters did not agree with the legislation before it was passed, but the president and the Democrats forced passage anyway. And now, they are trying to put lipstick on that pig!
Repealing the health care legislation is more than just a push. A majority of voters polled firmly believe the health care legislation should be repealed. Representative Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota) has already introduced repeal legislation, even though it will go nowhere with this Congress and this president.
The last page of the secret presentation encourages Democrats to barrage voters with a long list of benefits, use complex language or insider jargon, and say the law will reduce costs and deficit. In other words, distract, deceive and lie. ----------------- Mr. Herman Cain is an American newspaper columnist, businessman, politician, noted speaker, and conservative radio talk-show host. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza and previously worked as a mathematician for the Department of the Navy, a business analyst for the Coca-Cola Company, and for the Pillsbury Company, where he became Vice-President of Corporate Systems and Services. In 2004, Cain ran for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. He authorized the ARRA News Service Editor to reprint his articles with attribution; This article appeared HermanCain.org. Tags:Herman Cain, Democrats, new message, distract, deceive, lieTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
ABC News writes today, “After months of withering job losses and weak economic growth, summer was going to be the season of recovery, the Obama administration heralded in June. Thousands of infrastructure and construction projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were to come on-line during June, July and August, helping to ‘create jobs for American workers and economic growth for businesses, large and small.’ The White House dubbed it ‘Recovery Summer’ and President Obama declared the economy had begun ‘growing at a good clip.’ Vice President Joe Biden predicted weeks earlier that creation of 250,000 to 500,000 new jobs a month could soon be on the horizon. But with summer quickly coming to an end, those jobs gains and a robust economic recovery have not yet materialized, leaving Democrats on the verge of a fall election campaign in which Republicans are poised to make them eat their words.”
According to Politico’s Playbook, Vice President Joe Biden is unveiling an administration report today about the $862 billion stimulus bill claiming “the Recovery Act’s $100 billion investment in innovation is not only transforming the economy and creating new jobs, but helping accelerate significant advances in science and technology . . . .” But as ABC News points out, “[T]outing summer 2010 as ‘the most active Recovery Act season yet’ and, implicitly, as a period of job growth, belies a reality many Americans say they are experiencing. Only 27% of Americans see the economy as improving, according to the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. And a new low -- 43% -- approve of Obama's handling of the economy.”
Indeed, there’s been little economic news to celebrate in this so-called summer of “recovery.” The beginning of the month saw another 131,000 jobs lost and unemployment remain at 9.5%, a level it’s hovered near for months. Just last week, new unemployment claims “climbed to a nine-month high,” according to Reuters, with 500,000 claims in the second week of August alone. Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported, “The number of Americans who are receiving food stamps rose to a record 40.8 million in May as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high . . . .” The Los Angeles Times reported in July that American home foreclosures “hit a record high in the second quarter.” And today, The Wall Street Journal reports, “Existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market absent government support in a stubbornly sluggish economy.”
All this comes within days of last week’s passing of the date from Biden’s February 2009 prediction that the stimulus “is about getting this out and spent in 18 months to create 3.5 million jobs and to . . . tee this up so the rest of the good work that's being done here literally drop-kicks us out of this recession . . . .” Last week marked 18 months from the signing of the stimulus bill, but instead of creating 3.5 million jobs, 3.3 million jobs have been lost since then.
It is doubtful that many Americans agreed with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner when he wrote “Welcome to the Recovery” at the beginning of August. Rather, Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, told ABC, “‘Recovery Summer’ is their ‘mission accomplished’ without the banner.”
So, American's continue to ask, "where are the jobs!" For over a year, unemployment has been over 9%. However, Democrats can only take action to expand the size of government, spread around Federal dollars to the states, create more regulation, increase taxes, and try to buy favors with our money. Again, where are the jobs. Americans "want solutions that actually enable businesses to recover" and to hire people Tags:recovery summer, no jobs, democrat programs, big government, small business, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Obama's Drilling Moratorium Is Part Of Dems Agenda Hostile To Job Creation
This morning, Michelle Malkin highlighted a Wall Street Journal piece from Saturday, reporting on the decision-making behind the deep water drilling moratorium the Obama administration imposed on the Gulf Coast in the wake of the oil spill. According to the WSJ, “Senior Obama administration officials concluded the federal moratorium on deepwater oil drilling would cost roughly 23,000 jobs, but went ahead with the ban because they didn't trust the industry's safety equipment and the government's own inspection process, according to previously undisclosed documents. Critics of the moratorium, including Gulf Coast political figures and oil-industry leaders, have said it is crippling the region's economy, and some have called on the administration to make public its economic analysis. A federal judge who in June threw out an earlier six-month moratorium faulted the administration for playing down the economic effects.”
The drilling moratorium, though, is just one aspect of the job-killing agenda that the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are advancing. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained last month, “For more than a year and a half, the President and his Democrat allies on Capitol Hill have pushed an anti-business, anti-jobs agenda on the American people in the form of one massive government intrusion after another. And then they celebrate. Well, Americans aren’t celebrating. Three million of them have lost their jobs lost since Democrats launched their Stimulus. The folks who lost those jobs aren’t celebrating. . . . As I stand here this morning, millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs — and yet all they see in Washington are Democrats passing massive bills that, at their core, seem to have one thing in common: more job loss. It’s almost as if it’s a prerequisite for any Democrat legislation: If it leads to more job loss, they’ll pass it.”
Democrat legislation has been particularly disastrous for small businesses. The small business group NFIB announced in May, “Small business owners everywhere are rightfully concerned … the healthcare law will devastate their business and their ability to create jobs.” And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce explained that the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill “will only exacerbate uncertainty and jeopardize job creation.” The President’s auto task force pressured GM and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships, costing tens of thousands of jobs, according to The New York Times.
And that’s all without getting to the Democrats’ cap-and-tax bill, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi rammed through the House and which some Democrats still want to pass. Studies last year showed that if that bill became law, it could cost more than 2 million jobs.
No wonder the chairman of the Business Roundtable, a group supportive of Obama which backed the job-killing health care bill, was eventually forced to throw up his hands and complain in June of “thePresident and Democratic lawmakers . . . of creating an ‘increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation.’” According to The Washington Post, “Ivan G. Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon Communications, said that Democrats in Washington are pursuing tax increases, policy changes and regulatory actions that together threaten to dampen economic growth and ‘harm our ability . . . to grow private-sector jobs in the U.S.’”
And now we learn that despite the Obama administration being aware that a Gulf Coast drilling moratorium could cost tens of thousands of jobs, they imposed it anyway, and even went back to re-impose it after a judge threw the original out one out for not taking the economic consequences adequately into account. As Sen. McConnell said, “If it leads to more job loss, they’ll pass it. Americans are tired of this kind of ‘reform.’ Job stifling taxes, regulations, government intrusion. These appear to be the three pillars of every Democratic legislative effort. They’re also the three things lawmakers can do that are guaranteed to kill more jobs.” These policies don’t create the conditions for an economic recovery; they’re only making things worse. Tags:Obama, Democrats, drilling moratorium, Gulf Coast, health care bill, killing jobs, lost jobs, jobs, small business, cap-and-tax, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Who do I appoint next? Where is Blogo when I need him?
by Rick Manning: During the presidential election campaign, Obama supporters regularly dismissed those who thought that his association with the Weathermen Underground leader, terrorist bomber, and alleged murder, William Ayers was a window into candidate Obama’s beliefs.
These same Obama supporters told anyone who would listen that it was unfair to associate Obama’s philosophy based upon the radical liberation theology and outright hatred for America presented by his pastor of over twenty years.
We were assured that his wife’s famous statement during the presidential campaign that “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country” should be ignored, and not be viewed as reflective of candidate Obama’s thoughts.
While these past associations gave a clue to Obama’s formative years and comfort with radical thought, the true window into this president’s beliefs lie with the people who he is appointing to office during Congressional recesses by going around the Senate advice and consent process.
The latest example is the just announced recess appointment of Mari del Carmen Aponte to be Ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte’s appointment was mired in questions about her 1986-94 live-in relationship with a man who was proven to be in the Cuban Intelligence Service, and the subsequent memo that was discovered where the Cubans viewed Aponte as a prime target to become a spy for them.
Aponte’s appointment to be the lead U.S. representative in El Salvador is particularly troubling due to historical context. From 1980-92, Cuban-funded communists under the banner of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) sought to take over El Salvador as part of their plan to create a mainland communist foothold in Central America.
In appointing Aponte, Obama was providing her with an opportunity to clear her name through the advice and consent process. By subverting the process, and putting Aponte into the ambassadorship of the very country that her friends in the Cuban government attempted to take over without answering legitimate questions about her very loyalty to the U.S., sends a dire message to those who support America’s interests in Central America.
Obama’s going the extra mile and using the recess appointment process to place someone with these serious questions in her background into an extremely sensitive position in the very country she may have supported subverting shows at best a reckless disregard for America’s interests in the region.
Other Obama recess appointees are similarly revealing about the President’s beliefs and priorities.
Dr. Donald Berwick was plucked from the normal nomination process and given a free pass without confirmation to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which manages the nation’s senior health programs.
Berwick faced stiff opposition due to his long stated admiration for the British health care system, and was given a recess appointment to avoid scrutiny before the Democratic Party-controlled Senate was even able to hold a committee hearing on his nomination.
Only a few weeks into Berwick’s tenure at CMS, controversy has emerged as the agency is taking the unprecedented step of evaluating whether an FDA-approved medicine (Provenge) for late stage prostate cancer should be paid for by CMS. As feared by those who opposed the Berwick appointment, the decision on Provenge hinges on the cost of the medicine versus the quality of life of survivors. The exact social utility equation that worried ObamaCare and Berwick detractors is being implemented by the President’s recess appointee to CMS.
These two outrageous appointments were matched by his going around the Constitution’s checks and balances system by appointing SEIU and AFL-CIO lawyer, Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.
Becker, who wrote that he didn’t believe that management should have any role in the union election process, now oversees those very elections. Becker has also refused to recuse himself from participating in cases as a judge that he was an advocate on in the past, including the SEIU, removing any sliver of objectivity from the process.
Becker, through his non-confirmed role, is expected to administratively put many of the most controversial elements contained in Big Labor’s major piece of legislation with the Orwellian name of The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) into law. Putting EFCA into law by fiat effectively usurps Congress’ role, as Obama and Big Labor have, to date, failed to muster the votes of elected representatives to pass it.
It is somewhat fitting that an unelected, unconfirmed political appointee would attempt to push through the National Labor Relations Board special interest legislation benefiting his former bosses that actual legitimate elected officials have refused to pass.
While it may have been unfair for the American public to judge candidate Obama on his previous associations, his willingness to subvert the Constitutional advice and consent process to put these three radicals into office demonstrates his true philosophical bent.
In 2012, Obama will not be a mystery anymore and obscure past associations will no longer be the only clues available to try to figure out where he stands. Aponte, Berwick and Becker may sound like a law firm, but instead they are likely to be the standards by which this President will be judged. Rick Manning is the Communications Director of Americans for Limited Government. Tags:Barack Obama, recess appointments, radicals, radical agenda, Mari del Carmen Aponte, ambassador, El Salvador, Donald Berwick, CMS, SEIU, AFL-CIO, lawyer, Craig Becker, National Labor Relations BoardTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by William Warren: Tags:Elections 2010, Obama, Political Cartoons, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Crawford stated "I am thrilled that my message of standing up to Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the Washington insiders is gaining more traction every day. This poll is proof that the voters want a leader in Congress who won't yield to the liberals and special interests. While I am excited to continue to lead in the polls, I am focused on the only poll that really matters; that's the one on November 2nd. My campaign will continue to work day and night as we head into the final months of this campaign."
Crawford's Campaign Manager Jonah Shumate added, "Rick is the only person in this race that won't cast his first vote in Congress for Nancy Pelosi and who consistently stands up for the views of the people of the first district. These polls show the people of Arkansas want a leader who isn't afraid to stand up for our values. Chad Causey is having a lot of trouble being straight with Arkansas voters about where he stands on the issues and that is a clear contrast with Rick's willingness to take the bull by the horns".
We noted that in its response to the poll which were conducted in part by Dr. Jay Barth who is also a member of the Arkansas Democrat Party Executive Committee, the Causey campaign issued a sophomoric statement not on issues or evidencing a desire to improve their messaging but instead presented a list of Obama Chicago style styled attacks titled: "Facts about Rick Crawford that do not resonate with Arkansans." The polls are showing Crawford is already resonating with the public. The first item is really going to tick off a lot of veterans in Arkansas; it reads: "He [Rick Crawford] graduated high school in New Hampshire."
Yes, Crawford did graduate form a High School in New Hampshire. Why, because his Father was in the Air Force and was stationed at that time in New Hampshire. In fairness, we also noted that Rick Crawford was absent from Arkansas for many other years while serving in the US Army as an EOD specialist.
Could not find a record of Chad Causey serving his country. He has predominantly worked most of his post-teen life as a staffer for Rep. Marion Berry. Thus, he too has also been absent from Arkansas -- living in Washington, D.C. area. As a democratic staffer, he has associated with and supported the liberal elitists like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama. While checking Causey's credentials online, the following tidbit was noted: Causey has made numerous trips paid for by "foreign sources." Maybe this is to be expected for a staffer. But the following trip by Causey was most interesting: From 05/24/08 to 06/01/08, Causey was in Turkey for 9 days on a trip paid for ($3,020) by the Rumi Forum for Interfaith Dialogue. This group follows the teachings of Muslim Imam Fethullah Gulen - founder of a "global" social movement. The group appears to operate internationally through partnering organizations. There is a link on their website for board of directors but the names of their directors are absent. Tags:Arkansas, AR-01, 1st District, 2010 Election, Rick Crawford, Chad Causey, poll, Talk BusinessTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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