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)
Tags:Barack Obama, Government, Politics, Media Culture, Michael Ramirez, failing economy, Hurricane Irene, Glenn Foden, political cartoonsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor:: Today, the Arkansas Republican Assembly (ARRA) held it's 2011 Annual Convention in Springdale, Arkansas. Representatives from Washington County, Benton County and Baxter County met at Front Porch Family Diner which provided excellent hosting services to the Convention delegates.
The convention lasted four hours. It opened with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. The delegates were seated and introductions made of delegates and guests. President Dr. Pat Briney reviewed the stated beliefs, principles and objectives of the Arkansas Republican Assembly. He identified to the visitors representing TEA Parties, Patriot Groups, potential candidates and college students that the ARRA is a "good gathering point for conservatives." He also discussed how the ARRA as a caucus group is "set up to confront liberal leaning conservatives."
Vice President Duane Neal discussed the activities by various ARRA members including those serving in positions with the Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) and with county republican committees. Two members in attendance, Joe Leblanc and Duane Neil serve on the RPA Rules Committee and they and Collette Leblanc and serve as RPA State Committee. John Eves, President of the Hispanic Republican Assembly, is a member of the RPA State committee. Also identified were those who were serving as officers of County Republican Committees, County Republican Assemblies and as leaders in activist conservative groups.
Neal also identified that the National Federation of Republican Assembly (NFRA) Presidential Preference Convention Convention will be held at the Polk County Convention Complex on October 28-30 in Des Moines, Iowa. The ARRA is allowed 10 delegates and 3 alternates, Registration is $199 each and the local hotel is offering discounted rates for delegates for 2 nights. The committee voted to allow Dr. Briney, ARRA President, to coordinate and approve delegates as the ARRA will not meet again before the NFRA convention.
Neal also addressed the State RPA rules and deadline for filing to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention in August, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.
Dr. Bill Smith, President of the Baxter County Assembly, Baxter County Republican Committee Board member, 1st Congressional District Delegate, and Editor of the ARRA News Service, spoke on activism, new media opportunities. He detailed the outreach of the ARRA News Service and the recognized awards received in the last year. Smith discussed the supportive work by and gave credit to the TEA Parties, Patriot Groups and Americans For Prosperity Arkansas in advancing the awakening of conservatives in Arkansas and aiding the Republican gains in Arkansas in the 2010 elections.
Mike Sevack, Chairman of the Benton County Republicans,, member of the State RPA committee, member of the RPA Chairmmens' Committee, and President of the Benton County Republican Assembly discussed the work and coordination and support efforts of the local county assembly in fostering good members and aiding to keep the county committee focused on principles. As a small business owner, with several employees, Sevack identified the negative stress and problems presently placed on small business owners by the programs, regulations and laws advanced by the Obama administration and the the former Democrat controlled Congress. He also identified the need to keep focused on the legislative and bureaucratic actions of the State Government in Little Rock.
ARRA Treasure JD Chastain presented the treasure report and filed a copy with the secretary.
Several people in attendance identified that they would be filing for state legislative positions and county offices. Their names are not published herein as they will be issuing press releases at meetings with the public in the near future.
Dr. Briney identified that the NFRA President Rod Martin had been granted a seat on the National Republican Party. At the end of the meeting several members and guest shared opportunities for conservative involvement in upcoming events in Arkansas. Tags:ARA, Arkansas Republican Convention, news, Springdale, ArkansasTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:A.F. Branco, political cartoon, Gaddafi, Maxine WaltersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor: Sharing this video not to make you a better pundit. Sharing it because Andrew Klavan satire with class makes me laugh. And, in these days of reporting on Obama, the Economy, Obama, No Jobs, Obama, attacks on rights and freedoms, Obama, Biden, Obama etc., Obama - without insightful comedic reliefs would make one rather sour. So I must say "Thanks Andrew!" and dear reader enjoy this video!
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PJTV's Andrew Klavan takes some time out of his busy schedule to lay out three simple rules for wannabe pundits.
Tags:Andrew Klavin, PJTV, Wannabe Pundits, liberal media, bias, culture, David BrooksTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: In today's Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore pits "Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics." It is a very telling tale of how two men with very different ideas about government tackled two recessions with very different results. Here are some excerpts: "The two presidents have a lot in common. Both inherited an American economy in collapse. And both applied daring, expensive remedies. Mr. Reagan passed the biggest tax cut ever, combined with an agenda of deregulation, monetary restraint and spending controls. Mr. Obama, of course, has given us a $1 trillion spending stimulus.
"By the end of the summer of Reagan's third year in office, the economy was soaring. The GDP growth rate was 5% and racing toward 7%, even 8% growth. In 1983 and '84 output was growing so fast the biggest worry was that the economy would 'overheat.' …By the end of Reagan's first term, it was Morning in America. Today there is gloomy talk of America in its twilight. …
"The Godfather of the neo-Keynesians, Paul Samuelson, was the lead critic of the supposed follies of Reaganomics. He wrote in a 1980 Newsweek column that to slay the inflation monster would take 'five to ten years of austerity,' with unemployment of 8% or 9% and real output of 'barely 1 or 2 percent.' Reaganomics was routinely ridiculed in the media, especially in the 1982 recession. That was the year MIT economist Lester Thurow famously said, 'The engines of economic growth have shut down here and across the globe, and they are likely to stay that way for years to come.' The economy would soon take flight for more than 80 consecutive months."Ronald Reagan believed government is the problem. Barack Obama believes government is the solution. We've tried it his way for the past two and a half years, and the results are painfully obvious. What the left-wing naysayers said would happen under Reagan is taking place right now under Obama! Unemployment is above 9%. "The engines of economic growth have shut down." Today, GDP was again revised downward, to just 1%. Are you better off today than you were four years ago?
It doesn't have to be this way. The tale of this recession can have a happy ending too. To paraphrase Reagan, "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery begins when Obama loses his job!"
This "tale of two recessions" is a great story, particularly for younger Americans who may have fallen for the hype about hope and change. Share it with them. It's a story that cannot be told often enough throughout the course of the next 14 months. Tags:Steve Moore, recession, recessions, Obamanomics, Reaganomics, 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!
“I’m not afraid of anybody,” Maxine Waters told constituents in Los Angeles, not backing down from comments made about President Obama earlier in the week. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned – the tea party can go straight to hell.” So much for civility in politics, for which Obama has called. . . . Tags:Congressional Black Caucus, Maxine Waters, Obama, Racist, Tea Party Racist, Tea Party Terrorists. A.F. Branco, Political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Sustainable Development Puts American Lifestyles in UN's Crosshairs
by Cathie Adams, International Issues Chairman, Eagle Forum : Americans do not like having our standard of living in the United Nations' crosshairs, especially considering we pay 22% of its $2.5 billion regular budget, plus 27% of its $9.5+ billion peacekeeping budget. Since 1987, the UN has plied a borderless issue called "sustainable development" to demean American lifestyles and demand economic, social and environmental "justice." They use it to agitate class warfare and control the behavior of people, businesses and organizations. It is the UN's cure-all for the world's real and imagined problems including global warming/climate change, poverty, conflict, etc.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol was the UN's first major sustainable development conquest, putting mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions in only 37 industrialized countries, intended to force moving industrial wealth from rich to poor countries. Even though the U.S. Senate did not ratify that treaty, former President Bill Clinton created the President's Council on Sustainable Development that uses federal grants to infiltrate every classroom and countless local governments with sustainable development.
The UN has a new weapon in its sustainable development arsenal: government benchmarks for "consumption and production." Targeting 1.4 billion "rich" people in every nation, it accuses them of greedily consuming 80% of global output.
The proposal's author, Mohan Munasinghe, a native of Sri Lanka, is Director-General of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, U.K. As vice chair of the International Panel on Climate Change, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. His proposal, called "Millennium Consumption Goals: How the Rich Can Make the Planet More Sustainable," would replace "unsustainable values like greed . . . especially among the young" with government benchmarks for consumption and production.
Munasinghe complains that "governments quickly found over $5 trillion for stimulus packages . . . to prop up banks and promote unsustainable consumption. . . . Meanwhile, only about $100 billion per year are devoted to alleviate poverty and far less to combat climate change." Concerning national defense, he adds, "Some types of [government] expenditures . . . also need to be targeted — e.g., the U.S. $1.5 trillion per year spent on armaments worldwide."
The MCGs' objective is to "complement" the Millennium Development Goals, signed by former President Clinton at the 2000 Millennium Summit. Both MCGs and MDGs define sustainable development's three Marxist pillars to equalize the world economically, socially and environmentally, claiming it safeguards the "future survival of humanity."
The Millennium Development Goals are to:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women (Advocate for CEDAW, the international Equal Rights Amendment, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)
Reduce child mortality and promote child health (Advocate for the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child to usurp parental rights and empower the UN.)
Improve maternal health (Advocate for UN Family Planning, including taxpayer funded abortions.)
At the May PrepCom for the Rio+20 meeting in New York City, a proposed 10-year "Framework of Programs" for sustainable consumption and production was rejected, so Munasinghe's sight is now set on the 2012 Earth Summit, Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Americans must elect a new president in 2012 who rejects sustainable development's Marxist intentions and will eliminate all federal grants that advance it. Tags:Eagle forum, UN, sustainable development, targeting rich people, Millennium Development Goals, 2012 Earth Summit, Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Recall President Obama's promise, "If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It" Well the truth is shaping up to be much different and in line with the liberal progressive agenda.
The AP reported yesterday, “Nearly one in 10 midsize or large employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014, according to a survey from a large benefits consultant. Towers Watson also found in a survey completed last month that an additional 20% of companies are unsure about what they will do. . . . Employer-sponsored health insurance has long been the backbone of the nation's health insurance system. But the studies suggest some employers, especially retailers or those paying low wages, feel they will be better off paying fines and taxes than continuing to provide benefits that eat up a growing portion of their budget every year.”
This is something Republicans warned about as Democrats were jamming through their unpopular health care bill. Yet President Obama insisted, “If you like your current [health care] plan, you will be able to keep it. Let me repeat that: if you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it.” And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.”
Also, recall that in the wake of the Democrat health care bill’s passage last year, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned , “The fact of the matter is, the list of failed promises is growing every day. They called us alarmists for saying businesses would dump employees from their insurance plan. Yet now it’s being reported that some of the nation’s biggest employers are seriously considering cutting employee health care and paying the lower-cost penalties instead, just like we predicted. There goes the President’s vow that ‘if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.’ . . . For every promise that crumbles, another one of our warnings is vindicated. Day after day, Republicans said the health care bill would raise taxes, raise premiums, and cut Medicare for seniors. We said it would increase costs, because it didn’t take an actuary to figure that you don’t save money on health care by spending more on it. . . . [A]ll these headlines are only confirming what the American people already believed, and what Republicans said, all along: that more government isn’t the solution to out-of-control health care spending any more than spending money we didn’t have on projects we didn’t need was the secret to robust job growth.”
Now we have the AP confirming that another failed promise will occur if Obamacare is allowed to be implemented. Most employees will not get to keep their healthcare plan as promised but they will forced into the limited government healthcare plan. Tags:Obamacare, National Healthcare, broken promiseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bankrupting America: The debt ceiling agreement reached by Congress deal included a spending cap on discretionary outlays. Sounds good, right? But do these spending caps work? Do they encourage Congress to spend less? And do they actually lead to spending cuts?
Our latest infographic takes a look at spending caps in the past and if they really do anything to address the country’s spending addiction. Click the below image to enlarge!
Tags:Congress, debt ceiling agreement, discretionary spending, Government Spending, infographic, irresponsible spending, spending caps, spending cuts, Bankrupting AmericaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, ARRA News Editor: The below article by ALG Chairman Rich which he originally titled "The United Nations’ $72 Trillion Lie." This same lie is perpetrated within the United States. Thus, the revised tile for this article. The lie is a root cause of the massive expansion of Government which seeks to regulate all walks of American life. Today, we are experiencing the extreme consequences of the redistribution of wealth efforts under the Obama administration. However, America began its alignment with the UN Agenda long ago. And a major step (or stumbling block for America) was the Johnson administration and later administration pushing the redistribution of wealth under the banner of President Johnson's declared "War on Poverty."
Unfortunately, the agenda quickly overshadowed the Republican efforts via the Civil Rights Acts to guarantee equal access to opportunity. Instead, the Democrats opted to control the less fortunate through program funded via the redistribution of wealth -- the government taking what is yours to both consume, waste and to pass on to others allegedly less fortunate. And these efforts included exponentially growing forms of government ponzi schemes, like the alleged Social Security Trust Fund.
While our founding forefathers believed in individual liberty and freedoms, most of them also subscribed in some form or fashion to the principles detailed in a set of Judeo-Christian principles often called the 10 Commandments. And one of those principles was don't covet another person's property (which included their money). Yes, there was a short period time when some colonist experimented with communal living but soon learned that slackers soon consumed the product of those that worked to the point that no one wanted to work. It didn't take long of them to return to "if you don't work, you don't eat" policy. Time for us to do so again in America.
And, before getting sidetracked, working didn't not mean that a person's work was from a list of either a "bad" jobs or a "good" jobs. Unlike today, Americans just 30 to 40 years ago considered all work was of value to society as long as it was not immoral or illegal. Unfortunately, the American judgmental public education system started classifying jobs as "bad" or "good" jobs.
Rich's article begins with a focus on the UN but ends focusing on today's America. This message needs to be detailed and repeated often. Stop the redistribution of wealth; return to a free market system.
Howard Rich, Chairman, Americans For Limited Government: In addition to preserving the inalienability of our individual liberties, limited government ideology has always revolved around the belief that the invisible hand of the free market creates more prosperity for more people than command-and-control economic wealth redistribution.
Actually this isn’t so much a belief (or theory) as it is an incontrovertible economic law. Unfortunately, this law has been willfully ignored by Barack Obama and his congressional allies, who have rung up trillion dollar deficits as part of an ongoing socialist crusade to “spread the wealth around” here in the United States.
A rising tide lifts all ships, the old cliché goes — while teaching a person to fish will feed them for a lifetime, not just one day.
These fortune cookie truisms — ignored both at home and abroad — were lent vital new expression earlier this month when the United Nations effectively acknowledged that its global wealth redistribution scheme has failed to eradicate poverty as efficiently as good old-fashioned capitalism.
In the UN’s “Millennium Development Goals Report 2011” — released on July 7 to virtually no American media coverage — the international organization acknowledged that poverty rates were falling fastest in those nations which have embraced free market reforms.
“The fastest growth and sharpest reductions in poverty continue to be found in Eastern Asia, particularly in China, where the poverty rate is expected to fall to under five per cent by 2015,” the report notes. “India has also contributed to the large reduction in global poverty. In that country, poverty rates are projected to fall from 51 per cent in 1990 to about 22 per cent in 2015.”
Meanwhile in Sub-Saharan Africa — which has received the lion’s share of foreign aid over the last half-century — there have been negligible reductions in poverty. Not only that, there is increasing empirical evidence to suggest that the massive aid being dumped into this region has actually suppressed economic growth while perpetuating popular dependence and government corruption.
“Aid has so spectacularly failed to achieve its intended outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa because high aid intensity is actually associated with an erosion in the quality of governance,” notes a 2009 report in the Stanford Journal of International Relations. “Foreign aid appears simply to increase the volume of funds at the disposal of already corrupt government officials and kleptocratic elites.”
Even studies which argue for the infusion of additional aid into the region acknowledge that the impact of this avalanche of foreign cash is “difficult to pin down” and that its failure to stimulate economic growth is “confounding.”
Of course the UN — which has not-so-cleverly disguised its wealth redistribution scheme under the guise of climate-friendly “green investment” — isn’t the least bit confounded. Even as its own data conclusively proves the efficacy of free market reforms (and the futility of government handouts), the global bureaucracy is once again inexplicably upping the command economic ante.
After paying lip service in its millennium report to the creation of “conditions in which people are able to carve out and sustain a livelihood,” a separate UN paper released earlier this month proposes the largest wealth transfer in human history.
America simply cannot afford to continue pouring tax dollars into failed wealth redistribution schemes — whether at home or abroad. Not only are these plans destined to fail, but they actually prevent the free market from reducing poverty. Tags:Barack Obama, Free Markets, poverty, Redistribution of Wealth, United Nations, lie, Lyndon Johnson, War on Poverty, Howard Rich, Americans For Limited governmentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas Unemployment Highest in 24 Years
Thanks to the Democrats Policies of
President Barack Obama and Gov. Mike Beebe
Katherine Vasilos, Republican Party of Arkansas: While the nation’s unemployment rate continues to hover above 9 percent, last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that Arkansas’ unemployment rate rose again from 8.1 to 8.2 percent – the highest in 24 years!
These numbers are a stark reminder that the policies of President Obama and state Democrats are failing Arkansas. Under President Obama, our nation has lost 2.4 million jobs. Americans can’t afford another vacation or round of golf from the president, they need pro-growth policies that spur job creation instead of kill it. In Arkansas, rather than working to create business opportunities to put people back to work, state Democrats voted against job-creating legislation, like the Capital Gains Reduction Act of 2011.
Dipping into Your Pockets
Democrat Governor Mike Beebe was recently called out in a statewide editorial for refusing to acknowledge his hand in allowing state officials to double dip into the pockets of Arkansas taxpayers.
According to a news article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, over 500 state employees continue to collect two salaries for one job – by retiring then returning to the state payroll. A recent editorial recognized the need for serious improvement in the Arkansas Public Employee Retirement System stating, “Reforms are needed. But they’re not likely to be made so long as the boss-in this case, Governor Mike Beebe-doesn’t mind these end runs around the retirement system. And even aids and abets them.”
While we are fighting to overcome the highest unemployment in a generation, Governor Mike Beebe is orchestrating a corrupt political game that could be costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Arkansas Republicans believe in better. That’s why State Rep. Allen Kerr of Little Rock is spearheading the effort to pass legislation and take action to end this blatant disregard for the people of Arkansas.
Obamacare in Arkansas
During the 2011 legislative session, Republican lawmakers got to work and successfully prevented the early implementation of Obamacare in Arkansas by stalling legislation which would have authorized the creation of federally mandated health insurance exchanges.
As a result of Republican efforts, the state of Arkansas just recently turned down federal grant money to begin the implementation of the President’s healthcare overhaul, citing legislative opposition! This is a remarkable victory for conservatives! Until the Supreme Court rules on the law’s constitutionality, our state should not spend millions of taxpayer dollars implementing Obamacare.
Republican Party News
The Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans (AFYR) elected seven executive officers Saturday in Rogers at their 2011 State Convention. Their team will help ensure we have boots on the ground to carry out an effective statewide operation to elect Republicans at every level of government!
The Republican Party congratulates Lt. Governor Mark Darr for being named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list! Each year Northwest Arkansas Business Journal presents its Forty Under 40 List to recognize intriguing business and political leaders under 40. Tags:Republican Party of Arkansas, RPA, Arkansas, unemployment, Governor, Mike Beebe, government executives, double dipping, Obamacare, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Rasmussen Reports: Americans overwhelmingly believe that the bigger problem with the welfare system in the United States is that there are too many overqualified recipients rather than not enough. Most also think legal immigrants should have to wait at least three years before being eligible for welfare benefits. [Obviously, illegals should not be getting any benefits!]
- 71% of American Adults say the bigger problem with welfare programs in the United States is that too many people get welfare who should not be getting it.
-18% say the bigger issue is that too many people who should receive welfare do not get it.
- 11% are not sure.
- 59% of all Americans think immigrants who follow the law and enter the United States legally should have to wait 3 years or more before collecting welfare benefits.
- including 31% who believe they should wait more than 5 years.
- and 17% think 3 years is enough while 11% prefer a 5-year waiting period.
- 14% think 1 year is an appropriate waiting period for legal immigrants.
- 16% believe there should be no wait at all.
- 11% are undecided. Tags:Rasmussen Reports, Welfare, benefits, poll, American citizens, legal immigrantsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The below letter to the editor is by Robert "Bob" McDowell, Jr. He is a Professional Engineer and Geologist with over 50 years experience in creating drilling prospects, supervising drilling, well completion, production operation, and pipeline design for oil and gas including repair of problem wells. McDowell is a conservative and active in the Oklahoma Republican Assembly.
Bob McDowell
By Bob McDowell: Elected officials seem to love the deference with which they expect to be, and are, treated by the population at large. It begins at the time of taking the oath of office, after which they are addressed with the title of "Honorable", whether or not their actions in any way are such. It is most disconcerting and discouraging to see how disputatious (argumentative) and mean mouthed some are, particularly in the deliberations on matters which have the most effect on those who were responsible for their position, the voters.
The most recent, and perhaps most critical to the Nation were the early August negotiations for an increase in the "debt ceiling" where those on the left (socialist/communist) or Democrat side of the isle became completely unmoving and, unfortunately, the Speaker and others gave in and agreed to a 'compromise'. It should be remembered that to those of that persuasion the word 'compromise' simply means "you agree totally to my way". In the course of that program, no consideration is given to the well being of those who elected them, or to the Nation as a whole. An agreement was reached in the House, but Sen. Reid, D-NV, as leader, refused to allow it to even be given a hearing on the floor or in Committee.
On the other hand, leaders of both sides seem to take the attitude in supposed attempts to bring the spending under control so as to reduce the deficit to zero and thus start to lower the national debt. No thought seems to ever be given to terminating any of the many authorities, boards, commissions, or other bodies that do nothing but spend money and issue (unconstitutionally) rules that end up having the force of law. It is the Constitutional duty of Congress to make laws and, at least in my opinion, present and past congresses have violated the Constitution by passing that authority to these appointed or hired entities. At the least, Congress (and State Legislatures) should have a recorded vote to approve or reject each and every such proposed rule.
In their budget discussions, it appears that no thought has been given to abolishing any of these delegated boards, especially those no longer active, and at the least terminate the present automatic annual 10 percent increase in budget for each one of them that has been reported. Most of us do not have an automatic 10 percent increase in income, especially those of us now receiving payments from Social Security, which has not increased in at least two years because the Budget Office has decided to not include the cost of food and fuel in determining inflation rate.
It seems that it would be far better to consider those rather than the proposed 'cuts' in Social Security, Medicare, Defense (both military and civilian), and roads, etc. After all, it is the duty of government, at all levels, to provide for the protection of the population, both from without and within, maintain a stable currency, and fulfill obligations that have been paid into. It is no secret that we are not being protected from enemies from without because our borders are not secure, apparently by design.
It seems more proper to use our National Guard members on active duty to guard the borders, with live ammunition, rather than deploy them overseas (probably illegally). During the Linden Johnson administration Social Security funds were merged into the general accounting and thus have been wasted, plus over the years Congresses have added recipients not in the original law who have not contributed (including illegal aliens). The highway "trust fund" has been robbed to pay for such things as bike paths and rail installations. The airport "trust fund" has been robbed to pay for special interest projects of Congressional members. Tags:Bob McDowell, Oklahoma, Congressional MalfeasanceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Our Daily National Debt Growth Is A Bigger Order Than Papa John’s Could Handle!
By Frank McCaffrey: You simply have to see how much money we throw into debt in America for yourself. It’s more annually than companies like Papa John’s, more daily than the pay of major sports stars and more by the minute than a certain powerful man in Washington. Check out this video:
Byron York: Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit - "[T]oday's deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements." Tags:National Debt, Papa John's, Debt, Deficit, Debt Ceiling, Domino's, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Tom Brady, Floyd Mayweather, Venus WIlliams, Kobe Bryant, Alexander Ovechkin, Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, Corey Perry, NHLTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by William Warren: Disgruntled Americans Provide An Idea for Obama's next Vacation - TAKE A HIKE!
Tags:Obama's Jobs Plan, Obama's Vacation, suggestion, Take A Hike, Political Cartoons, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
CBO Outlook Shows Obama Promises Falling Short On Jobs And Health Care
In its Budget and Economic Outlook for August, the CBO writes, “The United States is facing profound budgetary and economic challenges. At 8.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the $1.3 trillion budget deficit that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects for 2011 will be the third-largest shortfall in the past 65 years (exceeded only by the deficits of the preceding two years).”
Our staggering, unsustainable deficits aside, the CBO notes two interesting things that clearly contradict promises and predictions made about them by the Obama administration.
First, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf writes on his blog, “With modest economic growth anticipated for the next few years, CBO expects employment to expand slowly. The unemployment rate is projected to fall to 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of this year and to 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and then to remain above 8 percent until 2014 . . . .”
But recall that when President Obama was selling his nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill (financed entirely by deficit spending), his economic advisors claimed that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed. Now CBO is saying that unemployment might not even return to that level until 2014.
Meanwhile, CBO’s summary of the outlook notes, “Beyond the 10-year projection period, further increases in federal debt relative to the nation’s output almost surely lie ahead if certain policies remain in place. The aging of the population and rising costs for health care will push federal spending up considerably as a percentage of GDP.” The report adds, “CBO projects that the costs of [federal health care] programs per beneficiary will continue rising . . . .”
Yet when President Obama and Democrats in Congress were pushing their health care spending bill, Obama pledged, “The plan I’m announcing tonight … will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.” He later said that “every single good idea to bend the cost curve and start actually reducing health care costs are in this bill.” And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who helped write the bill, said, “And without reform, health care expenditures will increase…”
So once again, when impartial observers actually look at the data, the Obama administration’s promises come up short and America continues to be wrecked by the Obama agenda.
As cited in a previously posted article by Mychal Massie, President Obama's "tenure has been a failure on every measurable level." Tags:CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook, Obama administration, failed promises,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Mychal Massie: Three significant historical events have been eclipsed by Obama: 1) Jimmy Carter will no longer be looked upon as the worst president in American history; 2) Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton will no longer be recognized as the greatest liars in presidential history; 3) Clinton's stain on Monica's dress, and what that did to the White House in general and the office of the president specifically, will forever pale in comparison to the stain and stench of Obama.
I need not spend much time on the failure of Obama as president. His tenure has been a failure on every measurable level. So much so, in fact, that some of the staunchest, most respected liberal Democrats and Democratic supporters have not only openly criticized him – some even more harshly than this essayist – but they have called for him to step down.
Richard Nixon's words "I am not a crook," punctuated with his involvement in Watergate, and Bill Clinton's finger-wagging as he told one of the most pathetic lies in presidential history, in the aftermath of Obama, will be viewed as mere prevarications.
Mr. Nixon and Clinton lied to save their backsides. Although, I would argue there are no plausible explanations for doing what they did, I could entertain arguments pursuant to understanding their rationales for lying. But in the case of Obama, he lies because he is a liar. He doesn't only lie to cover his misdeeds – he lies to get his way. He lies to belittle others and to make himself look presentable at their expense. He lies about his faith, his associations, his mother, his father and his wife. He lies and bullies to keep his background secret. His lying is congenital and compounded by socio-psychological factors of his life.
Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood.
As the stock markets were crashing, taking with them the remaining life saving of untold tens of thousands, Obama was hosting his own birthday celebration, which was an event of epicurean splendidness. The shamelessness of the event was that it was not a state dinner to welcome foreign dignitaries, nor was it to honor an American accomplishment – it was to honor the Pharaoh, Barack Hussein Obama. The event's sole purpose was for the Pharaoh to have his loyal subjects swill wine, indulge in gluttony and behavior unfit to take place on the property of taxpayers, as they suffer. It was of a magnitude comparable to that of Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski's $2 million birthday extravaganza for its pure lack of respect for the people.
Permit me to digress momentarily. The U.S. Capitol and the White House were built with the intent of bringing awe and respect to America and her people. They were also built with the intent of being the greatest of equalizers. I can tell you, having personally been to both, there is a moment of awe and humility associated with being in the presence of the history of those buildings. They are to be honored and inscribed into our national psyche, not treated as a Saturday night house party at Chicago's Cabrini-Green.
The people of America own that home Obama and his wife continue to debase with their pan-ghetto behavior. It is clear that Obama and family view themselves as royalty, but they're not. They are employees of "we the people," who are suffering because of his failed policies. What message does this behavior send to those who today are suffering as never before?
What message does it send to all Americans who are struggling? Has anyone stopped to think what the stock market downturn forebodes for those 80 million baby boomers who will be retiring in the next period of years? Is there a snowball's chance in the Sahara that every news program on the air would applaud this behavior if it were George W. Bush? To that point, do you remember the media thrashing Bush took for having a barbecue at the White House?
Like Nero – who was only slightly less debaucherous than Caligula – with wine on his lips Obama treated "we the people" the way Caligula treated those over whom he lorded.
Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement – while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed. Tags:Mychal Massie, Barack Obama, Nero, White HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
December 2008, President-elect Barack Obama made a promise that when Congress reconvened in January 2009 he would present a plan that would create jobs and boost the economy.
August 2011, President Barack Obama coincidentally is making the same promise as he did in December of 2008. He is promising once again that when Congress reconvenes in September 2011 he will present a plan that will create jobs and boost the economy.
What happened over the past 2 1/2 years that kept him from creating those jobs and boosting the economy like he had promised? It obviously is not a priority to Barack Obama. After all, both him and Michelle are too busy spending 10 days in Martha's Vineyard at a place that costs $50,000/week to rent.
Must be nice Barack! Enjoy it while it lasts... because this gravy train is about to come to a halt. 'We the People' are tired of you and your wife's wasteful spending. Especially, when Michelle wants to arrive in Martha's Vineyard 4 hours sooner and it costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars. Shame on you!
I just feel for the individuals who still believe you when you say that you care about them and their needs. If you did care... you would have given them the "change" that you led them to believe in.
I must admit though, the only good thing that came out of you being the President, is that you have certainly woken the sleeping giant. And we are ready and prepared to add YOU to the unemployment line come 2012! Tags:video, Barack Obama,
President Obama, jobs, job recovery, unemployment, unemployed, bog government, no plan, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Kevin Jackson from The Black Sphere educates a Liberal Obama Youth Member
[Source] Video shows how brainwashed the young man (self-admitted democrat) is when he decided it would be fun to crash a TEA PARTY. Kevin Jackson of The Black Sphere takes the young man to the woodshed with the real facts. Tags:video, Kevin Jackson, discussion, with a democrat, youth, SEIU, St Louis, TEA Party, union, thugs To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
today parts of the US Capitol and the Pentagon were evacuated after Washington DC was struck with a 5.9 magnitue earthquake.
John Ruberry, Marathon Pundit responded by recalling an Obama quote:
"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." Barack Obama proclaiming himself the Democratic Party nominee for president, June, 2008.
Ruberry response after the earthquate: "The planet is not healed."
Via Email, Jay Lanning said: "Breaking News: President Obama has just confirmed that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure fault-line, apparently known as 'Obama's Fault.'"
Via Email, Fred Witzell The TexasFred Blogshared some "Earthquake Punditry"
White House press release: "Earthquake epicenter was situated at the convergence of Bush’s Fault, Congress’ Fault, Tea Party's Fault, and It's-not-my Fault."
BREAKING NEWS: "Seismologists have confirmed that it WAS an earthquake and NOT the 14.6 trillion dollar check bouncing on the East Coast.
VA QUAKE BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!! The USGS has determined that the epicenter of the earthquake was in a cemetery just outside of DC. The cause appears to be all of our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.
Ron Russell, Totus blog: "Washington Experienced A Small Earthquake Today, But the Real Earthquake Will Come When We Kick Obama Out!"
Gary Bauer, Contributing Author and President of American Values commented: "The nation's capital was rocked by a significant earthquake this afternoon. Buildings were evacuated and phone service went down. According to various reports, tremors could be felt as far north as Toronto, Canada. President Obama seemed oblivious as he golfed on Martha's Vineyard. Why am I not surprised?"
Bill Smith, ARRA News Service Editor:On the other side of the world in China, "butt-kissing" Vice President Joe Biden created a verbal earthquake and set off a tsunami of opposition back in the U.S. with his statement regarding China forced abortion one-child policy when he said, "Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I'm not second-guessing -- of one child per family." VP Biden was the first of four siblings in a Catholic family. I guess he would have potentially survived under the Chinese policy while his three siblings would have been forced aborted. Just a minute -- is he still Catholic?
Tags:earthquake, Washington, D.C., Virginia, blog comments, Barack Obama, biking, Joe Biden, China, abortionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Libya, Obama, Obama lies, poll, polls, Presidential polls, failed economy, War in Libya, spare tire, A.F. Branco, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz- Only I’m Smart Enough to Invest in the Stock Market
Pembroke Pines, FL, Oct 6, 2010 – It is no secret that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is one of the most fiercely partisan liberal ideologues in Congress. But now she has earned yet another not-so-meritorious distinction - hypocritical elitist.
In case you haven’t heard, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz believes that only she knows what is best for her constituents, and it’s evident that she thinks people are simply not smart enough to make their own decisions about what is in their own best interests- even when it comes to their own personal investments.
During a recent televised appearance on CNN, Debbie lectured a national audience that, “Investing in the stock market is a risky gamble. It’s certainly not good for senior citizens or for the nextgeneration to preserve Social Security.”
But it turns out Debbie doesn’t even listen to her own advice.
From the Daily Caller (9/30):
On the other hand, it seems Wasserman-Schultz may need to heed her own warnings. According to her most recent financial disclosure form, Wasserman-Schultz may be, if she believes what she told viewers of CNN, gambling with the twilight of her life.
In 2009, two years into the financial crisis, Wasserman-Schultz and her husband Paul purchased between $25,011 and $200,000 in mutual fund investments in retirement accounts.
Wasserman-Schultz also owns between $100,001 and $250,000 in common shares for the Community Bank of Broward, where her husband works.
“Hypocritical statements such as these are proof positive that politicians such as Debbie Wasserman-Schultz do not have a very high opinion of their constituents’ own ability to think for themselves,” said Karen Harrington, candidate for Congress in Florida’s 20th District. “It’s clear that Debbie thinks her constituents are the equivalent of helpless children who cannot cope without her guidance and are incapable of making their own investment decisions or managing their own money.
Unfortunately, our present leaders in Congress view themselves as a ruling class of elites, and no longer as public servants. Debbie is certainly more comfortable lecturing everyone else what to do rather than allowing people to have the same choices and opportunities that she has at her disposal.
Hypocritical posturing that is this egregious should make people question whether Debbie ever believes her own rhetoric about this or any other important issue that Americans are facing today,” said Harrington.
Tags:Obama 2012, Obama Spending, Stock Market, Bear, Bull, The Economy, Wall Street, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Florida, A.F. Branco, Politically Incorrect, politics, cartoon,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. ~ Wikepedia
Update by Gary Bauer, Aug 25, 2011: Jerry Buell, a "teacher of the year" in Mount Dora, Florida, who was suspended from his job due to his support for traditional marriage has been reinstated by the local school board. They found that he did not violate the code of ethics.
However, at least one media report indicates that Buell is still under investigation. The superintendent of schools gave Buell "a list of directives he needs to follow," and officials are reportedly combing through school web pages and his class syllabus. All because he dared to express his opinion on marriage. Welcome to the brave new world of left-wing "tolerance."
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Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Jerry Buell is a history teacher in Mount Dora, Florida. Buell has taught in the public schools for more than two decades. According to administrators he has a "spotless record." In fact, he was "Teacher of the Year" last year at Mount Dora High School.
Yet Buell has been suspended and is fighting for his job pending an ethics investigation. His offense: Writing a Facebook post critical of same-sex "marriage." By the way, in 2008, 62% of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
What happened to Buell is not an isolated incident. It is happening all over the Western world as homosexuality becomes more widely accepted. The movement that wore the mantle of tolerance is showing that it and its supporters are among the most intolerant. They not only want marriage to be redefined, they want it to be virtually illegal to express views that reflect traditional religious teaching.
Years ago, Dr. James Dobson and I co-wrote a book called "Children At Risk." We warned then that the culture war was real and only one side could prevail. Christians who continue to insist that same-sex "marriage" won't affect them are sleepwalking. It will impact what your children are taught in the public schools. Religious liberty is at stake.
Moreover, your job may well be risk. Major corporations and leading law firms pride themselves on their "tolerance" and diversity, when in fact they are anything but. Fail to toe the liberal line and you can lose your job. Just ask Dr. Frank Turek or Jerry Buell.
Men and women of faith cannot sit on the sidelines while the culture war rages on. Homosexuality is out of the closet and the tyrants of tolerance are trying to force anyone who believes in traditional values into the closet.
------------- Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families where his articles are also shared.Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, discrimination against traditional values, culture war, homosexual activism, Christians, Mount Dora, Florida, Jerry Buell, teacher, Teacher of the Year, facebook, Dr. Frank Turek, Cisco, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Is Palin Running Or Not? Palin’s Pre-Campaign Commercial
Sarah Palin released a video this weekend which Karl Rove called “pre-presidential. What do you think? Is she running or Not? Newsalertusa.com says, the video is "as slick as they get. And if you watch to the end, it lets Iowans know 'See you again September 3.'" Rove said that September 3rd is the most likely date of a campaign kickoff if she is running. Sarah Palin AK:
Should Sarah Palin run for President? Leave Your opinion- Some options:
* Absolutely. That grizzly mama had me at hello.
* Yes. She’s better than the other Republicans in the race.
* Yes. There are other candidates I’m interested in, but she might just win my vote.
* No way. We don’t need someone who quit halfway through a term as governor.
* No. She couldn’t win.
* No. I don’t think she’s qualified.
Bill Smith, Editor: TexasFred shared the following text in an email today. I believe we can all indeed see a pattern with regard to President Obama. The image was created and posted a year ago on Aug 20, 2010 on Politifake.org. Obviously, no change in the Obama administration - vacations at taxpayer's expense is a priority.
Obama FOCUSES on the economy… the market tanks … he goes on vacation…
Obama FOCUSES on jobs (3 times)… the market tanks… he goes on vacation…
Obama FOCUSES on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Syria… the market tanks… he goes on vacation…
Obama FOCUSES on immigration… the market tanks… he goes on vacation…
Obama FOCUSSES on small business…the market tanks…he goes on vacation…
I’m BEGINNING TO SEE A PATTERN
______________________ Fred Witzell The TexasFred Blog
Tags:Barack Obama, a pattern, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Chart of the Week: Federal Spending on Defense vs. Entitlements
Providing for the defense of the United States is Congress’ constitutional obligation. Lawmakers should recognize defense is a necessity, if not the federal government’s most important responsibility.
In recent years, however, defense spending has continued to decline as entitlement spending increased. Priorities are being misplaced as the gap between entitlement spending and defense spending continues to widen.
This chart is part of Heritage’s 2011 Budget Chart Book, featuring infographics on federal spending, revenue, debt and deficits, and entitlement programs. Source: Heritage Foundation Tags:Entitlements, Protect America, Scribe, budget chart book, Chart of the Week, Defense Spending, entitlement spending, federal spendingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
History teaches us that society is always at risk of losing its freedom and descending into tyranny because there are always people who wish for and actively seek to rule over others and profit at their expense.
With the separation of powers and checks and balances, western civilization has created systems, best exemplified by the United States Constitution, designed to prevent demagogues from gaining power. However, when people think the political system no longer functions properly, they will demand change, thinking that “anything else will be better than this.” At this point, a demagogue may convince them that he will fix the nation and bring prosperity to all with relative ease. These demagogues tell the people that all they need to do is vote for him and their problems will be solved.
Demagogues seeking to take over the government create or find an enemy to attack and blame. The demagogue informs the public that it is not their fault the economy is bad, they lost in a recent war, or that they are poor. Instead, it is somebody else’s fault. Hitler’s blamed Germany’s problems on both the communists and capitalists, with the Jews supposedly supporting both groups. Julius Caesar blamed the Roman Senate. The Communists in Russia blamed both the Czar and the democrats. With the recent economic weakness and increased partisanship in the United States and Western Europe, there has been a lot of blame bandied about, especially by politicians looking to win election.
Weak economies, a wide disparity between rich and poor sparking class warfare rhetoric, and the perception of a broken political system open the door for an eloquent demagogue to trick the people into voting for him, increasing his power, and paving the way for him or his successor to become a tyrant.
So it is possible for a Nazi-type takeover in the United States or Western Europe? Most certainly. In fact, we have already seen something similar happen just recently in Venezuela, which had been a prosperous western-style nation until the late 1980s when an economic crisis and political corruption paved the way for Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian socialism.
Fortunately, the Founding Fathers of the United States created a system specifically designed to prevent one man or faction from gaining too much power. Western Europe has largely copied that system, with some alterations. Additionally, our long tradition of liberty is not one that people will throw away lightly.
However, an eloquent demagogue promising peace and prosperity at no expense amid economic and political chaos may, at times, be able to overthrow the delicate political, economic, and social system we have. This happened in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Israel, Russia in the 1910s, Italy in the 1920s, Germany in the 1930s, and Venezuela in the 1990s, to name just a few of the most notable examples.
Only through eternal vigilance against demagogues, their false promises, and their scapegoating of minority groups can we prevent Nazi-type takeovers in the United States and Western Europe.
Michael E. Newton, KT3------------------ Michael E. Newton is the author of the highly acclaimed The Path to Tyranny: A History of Free Society’s Descent into Tyranny. His newest book, Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers: The Fight for Control of the American Revolution, was released by Eleftheria Publishing in July. Tags:Founding Fathers of the United States, history, Julius Caesar, Kindertransport, Nazi, Nazism, Roman Senate, United States, Western Europe, Michael E. Newton, The Path to TyrannyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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By Glenn Foden Cartoon:
