News for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. We seek to uphold the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited government, free markets, liberty & individual freedom. The ARRA News Service is an outreach of the Arkansas Republican Assembly. However, all content approval rests with the Editor. While varied positions are reported, our beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated by this blog, no paid ads accepted and no payments for articles. Note the posted Fair Use doctrine. -- Editor: Dr. Bill Smith [OzarkGuru] - editor/arranewsservice.com (Published Since July, 2006)
Clinton and Obama Speeches - Ending Marriage, Dashing Hopes
President Obama & Sec of State Clinton
By Ambassador Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: The Obama administration has offered in two high level addresses the crystallization of all that is wrong in its course. Yesterday, President Barack Obama went to Osawatomie , Kansas . He chose that location because of his own Kansas roots and because former President Theodore Roosevelt gave a famous speech there in 1910.
Mr. Obama should do more of this.Theodore Roosevelt is rightly a beloved figure for millions of Americans. His 1910 Osawatomie speech, however, was the beginning of a disastrous course for him and for America . TR’s sharp left turn in Kansas led him directly to his 1912 “Bull Moose” Third Party challenge of incumbent Republican President Taft and the Democratic nominee, Gov. Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey .
TR never made the mistake of thinking that inequality of income—per se—was the core evil to be addressed by government. Roosevelt , unlike Mr. Obama, did not attend Marxist Scholars Conferences to drink deeply from that poisoned well of resentment. But TR did call for national health care in his ill-fated 1912 campaign. American voters—who had loved TR and given him an unprecedented landslide in 1904—firmly rejected his message in 1912.
Theodore Roosevelt alarmed his former friend and colleague, William Howard Taft, with his call for popular referendums to correct judicial rulings. Does this mean Mr. Obama will now line up with groups like Family Research Council to back popular referendums on marriage? Will he get behind statewide marriage measures in Minnesota and North Carolina ? Will he demand that voters in Massachusetts and New York have a chance to vote on preserving marriage? Not at all.
President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to highlight Census divorce statistics He powerfully defended traditional marriage and childbearing. He was legitimately concerned about declining birth rates.
Mr. Obama and his administration keep Planned Barrenhood in business—shoveling billions to their lethal efforts. Because of them, six in ten pregnancies in Harlem end in abortion. There is no hope in that dread change.
Even if we accept Mr. Obama’s premise—that middle class Americans need what TR called a Square Deal—the breakdown in marriage is the leading cause of income inequality. Married couples live longer, healthier, more prosperous lives. Their children are better cared for, do better in school, and have higher income prospects.
The Obama administration is a Marriage Ender and cannot seriously address poverty in America . This is especially important in the black community. Black children whose parents are married thrive in comparison to their less favored fellow students.
Now, Sec. Hillary Clinton has gone to Geneva to promote Human Rights. She spoke with respect to the UN’s Human Rights Council. There, Mrs. Clinton spoke to delegates from such tyrannical regimes as Libya (suspended), China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Cuba. About Human Rights?
As former Libyan diplomats and Cuban refugees have told us, they sit at these UN conference tables with guns at their heads—figuratively, if not literally. And it was to this body that Hillary Clinton came, hat in hand, to apologize for America’s mistreatment of homosexuals.
Surely, Madame Secretary includes in her list of mea culpas the efforts of 32 states to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman. According to the Obama administration, it is “discrimination” not to accord marital rights to same-sex couplings.
This is the same UN that cheered the rabidly anti-American, violently anti-Israel speeches of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and which colluded for decades in the murderous dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. Don’t ask what respect Gaddafi gave to women’s rights. He filled his days with wild rants and his nights with Viagra.
Ahmadinejad’s homicidal regime in Iran is the leading exporter of terror in the world. The Obama offered Iran “an open hand and not a clenched fist.” How will this administration be able to stop Iran from hanging young homosexual men when it cannot stop them from supplying weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah?
In these two speeches, delivered an ocean apart, we see the fruits of a failed administration, forever pursuing the wrong remedies for many problems they have either made or made worse. Human rights are indeed vitally important. This administration cares less about religious liberty—that firm foundation upon which civil rights stand—than it does about pandering to the bundlers of campaign donations.
Every person should be free to “sit under his own vine and fig tree,” in the beautiful words of Scripture quoted to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport by our first president, George Washington. “And there should be none to make him afraid.”
That magnificent address has been the watchword for America at her best. That is the message President Obama and Sec. Clinton should be taking to a world in need.
--------------- J. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and a visiting professor at Liberty University School of Law. Tags:Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, speeches, ending marriage, dashing hopes, President Theodore Roosevelt, Ken BlackwellTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Checkout what Hitler did to his "BrownShirts" when they began "to stink":Night of the Long Knives Tags:Barack Obama, Obama, Occupy Movement, Occupy Wall Street, You Stink, Political Cartoons, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Despite Calling Canadian Oil ‘Stable’ And ‘Reliable,’ President Obama Is Blocking America’s Efforts To Access It, Create
OBAMA: ‘Importing Oil From Countries That Are Stable And Friendly Is A Good Thing’
PRESIDENT OBAMA:“…we’re still going to have to import some oil… Andwhen it comes to the oil we import from other nations, obviously we’ve got to look at neighbors like Canada and Mexico that are stable and steady and reliable sources.” (President Obama, Remarks, 3/30/11)
·OBAMA: “For those -- just to give background to folks, there are these tar sands in Canada that can produce oil. There is talk about building a pipeline into the United States to import that oil… I will make this general point, which is that, first of all, importing oil from countries that are stable and friendly is a good thing.”(President Obama, Town Hall Event, Fairless Hills, PA, 4/6/11)
Congressional Dems: ‘America Needs The Keystone XL Pipeline’
“America truly cannot afford to say ‘no’ to this privately funded, $20 billion, jobs-creating infrastructure project, which would bolster our economic, energy and national security. To that end, we respectfully urge you to ensure that the Presidential Permit is issued for Keystone XL.” (22 House Democrats, Letter To President Obama, 10/19/11)
· “…Mr. President, America needs the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is in our national interest to have a Presidential Permit issued for Keystone XL as soon as possible.” Ibid
SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): “The Keystone pipeline will create Montana jobs and it should not have to wait 14 months for an up-or-down decision…” Ibid Tags:Canada, U,S,Keystone Pipeline, American JobsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Republicans Demand Accountability Of Dodd-Frank Czar
Update 3:50 PM: House passes (235-180) the REINS Act, Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011. Q: How could 180 elected officials have voted no? It is time to stop the abuses of Executive departments and agencies.
-------------------- Today in Washington, D.C. - Dec. 7, 2011:
House passed HR 2471, passed (303-116) to ease a 1988 law barring disclosure of movie-rental history without a customer's written permission.
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) also filed cloture on the nomination of former Democrat Attorney General of Ohio, Richard Cordray, to head the unaccountable CFPB, created by the Dodd-Frank law. A cloture vote is likely tomorrow or Friday. Forty-five Republican senators have said they will oppose any nominee to head CFPB until significant changes are made to the agency to bring some transparency and accountability to it. A cloture vote is likely Thursday or Friday.
Reid is expected today to file cloture on Democrats’ latest payroll tax extension bill, S. 1744. Yet again, the bill includes a permanent tax hike to pay for temporary relief.
Dodd-Frank Pix Flipped By Popular Demand
The Hill reports, “Senate Republicans offered a public show of unity Tuesday against former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray’s nomination . . . . It’s also unclear whether the White House can count on all of the 53 senators who caucus with Democrats.”
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnelldetailed the basic problem with this CFPB appointment: “[T]he Director of the CFPB, by design, is set to lead one of the least accountable and most powerful agencies in Washington. What we're saying is no single person who's unaccountable to the American people should have that much power. We are asking for the same structure as the SEC, the CFTC, and the FDIC, the FTC, the NLRB, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission — the same structure we use anytime we give unelected bureaucrats new powers that need to be checked to protect against abuse. … We don't need any more unelected, unaccountable czars in Washington.”
Forty-five GOP senators have signed a letter to President Obama saying they won’t confirm any director for the CFPB until some key reforms of the agency are put in place. Among the reforms Republicans call for in their letter are to “Establish a board of directors to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. . . . Subject the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the [Congressional] appropriations process. . . . [And e]stablish a safety-and-soundness check for the prudential regulators.”
The Hilladds, “Republicans on Tuesday insisted they would block Cordray’s confirmation in the procedural vote unless the White House agrees to significant changes to the agency’s framework. 'Allowing the bureau to be funded by the Fed gives it a ‘funding stream that’s completely unique in government, entirely without a check from the American people … making it one of the least transparent agencies in Washington,’ Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said at the news conference. . . . Senate Banking Committee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said the changes are needed ‘to prevent this from being a completely runaway, unaccountable agency, which is exactly the way it was crafted to be.’ . . . ‘It makes no sense for a structure to be created, no matter how noble the cause may be, where there is simply no accountability, no oversight for the budget,’ Collins said.”
As Sen. Shelby said in May, “This is about accountability. The Bureau, as currently structured, lacks any semblance of the checks and balances inherent in the Constitution. Everyone supports consumer protection, but we should never entrust a single person with this much power and public money. We are simply asking the President to support common sense reforms that provide the accountability absent in the current structure.” Tags:Washington, D.C. US House, U.S. Senate, Dood-Frank Czar, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB, no accountability, unlimited fundingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Conservative Oklahoma friend John R. Angier II (Okie Campaigns) put together the following remembrance of December 7, 1941.
Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor A date which will live in infamy...
When President Franklin Roosevelt went before Congress on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941 to request a declaration of war against Japan, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Japan had bombed the United States and killed thousands in a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor.
But Roosevelt knew history would forever remember what he said. And 70 years later, his speech continues to serve as one of the most important in American history.
Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italy would declare war on the U.S. four days later. World War II would claim more than 400,000 American lives and millions more across the world.
It was a high price to pay to learn an important lesson — that we cannot sit idle while threats to our nation run rampant and unchecked. It is a lesson we must never forget
And it all began 70 years ago today.
Tags:December 7, 191, Japanese attack, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, remembrance, historyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tony Perkins, FRC Washington Update: Despite all of our policy differences, I'd like to believe there are some lines that even the Obama administration wouldn't cross. Endorsing bestiality is one of them. While it may be uncomfortable to talk about (FRC ought to know!), it shouldn't be difficult to oppose. Or so we thought. Yesterday, during a White House press conference, Jay Carney was caught off guard when a reporter for WorldNetDaily.com asked for the President's opinion on overturning the military's bestiality ban. Lester Kinsolving put it this way, "The Family Research Council and CNS News both reported a 93-to-7 U.S. Senate vote to approve a Defense Authorization bill that, 'includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, but also repeals the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality.' Does the commander-in-chief approve or disapprove of bestiality in our armed forces?"
Given this administration's track record on sexuality, the question was a legitimate one. Regardless of the nervous laughter in the room, three short syllables were all Jay Carney needed to say to put this issue to rest. Or, if he preferred, Carney could have elaborated on the President's disappointment that the repeal was included in the bill in the first place. Either way, this is political no-brainer. But, after a long pause, Carney's only response was no response. "I don't have any comment on--I don't have any comment on that. Let me go to another question." Kinsolving tried to follow up. "Does the President believe this will be approved by all animal support groups...?" Carney shrugged off the insinuation and told the room, "Let's get to something more serious."
Believe me, I would like to talk about something else too. But the policies of the Obama administration have opened a Pandora's Box of perversion. Maybe the White House couldn't respond to the question, because it didn't have an answer. After all, the administration has already welcomed at least one offender into its ranks. Last Thursday, an official with the Centers for Disease Control was back at work, despite being charged with two counts of child molestation and bestiality. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dr. Kimberly Lindsey, a deputy director with the CDC, has resumed her duties while she awaits trial. A police spokesman confirmed that "During the investigation, evidence was recovered that led to the bestiality charge." Unfortunately, this kind of abuse is more prevalent than people think. And this administration is not only ignoring it, but knowingly protecting employees who practice it. These are the consequences of a society where "anything goes." Eventually, even the vilest cultural taboos are tolerated. Tags:Obama Administration, Barack Obama, Pandora's Box, Sodomy, Bestiality, FRC, Tony PerkinsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Jim Mullen, Contributing Author: Barack Obama is either living in his own little fantasy world or trying to lull Americans to sleep by reading from his liberal-progressive, “Big Book of Fairy Tales.”
Nothing approaching reality could explain the litany of inconsistent, unimaginable policies and statements coming from this President. Unless, of course, it is a deliberate willingness to deceive the American people and outright lie to gain a political advantage. By diverting attention from the worst economy since the Great Depression and apparently the most inept leadership in modern times, he hopes to have four more years to complete the installation of his radical Marxist agenda.
If this President lived in the real world or had any honest intentions for the nation, he should spend the next year explaining his first three years of bizarre behavior. Routinely, he bypasses Congress and rules this country by executive order, then delegates this usurped power to government bureaucrats. One must wonder; is he truly as inept as he appears or is it part of his long-range planning to collapse the system and place himself in a position to wield powers that are even more dictatorial?
Consider the following synopsis of his reign:
The job killing, economic stifling, national healthcare plan that Obama forced upon the American people with the brazen lie that over 40 million more people will receive healthcare at fewer costs without rationing services. Additionally, he made the outlandish claims that illegal aliens and abortion would be exempt from coverage under the plan when he knew that courts had already adjudicated these issues.
The entirety of his energy policy consists of corrupt schemes to pour billions of dollars into his political donors’ solar panel businesses. Taxpayers watch hopelessly as their “investments” evaporate as quickly as sincerity from Obama’s promise.
Energy independence from the Mideast is his claim; yet, he stops virtually all domestic oil exploration, uses the EPA to declare war on coal, and admits he wants electricity costs to “skyrocket.” He compounds this idiocy by preventing the Canadian oil pipeline. As the United States grows more dependent on foreign oil and American jobs continue marching overseas, the President reads us more “fairy tales.”
Illegal immigration is another job killing, security-threatening problem in this country on which this President is still missing in action. In another power-grab from Congress and subversion of American will, he dictated a virtual amnesty to all illegal aliens after declaring all-out war on any state that dared to take any action of self-preservation. Obama courts tens of millions of prospective new voters while his policies pit 14 million unemployed and 8.8 million underemployed Americans against an estimated 13 to 20 million illegal aliens.
Obama lays claim to the title of “champion of the middle class.” Meanwhile, his new middle class is dependent upon food stamps, unemployment benefits, welfare, and hundreds of other government programs just to survive his reign of economic terror. His skewed outlook on this country reasons that those who are not part of the 12 % union workforce or engaged as government employees are not bona fide working Americans and are, therefore, unworthy of any consideration.
In a country founded upon principles of free enterprise and of the people’s right to pursue wealth and prosperity, the Leftist-in-Chief goes about his daily indoctrination tours promoting class warfare. He feels an overpowering compulsion to change the greatest system in the world to one that pulls everyone but the ruling class down to the lowest common denominator.
The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. He rightly scolded Bush for his debt as “unpatriotic.” The debt is now over 15.1 trillion dollars. In less than three years, he has increased the debt more than 42%.
He surrounded himself with admitted revolutionaries, Marxists, communists, Maoists, and socialists, then injected his Marxist poison into the bloodstream of a nation. Incessantly pointing an accusatory finger at others for the national ill-health that ensued goes beyond any concept of reason and common sense.
He justifies using his handpicked National Labor Relations Board to hammer Boeing Aircraft for building a new manufacturing plant in South Carolina. Imagine a company having the audacity to create real jobs in South Carolina at a non-union plant in a right to work state.
He travels the globe apologizing for America and poking friends in the eye with his undiplomatic stick. Compounding his naïve worldview fiascos, he assuages world rogues and bitter enemies with warm embraces of appeasement.
Every week that Obama remains in office, our Military falls further into financial weakness. He made clear that he would veto any attempt by Congress to block the automatic cuts to the military. (Sequester on Defense.) This, after his own Defense Secretary said if the automatic cuts go into effect, it would devastate the Military.
Always missing in action during any budget process or deficit reduction, he spends his time campaigning and giving away more money to his political cronies. Ruling by executive tyranny, bypassing Congress and creating issues on which to run, he initiates and implements his ruinous policies, then runs from them when he hits the campaign circuit.
Barack Obama is like the wise guy who starts a barroom quarrel, then cowardly disappears out the back door when the fists and chairs start flying. In his case, he avoids responsibility for the messes he creates by ducking into the back-allies of politics, and uses the safety of the Presidency as a political sniper’s perch to launch campaign attacks and rhetoric.
Weapons of this President are powerful and the shields that protect him from criticism and accountability virtually unlimited. Sycophantic, groveling media and race-hustling Democrats circle the ranks to provide a ring of protection. Unfortunately, the American people have no protection for the excesses and edicts of a man who wants to “fundamentally change this country” into a socialist-Marxist state.
The prevailing notion of liberalism is that if you succeed in life’s endeavors you deserve to be a target of despots. To which Obama adds, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” He is the self-anointed instrument of big government’s use of taxation and regulation to punish success. He screams to the heavens the outrageous and false claim that he has lowered taxes on Americans, not raised them. Then, in the next speech, he bellows for trillions more in taxes.
Job creation for this president amounts to a mantra permanently programmed into his Teleprompter. However, every socialist policy he advocates and dictates destroys American jobs. His class warfare, tax the rich ideology fuses with his other leftist ideas to form the perfect storm of deepening economic disaster. Neither he nor the Democratic Party has put forth a budget; they have no “jobs” programs – they simply scream for trillions of dollars in tax increases on the real job creators to feed their greedy, Democratic base.
He talks in lofty, high-toned liberal-speak. His manner is most arrogant, and his prevarications come as easily as his disarming smile. Envious praise will abound from con-men everywhere, but every jaw-dropping performance will leave you clutching your wallet and gasping for the fresh air of liberty. Watch for “The Excuse and Blame President,” starring Barack Hussein Obama, coming soon to a political rally near you. Jim Mullen is a Republican conservative activist and writer in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He also writes for the Parkersburg Conservative Examiner and his personal site, Freedom For Us Now. Tags:Barack Obama, Book of Fair Tales, excuses, blame game, Jim Mullen, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Barack Obama, vacations, Hawaii, golf, Martha's Vineyard, Obama Hawaii vacation, Obama incompetenceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
oday in Washington, D.C. - Dec. 6, 2011:
In the House, Several bills may be taken up today and throughout the week, pending bills were identified yesterday.
This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the nomination of former Democrat Attorney General of Ohio, Richard Cordray, to head the unaccountable CFPB, aka "Dodd-Frank Czar, because the position was created by the Dodd-Frank law. A cloture vote is likely later in the week.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 89-0 to confirm Edgardo Ramos to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) forced a cloture vote on President Obama’s controversial nominee to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Caitlin Halligan. At noon, Senate Republicans opposed her confirmation, and with bipartisan support the vote failed, 54-45. Obviously, the battle over Halligan may not be over as it should be. Reid now knows the pressure points and who he needs to go after to get more votes. It would be wise for him to do what is best for the U.S. and consider this domination now DOA. To provide a better understanding of her radical positions, you will find more info below and a separate previous posting on Judicial Nominee Caitlin Halligan’s Controversial Record on the 2nd Amendment and the War on Terror.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained, “In Ms. Halligan’s view, the courts aren’t so much a forum for the even-handed application of the law as a place where a judge can work out his or her own idea of what society should look like. As she once put it, the courts are a means to achieve ‘social progress’, with judges presumably writing the script. On the Second Amendment: As solicitor general of New York, Ms. Halligan advanced the dubious legal theory that those who make firearms should be liable for third parties who misuse them criminally.”
In a 2003 decision discussing her theory, the New York court of Appeals wrote that her complaint, on behalf of then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, “claims that illegally possessed handguns are a common-law public nuisance.” But the Court dismissed the idea, saying, “The New York Court of Appeals has never recognized a common-law public nuisance cause of action based on allegations like those in this complaint. Moreover, other jurisdictions have dismissed public nuisance claims against firearms manufacturers on similar or other grounds… In light of the foregoing, we believe it is legally inappropriate, impractical and unrealistic to mandate that defendants undertake, and the courts enforce, unspecified measures urged by plaintiff in order to abate the conceded availability and criminal use of illegal handguns.”
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the NRA opposed Halligan’s nomination writing, “Our opposition is based on Ms. Halligan's attacks on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. Specifically, she worked to undermine the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), enacted in 2005 with strong bipartisan support. This legislation was critically important in ending a wave of lawsuits sponsored by anti-gun organizations and governments, which sought to blame firearms manufacturers and dealers for the criminal misuse of their products by third parties. . . . After passage of the PLCAA, Ms. Halligan participated in the legal attack on the PLCAA. The state [of NY] filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit supporting New York City's attack on the law's constitutionality. The arguments in that brief were ultimately rejected by the Second Circuit, as they have been by every other appellate court (and every federal court at any level) that has considered the issue.”
On terrorism issues, Halligan joined a New York City Bar Association report arguing, “[C]riminal prosecutions in the federal courts … should be the preferred forum for future terrorism cases.” She also filed an amicus brief on behalf of the terrorist Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, who, according to the AP, “admitted he trained in al Qaeda camps and stayed in al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001 . . . [and] also admitted meeting and having regular contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and with Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who allegedly helped the Sept. 11 hijackers with money and Western-style clothing.” In her brief, Halligan argued that the president did not have the authority to detain Al-Marri under the post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force. But, in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, that the President has the legal authority to detain as enemy combatants individuals who are associated with AQ.
Sen. McConnell concluded, “Ms. Halligan has time and again sought to push her own views over and above those of the courts or those of the people, as reflected in the law. Ms. Halligan’s record strongly suggests that she wouldn’t view a seat on the U.S. Appeals Court as an opportunity to adjudicate, even-handedly, disputes between parties based on the law, but instead as an opportunity to put her thumb on the scale in favor of whatever individual or group or cause she happens to believe in. We shouldn’t be putting activists on the bench.” Tags:Washington, D.C., Us Senate, confirmation votes, Edgardo Ramos, NY, Caitlin Halligan, DC Circuit Court of Appeals, liberal activism, Richard Cordray, Dodd-Frank CzarTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Judicial Nominee Caitlin Halligan’s Controversial Record
Caitlin Halligan Has Activist Views On The Second Amendment And The War On Terror Controversial Views On The 2nd Amendment Halligan, Eliot Spitzer Pushed Radical Legal Theory Deemed ‘Legally Inappropriate’ By Court
THE POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL:“In a battle between gun manufacturers and the attorney general, a decision recently handed down by theappellate division of the New York State Supreme Court blew Spitzer away… Simply stated, they believe that Spitzer's intent is to put the gun companies out of business. If a manufacturer -- any manufacturer -- is held financially responsible for how their product is used, whether by a criminal or someone who is just plain inept, the cost of all products will go through the roof.” (“Lawsuits Continue To Threaten Gun Manufacturers And Owners,” ThePoughkeepsie Journal, 7/31/03)
·NY COURT OF APPEALS: “The New York Court of Appeals has never recognized a common-law public nuisance cause of action based on allegations like those in this complaint. Moreover, other jurisdictions have dismissed public nuisance claims against firearms manufacturers on similar or other grounds… In light of the foregoing, we believe it is legally inappropriate, impractical and unrealistic to mandate that defendants undertake, and the courts enforce, unspecified measures urged by plaintiff in order to abate the conceded availability and criminal use of illegal handguns.” (People Of The State Of New York v. Sturm & Ruger Co., 309 A.D.2d 91, 2003)
· “Eliot Spitzer, of counsel (Caitlin J. Halligan, Beth L. Golden, Peter B. Pope, Hillary Weisman and Sachin S. Pandya, on the brief, Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, attorney) for plaintiffs-appellants.” (People Of The State Of New York v. Sturm & Ruger Co., 309 A.D.2d 91, 2003)
After State Court Rejected Her Radical Legal Theory, Halligan Attacked Bipartisan Congressional Legislation Protecting 2nd Amendment Rights
·“…she worked to undermine the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), enacted in 2005 with strong bipartisan support. This legislation was critically important in ending a wave of lawsuits sponsored by anti-gun organizations and governments, which sought to blame firearms manufacturers and dealers for the criminal misuse of their products by third parties.” (National Rifle Association, Letter To Congress, 3/9/11)
· “After passage of the PLCAA, Ms. Halligan participated in the legal attack on the PLCAA. The state filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit supporting New York City's attack on the law's constitutionality. The arguments in that brief were ultimately rejected by the Second Circuit, as they have been by every other appellate court (and every federal court at any level) that has considered the issue.”(National Rifle Association, Letter To Congress, 3/9/11)
Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was supported by 9 Current Senate Dems: Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Harry Reid (D-NV), & Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). (S. 397, Roll Call Vote # 219: Adopted 65-31: R 50-2; D 14-29; I 1-0; 7/29/05)
GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA: “On behalf of over 300,000 members of Gun Owners of America, I am writing you to express our unequivocal opposition to the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.” (Gun Owners Of America, Letter To Congress, 3/9/11)
· “Given Halligan’s admitted involvement in New York’s legally specious, politically motivated efforts to bankrupt gun manufacturers through frivolous litigation, Halligan has proven to us that she placed liberal political activism above fealty to the law. It is inconceivable to us that such a partisan could be seriously considered…”(Gun Owners Of America, Letter To Congress, 3/9/11)
·“Certainly, no other manufacturer could be held liable for the criminal misuse of its product. And, as Halligan well knows, the application of that principle to firearms would surely eliminate the manufacture of firearms in America. It is significant that a Washington-based anti-gun group openly took credit for coordinating anti-gun suits such as Halligan’s.” (Gun Owners Of America, Letter To Congress, 3/9/11)
Controversial Views On Terrorism Halligan: Federal Courts ‘Should Be The Preferred Forum For Future Terrorism Cases’
Amicus Brief For Al Qaeda Terrorist Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, Ignored Supreme Court Ruling
CBS/AP: “Ali al-Marri, 43, admitted to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization… Al-Marri admitted he trained in al Qaeda camps and stayed in al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001, where he learned how to handle weapons and how to communicate by phone and e-mail using a code. He also admitted meeting and having regular contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and with Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who allegedly helped the Sept. 11 hijackers with money and Western-style clothing.” (“Terror Suspect Al-Marri Pleads Guilty,” The Associated Press/CBS News, 5/1/09)
Help Small Businesses by Reining in Red Tape
Small business owners recently told Gallup that government regulations are the most important problem they face, and it’s a problem that just keeps getting worse. The 2011 Federal Register is already more than 75,000 pages long! Conservatives have looked all year long for ways to relieve our economy from this relentless onslaught of overregulation. The House will take another step this week by passing the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny).
H.R. 10, the REINS Act requires both Congress and the President to sign-off on all major new rules created by federal agencies. The end result will be more accountability and fewer job-killing regulations. This win-win scenario is exactly why the REINS Act was included in the RSC’s Jobs Through Growth Act. Tags:Jobs Through Growth Act, Pocket Card, Jim Jordan, RSC, gobernment overregulation, REINS Act,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Obama’s reelection campaign will look like the polar opposite of his 2008 campaign. Hope and unity will be replaced by demonization and division. His class warfare rhetoric and the Occupy Wall Street movement are all about dividing Americans. Thankfully, more and more business leaders -- real job creators -- are speaking out in defense of free enterprise. [Below] You can read more in my latest column at Humanevents.com
Obama's Class Warfare May Backfire as Big Business and Workers Team Up
Barack Obama has spent much of his presidency attacking the rich and berating businesses for not hiring more workers. But many businesses aren’t hiring because they see an uncertain future with a President who at best doesn’t understand business and at worst is at war with capitalism.
The headlines tell us that the unemployment rate in November fell to 8.6%, its lowest level in more than two years. But, as with much in the Age of Obama, the devil is in the details. The primary reason for the drop is that more than 300,000 Americans ceased looking for work altogether last month—more than twice the number who actually got jobs. (Just think: Unemployment could go to zero if those pesky unemployed folks would just drop out of the job hunt.)
These are people who perhaps understand better than Obama that economic recovery entails more than companies simply “step[ping] up” to hire new workers, as Obama admonished CEOs to do last May.
Last week, Leon Cooperman, CEO of Omega Advisors, a hedge fund, sent Obama a blistering open letter, criticizing the President’s “desperate demagoguery” against job creators. “Capitalism is not the source of our problems, as an economy or as a society,” Cooperman wrote before reminding Obama:
“As a group, [capitalists] employ many millions of taxpaying people, pay their salaries, provide them with health care coverage, start new companies, found new industries, create new products, fill store shelves at Christmas, and keep the wheels of commerce and progress (and indeed of government, by generating the income whose taxation funds it) moving.”
“To frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed,” Cooperman continued, “is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment. It is also a naked, political pander to some of the basest human emotions—a strategy, as history teaches, that never ends well for anyone but totalitarians and anarchists.”
Cooperman isn’t the only employer fed up with the anti-business environment Obama has helped create. Six months ago Bill Looman, CEO of U.S. Cranes, recently posted signs on his company’s trucks stating, “New Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone.”
Facebook pictures of the signs went viral, prompting a visit from the Secret Service, which interviewed Looman as a possible security threat to the President. Welcome to Obama World, where intimidation of the President's critics is becoming commonplace.
But Looman’s concise declaration revealed how much of a burden the Obama administration is to employers. “Can’t afford it,” Looman told an Atlanta radio station last week. “I’ve got people I want to hire now, but I just can’t afford it. And I don’t foresee that I’ll be able to afford it unless some things change in D.C.”
Cooperman and Looman are hardly alone. Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus lambasted Obama in July, saying that “Home Depot would never have succeeded if we’d tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business.”
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has said, “It was a lot easier for me to start my business 30 years ago than it is for an entrepreneur starting out today to do the same thing.”
Polls show as many as three in four small businesses would like to hire but cannot, in many cases because of the stifling regulatory regime Obama has created. An October Gallup poll found that one in three small-business owners are concerned about going out of business and that they are most likely to point to government regulations as the most significant problem they face.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the Obama administration approved 613 rules during its first 33 months. Obama’s regulations (many related to oil drilling, environmental protection, ObamaCare and financial reform) cost between $7 billion and $11 billion annually.
The Obama administration has an additional 219 major rules under consideration, up from 137 in 2005, according to Bloomberg.
Democrats apparently are under no illusions about who will ultimately pay the price for their job-stifling policies. “Preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class,” the New York Times’ Thomas Edsall wrote last week. “All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned …”
It’s been years since Democrats have fared well among white working-class voters. Obama lost them in 2008, and he didn’t help himself by infamously referring to Middle Americans as clinging bitterly to guns, xenophobia and religion. The Democrats lost these voters by 30 percentage points in the 2010 midterm elections.
Obama’s reelection campaign will look like the polar opposite of his 2008 campaign. Hope and unity will be replaced by demonization and division. But Obama may ultimately unite two groups historically at odds—the titans of industry and the working class. They are both under assault by Obama’s socialist policies.
------------- Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. Tags:Gary Bauer, Barack Obama, class warfare, businesses, jobs, no jobs,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:entitlement, Occupy Wall Street, OWS protesters, self entitled, A.F. Branco, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C - Dec. 5, 2011:
Both houses of Congress reconvened today. There are no votes expected on bills.
This evening, the Senate will debate on four district judge nominees and then vote on the nominations. Tomorrow, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a cloture vote on the controversial nomination of Caitlin Joan Halligan to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Second Amendment supporters consider Halligan to be the worst Obama judicial nominee since Elena Kagan. Halligan is a committed adversary of gun rights, an abject apologist for enemy combatants, and an "uber-Leftwing judicial activist" President Obama may be seeking to mitigate with Halligan the decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court which overturned the D.C. gun ban. At minimum, Halligan is being slipped into the Federal judicial system by the Obama administration in hopes she will support progressive efforts in future years via her legal decisions.
Some readers have inquired on more information on actions in the U.S. House. There are often votes on issues which people watching on C-span don't know why they were brought up and voted on when they were. Many of these bills being voted under Suspension of the Rules.
"Suspension of the rules" is a procedure generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills in the United States House of Representatives. The bill in question will be set aside, there is no debate and passage requires a 2/3 majority for passage. The following bills in the House are Legislation Considered Under Suspension and awaiting a vote when there is an opening after they have been published electronically for 3 days:
1) H.R. 2351 - North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act
2) H.R. 944 - To eliminate an unused lighthouse reservation, provide management consistency by incorporating the rocks and small islands along the coast of Orange County, California, into the California Coastal National Monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and meet the original Congressional intent of preserving Orange County's rocks and small islands, and for other purpose
3) H.R. 2360 - Outer continental shelf energy production
4) H.R. 643 - Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District Land Exchange Act
5) H.R. 1560 - To amend the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act to allow the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe to determine blood quantum requirement for membership in that tribe
6) S.683 - Box Elder Utah Land Conveyance Act
7) S. 535 - Fort Pulaski National Monument Lease Authorization Act
8) S.Con.Res. 32 - A concurrent resolution to authorize the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make technical corrections in the enrollment of H.R. 470, an Act to further allocate and expand the availability of hydroelectric power generated at Hoover Dam, and for other purpose.
This week, the House is expected to vote on the following bills:
Legislation Considered Under Suspension:
1) H.R. 1254 - Synthetic Drug Control Act
2) H.R. 2405 - Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Re-authorization Act
3) H.R. 3237 - SOAR Technical Corrections Act
4) H.R. 2297 - To promote the development of the Southwest waterfront in the District of
Columbia, and for other purposes
5) H.R. 313 - Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011
6) H.R. 2471 - To amend section 2710 of title 18, United States Code, to clarify that a video tape service provider may obtain a consumer's informed, written consent on an ongoing basis and that consent may be obtained through the Internet
7) H.R. 1021 - Temporary Bankruptcy Judgeships Extension Act of 2011
8) S.J.Res. 22 - A joint resolution to grant the consent of Congress to an amendment to the compact between the States of Missouri and Illinois providing that bonds issued by the Bi-State Development Agency may mature in not to exceed 40 years, as amended
9) S. 1639 - A bill to amend title 36, United States Code, to authorize the American Legion under its Federal charter to provide guidance and leadership to the individual departments and posts of the American Legion, and for other purposes
10) S. 1541 - A bill to revise the Federal charter for the Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc. to reflect a change in eligibility requirements for membership
Legislation Consider Under Rule (published online for 3 prior to debate and voting): H.R. 10 - Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2011. As identified by Phil Kerpin in his book Democracy Denied, "The REINS Act requires the Congress to affirmatively approve any executive branch or independent agency regulations that have a material effect on the national economy. This restores accountability to our elected officials, rather than leaving the immense regulatory power in the hands of the iconic faceless bureaucrats conveniently 'invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.'"
U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, aka The Dodd-Frank Agency: Politico reported last night, “President Barack Obama is targeting Red State Republican senators opposed to Richard Cordray’s nomination as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — part of his larger strategy to portray the GOP as pawns of Wall Street. . . . ‘We intend to aggressively take the case for Mr. Cordray’s nomination directly to the American people,’ deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said Sunday — ahead of Obama’s Tuesday visit to red Kansas. . . . Earnest said the push would be among the most ‘aggressive’ efforts Obama has made on behalf of any nominee short of a Supreme Court confirmation.”
Reuters adds, “With a Senate vote on Cordray tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Obama and his aides will give a series of media interviews on the nomination of the former Ohio attorney general to head the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans opposed creation of the consumer agency, which was created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation overhauling Wall Street regulation. . . . But Republicans have warned of the risk of regulatory overreach that could make the U.S. financial industry less competitive. They have demanded changes before agreeing to confirm Cordray, who was nominated by Obama in July. In his former role as attorney general in Ohio, Cordray was known as a leader among state attorneys general in a probe of dubious mortgage foreclosure practices. He lost his re-election bid last year and in December, he worked alongside outspoken consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren to help set up the new consumer agency.”
Back in May, 44 Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Obama saying, “As presently organized, far too much power will be vested in the CFPB director without any effective checks and balances. Accordingly, we will not support the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation, to be the CFPB director until the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reformed.” (Because he was not yet sworn in at the time, Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) later also signed the letter, bringing the number to 45).
Republican senators explained, “The Dodd-Frank Act grants the CFPB director unprecedented authority over financial institutions and main street businesses. The CFPB director will have vast rulemaking, supervisory, investigative and enforcement powers and the authority to regulate any person or business that offers or sells a “financial product or service.” This authority will extend to not just traditional financial institutions, but also potentially thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses. This authority will directly affect every American household by limiting their choices when purchasing financial products, restricting the availability of credit to consumers, and increasing the cost of goods or services purchased using credit. . . . Despite this broad mandate the Dodd-Frank Act failed to provide any real checks on the CFPB director’s powers. Once confirmed, the director effectively answers to no one. The CFPB director will be appointed for a five year term and can only be removed by the President in cases of ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.’ Thus, the director cannot even be removed for poor performance, including enacting ill-conceived regulations. Moreover, the Dodd-Frank Act grants the director unfettered authority to set the budget of the CFPB. No agency or institution, including Congress, can review the CFPB budget, and no mechanisms were put in place to ensure that the director is effectively managing public money.”
When the president first nominated Cordray in July, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned, “I would remind him that Senate Republicans still aren’t interested in approving any one to the position until the President agrees to make this massive new government bureaucracy more accountable and transparent to the American people.” He added, “Republicans have voiced our serious concerns over the creation of the CFPB because it represents a government-driven solution to a problem government helped create. We have no doubt that, without proper oversight, the CFPB will only multiply the kind of countless burdensome regulations that are holding our economy back right now, and that it will have countless unintended consequences for individuals and small businesses that constrict credit, stifle growth, and destroy jobs. That’s why everybody from florists to community bankers opposed its creation. That’s why we’ll insist on serious reforms to bring accountability and transparency to the agency before we consider any nominee to run it.”
Senate Republicans haven’t changed their position on the president appointing what amounts to another unaccountable czar to this agency since then. As Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, reminded, “The CFPB is unaccountable by design. We will continue to fight for accountability from regulators.” Tags:Washington, D.C., US Senate, US House, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dodd-Frank Agency, CFPB, REINS Act, Obama Czar, Richard CordrayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
With the defeat of the Balanced Budget Amendment in the House, Americans lost their best hope to restore lasting fiscal restraint to the federal government. Passing a Balanced Budget Amendment would have been a clear sign that Congress is focused on rebuilding confidence in the Federal Government and putting Americans back to work. Balancing the federal budget would have been a boost to job-creating entrepreneurs who would no longer be forced to worry about the uncertainty that our national debt now poses.
Congress failed to muster the political will needed to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.
Just last week the country learned that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or Super Committee, failed to reach an agreement to significantly reduce our national debt. The Super Committee had a real hope to prove that Republicans and Democrats could put partisan differences aside and work together for the good of the country. Unfortunately, the committee’s failure showed Washington at its worst. Political bickering and partisan grandstanding will not move our country forward.
The Super Committee botched a tremendous opportunity to prove that Congress can still accomplish great things.
To add insult to injury, Fitch Ratings has now given the United State Government a negative outlook for its credit rating. Fitch cited the lack of a credible plan to address the national deficit as reasoning for putting the United States on watch. Losing our nation’s AAA credit rating would be a signal to global markets that the United States is incapable reducing our debt and meeting our financial obligations.
People from all corners of the First District have told me that they are tired of Washington’s inability to fix the debt crisis. I share your frustrations. Americans deserve a Congress that is focused on producing thoughtful legislation, not a Congress focused on the politics of the next election. Members of both political parties were sent to Washington to govern, not play games with our nation’s economy. Republicans and Democrats need to work together to produce solutions that will establish fiscal disciple and put America on the road to financial well-being. Tags:First Congressional District, Arkansas, Representative Rick Crawford, missed opportunities, super committee, national debt, federal spending, Balanced Budget AmendmentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
12 States Provide In-State Tuition Discounts to Illegal Aliens
by Tierra Warren: Federal immigration law prohibits states from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens unless the same rates are offered to all U.S. citizens.
But that hasn’t stopped 12 states from doing just that.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits state colleges and universities from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens “on the basis of residence within the State” unless the same in-state rates are offered to all citizens of the United States.
And it is the Justice Department’s responsibility to enforce this law.
But while the DOJ is going after states like Arizona and Alabama for trying to enforce federal immigration law, the U.S. government refuses to sue these twelve states, including California and Texas, that are brazenly breaking the law.
The President and the Attorney General have an obligation to enforce federal immigration regulations, Von Spakovsky and Stimson argue. In a new report, they highlight how these states are encouraging illegal immigration by forcing taxpayers to bear the costs of educating illegal aliens while unfairly punishing out-of-state students who are citizens with higher tuition rates.
[The Full Report!] What do you think? Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry right to stand by his state’s policy of offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants? Should states give tuition discounts for illegal aliens? Tags:states, instate tuition, illegal aliensTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Runaway Spending, Not Low Tax Revenue, Fueling Deficits
Rob Bluey: Following the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) criticized liberals for insisting that any deal include a massive tax hike. In a speech at Heritage last week, he said tax revenue isn’t the problem facing the United States in the future; it’s the massive increase in federal spending.
“It’s actually arithmetically impossible to solve this problem on the tax side alone,” said Toomey, who noted that Democrats on the Super Committee wanted to hike taxes by $1 trillion without making any fundamental reforms to curb unsustainable entitlement programs.
Toomey cited data from the Congressional Budget Office to make his case. Heritage’s 2011 Budget Chart Book uses that same data to depict how government spending — not inadequate tax revenue — is the main driver of long-term deficits.
This week’s chart shows how spending will skyrocket beyond its historical average of 20.3 percent of the U.S. economy, reaching 26.4 percent by 2021. Revenue, meanwhile, will surpass its historical average of 18 percent of GDP in the same year, according to Heritage Foundation calculations based on CBO data.
Toomey was correct in his analysis of the debt crisis. As he said at Heritage, “A trillion-dollar tax increase … would be devastating to the economy, doesn’t solve the problem and would be the wrong way to go.”
Tags:budget chart book, Chart of the Week, congressional budget office, deficit reduction, government spending, Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, spending, tax revenue, U.S. economy, Rob Bluey, Heritage FoundationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
U.S. Military to Rescind Policy Banning Bibles at Hospital
11/5/2011:Comment on this situation by Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Center, "While we're glad that hospital officials are working on changing the policy, the change has yet to be implemented. Given the recent track record of the Obama Administration's disrespect for religious liberty in the military, nothing is certain. We need your help to show military leaders that the American people will not stand for Bible bans such as the one at Walter Reed. Our brave wounded warriors are worthy of the same religious freedom that they themselves fought for. Sign our petition today to help ensure that Bibles and other religious materials are not banned from Walter Reed Medical Center." ----------------
ICYMI:The Obama Administration Was At It Again Ordering Families Not To Share Christian Bibles, Literature, and Artifacts With Their Wounded Veterans! However, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has now rescinded it's policy that prohibited family members of the wounded from bringing Bibles or any religious reading materials to their loved ones.
Thank the Lord for Rep. Steven King (R-IA) for speaking out and for those who were affected and spoke-out. The decision by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was made one day after Congressman Steve King denounced the policy on the floor of the U.S. House and demanded President Obama change it at once. Excerpts are below.
Even with this reversal of position detailed below, it is hard to rejoice when we see the blatant continuous actions by the Obama Administration and liberals to remove all displays, acts or aspects of Christianity.
The First Amendment to the U.S. *Constitution says "Congress shall not make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." It appears, that under the leadership of Constitutional expert Barack Obama, the members of the Obama administration have determined that since they are not part of Congress, they do not have to comply with the 1st Amendment and may do and regulate anything they wish. As Rep. King says in the following article, "Americans must 'take a very strong stand.'” By Todd Starnes: U.S. Military to Rescind Policy Banning Bibles at Hospital - Excerpts Below - Click For Full Story
King spoke from the House floor Thursday blasting a policy memorandum from the commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center written by Chief of Staff C.W. Callahan. The September 14th memo covers guidelines for “wounded, ill, and injured partners in care.”
“No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit,” the policy states.
“That means you can’t bring in a Bible and read from it when you visit your son or your daughter, perhaps – or your wife or husband,” King said. “It means a priest that might be coming in to visit someone on their death bed couldn’t bring in the Eucharist, couldn’t offer Last Rites. This is the most outrageous affront.”
... Dean said the instruction was “in no way meant to prohibit family members from providing religious items to their loved ones at all.” If that’s the case, why is the policy being rescinded? . . .
“I don’t think there’s any excuse for it and there’s no talking it away,” King told Fox News. “The very existence of this, whether it’s enforced or not, tells you what kind of a mindset is there.”
“The idea that these soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that have fought to defend our Constitution, and that includes our First Amendment rights to religious liberty – would be denied that religious liberty when they are lying in a hospital bed recovering from wounds incurred while defending that liberty is the most bitter and offensive type of an irony that I can think of,” he said. . . .
“It flies in the face of not only the Bill of Rights, but 200 years of federal law,” said Ken Klukwoski, of the Family Research Council. “This current administration is showing unprecedented hostility towards those practicing the Christian faith.” “But beyond that,” he told Fox News, “We’ve also seen a militantly secular attitude of trying to sterilize the Defense Department of all references to faith.” . . .
King said Americans must “take a very strong stand.” “Christians are generally nice people and for that reason they can victimize the Christians in this country,” he said. “There was a reason that Christ gave us the demonstration of righteous anger when he threw the money changers out of the temple. It gives us some license to throw these kinds of people out of the military.”
King said he’s been alarmed at a trend he’s seen to scrub Christianity from the military – most recently the decision to remove a cross from an Army chapel in northern Afghanistan because it violated Army regulations.
He placed the blame on the Obama Administration.
“This is Orwellian,” he said. “Who would have believed even two or five years ago that the Executive branch of government led by our Commander in Chief Barack Obama would produce some kind of document that would prohibit family members coming into our military hospitals
Klukwoski said he’s noticed a similar trend in what he called “anti-faith measures.” “We are seeing a shocking level of hostility towards religious faith but beyond that – we’ve also seen a militantly secular attitude of trying to sterilize the defense department of all references to faith and references,” he said.
Tags:Obama administration, secularism, antiChristian, banning prayers, banning Bibles, VA Hospitals, VA Cemeteries, veterans, funeralsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Comments by contributors or sources do not necessarily reflect the position of ARRA, its Officers, memberships or the Editors.
Fair Use: This site/blog may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as provided for in section Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Per said section, the material on this site/blog is distributed without profit to readers to view for the expressed purpose of viewing the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. Any person/entity seeking to use copyrighted material shared on this site/blog for purposes that go beyond "fair use," must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
