News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Michigan & Lousiana Give McCain Delegates
McCain Campaign: Today, Sen. John McCain picked up a total of 50 delegates from Michigan and Louisiana. Republicans met in both states to resolve the assignment of delegates to the Republican National Convention. In Louisiana's 47 delegates, 32 have siad they will vote for McCain with 3 others leaning toward McCain. The McCain campaign said 43 of Louisiana's delegates have signed pledges to vote for McCain. In Michigan, delegates may go unpledged. In soft delegate count, Mitt Romney's received 20 delegates and John McCain's 7 delegates. It appears, the McCain campaign has 18 delegates committed to voting for John McCain. Tags:delegates, Election 2008, John McCain, Louisiana, Michigan, presidential candidatesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor, USAF Retired: The total military dead in the first five years (2003- Feb 2008) Iraq / Afghanistan war was 3,964. We are facing a cowardly enemy unlike any other in our past that hides behind innocent citizens. Protestors like code-pink protest but when peacetime arrives they have no idea of how many military die in the service of their country. In fact, their protest seem not be concerned with American deaths but for those of our enemies.
But to put the Iraq / Afghanistan war deaths in perspective, we can compare the number of military deaths during the "peacetime" Clinton administration [1,245 in 1993; 1,109 in 1994; 1,055 in 1995; 1,008 in 1996 and another 3,198 active duty deaths during the second four year term (1997 - 2000; about 800 active duty deaths per year)]. The total military deaths for the eight years of the Clinton "peacetime" years was 7615. This fact is not identified to criticize the Clinton years as Commander-in Chief. In comparison, more military were killed in "peacetime" in first 5 years (5217 deaths) under the Clinton administration than have been killed in the five years of the Bush administration while at war (3964 deaths).
Death of any of our service men and women in peace or in war is sad but an occupational hazard understood by all that serve. In peacetime, deaths from intensive training, routine intervention, special operations, etc., are not identified as war deaths. However, their service were no less dangerous or important. The military has served to protect and to defend American interests throughout the world without headlines or the respect of the American people during peacetime. But to their loved ones and to those of us who did not die while serving, their deaths in peacetime as well as in war are etched in our memory and hearts. Tags:Afghanistan, ARRA, Bill Clinton, Bill Smith, Iraq War, military deaths, peacetime, President George BushTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Anonymous Guest Article - We confirmed the data and proved the links: Something to pass along to our liberal friends. Most liberals won't take the time to confirm these figures as they want only to believe what the national news networks and celeb's say, but perhaps some will at least allow the information to remain somewhere in the back of thought process. Based on using the actual tax tables, here are examples on what the taxes were/are on various amounts of income for both singles and married couples. so let's see if the Bush tax cuts only helped the rich.
Taxes under Clinton 1999
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750
Taxes under Bush 2008
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250
If you want to know just how effective the mainstream media is, it is amazing how many people that fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obamaboth say they will repeal the Bush tax cutsand a good portion of the people that fall into the categories above can't wait for it to happen. This is like the movie The Sting with Paul Newman; you scam somebody out of some money and they don't even know what happened. [Data from The Tax Foundation]Tags:2008, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, income tax, President George BushTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
This week, leaders of the U.S. Senate signaled that they are intent on giving more power to the United Nations, including the power to impose taxes, paving the way for ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed by voice vote the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433), sponsored by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). This feel good legislation commits the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, over and above what we already spend. The bill references the UN's Millennium Declaration (from 2000) which calls for countries to dramatically increase foreign aid, agree to banning “small arms and light weapons,” and sign on to many dangerous treaties, including the International Criminal Court, Kyoto Protocol, CEDAW, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The U.S. should have nothing to do with these awful treaties or the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). One of the worst aspects of LOST is the mechanism for imposing a global tax by requiring companies to pay a portion of their profits to the International Seabed Authority. If the Senate passes the Obama global tax bill, LOST can't be far behind. Since President Bush has made his support for LOST well known, we imagine he would be willing to sign the global tax legislation, hoping to speed up ratification of LOST. In fact, in his 2009 budget request, President Bush included a request for $5 million for LOST and the international tribunal established by the treaty. Senator David Vitter (R-LA) questioned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Wednesday's committee hearing as to why taxpayer dollars should be going to "a new bureaucratic international organization that has not been endorsed by the U.S. Senate." Secretary Rice reiterated the administration's commitment to ratification of LOST.
Take Action: The Obama global tax bill or the Law of the Sea Treaty could come up on the Senate floor anytime! Be sure to Contact your senators today and tell them to oppose both pieces of legislation. Also, Senators will be in their home offices the week of February 18. Please stop by or schedule an appointment with them to let them know you are watching their position on the Global Tax bill and LOST! Tags:Barack Obama, Global tax, Law of the Sea Treaty, legislation, LOST, UN, US Senate, Condoleezza RiceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tom Formicola Considers Run Against Sen. Mark Pryor
Little Rock health care executive Tom Formicola is forming an exploratory committee for a potential run against Sen. Mark Pryor (D), who is seeking a second term in November and has not yet drawn any major party opponents. Formicola lost the Republican primary for an Arkansas congressional seat in 2006. Dennis Milligan, chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas, said Thursday that Formicola approached him after Milligan initially said he thought the GOP would be unable to field a candidate against Pryor. Formicola, 48, is the sales and operations manager for Medtronic Inc. Tags:Mark Pryor, Tom Formicola, US Senate
Democrats' Extreme Friends:
US Marines "Unwelcome Intruders"
Liberal extremists on the City Council of Berkeley, California recently passed a resolution labeling brave United States Marines as unwelcome and uninvited visitors within the city's boundaries. According to the Sacramento Bee, "... City Council ... labeled military recruiters stationed [in Berkeley] as 'intruders' and pronounced them a 'violent influence' on the city's youth"
Additionally, the Sacramento Bee reported, "It [the Berkeley City Council] also gave the anti-war group Code Pink a permanent parking space in front of the recruiting office, from which it could stage its frequent protests." (Sacramento Bee, 2/12/08)
Senate Democrats are blocking the Senate from saying anything official about this situation and allowing this outrageous insult by the city of Berkeley to go unanswered. Senate Republicans are committed to supporting our troops and fighting back against the radical Senate Democrat agenda. Tags:Berkeley, city council, Code Pink, Democrats, Far-Left, liberals, Marine Corps, Marines, military, NRSC, recruiters, SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas Mourns the Univ. of Illinois Shooting Victims' Families
ARRA News: Arkansans understands the heartache of losing family and friends in a school shooting. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the students who were killed at Northern Illinois University yesterday. Join use in praying for the students, faculty and staff at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL where the death toll is now at six dead and 18 injured. The campus held a prayer vigil last night. This was the fourth shooting in U.S. schools this week. Pray for healing for the wounded, for comfort for those who have lost loved ones and for speedy recovery for the entire community. May we find peace in the words of 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, which says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble... For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.Tags:Arkansas, Illinois, prayer, school, shootingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: There can be no doubt that Senator Barack Obama has become a huge political phenomenon. Just ask a stunned Hillary Clinton, who sees her dream slipping away. His crowds are huge, and their adoration for him almost resembles a religious fervor rather than mere political support. In fact, even some media liberals are beginning to get uncomfortable about what they are witnessing. Joel Stein, who writes for the Los Angeles Times calls it "the cult of Obama." Jake Tapper of ABC News has referred to the "Helter-Skelter cultish qualities" of "Obama worshippers." Charles Krauthammer dealt with this phenomenon in his column in the Washington Post this morning and zeroed in on Senator Obama's soaring, but puzzling, rhetoric that garners such an emotional reaction. He cites Obama lines like this: We can "remake the world as it should be," and "a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest."
I am used to politicians promising they will give me free health care, but "repair the world" and make our age "different than all the rest"? Needless to say, the rhetoric is not matched with any specifics. Senator Obama's only solution so far to Islamofacism is to suggest we abandon our commitments in the Middle East and call a conference for Muslim nations to talk. His economic plan is boiler plate liberalism - take more money from people who are doing well, launder it through the Washington bureaucracy and give what's left, after the bureaucracy skims off its share, to the needy. He has come very close to saying that he would confiscate the profits of oil, insurance and drug companies and use it to fund "free" housing, job progress, etc. If he actually does these things, the consequences would be devastating.
Yet for now, his "spell" still works its magic. Senator Obama, who is promising a new day, has already bought into the old ways - he has buried dozens of pork barrel projects into appropriation bills to help his own state of Illinois. The question of this campaign will be whether facts like that will matter. I believe they will matter, but it isn't going to be easy. Tags:Barack Obama, cult, Democrat, Election 2008, Gary Bauer, presidential candidate
Miltary Offices Association of America(MOAA):The Berkeley, Calif. city council, newly informed that the rest of the country has grown beyond the 1960s, has canceled its planned attack on the U.S. Marine Corps. But they're not signing any peace agreement. The council made headlines across America two weeks ago by voting (6 to 3) to direct the city clerk to send the Marines a letter calling them "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" for establishing a recruiting office in the city. They also approved a parking permit to let a group called "Code Pink" park in front of the Marines' office one day a week to disrupt recruiting efforts with marches and noise.
That touched off multiple rounds of incoming fire from outraged citizens, editorial writers, business leaders, and members of Congress -- who threatened legislation withdrawing appropriations earmarked for companies and public projects in the Berkeley area. That prompted a worried University of California, Berkeley chancellor to write the area's congressional delegation, indicating the university's disagreement with the city council and strong support for its ROTC program and military people in general.
The furor culminated this week in marches and countermarches of pro- and anti-Marine protestors, before the city council voted (7 to 2) to withdraw the letter. We embarrassed our city," said one council member. But a separate motion to apologize to the Marines was defeated. The Marines remain optimistic that they can find a few good men and women, even in Berkeley.Note:The leftist Code Pink activists are still harrassing the Marine Corp recruiting station. Tags:anti-war, anti-war protesters, Berkeley, California, city council, Code Pink, Marine Corps, Marines, military, recruitersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
President George Bush, Comment to News: We also discussed a serious problem facing our country, and that is the fact that house leaders blocked a good piece of legislation that would give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect america from a terrorist attack. America' s citizens must clearly understand that there is still a threat on the homeland. They would like to do us harm, and we have got to get our professionals the tools they need to be able to figure out what the enemy is at so we can stop it.
The senate passed a good bipartisan bill that makes sure our intelligence community has the tools necessary to protect america from this real threat, and I want to thank you all. And thank the democrats in the United States Senate who worked closely to get a strong piece of legislation with a 68-vote majority of the Senate. When it comes to the House of Representatives, it was blocked. By blocking this piece of legislation, our country is more in danger of an attack. By not giving the professionals at the tools they need, it is going to be a lot harder to do the job we need to be able to defend America. It does matter. In matters for a variety of reasons. It matters because intelligence officials will not have to unnecessary to get as much information as a possibly can to protect you. And it matters because these telephone companies that were to collaboratively help us to protect the American people are afraid they're going to get sued. The American people have got to understand that these losses make it harder -- these lawsuits make it harder to protect you.
By blocking this legislation, our professionals tell me they do not have all the tools they need to do their job. So now the House and Senate are off on a 12-day recess. When they come back from that recess, the House leaders must understand that the decision they made to block a good legislation has made it harder for us to protect you, the American people. We expect them to get a good bill as soon as possible. Tags:FISA, President George Bush, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor: NADA, ZILCH, NOTHING - Congress recessed without fully protecting the United States! The Senate did take necessary action on FISA but the House Democrat leadership blocked taking up the Senate-passed FISA reform bill even though a majority of the House supported the bill. This means that the temporary FISA modifications passed last August will expire at midnight tonight. The United States is now more at risk to terrorists. Yesterday, after failing again to address FISA, the Democrats took time to vote to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers in contempt and passed a number of "noncontroversial" bills.
The Senate will reconvene today as a pro forma session at 10 AM today as a means to block the President from calling them back into session and to prevent recess appointments. They will repeat this devious practice again on Tuesday and then on Friday. The Senate will return on the Feb 25th. With the House dragging behind and failing in their efforts on matters of substance, the Senate will resume consideration of the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200). One wonders what other items the Democrat leadership will schedule to damage the American people or to fill their time.
From Senate & News Sources: Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Chariman of the Senate Intelligence committee on the Senate floor yesterday said , “What people have to understand around here is that the quality of the intelligence we are going to be receiving is going to be degraded. It is going to be degraded. It is already going to be degraded as telecommunications companies lose interest.” Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee summed up the absurdity of House Democrats’ priorities this week at a press conference yesterday, saying, “Perhaps if Al-Qaeda were actually on steroids, then the House leadership would be more interested in dealing with them.” Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell called “an act of extraordinary irresponsibility” the House of Representatives left town last night without taking up the Senate-passed FISA reform bill
What’s more, the House spent its time yesterday passing “unprecedented” and “outrageous” contempt citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said of the vote, “It is astonishing and deeply troubling that after months of delay on passing a bill that will help our intelligence professionals monitor foreign terrorists who want to kill Americans, the House has instead turned its attention to the silly, pointless, and unjust act of approving these contempt resolutions.” Fed up with the irresponsible and partisan actions of House Democrats yesterday, House Republicans walked out of the House in protestbefore the vote on the contempt citations. House GOP Leader John Boehner said, “we will not stand idly by and watch the floor of the United States House of Representatives be abused for pure, political grandstanding at the expense of our national security.”
In an op-ed for The Washington Posttoday, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell warned that: “Some have claimed that expiration of the Protect America Act would not significantly affect our operations. Such claims are not supported by the facts. We are already losing capability due to the failure to address liability protection. Without the act in place, vital programs would be plunged into uncertainty and delay, and capabilities would continue to decline. . . . The Protect America Act . . . temporarily closed the gaps in our intelligence collection, but there was a glaring omission: liability protection for those private-sector firms that helped defend the nation after the Sept. 11 attacks. . . [L]ong-term legislation that modernized FISA and provided retroactive liability protection was vital to our operations. The director of the FBI told the Senate that ‘in protecting the homeland it’s absolutely essential’ to have the support of private parties.”Tags:FISA, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Barack Obama, political cartoon, Valentine's DayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Tony Perkins, FRC, Washington Update: Never underestimate the power of some good, old-fashioned grassroots outrage! After floods of angry e-mails, phone calls and a stern warning from the Virginia House of Delegates, William and Mary has finally asked its president, Gene Nichol, to resign. Since 2005, Nichol has been a controversial figure for acts such as removing an historic cross from the college's Wren Chapel. Last week, over the protest of hundreds of students and activists, he allowed the traveling Sex Workers' Art Show to appear on campus, showcasing prostitution and obscenity. We applaud the Board of Visitors for heeding the call to reinstate some dignity at America's second oldest college. See also:Controversial College of William and Mary President Resigns Tags:Tony Perkins, William and Mary, reinstate dignityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Cliff Kincaid: A nice-sounding bill called the “Global Poverty Act,” sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations. Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee . . . is trying to rush Obama’s “Global Poverty Act” (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.
The bill, which is item number four on the committee’s business meeting agenda, passed the House by a voice vote last year because most members didn’t realize what was in it. Congressional sponsors have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending that it would require. According to the website of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, no hearings have been held on the Obama bill in that body. . . .
In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning “small arms and light weapons” and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Millennium Declaration also affirms the U.N. as “the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development.”
Jeffrey Sachs, who runs the U.N.’s “Millennium Project,” says that the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP in increased foreign aid spending would add $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already spends. Over a 13-year period, from 2002, when the U.N.’s Financing for Development conference was held, to the target year of 2015, when the U.S. is expected to meet the “Millennium Development Goals,” this amounts to $845 billion. And the only way to raise that kind of money, Sachs has written, is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. . . .
It appears the Senate version is being pushed not only by Biden and Obama, a member of the committee, but Lugar, the ranking Republican member. Lugar has worked with Obama in the past to promote more foreign aid for Russia, supposedly to stem nuclear proliferation, and has become Obama’s mentor. Like Biden, Lugar is a globalist. They have both promoted passage of the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty, for example. . . . [Read More] Contact your senators! Tags:Barack Obama, Cliff Kincaid, Global tax, UN, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bradley A. Blakeman, Freedom's Watch: Is there some sort of underground competition to determine the wackiest left-wing city in America? From Berkeley in California to Brattleboro in Vermont; from Toledo, Ohio to Boulder, Colorado and beyond, liberal municipalities are doing their best to outdo each other in the "We're unhinged liberals" department.
Berkeley was recently the focus of national attention for calling U.S. Marines "unwanted and unwelcome intruders" and asking that their recruiting office by removed from the city. Berkeley also gave the far left anti-war group, Code Pink, carte blanche to protest the Marine recruiting office any time they liked. Yes, this is the same Code Pink whose members called U.S. troops "terrorists" in a protest outside Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Over in Toledo, Ohio, a company of Marines arrived in the city last week for a scheduled exercise in urban warfare only to be told by Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to turn around and leave. According to his spokesman, the Mayor ordered the Marines to leave because "they frighten people." This type of training is critical to the Marines and their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, making the situation in Toledo far more sinister than the slapstick in Berkeley in that it could have actual life-and-death consequences. We hope the mayor sleeps well at night.
Meanwhile, over in Colorado, the City Council of Boulder is working on a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. However, the City of Brattleboro, Vermont apparently doesn't even want to go through the constitutionally-prescribed impeachment process. The town is voting March 4th on whether to issue a warrant for the arrest of the President and Vice President should they ever visit the tiny liberal hamlet!
This, my friends, is the kind of radical liberalism we are up against as we head into a critical year. They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals of retreat and defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror. Freedom's Watch will continue to fight these extremists, and you can help. Write a letter to your local editor today calling on these cities to stop their attacks on our troops and stop wasting their time and your tax dollars on political theater. Tags:Bradley Blakeman, Code Pink, Freedoms Watch, liberalsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Phyllis Schlafly: Several months ago when the news broke about poisonous pet food and lead-laden toys from China, I asked my local pharmacy to give me a letter stating it is not selling me any prescription drugs imported from China. The reply was, "We don't buy any drugs from China." I said, "I know you don't, but I want you to check with your suppliers and verify that they don't buy from China." That request was met by thunderous silence.
Now we know why. The Government Accountability Office(GAO) reportedthat 80 percent of the drug substances used by U.S. manufacturers to produce prescription drugs is imported. The majority come from Communist China. That means most of our medicines and medical products are manufactured in thousands of unregulated, unsupervised plants run by managers who have no moral code that imposes an obligation to use ingredients that are safe in preference to those that are cheaper but poisonous or at least dangerous. . . . [Read More] Tags:China, Drugs, Eagle Forum, Free Trade, GAO, Phyllis SchlaflyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On a prior post this morning, we commented: "This Democrat Congress’ continued mismanage of critical national security questions is beyond belief and reason. Reid & Pelosi have continued to be absolute failures as leaders. They speak with deceit and malice and are totally inept!"
Yesterday and today, House Democrats "fiddled" and allowed national security to be placed at risk. They discussed inane issues of no importance to our Nation while refusing to address FISA. Tonight they left Washington D.C for a 12 day recess,allowed FISA to expire, and placed our country at risk without the ability to legally monitor international terrorists’ calls to and through the United States. The FISA bill passed by the Senate was bi-partisan but the House leadership refused bi-partisan action. President Bush, scheduled for a trip to meet with several African leaders, offered to postpone his important trip to work with Congress on FISA. But, the House Democrat leadership refused. And to top it off, even though the House will recess for 12 days, the Democrat leadership established a devious method to prevent President Bush calling them back into session to work on the FISA bill. The Democrat Congressional leadership is having one or two members of Congress to appear every three days to call the House or Senate back into session and to then close the session. Thus, they prevent themselves from being called back to work and prevent the President from making recess appointments.
Today, the House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Republicans walked off the floor of the House in protest of the Majority's refusal to schedule a vote on the bipartisan, Senate-passed bill to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) while voting on meaningless actions this afternoon. Video follows:
Tags:FISA, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, US HouseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
At a news conference in Boston, former Gov. Mitt Romney endorsed John McCain for the Republican Party's presidential nomination and asked his delegates to support McCain. Romney's action moves McCain closer to the 1,191 delegates needed for the nomination. Romney said, "I am honored today to give my full support to Senator McCain's candidacy for president of the United States. This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour.'' McCain said he was "very honored'' to have Romney's support and thta they will "join together now and travel this country'' to campaign for the general election. Tags:Election 2008, endorsement, GOP, John McCain, Mitt Romney, presidential candidate, RepublicansTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Estimates by the independent, non-partisan greenpapers.com, has McCain with 814 delegates and Romney with 175 delegates before suspending his campaign. An AP summary give McCain 843 delagates and Romney 280 delegates. Delegate are covered by rules set by individual state GOP, and Romney's delagates are not absolutely bound to supporting McCain. Former Gov. Mike Huckabe, with 215 delegates, emphasized this point today and indicates he is continuing his campaign. McCain is lead in polls in some of the largest states with contests coming in the next few weeks.
This Democrat Congress’ continued mismanage of critical national security questions is beyond belief and reason. Reid & Pelosi have continued to be absolute failures as leaders. They speak with deceit and malice and are totally inept! Is this the new voice of the Democrat Party! We hope that conservative "blue dog" democrats will take action to return sanity their Party's leadership in the Congress. Or is it too late? On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200). Votes on amendments to the bill are expected throughout the day. According to CQ’s SenateWatch (subscription link) “The measure would authorize spending for the Indian Health Service through 2017. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, it would authorize discretionary spending of $16 billion over five years and $35 billion over 10 years.”
Yesterday, the Senate passed the conference report for the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill (H.R. 2082). The51-45 vote was largely along party lines. The New York Timesreports, “. . . Bush intended to veto the bill, on the ground that it would interfere with successful intelligence gathering. . . . Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that Democrats were irresponsibly accusing the C.I.A. of torture and that limiting the interrogators to techniques in the Army Field Manual would seriously undermine American intelligence-gathering efforts.”
In the House: All eyes are on the House of Representatives today to see what the chamber will do on the FISA law. The latest extension of critical FISA revisions expires tomorrow at midnight. The House Democrat Leadership is expected to take up the Senate-passed FISA bill today, but only under suspension of the rules, which would mean the bill would need a 2/3rds vote to pass, instead of a simple majority. Since so many Democrats remain opposed to the new FISA law, this maneuver could result in the current surveillance authority expiring. House Republican Leader John Boehner is pushing Democrats to drop the games and pass the bill, while warning of the consequences of allowing the FISA revisions to expire.
The Politico reports today that the House is actually poised to vote on contempt citations for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. It would be the height of irresponsibility for the House to choose to pursue partisan investigations while allowing our intelligence services’ authority to listen to the conversations of terrorists lapse.
From Senate & News Sources: The best thing for the House to do would be to simply pass the Senate FISA bill. As Sen. Mitch McConnell said yesterday, “There is a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to take up and pass the Senate-passed bill in the House of Representatives now. That’s what we know. That’s what I hope will be done” Roll Call reported, “The intraparty squabbling among Democrats over whether and how to expand the government’s foreign wiretapping powers devolved into chaos Wednesday, when liberal and conservative factions joined with Republicans to defeat a 21-day extension backed by House Democratic leaders.”
As all this plays out in Washington, progress continues to be made in Baghdad on reconciliation. Astonishingly, even The New York Times editorial page recognizes the progress today. Less so has been the reaction of Democrats who continue to declare the troop surge “a failure.” This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put on the Senate calendar yet another bill which would require troop withdrawals from Iraq.Tags:FISA, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: I rejoiced with other military retirees upon learning of the death of the murderer of our fellow comrades and friends. I pray that our fellow comrades may now rest in peace and that Imad Mughniyah suffers eternity in hell! The below words written by Gary Bauer are a more balanced summary than my would be invective comments against this terrorist who should have been eliminated years ago. Gary Bauer: Passions are running high right now at the height of an intense political season. But in spite of any disagreements we may have, as Americans we can all celebrate today's news that a key Hezbollah terrorist has been brought to justice. According to multiple press reports, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Imad Mughniyah was killed in a bomb blast last night in Damascus, Syria. Mughniyah was a terrorist mastermind long sought by the U.S. and Israel, and included on the FBI's most wanted list. The U.S. had placed a bounty of $25 million on him, the same amount put on Osama bin Laden's head, and with good reason.
Mughniyah's list of atrocities is well known. He is believed to have masterminded the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine base in Lebanon that killed 220 Marines and 20 more American personnel. He was indicted for his role in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome. Mughniyah and his thugs diverted the plane to Beirut and demanded the release of 700 prisoners held by Israel. The stand-off lasted 17 days, and when Mughniyah felt his demands were being ignored, the hijackers shot and killed Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem and dumped his body out of the plane onto the tarmac below. Mughniyah is also believed to be responsible for the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that killed more than two-dozen people and another attack in 1994 at a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed nearly 100 people.
According to the Associated Press, his last known public appearance was to attend his brother's funeral in December 1994. He has been in hiding ever since but reportedly met with Iranian "president" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the latter's official visit to Syria in 2006. Needless to say, his assassination is sending shock waves throughout the Middle East. While Israel is denying any responsibility for his death, Danny Yatom, a former Mossad director, hailed the assassination as "a great achievement for the free world." Yatom added: "Mughniyah was one of the most dangerous and cruel terrorists of all time. There are numerous intelligence agencies and countries that have been pursuing him, and the one that was successful in reaching him [has proven itself] to have a high intelligence and operational capability. Whoever can take him out can take out anyone in Hezbollah."
My friends, the evil of Islamofascism is real. Israeli civilians are living daily with the threat of rockets and missiles slamming into schools, homes and hospitals. The thugs who terrorize Israel have attacked us too - our Marine barracks in Lebanon, our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the USS Cole in Yemen, the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. The ideology of death that motivates young Muslim men and women to become homicide bombers in Israel is the same ideology that leads young Muslim men and women to become homicide bombers in Iraq. Israel cannot negotiate with enemies who refuse to recognize her right to exist. America cannot negotiate with enemies who demand we "convert or die." The culture of death that is so carefully nurtured in the Muslim world must be defeated by any means possible. I hope and pray that more moderate Muslims will reject this evil ideology and defeat it peacefully. If not, free nations must be prepared to fight it and defeat it by force. Tags:Gary Bauer, justice, military, terrorist
The Obama Presidential Public Service Announcement by Bob Parks, Outside the Wire: Many are still incensed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell’s editorial board comments in Monday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.”
That, along with the introduction of race as a component of the Democrat presidential nomination process, has alarmed many liberals who believed they were above all that. I contend, that kind of thinking is in their blood. As far as Rendell’s comments, he’s more ignorant than racist.Since “conservative whites” are… conservative, the chances they would vote for a Democrat in the first place is slim. Conservative whites will probably vote Republican, so Rendell’s is a fallacious premise. The fact that he got specific and said that some whites “are probably not ready to vote for an African-American” reflects badly on those who feel themselves the embodiment of positive race relations.
If anything, Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy will spotlight just who’s been the premiere racists in America today, just as their self-revised history proves it’s always been: the Democrat Party. On a local cable access program yesterday of a Black History Month presentation, an African professor talked on and on about race. However, he was also a victim of revisionist history. He went on about how brave and noble the abolitionists to slavery were, and how evil the slave owners were.
He cited the names of many of the early Presidents of the United States who were slave owners. However, not once did he tell his students that the abolitionists would eventually become the Republican Party, and that almost all of those presidents who were slave owners were proud Democrats. He also (and I can’t say conveniently because he appeared truly ignorant of our American heritage) left out that in subsequent decades, it was the Republican Party that elected the first Black congressmen and senators, and collectively wrote a plethora of civil rights legislation the Democrat Party later repealed.
It was the Democrat Party that gave Blacks the poll taxes and literacy tests to keep them from voting… Republican. It was the Democrat Party that created the Ku Klux Klan as an enforcement arm to terrorize Black and White Republicans. It was the Democrat Party that repealed anti-lynching legislation, yet today their very liberals are hypersensitive any time a noose appears in public. If this is all news to you, I do understand. When you control history, you can re-write it to your benefit. As liberals are the super-majority of teachers and professors in academia, it’s no wonder many of us know nothing of the racist legacy of the Democrat Party. Bill Clinton early campaign race-baiting on Hillary’s behalf, and that of Ed Rendell highlights the fact that they are just products of authentic Democrat breeding.
The only people who have floated the idea of a possible President Obama assassination have been liberal Democrats. Note: John Wilkes Booth, a Democrat, assassinated Republican President Abraham Lincoln for his freeing of slaves, so this kind of has precedent. For any of you who want to know more about the real history of the Democrat Party, I invite you to check outthe eye-openingvideos I’ve posted for Black History Month on my website.
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign may well bring to light the true instinctive nature of Democrats. While they still complain about the disenfranchisement of Black voters, the Clinton campaign may seek to nullify Obama’s delegate votes from ordinary Americans with those of Democrat insider elite superdelegates. Talk about irony. Tags:Barack Obama, Black History Month, Bob Parks, Democrats, History, Outside the Wire, racism, RepublicansTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Last night, McCain had significant victories in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. Below is an summary of the state of the race for the Republican nomination. Including the delegates won last night, John McCain is now close to securing the number of delegates needed to be the Republican nominee. In addition, it is now mathematically impossible for Mike Huckabee to win enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination; there simply aren’t enough delegates left at stake for him to win. Review the following chart:
Results based on AP reporting
Current Delegate Count
Remaining Delegates Needed for Nomination
Available Delegates
% Needed to Win
McCain Delegate Count
839
352
774
35%
Huckabee Delegate Count
241
950
123%
1,191 delegates are needed for the nomination. Despite the apparent favorable mathematical position for McCain, with Mike Huckabee still campaigning, John McCain must continue to compete actively in the upcoming states, including Wisconsin, Washington, Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island. With delegates being held by other former candidates and by Huckabee, if McCain fails to garner 352 of the remaining 774 delegates, then a brokered convention will be at hand at least in the initial voting rounds. With Fred Thompson endorsement of McCain a few of his delegates could be released to McCain. If Huckabee does well in the final primaries, Mitt Romney, who suspended his campaign but did not withdraw, could become a key player with his delegates in the nomination process. Based on Romney's prior CPAC statement, he would lean to a decision that provides for the the greatest national security for Americans. Tags:delegates, Fred Thompson, GOP, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, presidential candidates, Election 2008To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) today affirmed his commitment to reducing unauthorized workers in the United States by signing-on to key legislation requiring cooperation between the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service. H.R. 849, the “IRS Illegal Immigrant Information Act of 2007,” offered by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA), would amend the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to request from the Secretary of the Treasury information (including mailing address, amount of wages earned, and identity of employer) about alien workers who are no longer authorized to work in the United States; and the Secretary of Homeland Security to notify the alien worker and the worker's employer that such employment is illegal and must be terminated within 30 days of such notice. “This legislation will close a significant loophole in enforcing our employment laws and reduce the number of illegal immigrants abusing the system and continuing to work in America past their visa date,” Boozman said. “It is unfortunate that this information was never shared before. However, I hope to see this oversight corrected with the passage of this important bill.”Tags:Homeland Security, illegal aliens, illegal workers, IRS, John BoozmanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas Animal Owners To Meet On National Animal ID System
ANIMAL OWNERS MEET IN ATKINS TO DISCUSS ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION AND FREEDOM TO FARM BILL The Arkansas Animal Producer's Association (ARAPA) is holding a Farm Premises Identification (PIN) and National Animal Identification System (NAIS) state wide informational meeting. It will be held at 3:00 to 6:00 PM, Sunday, March 2, 2008, at the Atkins High School Auditorium located just south of I-40 in Atkins. This is open to the public and all state legislators have been invited.
ARAPA has several speakers lined up including well-known NAIS expert Doreen Hannes from Missouri and Ark. Congressman Roy Ragland who will talk about ARAPA's Freedom to Farm Act bill. This important meeting will provide information for owners of cattle, bison, horses, burros, mules, hogs, goats, sheep, exotics, fowl, deer, elk, alpacas, and llamas that will assist them in determining if they will participate in a voluntary PIN/NAIS and actions that can be taken to prevent a mandatory PIN/NAIS. The public may ask questions and offer comments. Other speakers include private property rights spokesman/ARAPA member Tim Smith who will talk about Agenda 21 and the connection to the NAIS. ARAPA member Mary Rivera will speak on her work in the state's Quorum Courts and securing resolutions against the NAIS.
ARAPA is dedicated to representing the interests of all independent Arkansas animal owners. ARAPA submitted testimony to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry against a mandatory NAIS and detailed the probable serious economic consequences in Arkansas if NAIS became mandatory. Representatives attended the Cape Girardeau, MO 2007 Farm Bill Senate Hearing, the Kansas City ID Expo, Washington D.C. R-CALF USA Stampede, and the Washington D.C. Farm Food Voices D.C. 2007 grass roots lobby day sponsored by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Advocates Fund. NAIS informational meetings are being conducted across Arkansas. Working with General Assembly members to pass the Arkansas Freedom to Farm Act is ARAPA’s highest priority. Click for more information or call: 501-620-0326 Tags:Animal Id, ARAPA, Arkansas, Arkansas Animal Producer's Association, NAIS, National Animal Identification SystemTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Former Governor Mike Huckabee removed any doubt of the possibility of returning to Arkansas to run for Senate this year. He is not interested in challenging freshman Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and said he remains focused on his presidential run. Huckabee has consistently denied an interest a Senate. Arkansas Republican Party leaders believe he is probably the only person who could give Pryor a race. Huckabee said:
"There is a greater chance that I would dye my hair green and get tattoos all over my body and do a rock tour with Amy Winehouse than there is that I would run for the Senate. . . . So, let me put that one to rest. ... Ain't happening, not running for the Senate. Done deal. Absolutely no way."
Tags:Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Mike Pryor, presidential candidate, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and began an hour of morning business. Yesterday, the Senate finally passed the FISA reform bill with a strong bipartisan voteof 68-29. The Senate rejected six amendments to the FISA bill. Among those were an amendment which would have stripped the provisions granting immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated in surveillance operations and another which would have allowed lawsuits over such surveillance cooperation but substituted the federal government as a defendant.
At 10:30, the Senate is to hold a cloture vote on the conference report for the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill (H.R. 2082). The White House has threatened to veto the bill over a provision, inserted at the last minute by Democrats during conference negotiations, which attempts to limit CIA interrogation techniques. Sen. Bond will oppose cloture on the bill because [r]equiring the CIA to follow the Army Field Manual would allow terrorists to know what kind of techniques will be used against them.
Later in the day, the Senate could return to the American Indian health care bill (S. 1200).
From Senate & News Sources: It is now up to the House to quickly pass the Senate bill, before the current FISA revisions expire on Friday. Sen. McConnell noted, “Twenty-one House Democrats have written Speaker Pelosi saying they ‘fully support’ the Rockefeller-Bond bill if it is not changed substantially—and it was not— and they urge her to ‘quickly consider’ this bill in order ‘to get a bill signed into law before the Protect America Act expires in February.’”
Yesterday, Sen. Harry Reid said that he would like to extend the law again to give the House more time to hold a conference with the Senate on the bill, instead of passing the bipartisan Senate bill which the president has indicated he would sign. Reid tried to shift blame to the White House if the FISA law lapses on Friday, accusing Bush of “Looking for an excuse to wave his banner of—‘be afraid, terror.’” Sen. McConnell addressed Reid comments of needing still more time on FISA: "In August, my Democratic colleagues said that an additional six months was needed to get this right. In the fall, they said we need just a little more time. Last month, they said give us another 15 days and we can wrap this thing up. At this point no member of this body can reasonably state that this piece of legislation was hastily or unfairly considered. We do not need yet another extension, yet another delay. We need to focus on getting our work done.” Tags:FISA, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A summary of the Potomic Primary Election Results by state. The number of delegates may be adjusted; the numbers available are shown for both the Democrats (D) and Republicans (R).
District of Columbia - D: 38 R: 19
Obama 75% (6 Delegates); Clinton 25% (10 Delegates); (22 at large)
McCain 65% (16 Delegates); Huckabee 17%; Paul 8%; (3 at large)
Maryland - D: 99 R: 37
Obama 60%; Clinton 38%; (99 unassigned)
McCain 55% (10 Delegates); Huckabee 17%; Paul 4%; (27 unassigned)
Virginia - D: 101 R: 63
Obama 63% (29 Delegates); Clinton 36% (22 Delegates); (50 unassigned)
McCain 50% (63 Delegates); Huckabee 41%; Paul 4%
Tags:Barack Obama, delegates, Democrat, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidates, presidential primary, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Hat Tip Michelle Malkin:"Berkeley erupted in violence Tuesday morning when the Communist, terrorist-supporting anti-war group crossed into Martin Luther King Park and assaulted pro-troop individuals. Riot police stood by, but did not stop the assaults. Police agencies did not respond to calls for help." Tags:Berkeley, Code Pink, MarinesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
How The GOP can capture
the Youth Vote
without compromising
conservative principles.
Tags:conservative, GOP, Jason Mattera, Michelle Malkin, Republican, Ronald Reagan, vote, Young America's Foundation, Youth VoteTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A video announcing
the creation of the Young Guns of the House GOP.
Stay tuned...
Tags:Adam Putnam, congress, Eric Cantor, GOP, House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, Roy Blunt, US CongressTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Abolition of Man? How Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science
by John G West, Ph.D., Heritage Lecture: "An age of science is necessarily an age of materialism," wrote Hugh Elliot early in the last century. "Ours is a scientific age, and it may be said with truth that we are all materialists now." One does not have to look far to discover the continued accuracy of Elliot's assessment. Scientific materialism--the claim that everything in the universe can be fully explained by science as the products of unintelligent matter and energy--has become the operating assumption for much of American politics and culture. We are repeatedly told today that our behaviors, our emotions, even our moral and religious longings are reducible to some combination of physical processes interacting with our environment.
In 1943, British writer C. S. Lewis wrote prophetically about the dangers of scientific materialism in a small, penetrating volume titled The Abolition of Man. There Lewis warned that "if man chooses to treat himself as raw material, raw material he will be: not raw material to be manipulated, as he fondly imagined, by himself, but by mere appetite...in the person of his dehumanized Conditioners." My book Darwin Day in America explores the impact on American politics and culture of the make realistic abuse of science Lewis warned about so many years ago. Contrary to its title, the book is not just about Darwin. It is about how modern science--a very good thing--has been misappropriated by scientific elitists who want to offer a materialistic explanation of every part of human culture . . . [Read More]
Tags:C.S. Lewis, Charles Darwin, Heritage Foundation, John West, scienceTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Update: FISA, S. 2248, Passes Senate 68-29 with Immunity for Telecoms. The bill must be reconciled with the House bill, which contains no immunity. The photo of the WTC being attacked by terrorists is used today as a reminder of why FISA is important in monitoring terrorist communications. If you do NOT believe terrorists have already, are currently, and will in future seek to attack the United States, you are denying reality.Why are some in Congress protecting the speech of terrorists outside the US who are communicating with people within the US? Why to they desire to punish businesses and their employees for cooperating with Government orders required to monitor international terrorists? When did some in Congress become more interested in supporting "trial lawyers" than in protecting American lives and property?Lesson learned: being elected to Congress does not make a person either a patriot or a friend of the American people. On The Floor: The Senate reconvened at 10 AM today and resumed consideration of the FISA reform bill (S. 2248). As many as 8 amendments could be voted on. Once the amendments are worked through, the Senate may finally pass the FISA legislation. Among the amendments to the FISA bill to be considered is one by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) which would strip immunity for telecom companies from the bill. Another would substitute the federal government as a defendant in lawsuits against telecoms stemming from surveillance. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell have recommended that the president veto the bill if either of those amendments were to pass.
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on the conference report for the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill (H.R. 2082). The Senate could consider this bill after the FISA bill is cleared. There remains some controversy over the intelligence bill, as it contains interrogation language which the White House objects to. Later in the week, the Senate is expected to return to an American Indian health care bill (S. 1200).
From Senate & News Sources: On the FISA reform bill. Roll Call reports, “Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) appears to have enough votes today to beat back amendments that attempt to strip his bill of lawsuit immunity for telecommunications companies . . . .” Assuming all goes well, the Senate is likely to pass the bipartisan Intelligence Committee bill with few modifications later in the day.
CongressDaily notes that “attention will turn immediately to the House, where trying to complete a final bill overhauling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could be a contentious and complicated chess game that could extend beyond a critical deadline at the end of the week.” The latest extension of the Protect America Act, designed to temporarily correct issues with the FISA law that the current bill will address over the long term, expires on Friday.
The House could pass the Senate bill, thus eliminating the time pressure, but Roll Call reports, “[b]ecause the immunity provision will likely remain intact, the House is expected to balk.” In that case, Reid has prepared three different extensions of the Protect America Act. Another extension should not be necessary because Congress has been aware of problems with FISA since last spring and has had the Senate Intelligence bill to work with since October. A time-consuming conference with House-passed legislation could put our ability to gather intelligence on terrorist threats at risk. Democrats plan to blame Republicans should this happen, but it is the Democrats who have dragged their feet and mismanaged floor time, causing Congress to repeatedly run up against deadlines to reauthorize surveillance programs.
Notable Democrats’ mismanagement hasn’t been limited to FISA. On Friday, Reid backed out of a unanimous consent agreement he’d negotiated with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). Roll Call noted the significance of this: “UC agreements are one of the core rules of the Senate and are used on a daily basis to keep the chamber from becoming bogged down in procedural votes and filibusters.” In another example, The Hill reports that Reid used a delaying tactic to attempt to protect Democrats from having to vote on a bill that would have held the city of Berkeley to account for its city council’s treatment of Marine recruiters. Tags:Berkeley, FISA, Marines, terrorism, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Tony Perkins, FRC Action: After Mitt Romney's surprise exit from the presidential race last week, pundits were ready to fast forward to the fall's election, declaring John McCain the GOP standard bearer. . . . McCain has "got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a strong conservative." If he hopes to reassure social conservatives and shore up the base, I have some suggestions. First, Senator McCain should announce that he now supports President Bush's policy on denying funds for experiments involving human embryos. He should declare that he's alarmed about the breakdown of the family and that he intends to name a White House czar whose role it will be to fashion policies to empower families to tend to their own needs and raise their children in intact homes. McCain could vow to name a distinguished group of conservative scholars and lawyers to advice him on judicial selection with the goal of securing a judiciary that will not act as a lawmaking body. Then, he could make it clear that his vote on Planned Parenthood funding was no fluke. Domestic and foreign agencies engaged in the abortion trade should not receive U.S. tax dollars, and he should leave no doubt that he will veto any bill that offers them funding. These are just a few ideas. . . . Tags:conservatives, John McCain, social conservatives, Tony Perkins, FRC, Family Research Council, Election 2008To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Congress moves to seize control of all U.S. waters
ALERT from American Land Rights Association: Having been slapped down by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision that the words "navigable waters" in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only. Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back. They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR2421 and S1870) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words "navigable waters" with "waters of the United States." Further, it defines "waters of the United States" with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square inch of the U.S., both public and private . . . [Read More]Obviously, those behind this legislation have only contempt for the Constitution, limited government and private property rights. Tags:big government, clean water, Clean Water Restoration Act, property rights, waterTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Kelly Boggs: The Declaration of Independence is an amazing document. However, it seems apparent that too many lawmakers in America are ignorant of its intent. . . . Examining the Declaration of Independence in light of the subsequent Constitution, it seems clear that the government favored by the founders was a limited one. Hence, they created a representative republic highlighted by a separation of powers.
America's founders had long chaffed under a heavy-handed government that sought to control too many aspects of their lives. The last thing they wanted in a new government was an individual or individuals who would seek to micromanage their affairs. Fast forward 232 years from the time the founders declared their independence and it seems that many of our legislators are more than willing for government to intrude into the lives of ordinary citizens.Government in some shape, form or fashion now regulates too much of our lives. . . . [Read More] Tags:Declaration of Independence, Kelly Boogs, limited governmentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Anti-illegal immigration Hazleton mayor running for Congress
Lou Barletta for Congress - Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who has gained a national following with his get-tough approach to illegal immigration, is running for Congress. Barletta announced Thursday that he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent 12-term Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski, who represents a heavily Democratic district in northeastern Pennsylvania . . . "I realized that I'm not just fighting for Hazleton any more. I'm fighting for people all over the country who want their voices heard," Barletta said. "I've done as much as I can fighting illegal immigration as the mayor of a city. I need to take this fight to Washington, because that's where the problem needs to be fixed." . . . [Read More]ARRA Editor Comment: We are pleased to see Mayor Barletta running for Congress. As background, we reported previouslythe following: Hazleton immigrant law voided by judgeDo you agree with Hazelton or the Court?See also:Lou Barletta makes it official!Tags:candidate, Hazleton, PA, Pennsylvania, immigration reform, Lou Barletta, PennsylvaniaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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McCain Campaign: Today, Sen. John McCain picked up a total of 50 delegates from Michigan and Louisiana. Republicans met in both states to resolve the assignment of delegates to the Republican National Convention. In Louisiana's 47 delegates, 32 have siad they will vote for McCain with 3 others leaning toward McCain. The McCain campaign said 43 of Louisiana's delegates have signed pledges to vote for McCain. In Michigan, delegates may go unpledged. In soft delegate count, Mitt Romney's received 20 delegates and John McCain's 7 delegates. It appears, the McCain campaign has 18 delegates committed to voting for John McCain.
