Happy New Year

Members of the Arkansas Republican Assembly and the ARRA Blog editors wish you a very special Happy New Year.

D. James Kennedy suffers major heart attack

75-year-old founder of Coral Ridge Ministries in 'grave condition'

WorldNetDailyD. James Kennedy, author, theologian, biblical scholar, pastor of the 10,000-member "Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church" in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and founder of the highly influential Coral Ridge Ministries, suffered a major heart attack last night and is in grave condition, ministry officials tell WorldNetDaily. According to Mary Ann Bunker, Kennedy's long-time personal assistant, the 75-year-old religious leader had a "severe" cardiac arrest last evening . . . [Click for more] Our Prayers go out for Dr. Kennedy& his family!

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Poor John Edwards

John Edwards tried to cozy up to America's poor by announcing (his presidential candidacy Thursday in the Lower Ninth Ward of Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. It's doubtful that any on hand live in splendor comparable to the $3.1 million mansion the former senator and vice presidential candidate is building in North Carolina. Edwards, worth upwards of $30 million thanks to a career as a personal injury lawyer, is building the home on a 100-acre estate outside Chapel Hill, the New York Post reported. The 10,700-square-foot mansion boasts 10 rooms, 6 1/2 baths, two garages, and verandas with sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

Edwards is also building two smaller homes on the estate — a two-story, 6,366-square-foot mini-mansion with a $570,000 price tag, and a 2,817-square-foot, $193,000 house. One home is for Edwards' 22-year-old daughter Cate and the other is for visiting friends and family, according to the Post. On top of all that, the White House hopeful is constructing a 1,180-square-foot pool house. In the 2004 campaign, Edwards often spoke of "Two Americas," one wealthy and privileged and the other struggling to survive. There's no doubt which America Edwards belongs to. [Source: Email from Wisconsin visitor to ARRA blog]

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Tags: Election 2008, Democrat, John Edwards, presidential candidate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Barna Lists the 12 Most Significant Religious Findings from 2006 Surveys

(Ventura, CA) – Even though George Barna has been conducting national public opinion surveys for a quarter-century, surprises emerge each year from those studies. The California-based researcher traditionally ends each year by identifying some of the unexpected and most significant findings of the passing year. Barna released his list of the twelve most noteworthy results of 2006, and described a few themes that ran through this year’s surveys.

Although large majorities of the public claim to be “deeply spiritual” and say that their religious faith is “very important” in their life, only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life.

Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity.

The notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians.

The growing movement of Christian Revolutionaries in the U.S. distinguished themselves from an already-select group of people – born again Christians – through their deeds, beliefs and self-views.

Involvement in a house church is rapidly growing, although the transition is occurring with some trepidation: four out of every five house church participants maintain some connection to a conventional church as well.

Five of the highest-profile Christian leaders – Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye and T.D. Jakes – were unknown to a majority of the population. Most of those leaders were also unknown to most born again Christians. [Read More]

Beebe Wants Legislative Support on Elimination of Grocery Tax

Little Rock, AR (AP) - Governor-elect Mike Beebe (D) says receiving the support of the leadership in the Legislature will be vital in trying to eliminate the state's sales tax on groceries. Specifically, he wants the support of incoming House Speaker Benny Petrus (D-Stuttgart) who has said he would rather see a targeted rebate or refund for those with middle and low incomes instead of an overall grocery tax cut. Beebe campaigned on phasing out the six-cent tax. Several bills pre-filed in the Legislature have offered different ideas on how to either phase out or immediately eliminate the tax. Beebe hopes he and Petrus will "be able to talk to each other in such a way that I can convince him." Beebe will be sworn in as governor January 9th. The upcoming legislative session begins January 8th. [Will this campaign promise survive?]

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Tags: Arkansas, grocery tax, Mike Beebe

$1 Million Given to Start Cancer Center in Rockefeller's Name

Little Rock 12/28/06 - Governor Huckabee gave $1 million to the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Thursday as seed money for a cancer research center in honor of late Lieutenant Governor Win Rockefeller. The money will go toward establishing the Winthrop Paul Rockefeller Cancer Research Institute, in honor of Rockefeller, who died in July after battling a rare blood condition. UAMS officials and Rockefeller's widow say they hoped private donations and state funds could eventually help pay for the $124 million center. Earlier this year, legislators approved a $40 million bond issue to be paid by tobacco settlement revenues to establish the new cancer center.

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Tags: Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Win Rockefeller

Who Will Be the Leading GOP Presidential Contenders in 2008?

By Jim Brown, Dec 28, 2006 WASHINGTON, DC (AgapePress) - A conservative activist and political commentator predicts three 2008 Republican presidential candidates will set themselves apart from the rest of the pack over the next year. The three candidates Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation is referring to are Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Weyrich, who has been involved in politics for decades, says twice Governor Huckabee had him "on the seat of his chair" during a recent forum. According to Weyrich, the former Baptist preacher "can speak like no other candidate." Read More

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Tags: Election 2008, GOP, presidential candidate, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Constitution requires Massachusetts marriage vote

Massachusetts' Court says legislators must decide on one-man-one-woman definition. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has ruled that it is unconstitutional for state lawmakers to refuse to vote on an initiative that calls for marriage to be limited to one man and one woman in that state. The ruling could not have been better for advocates of traditional, biblically-based marriage, Brian W. Raum, the senior legal counsel for the the Alliance Defense Fund told WorldNetDaily . . . [Click for more]

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

Court sides with pro-life group in campaign finance ruling

Baptist Press -- Free speech advocates recently gained an important victory in their support of advertising on legislative issues during election campaigns. A special three-judge panel ruled Dec. 21 in favor of a pro-life organization that paid for issue ads during the 2004 election, saying such advertising does not violate a campaign finance reform law. The panel, which consisted of an appeals court judge and two federal judges in the District of Columbia circuit, voted 2-1 to uphold Wisconsin Right to Life's challenge to part of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The law is commonly referred to as "McCain-Feingold" for its prime Senate sponsors, John McCain, R.-Ariz., and Russell Feingold, D.-Wis. . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: pro-life, campaign finance, rules, free speech

Saddam Hussein Executed by Hanging in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century, was taken to the gallows and executed Saturday morning just before 6 am Iraq time (Friday evening US time). The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill the dictator in 1982. Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam's appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days.

At his death, he was in the midst of a second trial, charged with genocide and other crimes for a 1987-88 military crackdown that killed an estimated 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq. Experts said the trial of his co-defendants was likely to continue despite his execution. Many people in Iraq's Shiite majority were eager to see the execution of a man whose Sunni Arab-dominated regime oppressed them and Kurds. Read More ...

A Tribute to Gerald Ford

"His life was a blessing to America..."
-- President George W. Bush
"His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country..."
-- Former First Lady Betty Ford

Read a Tribute and Listen to his Message to the Nation

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Huckabee Cited for Fiscal Failures

Blogger Leon Wolf on Redstate.com cites Mike Huckabee's fiscal failures as Arkansas' governor: rated dead last among the nation's governors by the Cato Institute for tax rates and revenue variables, and was given a "C" on spending. His manifold fiscal failures have been widely chronicled by the Club for Growth, and the Cato Institute has widely criticized him for his expansion of the nanny-state in Arkansas. Huckabee has also favored in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants, and state funded scholarships for the same. [Read More]

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Tags: Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, fiscal failures

Reid & Durban Too Busy on Junket to Attend President Ford's Funderal

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the incoming assistant majority leader, will miss the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Capitol Rotunda on Saturday night, opting instead to lead a delegation to South America for what has been described as a weeklong visit to Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The senators are scheduled to be in Cuzco, Peru, on Sunday, which would give them an opportunity to view the nearby Machu Picchu Inca ruins and anything else in advance of New Year's Eve. [Read More]

New year, new hope

Joseph Farah offers his suggestions for starting a brand new movement for freedom, morality and justice in America . . . [Click for more]

Former Republican President Gerald Ford Dies at 93

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., the 38th and only unelected president in America's history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93. "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband's office in Rancho Mirage. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

He was born Leslie King on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Neb. His parents were divorced when he was less than a year old, and his mother returned to her parents in Grand Rapids, where she later married Gerald R. Ford Sr. He adopted the boy and renamed him.

Ford studied at the University of Michigan where he also played center on the football team. He was on the University of Michigan's 1932 National Championship football team and was named most valuable Michigan player in 1933. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1935, Ford went to Yale University as an assistant football and boxing coach instead of accepting pro football offers. Accepted into Yale Law School in 1938, Ford received his law degree in 1941. Returning to Grand Rapids, Ford started a law practice with fellow classmate from the University of Michigan. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed his plans.

Ford volunteered and joined the Navy. He was commisioned as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on 13 April 1942 and on April 20 reported for active duty. During the one year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on 2 June 1942, and to Lieutenant on March 1943. He was released from active duty under honorable conditions on 23 February 1946. For his naval service, Gerald Ford earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine engagement stars for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismark Archipelego, Marshal Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation. He also received the Philippine Liberation with two bronze stars for Leyte and Mindoro, as well as the American Campaign and World War II Victory Medals.

Republican Ford defeated the incumbent in the party primary and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1948, representing the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford became the first vice president appointed under the 25th amendment to the Constitution.

In 1974, Ford, who had never run on a national ticket, took the office of President minutes after Nixon flew off into exile. "My fellow Americans," he said, "our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule." He then added: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. So I ask you to confirm me with your prayers." He was in the White House only 895 days.

But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on. The decision to pardon Nixon won Ford a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, acknowledging he had criticized Ford at the time, called the pardon "an extraordinary act of courage that historians recognize was truly in the national interest."

He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.

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Al Qaeda Sends a Message to Democrats

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. "...you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost," Zawahri said, according to a full transcript obtained by ABC News. Zawahri calls on the Democrats to negotiate with him and Osama bin Laden, not others in the Islamic world who Zawahri says cannot help. [Read More]

Arkansas Bill Introduced to Stop PayDay Preditory Lending

State Rep. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, and state Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, filed House Bill 1036, last week which would prohibit businesses (payday lenders) from charging more than 17 percent interest on a consumer loan and would set a fine of $300 per transaction for violations of the statute.The state constitution already prohibits interest rates of more than 17 percent on consumer loans and credit sales, but there is no state statute imposing a penalty for exceeding that limit. Payday borrowers typically are charged a fee that some say is the equivalent of a high interest rate - often more than 300 percent. [Read More]

German government declares war on homeschooling families

Repercussions could affect U.S. home educators The German government, in a throwback to its National Socialist Workers Party heritage, has declared war on homeschool families, promising to bring those with banned "religious convictions" into alignment with the state regulations.The word comes through the Netz-Bildung Freiheit (Net-Education Freedom) organization in Germany, a coalition of efforts lobbying on behalf of the constitutional right of German parents to have their children's education "conform" to their own religious and philosophical convictions . . . [Click for more]

Premarital sex study questioned

A pro-family group is expressing skepticism about the accuracy of a new report that says 95 percent of Americans have had premarital sex. A study by Lawrence Finer of the Alan Guttmacher Institute finds that 99 percent of Americans had sex by the age of 44, and 95 percent had done so before getting married.The "reality-check research," as Finer calls it, was based on interviews of more than 38,000 people, some 33,000 of them women, in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey on Family Growth. The study purportedly examined how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time . . . [Click for more]

Donald Trump Files $10 Million Lawsuit After Being Cited for Large US Flag

Donald Trump is suing Palm Beach, FL for $10 million after being cited for flying an oversized U.S. flag over his Mar-a-Lago Club. Attorneys for the club filed a complaint Thursday, saying that flying the flag is a constitutionally protected expression of free speech - and that the large flag is a proper match for the size of the real-estate mogul's patriotism.

In the lawsuit, Trump's attorneys accuse the town of selectively enforcing its ordinances. Other locations in the town display flags that violate statutes, the lawsuit alleges. All damages awarded to the club would be donated to veterans of the war in Iraq, the lawsuit said. "The day you need a permit to put up the American flag, that will be a sad day for this country," Trump said in October. Read More

Reflecting on Christmas

December 25, 2006 RenewAmerica staff

At Christmastime, the nature of the season often forces us to confront things we've "let slide" during the year in pursuit of mundane things.It could be our role as a spouse or parent, our relationship with God, or our willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others that we begin to reflect upon more seriously.As we watch those around us immerse themselves in the symbols, traditions, and story of Christmas, we may even find ourselves committing to be a better person, God willing, as we reconsider the importance of things that matter most--things of eternal consequence that often get shuffled aside in this "temporal" world . . . [Click for more]

God's Gift For You!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.." ~ John 3:16-17

Merry Christmas from the Arkansas Republican Assemblies editorial staff.

Christmas, 2006 - Insights from Blue Eye

Christmas, 2006, comes at a markedly inauspicious time for celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace. Our country has entered another year of a strange, shadowy global war, and, despite battlefield successes that portend ultimate victory, our nation's political leaders are still warring over war here at home: how best to wage it, and whether to treat it as a military conflict or as a courtroom battle. Also on the home front, we are warring over Christmas itself. Added to the common complaints of crass commercialism, the frenzied dashes through shopping malls, and the fast-clicking through e-commerce websites are sharp-edged debates this year over commercial establishments following government schools and public venues in banishing Christmas. This is stunning hypocrisy to say the least, with large-scale sellers coveting Christmas shoppers' business while simultaneously signaling their greater fealty toward the multicultural secularism of the liberal elite.

Practical-minded shoppers tend to dismiss such foolishness, returning to their search for "the perfect gift," but has anyone ever purchased such a thing? We know perfection cannot exist in this world, as all the wars attest. Instead, gift-givers are seeking something that is well suited to the intended recipient; something that perhaps will even delight the receiver. Who can gainsay a giver's motives?

Undeniably, Nativity accounts treat giving as an important part of the Holy Birth. Historically, the actual year of Christ's birth is thought to be between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C., at the end of Herod's reign in Judea. The first mention of Christmas as a formal Nativity feast occurred much later in a Roman almanac dated A.D. 336.

The Christmas star that guided the Wise Men to Bethlehem may have been any of a number of recorded astronomical events coinciding with the likeliest dates of that first Christmas. Halley's Comet appeared in 12 B.C., and ancient Chinese texts note "exploding" stars, or novas, observed in both 4 and 5 B.C. Exceptionally bright planetary conjunctions occurred in 2, 6, and 7 B.C.; among these, a most promising candidate for the Holy Star was the triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 6 B.C. The Wise Men are said to have followed the Holy Star to lay gifts, symbolic of His life, before the Baby Jesus: gold, because He was a king; frankincense, as he was a divine king; myrrh, to foreshadow that His suffering and death would be our preservation.

The prophet Isaiah wrote of the coming Messiah, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light..." Well before the birth of Jesus, man longed for light in the days of greatest darkness. Early Christians selected December 25th for the Nativity feast to proclaim that Jesus Christ was the real Light of the World, the true "Son of Righteousness," the foretold Messiah. As Jesus later said, he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, just as He fulfilled the deepest longings of human minds and hearts.

The Christ Child was Himself referred to as a “Gift” given by Our Heavenly Father to redeem sinful humans. The Holy Birth involved the Incarnation first; the spiritual wrapped in material form: holy, eternal God, enshrined in perishable human flesh. Such was our Perfect Gift, for restoration of full fellowship between God and man.

God, in His mercy, has bestowed many other gifts on this blessed land. Consider the many Decembers, reasserting hope during dark days as heavenly gifts to America, coming at critical junctures in our nation's Founding. On December 11, 1620, prior to disembarking at Plymouth Rock, the voyagers signed the "Mayflower Compact," often cited as America's original document of civil government and the first to introduce self-government. On December 16, 1773, the "Sons of Liberty" tossed chests of tea from British ships into Boston harbor in protest of Britain's unjust taxes. This, of course, was the Boston Tea Party.

Our American Christmas heritage as celebrated during early colonial days (continuing today) derives, like so much else here, from the mingled Christmas traditions of immigrants from many lands, with differing religious beliefs and customs of worship and celebration. Our name for this Holy Day arises from the old English Cristes Maesse, or Christ's Mass. As the name suggests, the holiday was first observed in Early America among the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Moravians who settled predominantly in the Middle Atlantic colonies and the South. Influenced by Puritanism and Calvinism, the New England Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists treated the new celebration with greater circumspection.

In fact, some New England colonial authorities outlawed Christmas from 1649 until 1658 and the General Court of Massachusetts set a fine in 1659 of five shillings per offense, punishing the observance "of any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labour, feasting, or any such way." About the same time, the Assembly of Connecticut forbade the reading of the Book of Common Prayer, the keeping of Christmas and saints days, the making of mince pies, the playing of cards, or performing on any musical instruments.

National acknowledgement of Christmas returned during the Revolutionary War, and mirrored its ebb and flow. The so-called Christmas Campaign victories of General George Washington in 1776 at Trenton and Princeton were followed a year later by the Revolutionary Army's retreat to Valley Forge, the trail marked by bloody footprints in the snow. Washington wrote in discouragement of "A character to lose, an estate to forfeit, the inestimable blessing of liberty at stake, and a life devoted, must be my excuse," and about how "it was much easier to draw up remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fire-side, than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."

Massachusetts was the first state to make Christmas a legal holiday, in 1856. By that time, most of our shared Christmas traditions were set, and Harper's Weekly, on January 3, 1863, featured a drawing of encamped soldiers receiving Christmas gifts from home. Christmas become a federal holiday under President Ulysses S. Grant's 1870 declaration.

Nearly all Americans celebrate Christmas today in some way, a uniformity that belies the variance with which, as in colonial days, Americans approach this holiday. The Babe of Bethlehem's birth was announced by angels saying, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"

Is the Christ Child's American birthday still that universal? We uniformly believe it is! His earthly arrival brings true delight to believers but perfection for doubters and deniers too. "O come let us adore him" is neither threat nor coercion, but instead a personal invitation. It is in the nature of a gift to be freely given, and freely received, for true gifts are not forced in either way.

As George Washington acknowledged, in his despair in 1777, another gift God has bestowed upon Americans is "the inestimable blessing of liberty." The first freedom enshrined in our U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights is religious liberty which includes the liberty to honor Christmas freely and publicly. Our troops in harm's way, surely, are fighting for Christmas in that very sense so that we all may freely proffer adoration for that miraculous and perfect Gift of the first Christmas.
A very Merry Christmas from us to all of you.
PL Booth, The Blue Eye View

Insights Into THE GOOD NEWS - Quotes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14 (NKJV)

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' ~ Luke 2:8-14 (NKJV)

More than 2,000 years ago...mankind received its Savior, and to those who had dwelled in darkness, the light of hope had come. Each Christmas, we celebrate that first coming anew, and we rejoice in the knowledge that the God who came to Earth that night in Bethlehem is with us still and will remain with us forever. Christmas is a season of hope and joy, a time to give thanks for the blessing of Christ's birth and for the blessings that surround us every day of the year.... [This] Christmas, we pray [especially] for freedom, justice and peace on Earth. We remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and for our freedom, and we ask for God's blessing on their loved ones. We ask God to watch over all of our men and women in uniform. Many are serving in distant lands, helping to advance the cause of freedom and peace. Our entire Nation is grateful to them and prays for their safe return. Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed and merry Christmas. ~ President George W. Bush

He rules the world with truth and grace. ~ Isaac Watts

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. ~ Charles Dickens

The Incarnation...illuminates and orders all other phenomena, explains both our laughter and our logic, our fear of the dead and our knowledge that it is somehow good to die, and which at one stroke covers what multitudes of separate theories will hardly cover for us if this is rejected. ~ C.S. Lewis

Regarding not the day, let us give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son... If it be possible to honor Christ in the giving of gifts, I cannot see how while the gift, giver and recipient are all in the spirit of the world... But we have a Christ gift the entire year. ~ Charles Spurgeon

The concerted effort to minimize Christmas has resulted in it being our national “Happy Holiday”. The Christmas season is now the holiday season. Christmas parties are now holiday parties. Christmas is a time for giving and receiving presents and in many homes, nothing more. Who is this fellow, Jesus Christ, anyway? ~ Lyn Nofziger

Holiday and Holy Day, Christmas is more than a Yule log, holly or tree. It is more than natural good cheer and the giving of gifts. Christmas is even more than the feast of the home and of children, the feast of love and friendship. It is more than all of these together. Christmas is Christ, the Christ of justice and charity, of freedom and peace. ~ Francis Cardinal Spellman

The place that the shepherds found was not an academy or an abstract republic; it was not a place of myths allegorized or dissected or explained away. It was a place of dreams come true. ~ G.K. Chesterton

More than any gift or toy, ornament of tree, let us resolve that this Christmas shall be, like that first Christmas, a celebration of interior treasures. ~ Ronald Reagan

UN Global "Anti Judeo-Christian" Ed. Program in Arkansas Schools

IBO – A controversial UN Global Education Program (IBO) that conflicts with Judeo-Christian values has been established In Arkansas by SB1054 in 2005. It was slipped through the legislature with not one legislator voting against the program. The program is now being implemented in Jonesboro, Arkansas as an elementary magnet school. The program has already been implemented at Springdale, Hot Springs, and North Little Rock.

IBO stands for International Baccalaureate Organization. "School board members in a Minnesota district call it anti-American and anti-Christian. In New Jersey, members of one school board argue it's a waste of money. Now, a suburban Pittsburgh school district is abolishing it over questions of politics and cost" A Reston, Va. newspaper reports: "Administrators do not tell you that the current IBO program for ages 3 through grade 12 promotes socialism, disarmament, radical environmentalism and moral relativism, while attempting to undermine Christian religious values and national sovereignty."

IBO Promotes Complete Disarmament, Praises Islam and is More Concerned With Global Values Than With Academics. For this and other UN program: Promoting international peace means total disarmament; Peace through education means the International Baccalaureate educational program; Economic and social development means making everyone and all nations equal; Respect for all human rights means respect for homosexuality, bisexual, and eventually pedophilia; Tolerance means tolerance for all religions and all sexual behavior. However, the IBO has a favorable bias toward Islam but a negative bias against the United States, Israel, and Christianity .

Parents of children in the program are reporting that "No longer are children learning the difference between capitalism and socialism. No longer are children being taught why the United States became the most powerful economic engine the world has ever known. Instead, they are being taught that with less than 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. uses 25 percent of the world's resources and produces 25 percent of the world's pollution...." "They are being taught that the U.S. is the No. 1 terrorist nation. They are being taught that the rest of the world is mired in poverty because of the greedy capitalists in the United States."

Read the documented report, Part I & Part II, by the Women's Prayer and Action Group

2006 Christmas Greetings From President and Mrs. Bush

"For unto us a child is born ... and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." --Isaiah 9:6

For centuries, patient men and women listened to the words of prophets and lived in joyful expectation of the coming Messiah. Their patience was rewarded when a young virgin named Mary welcomed God's plan with great faith, and a quiet birth in a little town brought hope to the world. For more than two millennia, Christians around the world have celebrated Christmas to mark the birth of Jesus and to thank the Almighty for His grace and blessings.

In this season of giving, we also remember the universal call to love our neighbors. Millions of compassionate souls take time during the holidays to help people who are hurt, feed those who are hungry, and shelter those who need homes. Our Nation also thinks of the men and women of our military who are spending Christmas at posts and bases around the world and of the loved ones who pray for their safe return. America owes a debt of gratitude to our service members and their families.

The simple story of Christmas speaks to every generation and holds a sense of wonder and surprise. During this time of joy and peace, may we be surrounded by the love of family and friends and take time to reflect on the year ahead. Laura and I pray that this season will be a time of happiness in every home and a time of peace throughout the world. Merry Christmas.

-- George W. Bush [Reposted from The Presidential Prayer Team website.]

Border agents plead for 'Christmas pardon'

Congressman hosts rally asking Bush to stop 'miscarriage of justice'

A Border Patrol agent sentenced to prison along with his partner for shooting and wounding a man smuggling drugs into the U.S. will appear with a congressman tomorrow at a rally asking President Bush to offer a pardon. Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years, respectively, in October by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas. Compean will be joined by family; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R, Calif.; Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist; and members of other border-security groups such as Friends of the Border Patrol at the courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: Jose Compean, pardon, border guards, Ignacio Ramos, illegal immigration, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ten principles of conservatism

by Terence P. Jeffrey -- As a very political year approaches an end, and a new presidential election cycle looms, it's a good time for conservatives to step back from partisan politics and reflect on their cause. What do conservatives believe? Here are 10 principles worth pondering:(1) God's Law Governs Nations as Well as Men. The Ten Commandments should not only be enshrined in our courthouses, they should be engraved in our hearts and minds as guides to all behavior, public and private. As the Founders acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence, laws and policies that violate the natural law are abuses of government power that must be resisted and reversed . . . [Click for more]

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Tags: Terence P. Jeffrey, conservatism, ten principles, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Roman politics and the birth and death of Christ

Special Christmas 2006 feature by Fred Hutchison, Dec 21, 2006

Augustus Caesar's actions in Rome started a chain of events that governed the circumstances of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. Tiberius Caesar, who followed Augustus on the imperial throne, also set in motion a chain of events in Rome that led to the death of Christ in Jerusalem. We shall consider how these two events are linked.Our journey to Bethlehem this year begins in Rome during a great festival . . . [Click for more]

ABC's Behar -- GOP induced Sen Johnson's stroke & Rumsfield is Hitler Type

Just two shows after Joy Behar seriously suggested Senator Tim Johnson may have been a victim of conservative evil-doing as she speculated about whether "there such a thing as a man-made stroke? In other words, did someone do this to him?" and contended the Republican Party is capable of such a nefarious deed, "I know what this, that party is capable of," on Monday's The View, Behar quipped, in reference to Time magazine punting on a Person of the Year, that "you have to put like a Hitler type, like you put Donald Rumsfeld there or something." The audience at the ABC Daytime show booed and even Rosie O'Donnell distanced herself -- "I wouldn't have put him. That's for sure" -- prompting Behar to backtrack: "What I mean is put somebody who gets a reaction. See the reaction? Read More & Hear the Bias

Media Whine About Not Being Alerted to First Lady's Skin Cancer

Reminiscent of the high dudgeon Washington press corps reaction after a few hours passed before they were notified of Vice President Cheney's hunting accident, on Tuesday some reporters denounced the White House for failing to publicly announce how last month First Lady Laura Bush had a skin cancer growth removed from one of her legs. On FNC, Brit Hume played a montage from the daily briefing showing how journalists "demanded to know why they hadn't been told earlier." NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, for instance, asked "how was the decision reached not to disclose this publicly until questions were asked?" On the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric framed the story not around the cancer but around how the White House didn't reveal it. Read More [Editor observation: Katie in her former position built her following by sharing her concern about cancer - but now as news anchor she is more concerned with criticism than being concerned for Laura Bush having cancer.]

Activist Judges Taking Cues From the ACLU

For years, conservatives have argued that activist judges take their cues from the ACLU. Now there's evidence that courts are taking more than cues. Last year federal Judge John Jones, who issued a long, sweeping opinion striking down Dover, Pennsylvania's policy on teaching about the evolution and intelligent design controversy, has been accused of stealing actual pages from ACLU briefs. The Discovery Institute study found that 90.9% of the 6,004-word "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" from the ACLU lawyers appeared in the ruling. Also, that Jones reprinted a number of factual errors in his ruling that have since been retracted by the ACLU. This same Judge Jones has been hailed for his "masterful" opinion and lauded as "an outstanding thinker." Even Time magazine honored him as "one of the world's 'most influential people' in the category of 'scientists and thinkers.'" In the last four decades, some American courts have become little more than puppets of the political left. We shouldn't be surprised that these judges are bench warmers for activists--nominated not for their ability to think critically and interpret the law but for their ability to "cut and paste" from a liberal agenda. Read A Comparison of Judge Jones' Opinion in Kitzmiller v. Dover with Plaintiffs' Proposed "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law"

A Mayberry Christmas

Andy Mayberry and his family continue their busy schedule. They have launched an new website on which they share the fun side of "life in Mayberry." Stop in an drop them a note. Check out the link to The Spirit Magazine. Thank you Andy for your well run race to replace Arkansas most liberal U.S. congressman. We wish Andy, Julie and their girls have Merry Christmas! Visit the Mayberry website

Planned Parenthood Clinic Numbers Declining

The number of clinics run by Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions, has dropped to the lowest since 1987, according to a pro-life group. A new study showed that the number of Planned Parenthood's "health" clinics has dropped to 817, its lowest total in almost 20 years. That number has been dropping since 1995 when it stood at a total of 938. Read More ...

They Can't Steal My Christmas

The best gift we can give at Christmas are the ones that money cannot buy. They are the gifts we give from the heart. Parents and grandparents need to remember that the gifts they buy for their children and grandchildren won't be remembered next Christmas - but the gift of their time and their love will be remembered forever.

At Christmas time and always, the greatest gift we can give is the gift of ourselves; our time; our friendship, and most of all our love. If we freely give from our hearts and remember that love is the greatest gift of all, we honor Christ's birthday which we celebrate on Christmas. And no one can steal our Christmas if we are true the real meaning of Christmas. If we all keep it well and keep it in our hearts, it will last forever. The complete essay: They Can't Steal My Christmas

Gingrich Hints at 2008 White House Run

Newt Gingrich (R) suggested on Sunday on "Meet The Press" that he might not run for president in 2008 if a rival has all but locked up the Republican nomination by next fall. The former House speaker from Georgia said it would not be too late for him to enter the race after next Labor Day, if he believed no candidate had a clear advantage. Read More ...

Prospective U.S. presidential candidates: "Publish or Perish"

Prospective U.S. presidential candidates has taken the old academic stricture "publish or perish" to heart.. At least eight of the prospective 2008 candidates have books scheduled for publication or that have recently been published. Read More ... Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is weighing a bid for the Republican nomination, said he hopes a book he's written, "From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America's Greatness (Click to review book)," will help him determine whether there's any support for his potential candidacy.

STOP THE Killing NOW!

More Americans are murdered each year by illegal aliens than have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined! Can this be true? According to U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa: 12 Americans are murdered everyday by illegal aliens, and 13 people in the US are killed by illegal alien drunk drivers daily. That's 9,125 Americans per year murdered and killed! That's more than 45,625 innocent US lives cut short by illegal aliens since September 11, 2001. Read More [Editor's Comment: the above statistics were criticized by Congressman King's opponents in the lattest 2006 election. However, King was validated by his constituents and he was re-elected with a higher percentage rate (59%) than any of the other Iowa races for the US Congress.]

Gala provides $500,000 to Huckabee’s PAC

About 350 people paid a combined $500,000 to attend what was billed as a Christmas gala to benefit Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Virginia-based political action committee, the governor said Saturday night. The Web site for Hope for America PAC, or HAPAC, said the donations will be “seed money” to help Huckabee travel to “critical 2008 states.” People at the banquet held signs that said “Run, Mike, Run” and “Huck ’08.” Read Seth Blomeley's Arkansas Democrat Gazette article

Gold Star Mother Blasts Kerry’s Middle East Trip

A Gold Star Mother is urging American troops to snub Sen. John Kerry during his visit to Iraq. “I’m asking our men and women in Iraq to not allow themselves to be forced to pose with Kerry during his photo ops,” said Debra Bastian, who lost her son in Iraq in 2005. “This man is a disgrace. He should be shunned by those serving in Iraq. He is not their friend. They [the soldiers] should not be forced to pose for pictures with Kerry the way they did when Sen. Hillary Clinton visited Iraq,” she said.

The Massachusets senator is in the Middle East reportedly to meet with the presidents of Iran and Syria. While visiting Egypt, he also took a number of swipes at President Bush and his Middle East policy. While in Egypt, critics say Kerry pandered to hatred for Israel in order to score points with the Egyptians. “Kerry hasn’t changed from his days as a anti-war protester who spouted lies against his fellow soldiers,” said the angry Bastian. Read More ...

Battle of the Bulge - In Rememberance

The Ardennes Offensive by the German military Army was officially named the Battle of the Ardennes by the U.S. Army and became known to the general public as the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle began 52 years ago today on December 16, 1944, and was one of the coldest, snowiest days "in memory" in the Ardennes Forest, occupying about 80 miles of the German/Belgian border. Casualties from exposure to extreme cold grew as large as the losses from fighting. In about a 30-day period, the "Battle of the Bulge" which was just one battle in WWII was the most bloody battle American Forces experienced in WWII: 89, 897 Casualties and 19,000 American dead - unsurpassed by any other engagement (more 6 times the losses 2,940 to date for the entire IRAQ War). Read More ...
Editor note: In memory of Jo Byrd Huddleston's cousin Onis Strong and to this editor's father, Harvey Stewart who won the Silver Star in the Battle of the Bulge. Readers are encouraged to memorialize their relatives involved in this battle by posting a comment.

Don Rumsfield says goodbye to Pentagon

Edwards Set to Launch '08 Bid; Bayh Out

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards intends to enter the 2008 race for the White House, two Democratic officials said Saturday. Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years, plans to make the campaign announcement late this month ... Read More

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, FOX News has learned. Bayh made the decision depsite having made several visits to test states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and raising millions of dollars toward a possible White House run. Read More ...

Harry Reid and Ethics Rules

If you think that the change of leadership in both houses of Congress will lead to a complete overhaul of the undeniably corrupt system that has been the status quo for decades, think again. Any hope of a major overhaul in congressional ethics rules will likely run into one large insurmountable obstacle: Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Just this week, the Senate Ethics Committee, showing once again that it is a virtual oxymoron with a tin ear, found that Reid had not violated Senate rules when he accepted front row boxing seats on three separate occasions from the Nevada State agency, that was publicly opposing Reid’s pending bill to create a federal agency with oversight over boxing. The tickets were valued at between $1400 and $2000 each. Nice perk. Read More ...

Gov. Mike Huckabee joins Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity: Why?

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pleaged to TKE–Tau Kappa Epsilon. The fraternity initiated Huckabee in Little Rock. During the initiation, Huckabee learned about the fraternity's values and its history and the fraternity's secret handshake. "He is, of course, a very impressive man, a dignified public servant. We look to men of high character and bring them into our brotherhood," says Kevin Mayeux, Tau Kappa Epsilon's CEO. Ronald Reagan is the only president to have been a TKE. Huckabee will become fraternity brothers with numerous CEOs, including those from Home Depot, Circuit City, and Starbucks.

Huckabee might be looking to the TKEs during fundraising efforts for a White House bid. The TKEs are on 270 college campuses, making them the largest fraternity in the country. When asked why the fraternity may have chosen him, Huckabee says: "Cause like Reagan, I'm a former radio sports announcer who is a conservative Repub; like Elvis, I am a rock-and-roller who used to be fat." Read More

Lower Tier Potential Presidential Candidates

CBS: While attention has focused on possible frontrunners such former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and, on the Republican side, Sen. John McCain, Govs. Mitt Romney and George Pataki, and Rudolph Giuliani. Former NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Sen. Joe Biden, and Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Duncan Hunter are also all either running or considering runs. But who may be below the radar, declared and still deciding, who could give the top-tier a run for its money?

The Republicans:
Mike Huckabee: Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas comes to the race with three winning assets: he's a governor, a Southerner, and a Baptist minister.
Sam Brownback: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is hoping to gain leverage by appealing to the conservative wing of his party, and there's a good chance he'll succeed.
Newt Gingrich: As architect of the Contract with America that led the Republicans to take back the House in 1994, Newt Gingrich is the best-known of the second-tier candidates.

The Democrats:
Bill Richardson: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's biggest advantage is his resume. He has decades of Washington experience, first as a staffer in the State Department and for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then as a eight-term U.S. representative, next, briefly, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and finally as secretary of energy under President Clinton.
Evan Bayh: Sen. Evan Bayh comes to the race with the advantage of having both Washington and gubernatorial experience. He was a two-term Indiana governor, and has been a senator since 1998.
Tom Vilsack: Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack recently drew a flurry of national attention by becoming the first presidential candidate to formally enter the 2008 race. Vilsack is the first Democratic governor in a traditionally red state in three decades. Read More

Arkansas ethics commissioner resigns

LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Herschel Cleveland, an Arkansas ethics commissioner who made illegal campaign donations to two Democratic candidates in the 2006 election, resigned his post Friday after two years of service. Cleveland ran into trouble in the early part of this year after he gave $500 to gubernatorial candidate Mike Beebe and $250 to Mike Hathorn of Huntsville, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary. Arkansas law bars ethics commissioners from contributing to candidates who are running for state or local office. Cleveland was later fined $500 and issued a letter of caution. Cleveland apologized to the commission, saying he had made a mistake. Cleveland, the lawyer and Democrat from Paris, said the contributions had nothing to do with his decision to resign from the panel. Read More

Holiday Greetings

Editor's Comment: Received from one of our readers:
For My Republican Friends: Here's wishing all of You a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

For My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

New Jersey Legislature Votes to OK Civil Unions

TRENTON, New Jersey — Under pressure from New Jersey's highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, the Legislature voted Thursday to make New Jersey the third U.S. state to allow civil unions. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign the measure, which would extend to same-sex couples all the rights and privileges available under state law to married people. Read More

Army Top General Calls for Thousands More U.S. Troops, Reserves

WASHINGTON — As President Bush weighs new strategies for Iraq, the Army's top general warned Thursday that his force "will break" without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves. Noting the strain put on the force by operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said he wants to grow his half-million-member Army beyond the 30,000 troops already added in recent years. Read More

Who Is Senator Barak Obama & What Does He Believe?

Senator Barak Obama (D-IL) has only been a U.S. Senator for two years but he is being promoted in the media as the Democrat’s best hope for winning the White House in 2008. Sen. Obama recently traveled to New Hampshire, where he was warmly welcomed by Democrat supporters. In November, Obama gave a keynote speech on AIDS at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Southern California. Sen. Obama speaks as a man of faith.

“Senator Obama is a very charming person and he may likely become the Democrat’s presidential candidate in 2008,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “But I hope that Christians will pay attention to his actions and his voting record—not his words—in deciding whether or not to support him in 2008. He has a voting record as far left as John Kerry or Ted Kennedy and his support of abortion and homosexuality make him an anti-life, anti-traditional marriage candidate.” Read about Obama position on homosexuality, Federal Marriage Amendment, abortion, partial-birth abortion, schools filtering internet pornography, and more ...

Problem Solved!

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in this country lately; illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, wild animals attacking humans in Florida. Not me. I concentrate on solutions to problems. The result is a win-win-win situation:
+ Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border
+ Use the dirt to raise the levies in New Orleans
+ Put the Florida alligators in the moat.
Any other problems you would like for me to solve today? -- and GOD BLESS AMERICA! [Truth in Humor from one of our blog readers.]

Can Anyone Steer This Economy?

Economists, academicians and financial consultants for years have been preaching that globalism is the wave of the future and that anyone who wants to survive in business must ride its surfboard or drown. All of a sudden, Business Week is having second thoughts.

Sometime next year--perhaps around Christmas 2007, if current trends continue--the U.S. will hit a milestone. For the first time in recent memory, the cost of imported goods and services will exceed federal revenues. In other words, Americans will soon pay more to foreigners than they do to their national government. We're almost there now. Imports cost us about $2.2 trillion a year; the federal government collects $2.4 trillion in revenues. Why is that important? Because for the past 70 years, Washington has been the 800-pound gorilla, more powerful by far than any other force in the U.S. economy. That's not true anymore. The federal government remains plenty influential, but the global economy is more so.

No matter which party you belong to, or which Big Idea or school of economic policy you subscribe to, one thing is clear: Globalization has overwhelmed Washington's ability to control the economy. Whether you're a Republican supply-side tax-cutter, a Wall Street deficit hawk of either party, or a Silicon Valley techie type, your preferred levers of economic policy just don't work as well as they once did. Read more at Business Week.

A Great Injustice in 37 Days - Action Needed Now

In just 37 days U.S. Border Agent's Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are going to prison for doing their jobs! The agents were each sentenced in a federal court in El Paso, agent Ramos receiving 11 years, and Compean getting a term of 12 years for offenses that included violating the drug smuggler's civil rights! The same drug smuggler (illegal alien), who was given immunity to testify against the agents has since been arrested for smuggling an even larger quantity of drugs into the U.S. How could our government could allow this travesty of justice to happen?

Both of these men were distinguished professionals -- family men who swore to protect our nation from drug traffickers and criminals. These were not dishonorable men. In the performance of their duties, they stopped two drug smugglers who on trying to escape back across the border were shot (none were injured fatally). Now these law enforcement officers are in peril -- unless we take fast action! Imagine what it will be for them to be in prison for doing their official job to protect us. It is unthinkable.

You can help by CLICKING HERE and signing online the provided petition which will be presented to the President Bush. Then after familiarizing yourself with the facts, consider taking a moment to call the White House: 202-456-1111, and demand respectfully that the President pardon these two Border Agents! Remember, just 37 days is all we have to persuade the President to pardon these men before they go to prison.