Warren Buffett is wrong because he doesn’t understand economics. Support the FairTax

by Michael E. Newton, The Path to Tyranny: Warren Buffett recently remarked:

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.

Technically, what Mr. Buffett said may be true but only because he is looking at the wrong thing. I’m sorry that this supposed capitalist and businessman has never learned that spending money is not what creates wealth. To create wealth, one must save, invest, and produce items that had not existed before or items that do exist but of higher quality or at a lower cost.

Instead of encouraging spending, as the current and past Presidents have done, we should be encouraging investment. That means lower taxes on investments (capital gain, interest, and dividends) and, to offset that loss of revenue, either lower government spending (my preference) or higher taxes on spending. Until 1913, with a few rare exceptions (Civil War), all federal taxes were collected on spending while income, both earned and from investments, were non-taxable. During that time, the United States economy grew like nothing the world had ever seen before. Since the income tax has replaced tariffs as the primary source of government revenue, the United States has saved and invested less money and the economy has grown more slowly.

Mr. Buffett argues that we’ve tried trickle-down economics and it has failed. We have also tried trickle-up economics (in the late 1960s) and it too failed. Let’s try something that has succeeded: consumption taxes instead of income taxes.

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Tags: Michael E. Newton, The Path to Tyranny, Berkshire Hathaway, Capital gain, Economic, Fair tax, FairTax, Giving Pledge, Investment, Tax, Tax cut, This Week (ABC TV series), Trickle-down economics, United States, Warren Buffett, Wealth To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Top Ten Reasons America Won’t Miss the 111th Congress

Mike Brownfield, Morning Bell, The Heritage Foundation: The 111th Congress is officially over, and according to Gallup, it’s also officially the worst Congress in the history of polling. Yet despite its 13% approval rating there are those who are hailing the 111th Congress for its myriad legislative “accomplishments.” Not surprisingly, many of those touting those “accomplishments” are the very members of Congress who voted for the legislation in the first place. Starting at the top with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), you find a woman who is not at all ashamed of the legislation she has passed, despite the disastrous poll numbers. Pelosi says she is “very, very proud of the work that was accomplished by this Congress.”

The American people, though, think differently, and they have already issued their verdict on the 111th Congress by way of an earthshaking election in November. If you take a look at some of Congress’ big-ticket “accomplishments,” you might understand where they’re coming from. Here’s a look at 10 major pieces of legislation coming out of Congress the last two years and why Americans might not be so pleased:

1. Obamacare: Billed as the panacea for America’s health care woes, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” is a 2,700-page behemoth that “portends a massive transfer of power, dollars and decision making to the federal government,” says Heritage’s Nina Owcharenko. Heritage also finds that under the law, workers and families will face increased costs, seniors will lose access to care, and American taxpayers will take the hit for a trillion dollars in new federal spending. (3/2010)
2. The Failed Stimulus (a.k.a., the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act): President Obama promised that his stimulus would save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. The result? America saw a bunch of orange and green “ARRA” signs sprout up like dandelions all over America, touting the slogan “Putting America to Work,” but here we are in December 2010 with a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, a national debt of $2.9 trillion, and 7.3 million jobs shy of President Obama’s promise. Some stimulus! (2/2009)
3. The 9,000-Earmark Omnibus Bill: Never mind the $1.4 trillion budget deficit facing America in 2009. Congress went ahead and passed an omnibus spending bill containing 9,287 pork project earmarks costing $13 billion. Included in the earmarks were a $200,000 tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, Calif., and more than a million dollars to combat Mormon Crickets in Utah. (3/2009)
4. Mountains of Debt: You can’t pin it on one piece of legislation alone, but the 111th Congress has piled heaps upon heaps of new debt — a massive $3.22 trillion. That comes out to $10,429.64 for every man, woman and child counted in the 2010 census. That’s more debt racked-up than in the first 100 Congresses combined, according to CNSNews.com. The total national debt as of the 111th Congress’ last day? $13.859 trillion.
5. The Government Union Bailout: As if one massive bailout weren’t enough, President Obama and the 111th Congress delivered another $26.1 billion bailout in the summer of 2010. The beneficiaries? Government unions and big-spending states that wouldn’t know a balanced budget if it smacked them in the face. The bill was supposed to “save” jobs, but the reality is that most jobs were never in jeopardy. (8/2010)
6. Wall Street Reform? Think Again: While President Obama touted the Dodd-Frank bill of 2010 as a reform of Wall Street and America’s financial rules, the resulting law is a boon for lawyers and lobbyists, thanks to its creation of 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies. What’s more, the bill “does nothing to stop future government bailouts,” makes a TARP-like bailout system permanent, and does nothing to reform two of the biggest culprits behind the financial crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (7/2010)
7. The “Neighborhood Destabilization Act”: Speaker Pelosi would refer to it as the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act,” but in reality the law does the opposite by “putting millions of homeowners or potential buyers at greater risk of an unstable credit and housing market and creating high interest rates in the future.” And if you’re a responsible homeowner, you lose big time.
8. Cash for Clunkers:  Stuck with an old car or truck? Under this plan, the U.S. government would have paid you $3,500 to $4,500 to trade it in for a new, more fuel efficient vehicle. Though the program boosted sales for the two months it was in place, a study showed the clunker program was a clinker. It didn’t bring new buyers into the market; it merely accelerated purchases. The cost to the taxpayers? $3 billion. (According to an Edmunds analysis, it came to $24,000 per car.) (6/2009)
9. New START: President Obama sold this nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia as an effort to reduce nuclear weapons. Conservatives, though, criticized it for being “useless in limiting proliferation, detrimental to missile defense, and counter to the purpose of defense treaties — defending and protecting America from her enemies.” (12/2010)
10. Cap-and-Trade: The Waxman-Markey climate bill that passed the House was intended to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions with the goal of curbing global warming. Were it enacted (which it wasn’t), the plan would have increased gas prices by 58%, and average household electric rates would increase by 90% by 2035. (Passed House in 6/2009; stalled in Senate)

Americans should expect better results from the 112th Congress, that is, if the newly-elected representatives heed their electoral mandate: less spending, lower taxes and limited government. But Americans should also be aware that even if Congress stays in line, President Obama can still pursue a big government agenda with more regulations from unelected bureaucrats. As the president said when the Democrats lost the House and failed to enact cap-and-trade, “I’m going to be looking for other means to address this problem.” America, look out.

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Tags: 111th Congress, budget, Congress, deficit, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare, spending To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Limiting Regulatory Overreach

Curtis Coleman

Curtis Coleman, Contributing Author: Over the past several decades, the U.S. Congress has become increasing derelict in its responsibility to create the nation’s laws, abdicating its legislative responsibility to executive-branch agencies where unelected bureaucrats have and are creating laws by regulation, circumventing the Constitutional mandate for elected representatives of the people to create laws by legislation. No single phrase more succinctly captured this perilous capitulation of responsibility than Nancy Pelosi’s infamous “we have to pass it to see what’s in it.”

Not only must this Congressional dereliction be stopped, it has created a critical need for increased Congressional oversight of the bureaucracies to which its irresponsibility has given birth. As The New York Times recently reported, “Federal rule makers, long the neglected stepchildren of Washington bureaucrats, suddenly find themselves at the center of power as they scramble to work out details of hundreds of sweeping financial and health care regulations that will ultimately affect most Americans.”

Here are three bills which have been or will be introduced in the U.S. Senate (and correspondingly in the House) which can augment an important and effective first set of tools for overseeing and limiting the regulatory overreach of the federal government’s proliferating agencies and burgeoning bureaucracies.

THE ENUMERATED POWERS ACT
On June 22, 2009 Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) along with 17 co-sponsors introduced the Enumerated Powers Act (S. 1319). This bill will require that each Act of Congress contain a concise explanation of the specific constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress.

THE REINS ACT
On September 22, 2010 Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, was joined by 12 other Senators to introduce the REINS (Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny) Act.  According to a news release from Sen. DeMint’s office, “This legislation is intended to restore accountability to the process by which federal agencies finalize major regulations by requiring congressional approval for major regulatory actions.” Congressman Geoff Davis (R-Kentucky) has already introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House, (H.R. 3765).

The REINS Act would require that every new major rule proposed by federal agencies be approved via joint resolution passed by both bodies in Congress and signed by the President before they can take effect. A “major rule” is any rule that the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) finds may result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; a major increase in costs or prices for consumers; or significant adverse effects on the economy.

THE 10TH AMENDMENT REGULATORY REFORM ACT
Over the weekend of December 24th, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) told The Hill that he will be introducing the 10th Amendment Regulatory Reform Act , which mirrors a bill (H.R. 4946) previously introduced by Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) in the House.

“Wicker’s legislation is designed in response to the new healthcare legislation and the federal regulations that are tied with it,” reported The Hill. “Wicker said the new [healthcare] bill would create 159 ‘boards, commissions, bureaus, programs and offices of the federal government which could be reviewed and challenged on an expedited basis with this legislation.’

“With the legislation, state officials could challenge the constitutionality of proposed regulations and that agency would then have 15 days to certify that they are not violating the 10th Amendment. It would also speed up the court process on regulations challenged by states.”

These three bills represent critical “must pass” legislation on the road to the restoration of the federal government to principles of the Constitution. They also constitute compelling opportunities for American patriots to be proactive instead of reactive, to be for positive change instead of only against destructive attacks on the fabric of the Republic.
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Curtis Coleman is the President of The Curtis Coleman Institute for Constitutional Policy and contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: 10th Amendment Regulatory Reform Act, Enumerated Powers Act, REINS Act, Constitutional Crisis, Curtis Coleman, Institute for Constitutional Policy To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil - The Brass Monkeys

Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, US Army (Ret): A very good friend from England sent me an e-mail over the holidays depicting the situation in jolly ole England in regards to the Brits’ submissiveness to the Muslim onslaught. He likened the British leadership - even down to the local “bobbies” - as the Brass Monkeys. Most of our political leaders and appointees are also best represented as the three brass monkeys: “See no evil, Hear no evil, and Speak no evil.” As an example, take the lame duck session of Congress that we just endured. We knew which way most of the Progressive Democrats would vote and they did as we expected. Senator Mitch McConnell gave a half-hearted gesture to fight the Democrats and to his credit the massive Omnibus Bill was voted down. Then all the other lame ducks jammed through legislation passed and most signed into to law by Obama. My question is - Where was the real fight from the Republicans even though many voted against much of the legislation? Where were the filibusters and the battle?  Where was the real fight?

The RINOS (Republicans/Conservatives/Constitutionals in Name Only) are still alive and well in Washington and we know who you are. Many of you will make the list to be voted out of office in the next go-around. How could twelve Republicans vote for the START Treaty in a Lame Duck Congress?

Congress, you are continuing down the path of destroying America. Please realize that we do not need you in our lives as much as you think we do. You are “sucking the oxygen” out of America and its people with all this legislation. Enough is Enough!

We need term limits on elected officials more now than ever before. We need resignations of all those that are corrupt and inept. Judge for yourselves! My request would be to Senators and Congressmen; stay in your States that you represent nine out of twelve months of the year and spend no more than three months out of the year doing the people’s business in Washington. Make use of the electronic age. Three months out of the year will provide you sufficient time to legislate and vote on measures and issues with this thought in mind. “You will be a greater asset to the State that you represent and to the country to stay away from the addiction of Washington and the belief that you need to support a bloated Federal government (and out of control earmarks) as a lifeblood to your elected office.

You see, we do not need you other than to represent us, the People, and abide by and protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I would further suggest in the 2011 Congress that your first order of business is start eliminating and downsizing government organizations and budgets by a minimum of 25 percent. As well, start eliminating Federal Legislation that violates our Constitution and the “Sovereignty” of our States and Local authorities. Go to work to reduce government and spending NOW!  Disallow and avoid all lobbyists and special interests groups. You work only for the People, all the people and no one else! Senators, start acting like the defenders of your sovereign states, not the national slate. Let’s get the 17^th Amendment overturned.

This is a National Call to Action that begins now, the first week of January, 2011. The Declaration of Independence states:

“To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.”

We will not permit the current leaders in the White House and Halls of Congress to continue in their efforts to lead us down the road of Progressive Socialism and destruction of the Republic. The Patriotic Revolution that I forecasted well over a year ago is happening now.

We Constitutionalists face a battle that is unknown to our generations so we must be aggressive in our collective efforts to continue to change the tide. The Fate of the country is now in our hands and the plea from the majority of our citizens is to enforce the Constitution, severely limit the Federal Government and it’s out of control spending. There is a growing list of documented violations of the Constitution and their Oath of Office by current elected and appointed government officials. We cannot wait two more years…it must be NOW!

Lincoln issued this warning in his inaugural address, “Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one.  This is a most valuable and sacred right – a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.”

We are a representative republic, not a democracy; and “rising up” means other than revolution by use of arms. The people must “rise up” (Stand Up) from the grass roots across this great country as we think of the greater good for this and future generations. We are limited in the peaceful transfer of power…resignation, elections, and impeachment. That is why the Patriotic Revolution must take place to ensure survival of the Union.

The oath is simple and reads:

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Sadly, we have seen them violate their oath. Fraud, lying, and corruption are rampant and some have engaged in treasonous activities, and they effectively thumb their noses at us and have sold you to the highest bidder.

The Articles of Confederation were replaced with the Constitution, which granted the federal government enough authority to cultivate, promote and secure the Blessings of Liberty. The balance of authority and individual liberty was understood. Power was confined to that which was enumerated in the Constitution with a certain and meaningful intent for check and balances.

Our Senators and Congressmen continue to seek and stay in office as a career. Power, money and benefits beyond the reach of most Americans are the basis now for many politicians and revolving door appointees staying in office. They must be termed out. With incumbency comes power. The party in the majority assigns power, so a long-term sitting representative can expect such power. A representative expected to stay in office in the 3^rd Congress for approximately two years now expects 12 years, or 6 terms - so much for a “citizen government.” But this can be changed through grass roots organization and discourse. We must make it a local imperative and movement….of the People…by the People… and For the People.

One of my favorite poems reflects our destiny. "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." From the poem Invictus by English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) that was penned in 1875. Yes, America, WE are the Masters of our Fate and the Captains of our Soul.” You are watching while Washington burns and self-destructs before our very eyes but now you are starting to awaken. The majority of the country and its citizens are seeing the light of our inept and incompetent leadership In Washington! The battle is on and we shall not retreat.

“We, the People” have had enough. Enough is Enough!

The Obama White House and identifiable Members of Congress are now on a progressive socialist and treasonous death march and are bankrupting the country beyond expectations. We have watched them violate their sacred oath of office. “We, the People” cannot solely depend on the results of the elections. It is now that many of these public servants (and you know who they are) must put the people and country interests above self-interest by resigning and stepping down immediately. A civil uprising is still not out of the question as “pain” grips the country more each day. Hopefully, our future will reflect the citizens changed the tide in a peaceful way. This means raising your voice now to your neighbors, family, co-workers, and friends in 20121. Be the Captains of your Souls.

I hope and pray for another George Washington to appear within the year and lead us.

Paul E. Vallely, Major General (USA/Ret.) is an author, military strategist and Chairman of Stand Up America and Save Our Democracy Projects. He is also a Contributing Editor to Family Security Matters.

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Tags: Paul E. Valley, brass monkeys, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The Real Financial Crisis

by Adam Bitely: The establishment in Washington, D.C. rose up from the murky swamp to renew their call for expanded, out-of-control government spendingvia the New York Times editorial page on Christmas. In their typical fashion, they call for more “stimulus” to fix state budgets that refuse to cut even the slightest amount of spending.

Too many people will lose government services if spending is cut, the New York Times and the D.C. establishment argue. How quickly they forget that this was the exact formula that Obama tried and failed miserably in 2009. Not to mention that it was government’s out of control spending that created the whole mess in the first place.

At some point in the late 90’s, politicians on all levels began to operate under an assumption that the prosperity would never end. Spending shot through the ceiling, and the services offered from the government expanded along with it. But now that the bills are coming due and the money has been spent, the very people that caused the mess are begging to be the ones to fix it.
This cannot be allowed.

They argue that all they need to do is have Washington, D.C. send ever more “stimulus” down to the states in order to balance the budgets that they didn’t deal with last year due to congressional handouts. Don’t cut spending, they say, because so many poor people would be affected.

But what will happen the following year when the budgets are again running a deficit? The federal government cannot simply send fresh “stimulus” to cover state government spending malfeasance year after year.

To do what the establishment wants, and what the New York Times suggests, is to kick the can down the street yet again. With so many states on the verge of bankruptcy, simply giving them yet another year to figure out how to get their spending habits under control will not solve anything. State legislatures have already had a considerable amount of time to figure this out, and seem to have sat on their hands instead, waiting on monetary gifts from Washington. They should making immediate cuts, and prove that they have kicked the spending habit that voters have been trying to cure.

Here we are heading in to 2011, the world is still in economic chaos, and the establishment still believes that state and local government bailouts under the guise of “stimulus” spending is the way out of our problems. It has been attempted, and it has failed.

California has received over $27 billion in “stimulus” monies, and still it cannot get its financial house in order. Illinois currently faces a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall and has received over $10 billion in “stimulus”, yet there are still folks that think “stimulus” is the only way for the State to recover. Time and again, the “stimulus” experiment is tested, and it is a proven failure.
However, the dirty little secret that the left won’t tell you is that the public employee unions, who collect dues from all those bureaucrats who remain employed, are the direct beneficiaries of state and local bailouts. You won’t hear about the $87 million that public employee union AFSCME spent on contributions to Democrats in the last election as those same Democrats now work to bail out state and local governments to prevent layoffs of AFSCME members.

AFSCME and other public employee unions went “all in” for the Democrats in 2010, and they expect the membership dues that they receive to be politically protected. Believe it or not, AFSCME, was not only the largest union political contributor in the 2010 election, but the largest overall contributor.

And now this special interest is demanding to be paid.
The “stimulus” arguments in favor of allowing state and local governments to avoid necessary budget cuts are nothing more than political cover for the age-old corrupt practice of sending taxpayer money to your friends.

Let’s be clear, government spending must be cut on all levels. The spending is unsustainable, and the bills are coming due. Adding more to the national debt just to balance state budgets for a year is the last thing we need if we ever want to climb out of the economic pit that government overspending has put us in to.

It is time for Congress to do what is right for our nation, and stand up to the public employee unions who only care about their own treasuries. With an almost $14 trillion national debt, failure is not an option.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily

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Tags: AFSCME, Bailouts, Big Labor, Congress, Financial Crisis, Government Spending, National Debt, New York Times, Political Establishment, Public Employee Unions, Stimulus, TARP, Union Bailouts To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama’s Vacation Reading

by William Warren: My latest cartoon pokes fun at Obama reading a book on Reagan while speculating what Reagan might be reading at the same time.

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Tags: Obama Christmas Cartoon, Obama Reads Reagan, Obama's Vacation Reading, Political Cartoons, Ronald Reagan, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama / Berwick Slip Death Panels Back in Health Care

Supported by Dr. Death: Donald Berwick

Elections have consequences and one may be the early demise of the elderly in coming years through the potential "nazification" of the American health care system. It is truly amazing how conservatives will oppose President Obama's agenda and yet will bow down and vote for the confirmation, or at least not stand in the way of the confirmation other than "small talk." Senators, especially Republicans, often say the nominations of the president should be supported because he was elected by the people. Senator's seem to forget their responsibility to their constituents and have to be reminded by the grassroots that we are not happy with their pandering of presidential appointments.

However, in the case of Donald Berwick, the Republicans rightly blocked confirmation to head Medicare and Medicaid and lead implementation of ObamaCare. The reason was that Berwick was definitely not pro-life and was an advocate of "death panels."

But Barack Obama wanted Berwick in place to and appointed him using a recess appointment without his being confirmed. Berwick's appointment officially ends with the new Congress and Congress should defund his position unless Berwick is removed!

With the compromise movement to remove the alleged "death panels" from ObamaCare (the Federal Health Care law), Obama stepped up the process via interim appointee Donald Berwick to covertly slip into
government medicare regulations the advocacy of death options via non treatment.  These procedures go into effect on January 1, 2011.  Taking advantage of the vulnerability of patients when they are in need of care is inhuman and immoral.

Fox News reported,"A new health regulation issued this month offers elderly Medicare health insurance recipients voluntary end-of-life planning – the practice that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin likened to “death panels” during the debate over Obamacare. Democrats had dropped from the monumental health care overhaul, but the Obama administration has written it back in.

As NewsMax reports, "During the stormy debate over his healthcare plan, President Barack Obama promised his program would not "pull the plug on grandma," and Congress dropped plans for death panels and "end of life" counseling that would encourage aged patients from partaking in costly medical procedures."

The New York Times reports that on December 3rd, "the Obama administration seemingly flouted the will of Congress by issuing a new Medicare regulation detailing "voluntary advance care planning" that is to be included during patients' annual checkups. The regulation aimed at the aged 'may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.'"

House Speaker-Elect John Boehner said during the healthcare debate: “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”

Specifically, the measure was known as Section 1233 of the bill the House passed in November 2009. It was not included in the final legislation, however. It allowed Medicare to pay for consultations about advance care planning every five years. In contrast, the new rule allows annual discussions as part of wellness visits.

Elizabeth D. Wickham, executive director of LifeTree, a pro-life Christian educational ministry, told the Times that she is concerned that end-of-life counseling would encourage patients to forgo or curtail care, thus hastening death.

“The infamous Section 1233 is still alive and kicking,” Wickham said. “Patients will lose the ability to control treatments at the end of life.”

The rule was issued by Dr. Donald Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to the Times. He is a longtime advocate for rationing medical procedures for the elderly.

As NewsMax reminded us that "During the heated healthcare debate, supporters of the Obama plan vigorously denied that rationing for seniors would take place and scoffed at "death panel" critics such as Palin."

Well, the scoffing was also deceptive, Obama's appointment of Berwick was deceptive and the method of changing of the Medicare regulation by an interim appointee was deceptive.

Congress must act to stop this regulation provision and to make sure that "Doctor Death" Donald Berwick is removed (Not approved by the new Senate) and prevented from carrying out his plans for the eventual short term plan of preventing or reducing medical care for the elderly, and based on his outspoken positions, his long term plan for the eventual euthanization of the elderly.

The Senate cannot risk President Obama making recess appointments and must take action to prevent them from occurring.

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Tags: death panels, medicare, Barack Obama, Donald Berwick, government regulation, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Big Gov't Bozo of the Week: Nancy Pelosi

Video by Frank McCaffrey: Nancy Pelosi has done damage to America in her leadership role. As her time at the top winds down, Americans For Limited Government's Don Todd is letting her know that she's a Bozo. 

Of course most Americans outside her congressional district know she is a Bozo! In her district, Bozo's are an accepted standard!  Thank the Lord, She will not be Speaker of the House ( and second in in the line of succession to be President in the event of a tragedy) in the next 2 years.  But, a warning - she plans on returning.  So,  the rest of America's voters must make sure that democrats in their congressional districts are not elected in 2012.  In the past, democrats elected to the House have voted for "The Bozo!" and will continue to do so.

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Tags: Bozo, Government, Don Todd, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, US House, Congress, Economy, Unemployment, Gas, Price of Gas, Real Estate, Housing Prices To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Current Session of Congress Died As It Lived

Rasmussen Reports: The current session of Congress finally closed its doors this past week with voters remaining largely as critical of it as they have been for months. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 13% of Likely U.S. Voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent, consistent with surveys for much of the last two years. Fifty-three percent (53%) say it’s been doing a poor job.

Late last month, before the lame duck session voted to extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans, Congress received good or excellent marks from only 11% of all voters and a grade of poor from 60%. The latest poor finding is the lowest Congress has received since October 2009. [See Full Report]

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Tags: Congress, rating, poll, Rasmussen Reports To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Coburn: U.S. Must Live "Within Our Means"; If Not, "We Have a Bleak Future"

Freedom Lighthouse Videos: A video of GOP Sen. Tom Coburn saying that the United States must learn to "live within our means." He warned that if we do not, "we have a bleak future."

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Tags: Tom Coburn, U.S. Debt, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Pryor Votes to the Left of Lincoln in the 111th Congress

Votes to Confirm Activist Judge

Mark Pryor

Curtis Coleman, Contributing Author: If Senator Mark Pryor’s voting record in the 111th Congress is any indication, Sen. Pryor is in the right (or more accurately, the left) party.  Sen. Pryor voted 91% of the time with his liberal Dems in the current Congress, according to The Washington Post’s U. S. Congress Votes Database. That puts him to the left of Senator Blanche Lincoln, who voted with her party only 84% of the time.  The 111th Congress was arguably one of the most liberal Congresses in the history of the Republic.

Sen. Pryor’s votes this week on President Obama’s START Treaty, ratified on Wednesday by a 71-26 vote, are indicative of the Senator’s overall voting propensity.  The START Treaty is an arms control treaty with Russia that limits the nuclear weapons each country can have in their arsenals.  Conservatives in Congress are concerned about flaws in the treaty which grant the Russians more numerous opportunities to pressure for restrictions to American missile defense capabilities, and further erosion of our sovereign right to self-defense.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted for the motion to invoke cloture (end debate and force a vote) on the START Treaty.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against the Wicker Amendment which would have required future negotiations under the Treaty that affected the United States’ rights or obligations be submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent.  The amendment was rejected on a 34-59 vote.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against Kyle Amendment No. 4860 which would have required the President to certify that he had negotiated a legally binding side agreement with the Russian Federation that the Federation would not deploy a significant number of nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles during the duration of the New START Treaty.  The amendment was rejected on a 31-62 vote.

Dec. 21: Pryor voted against Kyle Amendment No. 4893 which would have provided that ratification of the Treaty was subject to the United States and the Russian Federation reaching an agreement regarding access and monitoring.  The amendment was rejected on a 30-63 vote.

Dec. 22: Pryor voted for ratification of the Treaty.  Fifty-six (56) Democrats and 13 Republicans voted for ratification.  Twenty-six (26) Republicans voted against ratification.

Pryor Votes for Confirmation of Activist Judge Earlier on Dec 21, Senator Pryor voted for the confirmation of animal-rights activist Judge Benita Pearson to the United State District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.  Pearson is a member of several animal-rights groups, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), an organization that advocates giving animals the same rights as humans.

In the waning days of the 111th Congress, Sen. Pryor also voted for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in spite of the recommendations of leaders of the military to the contrary, and for the Food Safety Modernization Act, a massive and expensive expansion of the regulatory powers of the FDA.  The billion dollar cost of this steroid shot for this already bloated and inefficient bureaucracy will be paid by new fees and fines charged to food processors.  In other words, brace yourself for food to cost you more.

Will Arkansans forget or forgive Sen. Pryor’s left-of-Lincoln voting record as he tacts to the right over the next four years? Time will tell.
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Curtis Coleman is the President of The Curtis Coleman Institute for Constitutional Policy and contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: animal rights, Benita Pearson, Mark Pryor, START Treaty | Category: Arkansas, Food Safety, Government and Business, National Security To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Stopping the Descent Into Full-blown Socialist Madness

By Howard Rich: At long last there are finally signs that the American Republic’s breakneck descent into full-blown socialist madness — which was fast approaching terminal velocity prior to November’s elections – could be leveling out.

Does this mean our newly-elected leaders can pull America out of its precipitous fiscal nose dive before it’s too late? That remains to be seen — but last week’s lame duck developments in our nation’s capital do offer a small measure of hope.

Backed by an aggressive push from the Tea Party movement, a handful of fiscally conservative U.S. Senators staged a successful revolt against a $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill. This 1,924-page monstrosity contained more than 6,700 earmarks — or pork barrel spending items inserted by lawmakers.

Supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, this massive spending bill represented everything that America’s voters overwhelmingly rejected last month. Not only was its price tag irresponsibly reckless, but the back-slapping breadth of its unnecessary add-ons and the sheer arrogance associated with its presumed passage was the very definition of “business as usual” in Congress.

Like dozens of omnibus bills before it, this lavish spending legislation was an unholy amalgamation of unnecessary special interest-driven pork. It was also something that everyone was going to vote for — because everyone had something in it.

Fortunately, the same network of limited government advocates that helped mobilize a taxpayer revolution at the polls last month joined together to rally voters once again. And these voters – leveraging the power of talk radio, the internet and good old fashioned shoe leather in the halls of Congress — made their voices heard.

“The resulting protests convinced GOPers –even the big spenders from the Appropriations Committee — that they could no longer play the old game of swapping earmarks for campaign cash,” wrote Daniel J. Mitchell, a senior fellow at The Cato Institute. “This is a remarkable development and a huge victory for the Tea Party movement.”

U.S. Senate leader Harry Reid was forced to withdraw this massive spending bill without a vote — choosing instead to offer up a continuing resolution that funds the federal government at existing levels.

Obviously reducing these exorbitant “existing levels” of spending is what the next Congress must focus on when it convenes in January. And accompanying that budgetary effort must be a push for comprehensive tax relief — not just a temporary extension of previous tax cuts. Having witnessed the costly failure of government-driven “stimuli,” the next Congress must make a conscious decision to abandon this Keynesian approach and invest in the American taxpayer for a change.

In other words, limited government advocates should not be content with a pair of “do no harm” quick fixes on taxes and spending — because “do no harm” legislation is not what the situation calls for.

What is required? Immediate cuts — and a steady, sustained reduction in the size and scope of the federal government.

On the first count, politicians could shave a trillion dollars off of the next federal budget by simply limiting spending to its pre-recession levels. Assuming you believe that government should have never been growing at a time when Americans’ income levels were shrinking, then these cuts should not be particularly controversial.

And remember — even before Washington politicians decided to add $4 trillion to the national debt over the last three years, the federal government was already expanding far beyond the ability of taxpayers to sustain its growth. In fact, in the six years leading up to the recession the federal deficit was growing by an average of more than $520 billion each year.

Correcting this unsustainable expansion is not “austerity,” it is simply reducing rampant excess.

It has been said that mindless growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Now that America has been “fiscally diagnosed,” let’s hope a new crop of leaders has the courage to pursue a cure – not merely treat the symptoms of the disease.

Howard Rich is chairman of Americans for Limited Government.

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Tags: 2010 Elections, Austerity, Big Government, Congress, Earmarks, Government Spending, Harry Reid, House Republicans, Howard Rich, Tea Party Movement To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Merry Christmas 2010

To all Patriots and Friends,
Merry Christmas!

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Tags: ARRA News Service, Christmas, 2010, Merry Christmas To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Santa: I’m Skipping That House

by William Warren:

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Tags: Christmas, Christmas Cartoons, Political Cartoons, Santa, U.S. Capitol, William Warren
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Have a Wonderful Christmas Eve

Wishing you a very joyous Christmas Eve.  May take a few days off with activities and family in Florida. Not so cold here in Florida as compared to the Ozark Mountains.

Enjoy this wonderful day as we look forward to tomorrow - Christmas Day. Silvio Canto Jr. provided his radio fans with the following information on the song "Holy Night" which captures this night better than any other song.

Check out the following video with a beautiful version of "Holy Night" by Celtic Woman:



"O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!"

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Tags: holiday message, Christmas, Christmas eve, Holy Night To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Keep the FCC Out of the Internet

Photo: Political Pistachio's -
FCC and UN Close In
On Control of Internet

By Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News: When the Obama administration first went to the Supreme Court in March 2009 to explain its understanding of the First Amendment, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart said the administration believed the government could prohibit a corporation from bouncing a book off a satellite into someone's Kindle if that communication took place within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election and if the book included words advocating the election or defeat of a candidate for federal office.

"Your position is that under the Constitution, the advertising for this book or the sale for the book itself could be prohibited within ... the 60/30-day period?" asked Justice Anthony Kennedy.

"If the book contained the functional equivalent of express advocacy," said Stewart.

"And I suppose," said Kennedy, "it could even -- is it the Kindle where you can read a book? I take it that's from a satellite. So the existing statute would probably prohibit that under your view?"

"Well, the statute applies to cable, satellite and broadcast communications," said Stewart.

"Just to make it clear," said Kennedy, "it's the government's position that under the statute, if this Kindle device where you can read a book which is campaign advocacy, within the 60/30-day period, if it comes from a satellite ... it can be prohibited under the Constitution and perhaps under this statute?

"It can't be prohibited, but a corporation could be barred from using its general treasury funds to publish the book and could be required ... to raise funds to publish the book using its PAC," said Stewart.

In other words, the Obama administration believes it can bar a publisher from electronically selling a book via satellite, cable or broadcast media in an election year if the book advocates throwing someone out of Congress or the White House.

To electronically publish such a book in Barack Obama's America, a publishing house would need to start a political action committee and get political contributors to donate money to fund the operation. No capitalism would be allowed in the business of publishing books that call for the defeat of federal officeholders.

As Stewart dug deeper into his explanation of the administration's understanding of the First Amendment, he was eventually interrupted by the ever-sardonic Justice Antonin Scalia.

"I'm a little disoriented here, Mr. Stewart," said Scalia. "We are dealing with a constitutional provision, are we not, the one that I remember which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press? That's what we're interpreting here?

"That's correct," said Stewart.

In this case -- Citizens United v. FEC -- a 5-4 Supreme Court ruled against the administration, which sought to enforce a rule that said a corporation could not sell a pay-per-view movie to a cable television customer if the movie mentioned a candidate in an election season.

"The government urges us in this case to uphold a direct prohibition on political speech," Chief Justice John Roberts correctly observed in his concurring opinion in the case.

On Tuesday, led by Obama-appointed Chairman Julius Genachowski, the Federal Communications Commission for the first time issued regulations that would arrogate to the FCC the authority to regulate Internet traffic. The regulations come as wolves in sheeps' clothing, purporting to protect consumers from big businesses that would restrict their access to the Web.

But there are two problems with what the FCC is doing: Congress has never given it authority to regulate Internet traffic, and if it is allowed to usurp that authority it will eventually use it to restrict freedom of speech.

When Congress created the Federal Radio Commission in 1927, then converted it into the Federal Communications Commission in 1934, it expressly denied this agency the authority to control speech on the radio.

Henry Bellows, one of the original FRC commissioners, accurately explained its authority in a speech to the League of Women Voters in the year the agency was born.

"Very rightly, Congress has held that the broadcaster shall not be subject to governmental dictation as to the character of the material he sends out, the Federal Radio Commission under present law cannot and will not interfere with any broadcaster's right to control and censor his own programs," said Bellows.

"In that matter, his relations are not with the government, not with the commission, but with you," said Bellows. "It is for you, the listeners, not for us, to censor his programs. It is for you to tell him when he is rendering, or failing to render, real service to the public, and you may be sure that he will listen to your voices."

Thirteen years later, in 1940, in reviewing the broadcast license of the Yankee Network for the Massachusetts radio station WAAB, the FCC ruled that radio stations were forbidden from advocating.

"A truly free radio cannot be used to advocate the causes of the licensee," said the FCC in that case. "It cannot be used to support the candidacies of his friends. It cannot be devoted to the support of principles he happens to regard most favorably. In brief, the broadcaster cannot be an advocate."

What happened between 1927 and 1940? Did Congress increase the authority of federal radio commissioners? No. An all-Democratic government had come into power and had held it for eight years. 1940 was yet another election year, and freedom of speech was not a priority for the incumbent party.

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Tags: free speech, FCC, Internet, SCOTUS, Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News, Political Pistachio. UN To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

DeMint vows to reverse FCC's 'Internet takeover'

by Mark Tapscott, The Washington Examiner: Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, says Federal Communications Commission should be renamed the "Fabricating a Crisis Commission," following a vote by the panel's three Democrats to approve proposed rules that amount to a hostile takeover of the Internet by a government agency acting illegally.

The proposal - misleadingly described by proponents as an attempt to insure "net neutrality" by guaranteeing equal access to the Internet - was introduced a year ago by Julius Genachowski, President Obama's appointee as FCC chairman.

A federal court has ruled that the commission has no authority to regulate the Internet, and a bipartisan group of senators and representives warned Genechowski not to attempt to impose a regulatory regime on the Internet earlier this year.

The move's legality was even questioned by FCC Commissioner Michael Copp, one of the Democrats who voted today with Genachowski, saying he considered voting against the proposal because it lacks a sufficiently defensible legal basis to survive a court challenge promised by major Internet Service Providers like Verizon, Microsoft, and AT & T.

But legal challenges by industry are likely to be much less of a problem for the Genachowski-led takeover than efforts in Congress to stop the FCC in its tracks.

That's clearly what DeMint has in mind, as he said in his statement released today following the FCC action:

“The Obama Administration has ignored evidence that this federal takeover will hang a millstone of regulatory and legal uncertainty around the neck of a vibrant sector of our economy.
"Proceeding on its own liberal whims rather than facts, this FCC has chosen to grant itself broad authority to limit how businesses can bring the internet to consumers in faster and more innovative ways.

“Americans loudly demanded a more limited federal government this November, but the Obama Administration has dedicated itself to expanding centralized government planning. Today, unelected bureaucrats rammed through an internet takeover, even after Congress and courts warned them not to.

“To keep the internet economy thriving, this decision must be reversed. Regulatory reform will be a top priority for Republicans in the next Congress, and I intend to prevent the FCC or any government agency from unilaterally burdening our recovering economy with baseless regulation.

"In order to provide the stability businesses need to grow, I will work with my fellow senators to see passage of my FCC Act, which would ensure that the FCC can only use its rulemaking powers where there is clear evidence of a harmful market failure, as well as the REINS Act, which would add the accountability of a Congressional vote before any government agency’s proposed major regulations may be finalized.”

If the FCC plan somehow manages to survive, it will almost certainly do for First Amendment liberties and the Internet what it did for them in regulating broadcast television and radio. Former CBS News president Fred Friendly's landmark book, "The Good Guys, the Bad Guys and the First Amendment," describes in great detail how the Kennedy and Johnson administrations used the FCC to silence conservative critics.

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Tags: FCC, federal communications commission, first amendment, Freedom of Speech, free speech, Internet, Internet Freedom, Julius Genachowski, Sen. Jim. DeMint To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Morris: Which Republicans Sold Out?

The following article represents the view of the authors and not necessarily the view of the ARRA News Service or its editor. However, the viewpoint shows that elections have consequences and failing to listen to those elections could have consequences in 2012.
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by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann : With the new Republican power in Washington, it is doubly important to keep a close eye on the doings of GOP Senators and Congressmen to spot those who are straying from orthodoxy, seduced by power and the insider clubiness that characterizes Washington.

In the Lame Duck session, we want to draw attention to six Republican U.S. Senators who voted with the Democrats on a key issue. We should all bear their apostasy in mind and, in particular, make them mindful of the possibility of primary challenges to their re-nomination.

Two Senators, in particular, deserve to have primary challengers take them on in 2012 -- Tennessee's Bob Corker and Mississippi's Thad Cochran. Both men voted for the START treaty which conceded a permanent edge in nuclear weaponry to Russia. While the Treaty provided for equal and reduced stockpiles of strategic warheads, it did nothing to address the vast piles of tactical nuclear warheads held by the Russians. The Russians have 10,000 of these battlefield nuclear weapons piled up in the stockpile while we have only a few hundred.

In addition, START's preamble blocks the U.S. from developing missile defenses, now especially important in light of North Korea's and Iran's expanding capacities. Both Corker and Cochran face re-election in 2012. They should both be challenged for the nomination by men who put our need for national security above appeasing the Russians. Having suppressed democracy, wiped out free speech, taken over all the media, nationalized their oil and energy industry, invaded Georgia, enabled the Iranian nuclear program, and tried to establish a natural gas monopoly in Europe, what else does Putin need to do before Corker and Cochran realize that appeasement won't work?

Bob Corker's vote for START probably stems from the insider-old boy network on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on which he sits. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who also voted for START, sits alongside him on the Republican minority on the committee. Led by Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking GOP member on the panel, all three voted for START. Unfortunately, Isakson is not up for re-election until 2016. When he does come up for re-election, we hope that the citizens of Georgia's Republican Party hold him to account.

Lamar Alexander, also of Tennessee, backed START and faces re-election in 2014.

In a previous column, we called attention to the defections of Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Crapo of Idaho from the ranks of fiscal conservatives. Both Coburn and Crapo voted for the recommendations of the Bowles-Simpson Deficit Reduction Commission which recommended cutting the deductions for home mortgages and charitable contributions by two-thirds for most taxpayers and urged the enactment of almost $1 trillion in new taxes.

Coburn and Crapo only announced their intention to endorse the Commission report after they had been re-elected on November 2, 2010. Now they are safe in their seats until 2016. But we hope to be still writing columns by then and will remind the voters of those two conservative states how ill-served they were by their Republican senators.

So who sold out?

Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Bob Corker, Tennessee
Mike Crapo, Idaho
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
Lamar Alexander, Tennessee
Johnny Isakson, Georgia

Let's remember.

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Tags: Dick Morris, Eileen McGann, Republican, sold out, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Still love "Little Saint Nick" at this time of the year!

How many times have I heard this one?  I don't know but I never get tired of it.

The Beach Boys recorded this tune in the 1960's and it became a huge holiday favorite.

Click for the song:


H/T Silvio Canto:

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Tags: Saint Nick, Christmas, The Beach Boys, music To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Republican Lawmakers Immediately Promised To Work To Stop FCC Internet Rules

Update 2:10 PM CST: U.S. Senate voted 71 to 26 to ratify the New START treaty with Russia. Also, the Senate using a voice vote approved a bill to provide $4.2 billion in compensation and long-term health-care benefits to first responders who became ill from working at Ground Zero in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. The House is expected to immediately consider bill.
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The Senate reconvened at 9 AM and resumed post-cloture consideration of the New START treaty, Treaty Doc. 111-5. The Senate may consider a pending amendment to the treaty from Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) and amendments to the resolution of ratification to accompany the treaty from Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Jim Risch (R-ID), and John McCain (R-AZ).  If all post-cloture time is not used, a vote on ratification of the START Treaty could come this afternoon.

Senate may take up a 9/11 responders health bill and several nominations, including that of James Cole to be Deputy Attorney General, before the Senate finishes its work in the lame duck session.

This morning, the Senate passed by unanimous consent H.R. 6523, the Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Authorization bill, which had been stripped of controversial provisions Democrats included that had prevented its passage earlier this year.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 79-16 to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through March 4^th. Prior to that vote, the Senate voted 82-14 to invoke cloture on the vehicle for the CR.

The Senate also voted 67-28 to invoke cloture on the START Treaty. Following that vote, the Senate rejected amendments to the treaty from Sens. John Ensign (R-NV), Jim Risch, and Roger Wicker (R-MS), and two amendments from Sen. Kyl.

This morning, President Obama signed the bill repealing Don't Ask, Don't Policy in the military.

Today’s Washington Post headline gives a good summary of the reaction to the FCC’s vote yesterday: “FCC approves net-neutrality rules; criticism is immediate.” The Post notes, “The regulations passed the Federal Communications Commission along party lines, with two Democratic commissioners reluctantly siding with agency Chairman Julius Genachowski in a 3-2 vote. The rules seek to uphold a principle called net neutrality, under which Internet service providers are supposed to give equal treatment to all legal Web content on their networks. But the measure met with swift opposition Tuesday. Republican lawmakers immediately promised to work to overthrow the rules, while analysts predicted that cable and telecom giants will file lawsuits challenging the FCC's authority to regulate the broadband market.”

In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal today, John Fund elaborates on just why the FCC’s decision is so troublesome. “The Federal Communications Commission's new ‘net neutrality’ rules, passed on a partisan 3-2 vote yesterday, represent a huge win for a slick lobbying campaign run by liberal activist groups and foundations. The losers are likely to be consumers who will see innovation and investment chilled by regulations that treat the Internet like a public utility. There's little evidence the public is demanding these rules, which purport to stop the non-problem of phone and cable companies blocking access to websites and interfering with Internet traffic. Over 300 House and Senate members have signed a letter opposing FCC Internet regulation, and there will undoubtedly be even less support in the next Congress. Yet President Obama, long an ardent backer of net neutrality, is ignoring both Congress and adverse court rulings, especially by a federal appeals court in April that the agency doesn't have the power to enforce net neutrality. He is seeking to impose his will on the Internet through the executive branch.”

Indeed, as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, explained in a floor speech following the vote, “The FCC pursuit of net neutrality regulations involves claiming authority under the Communications Act that they do not have. Congress did not provide the FCC authority to regulate how Internet service providers manage their network, not anywhere in the Communications Act nor any other statute administered by the Commission.”

Sen. Hutchison urged her fellow members of Congress to oppose the FCC’s new rules, saying, “This is a time for Congress to take a stand. These regulations will raise uncertainty about the methods and practices communications companies may use to manage their networks. Heavy-handed regulation threatens investment and innovation in broadband services, placing valuable American jobs at risk. . . . We will have a resolution of disapproval at the appropriate time in the next session of Congress.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a video responding to the ruling yesterday, “Our economy has benefited from the rapid growth of the Internet, and that’s due in large part to the lack of government involvement. . . . I, along with several of my colleagues, have urged the FCC Chairman to abandon this flawed approach. . . . The Internet is a valuable resource and it must be left alone.”

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Tags: US Senate, Start Treaty, FCC, Internet, free speech To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

2010 Disaster Recap

by William Warren: Cartoon comments on the outrageous spending in Washington–and recaps some of the year’s worst natural disasters.

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Tags: 2010 Disaster Recap, Big Goverment, Democrats, Government Spending, Natural Disaster, Political Cartoons, Republicans, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Santa's Business Is Getting Sleighed

Bankrupting America Video: Kris Kringle is trying to compete. And Washington just isn't helping....

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Tags: Santa, Santa Clause, the economy, Christmas, Merry Christmas, government spending, spending, North Pole, Kris Kringle, Bankrupting America To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Time to Freeze Global Warming

Phyllis Schlafly

by Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum: The global warming prophets and propagandists, who enjoy living in style on other people's money, gathered last month in the plush resort of Cancun, Mexico, where January temperatures usually hover around 80 degrees. God must have a sense of humor because Cancun was hit by its coldest temperature in a hundred years.

The first day of the conference featured an address from Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, who spoke with much concern about global warming and the damage that humans are perpetrating on the planet. He cited the deaths of 60 people in Mexico because of weather extremes, but didn't mention Mexico's 22,000 deaths caused by the illegal drug trade.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that "We need to fundamentally transform the global economy, based on low-carbon, clean energy resources." Barack Obama's announced goal of fundamentally transforming the United States has morphed into transforming the world.

This 16th annual conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), called COP 16 (Conference of the Parties 16), attracted some 20,000 delegates from 194 countries. It had little to do with any science about climate change, and everything to do with trying to get the United States and other industrialized nations to redistribute their wealth to the poorer nations under the supervision of eager United Nations bureaucrats.

Like previous climate change conferences, COP 16 deliberately pitted the poor countries against the rich countries, encouraging the poor countries to demand what the rich countries have without earning or paying for it. This is the internationalist version of the basic Marxist tactic called the class war.

COP 16 propagandists blame every human tragedy on the high standard of living enjoyed (and earned) by the rich countries. Our over-consumption is alleged to cause global warming. We are guilty because we are prosperous, so we supposedly owe reparations to the poor nations.

At COP 15 in Copenhagen a year ago, the poor countries ganged up on us and agreed that the United States should create a $30 billion "Fast Start" global climate fund by 2012 and reduce U.S. greenhouse gases by 17 percent below the 2005 levels. This Fast Start climate fund would be committed to grow to $100 billion by 2020.
Fortunately, the Copenhagen proposals were never formally adopted. President Obama came and left empty handed, Communist China refused to limit its emissions, and the Third World dictators didn't get the $100 billion handouts they expected.

The poor countries now say they want cash handouts, not loans, because they don't want to take on any debt. They also floated a scheme to force 37 industrialized nations to transfer their technologies along with huge financial bonuses to the poorer 155 nations.

Donations to the Fast Start Fund are not coming in as rapidly as the avaricious countries want, so COP 16 participants decided it's time to call for a global tax. They want it to be unlimited in scope and unlinked to national treasuries so that tax receipts can flow without the nuisance of having to be approved by the rich countries' legislatures.

The UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Group confirmed that the goal is to impose taxes on international shipping, aviation, and financial transactions involving stocks, bonds and foreign exchanges, as well as a carbon tax. Those taxes could raise at least $100 billion annually, and the International Maritime Organization is ready to be the assessor-collector.

COP 16 agitators consider all these payments compensatory for damages caused by the rich nations. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that the amounts needed to protect against climate change will run to $160 billion to $200 billion yearly by 2020.

COP 16's bag of tricks also includes plans for global governance. The new UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, said that COP 16 "is a litmus test for global governance capacity," and that "Cancun will be successful if governments compromise" by launching "a new era."

The poor nations at COP 16 presented a document called "Declaration from the South-South Summit on Climate Justice and Finance." It claimed that climate change is "an economic and social crisis, a political crisis, a food and energy crisis, and an ecological crisis."

This diatribe called for "climate justice, ecological justice, economic justice, gender justice and historical justice." Its presenters concluded by chanting, "Let's globalize the struggle!"

The main cause of poverty in other countries is the lack of enough energy. We should be increasing the use of energy rather than expanding government powers to restrict energy.

Tell your newly elected members of Congress that we reject all COP 16 demands as well as the insulting proposition that our successful economic system caused the world's poverty. If poor countries want to be rich, the way to go is to follow our American model for success, freedom and prosperity.

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Tags: Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum, cold weather, global warming, cop 16, Cancun, Mexico, United Nations, Framework Convention, Climate Change To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!