News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Border Security, War on Terror Are Top Issues for Conservatives Unannounced Candidate Fred Thompson Was Preferred Candidate
by Bobby Eberle: Although legislators may try to sneak an immigration reform bill through Congress, grassroots conservatives will be watching. Among a host of issues presented to members of GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team, border security still topped the chart. This means conservatives will be looking for real reform — not pandering.
In a survey conducted this week (view full survey results) by GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team, over 2,500 respondents were asked to indicate which issue they felt was the most important facing America today. Of the nineteen issues listed, Border Security / Immigration was the top choice with 38%. In second was War on Terror at 32%. Moral Decline was the third choice at 9%.
Conservatives continue to look for direction from the Republican Party — a message around which they can rally and inspire others. When asked “What should be the primary focus of the Republican Party?”, the top choice among respondents was “Crafting a clear, unifying message to combat the Democrats and the media” with 44%. In second was “Holding elected Republican officials accountable to the platform and their campaign promises” with 26%. 95% of respondents do not feel that Republicans “have been strong enough in standing up to the Democrats.” 94% do not feel that Republicans have been strong enough in “pushing for conservative legislation and policies.”
Over 2,500 respondents participating, choose unannounced candidates Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich dominated the group, with 36% and 18% respectively over all announced candidates. For announced candidates, respondents selected Sam Brownback (4%), James Gilmore (0%), Rudy Giuliani (9%), Mike Huckabee (2%), Duncan Hunter (3%), John McCain (3%), Ron Paul (3%), Mitt Romney (11%), Tom Tancredo (10%), Tommy Thompson (1%).
------------- ARRA Comment: In reviewing the survey results, when the respondents were asked to select a second but different candidate than their first choice, again Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich dominated the group 19% and 21% respectively. This means that 55% of the surveyed conservative voters picked Fred Thompson 55% of the time as their first or second choice. Tags:Bobby Eberle, border security, Fred Thompson, GOPUSA, immigration reform, moral decline, presidential candidate, Republican, SurveyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Alan Keyes: Thanks to our nation's income tax system, individual Americans are not free--they are literally on parole. If they fail to show up at the designated time and place to testify against themselves, they face the prospect that their material goods will be confiscated and their bodies seized and imprisoned. All this because they are guilty of the crime of doing what the most fundamental law of nature gives them the right to do--procure the means of preserving themselves and their loved ones. . . .
Free-market alternative, I admit that we would face an insoluble dilemma if the income tax were the only form of taxation capable of funding our government effectively. If this were so, it would mean that republican government consistent with the U.S. Constitution and its principles is impossible. The best we could hope for would be some less evil form of tyranny. However, the success of the free enterprise economy made possible by respect for liberty means the existence of a huge marketplace, whose transactions generate an enormous exchange of goods and services. A system of taxation that imposed a modest toll (retail sales tax) on every such open and public exchange in the marketplace would more than suffice to fund the government, without the need to threaten the livelihood or constitutional right of any citizen. In the normal course of their voluntary business and other economic affairs, people would pay for government services, just as they pay for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and entertainment. If we care any longer to preserve the substance of democratic self-government, we need urgently to develop and put in place the free-market alternative to the liberty-destroying income tax system now in place. If we fail to do so, we leave the people, as individuals and as a whole, defenseless against the strategies of self-righteous, power-hungry elites who are already manipulating its administration to isolate and demoralize our people, crushing both their individual spirit and their ability to associate effectively for political action. [Read Complete Article] Tags:Alan Keyes, income tax, taxationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by John Anderson, The Citizen's Journal: This from NWA News, "Residents can now bypass the lines at the city’s post office by visiting a satellite office inside Vision Graphics and Sharp Signs.The U. S. Postal Service contract unit, which provides many of the same services as a traditional branch, opened Thursday at 1016 S. Eighth St., more than a dozen blocks south of the main office in Rogers. The unit boasts one part-time bilingual employee and a full-time employee who speaks some Spanish.“ We’re going to do our absolute best to accommodate our Hispanic community, ” said Lamar Henson, the customer service representative who will oversee the contract unit."
In other illegal immigrant pandering news, my buddies over at Keep Arkansas Legal tell usthat Mike Beebe plans on attending the grand opening of the Mexican Consulate in Little Rockon the 25 of April 10 AM.Among other attendees are ; The governor of the State of Hidalgo, Lic. Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong; the Chancellor of Mexico, Patricia Espinosa; and the Ambassador of Mexico in the United States and Arturo Sarukhan. I'm glad to see Mike Beebe is backing up his campaign pledge to combat illegal immigration with his "bully pulpit."Tags:Arkansas, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign committee launched a You Tube page last week. The campaign has added ten videos to the page (1 welcome video and 9 issue videos). [click to visit site] Tags:Arkansas, GOP, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, Republican
100 Days of Delay, Disarray, Dysfunction & Broken Promises
100 days ago today, the Democrats took control of the House and Senate promising real change in Washington and real results for the American people. But 100 days later, the people of Arkansas and across the country are still waiting. “Instead of enacting real solutions for America, the Democrats have not been able to get one bill signed into law since taking control of Congress. Instead, they spent their first 100 days trying to implement the largest tax increase in American history, setting an arbitrary timeline for withdrawal in Iraq,” said Republican Party of Arkansas spokesman, Jon Gilmore. “It is unfortunate that the Washington, D.C. Democrats have decided to play partisan politics with the safety and funding of our men and women in uniform.”
- DEMS HAVE NOT PASSED ANY OF THEIR PRIORITY LEGISLATION - DEMS VOTED FOR LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN U.S. HISTORY - DEMS BREAK PROMISE OF FIVE-DAY WORK WEEK - DEMS LAUGHED AT CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWAL IN IRAQ - DEM LEADERS DECIDED TO CUT FUNDING FOR TROOPS - DEMS WENT ON VACATION INSTEAD OF FUNDING TROOPS - DEMS LAID OUT "CONVOLUTED" PLAN FOR IRAQ - DEMS ADOPTED ROSIE' O'DONNELL'S VIEW ON WAR ON TERROR [Read Supporting Comments]
Urgent Action Needed On So-called Hate Crimes bill
TVC: Under the cover of fighting so-called ‘hate crimes,’ H.R. 1592 will be used to fund anti-Christian, pro-homosexual/drag queen materials for children – and divert scarce federal resources away from fighting Islamic terrorism. H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 is moving quickly in the House of Representatives. A hearing on H.R. 1592 is scheduled in the House Judiciary Committee for April 17th; with a mark-up in subcommittee expected the next day! A week later, the legislation is expected to be voted out of the full committee and move to the House floor for a quick vote.
If passed and signed into law, it will be used to establish a legal framework to investigate, persecute and prosecute pastors, businessmen and others whose actions are based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible. So-called “hate speech” could become the target of zealous pro-homosexual federal prosecutors – which could include a pastor’s sermon against homosexual behaviors! This so-called “hate crimes” bill will make homosexuality and cross-dressing into federally-protected minority groups! These sexual behaviors will be considered equal to race under federal laws! Once this happens, these behaviors will be protected by civil rights laws, too.
by Allie Martin & Jody Brown: Christian families could be exposed to more than they bargained for if they take a vacation to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, according to the president of the American Family Association (AFA). The Walt Disney Company recently announced it was making wedding ceremonies at its parks and on its cruise lines available to homosexual couples. For years, The Walt Disney Company had limited its "Fairy Tale Wedding" program to couples with valid marriage licenses. But a Disney spokesman says that policy was changed after a homosexual couple contacted the company, wanting to use its wedding service . . . [Read More] Tags:American Family Association, Disney World, homosexual activismTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
For all the tough talk in Washington on immigration, illegal aliens caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Those 5.2 million aliens were simply escorted back across the Rio Grande and turned loose. Many presumably tried to slip into the United States again.The number of aliens prosecuted annually tripled during that five-year period, to 30,848 in fiscal 2005, the most recent figures available. But that still represented less than 3 percent of the 1.17 million persons arrested that year. The prosecution rate was just less than 1 percent in 2001 . . . [Read More] Tags:crime, illegal aliens, illegal immigrationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Mike Huckabee Urges Veto of Senate-Passed Legislation to Provide Federal Funds for Embryonic Stem Research
Press Release - Little Rock, AR: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said today that he strongly supports a presidential veto of legislation passed by the U.S. Senate to limit restrictions on federally-funded embryonic stem cell research. The Senate voted 63-34 late Wednesday to ease restrictions, prompting President Bush's threat of a veto. The vote falls short of the number needed to override a veto.
“I recognize the potential power of stem cell research and I support efforts to expand federal research dollars in adult stem cells and those derived from existing lines. However, I do not favor relaxing restrictions on federal financing on embryonic stem cell research under any circumstances. I believe it is wrong to create human life for the sole purpose of research,” said Huckabee. “Plus recent studies indicate that umbilical cord stem cells may have the same properties as embryonic, rendering the issue moot since use of umbilical wouldn't destroy life,” he said. The House is expected to adopt the Senate’s version in the weeks ahead. President Bush said in a statement that if the legislation advances all the way through Congress to his desk, he will veto it. The Senate also voted 70-28 to pass a separate measure that supports research in adult stem cells, which Huckabee said is more advanced and he supports. See also:Senate OKs embryonic stem cell bills
-Pro-life group says senators misleading on stem cell research billTags:Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, stem cells
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by Bobby Eberle: Although legislators may try to sneak an immigration reform bill through Congress, grassroots conservatives will be watching. Among a host of issues presented to members of GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team, border security still topped the chart. This means conservatives will be looking for real reform — not pandering. 
