FOX NEWS — In a decisive vote that could forecast the demise of a proposed government health insurance plan, the Senate Finance Committee voted twice Tuesday against creating a "public option" that would compete with private companies... (Read More)
- Senate panel rejects public option twice
- Liberal Democrats vow to keep fighting for government health option
- Senators turn back anti-abortion provision in health bill
- Is Obama's tax on health care constitutional?
Tags: government healthcare, U.S Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Communist State Building
by William Warren:
Empire State Building Lit Up Red And Yellow to "Honor" The 60th Anniversary Of Communist China. First the Communist Flag flown in Washington D.C. and now this. True the Empire State Building management company can do anything they wish to do. But "thanks for nothing!" Celebrating a country whose founder, Moa Tse-Tung, said "Communism is the hammer which we will use to crush the enemy" and who slaughtered as many as 70 million of his own people is an insult to the memories of the American workers that built this symbol of American free enterprise and to the American people!
Tags: China, communism, New York, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Empire State Building Lit Up Red And Yellow to "Honor" The 60th Anniversary Of Communist China. First the Communist Flag flown in Washington D.C. and now this. True the Empire State Building management company can do anything they wish to do. But "thanks for nothing!" Celebrating a country whose founder, Moa Tse-Tung, said "Communism is the hammer which we will use to crush the enemy" and who slaughtered as many as 70 million of his own people is an insult to the memories of the American workers that built this symbol of American free enterprise and to the American people!
Tags: China, communism, New York, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Seven "Nutty" Senators Named Porkers of the Month
The Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) in an rare move opted to pick not one but seven U.S. Senators for Proker of the Month. The have labeled them the "nutty senators for being the only Senators to vote on September 14 to continue sending tax dollars for housing and community development programs to ACORN [the Association of Community Organizations for Reform].The seven senators are Roland Burris (D-IL), Robert Casey (D-PA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
The 83-7 vote to cut off funding for the group in the fiscal year 2010 Department of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act came on the heels of the release of explosive video footage of ACORN’s employees in Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, N.Y., and San Bernardino, Calif. giving questionable legal and tax advice to filmmaker James O'Keefe and a female friend posing as a pimp and a prostitute. ACORN’s employees gave guidance on how to shelter income illegally, mislead the Internal Revenue Service, and obfuscate the ages and immigration status of underage girls who were going to be used as prostitutes in a make-believe brothel. All of the videos can be viewed at BigGovernment.com.
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, "“Cutting off funds to ACORN should have been the easiest vote of the year, yet these senators could not bring themselves to do it." For voting to keep the spigot open to this seedy group in the face of pervasive unethical, if not outright crooked, behavior and trying to enable ACORN to fund its dysfunctional deeds with the taxes of hard-working Americans, CAGW names these seven senators its September Porkers of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month
Tags: ACORN, CAGW, porker of the month To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 30, 2009 - Obama Resonds to Public Outcry: Will Talk with Gen. McChrystal About Afghanistan Before Meeting with Olympics Committee in Denmark
Senate will address a conference report on the fiscal year 2010 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, H.R. 2918. The bill includes a 30-day continuing resolution to fund the government, as the current fiscal year ends Thursday (Tomorrow!) and Democrats have once again failed to complete work on appropriations bills prior to the deadline. It is questionable on whether the Senate will ever shut down the government so expect a vote in favor of the conference report. A prior ARRA News Service editorial addressed the House's questionable actions while obviously also trying to keep the Government running. Many members of Congress appear to have severe cases of ADD (attention deficit disorder) and / or APD (auditory processing disorder). Only, cure for America, replace them in 2010.
Around 4:30, the Senate will begin a series of votes on the Legislative Branch appropriations conference report. After that, it will resume consideration of the $636 billion fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. The Defense bill provides
On Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to resume its markup of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill. The majority of Americans are opposed to this bill in one form or fashion.
After much national criticism of President Obama flying off Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee to select Chicago as the site of the 2016 games without even having talked with the General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, Obama is making a call to the General. According to The New York Times, President Obama will speak with General Stanley McChrystal today via a secure video link. This comes after McChrysal told David Martin in a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday that he’s only met with Obama once since assuming command over seventy days ago.
The NYT writes, “When President Obama looks at the screen in the Situation Room on Wednesday, he will find a face he has not seen lately except in newspapers. There, via secure video from Kabul, will be Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his commander in Afghanistan, explaining directly to the president for the first time why more troops are needed. General McChrystal has not spoken with Mr. Obama since submitting his grim assessment of the war a month ago and has spoken with him only once in the 100 days since he took command of all American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The lack of direct communication has generated criticism and fueled suspicions of strains between the White House and Kabul.”
Indeed, there have been questions following the revelation that Obama has met with Gen. McChrystal only once, especially about the White House’s priorities. A Los Angeles Times story identified the influence of SEIU president Andy Stern at the White House which reports that “Stern estimates he visits the White House once a week.” President Obama has time to meet with the head of a powerful union once a week, but is only now having a second sit-down (albeit over video) with his commander in Afghanistan?
Certainly, the discussion with Gen. McChrystal is a positive development. But memories of past Obama administration actions do raise the question of whether this is designed more for media consumption than anything else. Recall that back in February, just days after Obama signed the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, he hosted a “fiscal responsibility summit” to discuss the long-term budget situation, despite his recent exacerbation of it. And in March, the same day Obama signed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill stuffed with earmarks, he declared that the bill “must mark an end to the old way of doing business,” despite breaking a campaign pledge in doing so.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “The situation in Afghanistan is urgent, and we’re told that action is necessary soon.” Yet, as today’s Washington Posteditorial laments there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of decision-making going on at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: “President Obama's very public wavering over whether to stick with the strategy for Afghanistan that he adopted six months ago is producing some unusual spectacles. One is the awkward gap that has opened between the president and the military commander he appointed in June, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who drew up a plan to implement the strategy -- only to learn he had been left out on a limb that might be sawn off. Another is the lobbying of the president by NATO allies who find themselves trying to keep the United States from abandoning the mission they joined.”
Sen. McConnell said yesterday, “Timing is important. A failure to act decisively in response to General McChrystal’s strategy, and his anticipated request for additional forces, could serve to undermine some of the good decisions the President has made on national security.” As one Senate staffer laments, "Hopefully today’s video conference will assist his decision-making, and isn’t designed simply to paper over a criticism of where the Obama administration’s priorities are at the moment."
Tags: Afghanistan, Continuing Resolution, General Stanley McChrystal, health care, Olympics, President Barack Obama, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Around 4:30, the Senate will begin a series of votes on the Legislative Branch appropriations conference report. After that, it will resume consideration of the $636 billion fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. The Defense bill provides
On Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to resume its markup of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill. The majority of Americans are opposed to this bill in one form or fashion.
After much national criticism of President Obama flying off Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee to select Chicago as the site of the 2016 games without even having talked with the General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, Obama is making a call to the General. According to The New York Times, President Obama will speak with General Stanley McChrystal today via a secure video link. This comes after McChrysal told David Martin in a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday that he’s only met with Obama once since assuming command over seventy days ago.
The NYT writes, “When President Obama looks at the screen in the Situation Room on Wednesday, he will find a face he has not seen lately except in newspapers. There, via secure video from Kabul, will be Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his commander in Afghanistan, explaining directly to the president for the first time why more troops are needed. General McChrystal has not spoken with Mr. Obama since submitting his grim assessment of the war a month ago and has spoken with him only once in the 100 days since he took command of all American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The lack of direct communication has generated criticism and fueled suspicions of strains between the White House and Kabul.”
Indeed, there have been questions following the revelation that Obama has met with Gen. McChrystal only once, especially about the White House’s priorities. A Los Angeles Times story identified the influence of SEIU president Andy Stern at the White House which reports that “Stern estimates he visits the White House once a week.” President Obama has time to meet with the head of a powerful union once a week, but is only now having a second sit-down (albeit over video) with his commander in Afghanistan?
Certainly, the discussion with Gen. McChrystal is a positive development. But memories of past Obama administration actions do raise the question of whether this is designed more for media consumption than anything else. Recall that back in February, just days after Obama signed the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, he hosted a “fiscal responsibility summit” to discuss the long-term budget situation, despite his recent exacerbation of it. And in March, the same day Obama signed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill stuffed with earmarks, he declared that the bill “must mark an end to the old way of doing business,” despite breaking a campaign pledge in doing so.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “The situation in Afghanistan is urgent, and we’re told that action is necessary soon.” Yet, as today’s Washington Posteditorial laments there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of decision-making going on at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: “President Obama's very public wavering over whether to stick with the strategy for Afghanistan that he adopted six months ago is producing some unusual spectacles. One is the awkward gap that has opened between the president and the military commander he appointed in June, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who drew up a plan to implement the strategy -- only to learn he had been left out on a limb that might be sawn off. Another is the lobbying of the president by NATO allies who find themselves trying to keep the United States from abandoning the mission they joined.”
Sen. McConnell said yesterday, “Timing is important. A failure to act decisively in response to General McChrystal’s strategy, and his anticipated request for additional forces, could serve to undermine some of the good decisions the President has made on national security.” As one Senate staffer laments, "Hopefully today’s video conference will assist his decision-making, and isn’t designed simply to paper over a criticism of where the Obama administration’s priorities are at the moment."
Tags: Afghanistan, Continuing Resolution, General Stanley McChrystal, health care, Olympics, President Barack Obama, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Huckabee : Get America Out of the U.N.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR): “Let’s end the diplomatic excesses that these people enjoy,” he said. “Let any country that is willing to spend the money that the United States is hosting–let them have it. Give it to the Saudis and let these diplomats suck the sand out of the Saudi desert for a few summers and see if that’s where they’d like to go, and make their ridiculous speeches.” [video]
Tags: Mike Huckabee, UN, United Nations To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags: Mike Huckabee, UN, United Nations To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Rasmussen Reports Election 2010: Arkansas Senate Race
Rasmussen Reports (9/29/09): . . . at-risk in 2010. Arkansas' Blanche Lambert Lincoln trails all four of her leading Republican challengers . . . Lincoln fails to get 50% of the vote in any of the match-ups, and any incumbent who falls short of that level is considered vulnerable. In three of the match-ups, however, she is virtually tied with the challengers at this time:Arkansas voters; view of Sen. Lincoln: 26% very favorable; 28% very unfavorably; 4% no opinion.
President Obama's health care plan: 30% favor; 67% oppose it; 20% strongly favor the plan, 52% strongly oppose it. Cost of Health care if plan becomes law: 56% will go up; 16% will go down; 20% no change.
U.S. economy: 10% good or excellent; 46% poor; 31% economy is getting better; 45% getting worse; 18% no change.
Tags: Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, economy, government healthcare, poll, Rasmussen Reports, U.S. Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Muting the search for truth - Protecting religious ideas but not people
Bill Smith, Editor: As many of you know, Ken Blackwell is on my favorites writers list and I hear from Ken occasionally. Four days ago, he delivered a speech at The Lay State and Religious Liberty Symposium in Mexico City. Mexico. The title of his speech "Muting the Search for Truth: An Overview of the “Defamation of Religions.” His single spaced typed speech was over four pages long and had footnotes. Although I recommend his speech, it was too long to reprint and I was just too busy to try and summarize it.
Fortunately, I received a note from Ken. He said that Mickey McLean in the Religion Section of WorldMag.com had summarized his speech. Below is Mickey's synopsis:
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Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and American Civil Rights Union.
Tags: defamation of religions, Islam, Ken Blackwell, Mickey McLean, Muslims, Religious Freedom, UN To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Fortunately, I received a note from Ken. He said that Mickey McLean in the Religion Section of WorldMag.com had summarized his speech. Below is Mickey's synopsis:
On Friday, WORLDmag.com columnist Ken Blackwell, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, delivered a speech in Mexico City on the issue of “Defamation of Religions” and the UN’s efforts to enforce the protection of ideas and beliefs instead of protecting the people who hold those ideas and beliefs.Recommend reading all of Ken’s speeches.
In his remarks, Ken pointed out:The [Organization of the Islamic Conference, a collection of 56 Muslim-majority countries that first proposed a "Defamation of Islam" UN resolution in 1999,] has stated its main complaint is the stereotyping of Muslims around the world, especially post-9/11. Although the grievance of harmful stereotyping of Muslims as ideological extremists is sincere and factual, the current effort by the OIC to alleviate religious stereotyping with an international legal protection against the “defamation of religions” is misplaced and counter-productive. Conceptually, the claim of “defamation of religions” is inadequate as a legal cause of action. Traditional defamation laws are meant to protect individuals from false truth claims and do not extend to the protection of ideas, philosophies, or religions. Therefore, “defamation of religions” turns the purpose of defamation laws on its head. Human rights are also meant to protect individual persons only. Not only do “defamation of religions” laws fail to protect individuals, but they are also used to harass individuals. Unfortunately, the vague notion of “defamation of religions” laws allows government to use such laws to suppress minority religious individuals and voices of dissent.
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Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and American Civil Rights Union.
Tags: defamation of religions, Islam, Ken Blackwell, Mickey McLean, Muslims, Religious Freedom, UN To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
American Taxpayers Need Congress to Have a 72-Hour Waiting Period
Title Modified! H/T NetRight Nation - From the WSJ article by John Fund: Polls show overwhelming agreement outside the Beltway that it's more important for Congress to get health-care reform done right than done quickly. A Polling Company survey conducted last month found 95% agreeing that members of Congress shouldn't vote on any bill they haven't read in full.That's why the bipartisan duo of Rep. Brian Baird, a Washington Democrat, and Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, came up with the "72-hour resolution," which would require all non-emergency legislation to be posted online, in final form, for at least 72 hours prior to a floor vote. "Members of Congress are too often asked to make decisions on bills that can be longer than telephone books and are only given a few hours to actually read them," says Rep. Baird. "Both parties are guilty, and both should stop doing it."
Although Barack Obama campaigned last year for transparency and openness in government, their idea has languished in committee since June. It has 67 Republican and 31 Democratic co-sponsors—a rare show of bipartisanship. Normally, bills can't be considered for a floor vote until House leadership schedules them. That's why Messrs. Baird and Walden filed a discharge petition to dislodge their bill from committee this week. If a majority of members (218) sign it, their proposal can be voted on over the objections of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But the notion of a 72-hour waiting period is anathema to Democrats who fear that they are running out of time to pass a sweeping health-care bill. This week, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told Bloomberg News that "the goal" is to finish the entire health-care debate "over the next six weeks or so, maybe sooner." The six-week deadline is critical because it would mean a health-care bill would pass into law just before voters in Virginia and New Jersey go to the polls on Nov. 3 to elect a governor and state legislators. Right now, the GOP leads in both states and nervous Democrats see that as a measure of their stalled health-care reform plans.
So it appears Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress have decided to ram a bill through as quickly as possible. On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee voted 12 to 11 to reject a proposal to require a 72-hour waiting period and a full scoring of the bill by the Congressional Budget Office before the committee casts any final vote. Only one Democrat, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, voted for the waiting period. Chairman Max Baucus said the idea would delay a vote on the final bill for two weeks and he didn't want to waste another moment.
On the House side, Mrs. Pelosi has told reporters that members will have "a period of time that is sufficient" to consider the final health-care language. But she clearly doesn't want her hands tied. House leadership aides were stationed on the House floor where members must go to sign the 72-hour discharge petition. Mr. Baird acknowledged that leadership aides were strongly discouraging his fellow Democrats from signing. As of yesterday, 173 members had affixed their names, but they included only five of the 31 Democratic co-sponsors.
Mr. Baird isn't phased. "If Americans contact their representative and encourage him or her to sign this discharge petition, I'm confident it will become law," he told me. Mr. Baird, a six-term incumbent, isn't a natural rebel against his party's leadership. He supports health-care reform that expands coverage to the uninsured and would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions. As a licensed clinical psychologist, he has 23 years of experience treating patients suffering from brain injuries as well as victims of strokes and cancer.
But Mr. Baird says health care is one of many issues that's simply too important to be rushed through. He notes that when Republicans ran the House in 2003 they jammed through a giant prescription drug entitlement in a late-night session when clearly many members didn't understand the bill. More recently, this year the final language of the stimulus bill appeared at midnight one night, giving members only 12 hours to review it before a final vote. Then in June, Mrs. Pelosi brought a global-warming bill to the floor only 16 hours after a 316-page amendment rewriting much of it was introduced.
It's time for Congress to change its ways. Haste can make for more than waste and lead to populist outrage that often takes on a life of its own. That happened after this year's stimulus bill included the infamous provision authorizing executives of bailed-out AIG to get retroactive bonuses.
But despite such train wrecks, there are still members who dismiss calls for calm deliberation. Sen. Kent Conrad, (D., N.D.) who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, claims that go-slow proposals wouldn't make any difference because only 5% of Americans will be able to understand the legalese in bills. Politico.com reports him as saying: "Anybody who thinks that is going to be transparent to the American people is really not telling it like it is."
Mr. Baird admits to being irked by such arguments. "It's nonsense," he told me. "One of the reasons voters are so upset today is that they get the sense they aren't being trusted to make their own judgment about what goes on in Washington."
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John Fund is is a columnist for WSJ.com, a conservative friend of the taxpayers, noted guest on Fox News and author of "Stealing Elections."
Tags: 72 Hour, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, John Fund, Nancy Pelosi, read the bill, Wall Street Journal. Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Obamas Olympic Push
by William Warren:
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Tags: Barack Obama, Olympics, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags: Barack Obama, Olympics, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Monday, September 28, 2009
RPA Announces New Executive Director
Little Rock – Today RPA Chairman Doyle Webb announced that the State Party Executive Committee has hired Chase Dugger to be its new Executive Director, effective October 1. Dugger currently serves as Political Director.
“Chase has deep roots in Arkansas” said Webb. “His love of this state and his desire to advance the two party system are great qualities. When you add these to his exceptional work and experience in the past, it is no wonder that he was selected our Executive Director.”
“2010 is going to be a great year for the Republican Party” said Dugger. “We are going to pick up seats at the local, state, and national level. I am excited about being a part of that and look forward to seeing the Party grow in Arkansas.”
Tags: Chase Dugger, Doyle Webb, Executive Director, Republican Party of Arkansas, RPA To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
“Chase has deep roots in Arkansas” said Webb. “His love of this state and his desire to advance the two party system are great qualities. When you add these to his exceptional work and experience in the past, it is no wonder that he was selected our Executive Director.”
“2010 is going to be a great year for the Republican Party” said Dugger. “We are going to pick up seats at the local, state, and national level. I am excited about being a part of that and look forward to seeing the Party grow in Arkansas.”
Tags: Chase Dugger, Doyle Webb, Executive Director, Republican Party of Arkansas, RPA To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A sham 'compromise' health care bill waiting in the wings
The American Thinker has another article worth reading completely. It is written by written by Dennis B.Cooke MD & Carolyn Cooke. Just a few excerpts:
Tags: bill, nationalized health care, US Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
In the background, behind all of the noise around the Baucus bill and the endless appearances by Obama, is another health care bill that has been given little attention. A flawed bill this worrisome legislation appears to be waiting in the wings. The Healthy Americans Act (HHA), or Wyden-Bennett, was re-introduced to Congress in February, 2009. Written by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (D) and Utah Senator Bob Bennett(R), it has a bi-partisan group of co-sponsors in the Senate.Enough of a teaser - it is a long article but well worth the read for those who are interested in what may unfold in the coming days as nationalized health care is pushed onto the American people. Read the article -- take down the names! Be prepared.!
Will Wyden-Bennett be trotted out as another "grand compromise" piece of legislation? A coalition of Senators from both sides of the aisle may very well intend to ride in on their white horses with a massive public relations campaign in hopes of convincing the American people they have listened to our outrage. They are already saying they have crafted a bipartisan solution to America's healthcare problems that offers universal coverage while preserving the free market. Sen. Wyden says his plan will be the one, speaking at a meeting with directors of the Pima County Medical Society in Oregon in May, 2009
The truth is Wyden-Bennett is a backdoor takeover by the Congress of the entire insurance marketplace. The result would lead to a complete nationalization of our health care system. It may well be the bill Obama and members of the United States Congress have intended to legislate all along. Wyden-Bennett is the most overreaching and dangerous threat to our liberties of any of the bills in existence. . . .
Under Wyden-Bennett, the insurance market is 100% regulated by the federal government. This plan mandates Congressional approval of all insurance plans including the premiums the insurance companies may charge. The government will approve or disapprove insurance claims. The insurance companies as we know them today will exist in name only to promote the façade of a free market. They will only exist as purveyors of nationalized health care. With only government improved plans and premiums, the incentive for innovation and competition in the insurance market will be crippled. . . .
Make no mistake, the private plan you enjoy now will be gone. The standard benefits package will be the BlueCross / BlueShield Plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). This plan is designed for older, financially secure federal employees. The average 2009 family premium is $13,440 per year. . . .
Michael F. Cannon, Director of the Health Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, states that 30-50% of Americans will be forced to pay more than they need or want for health care in order to subsidize others. Often those others may be people that have chosen unhealthy lifestyles.
The penalty for failure to comply will be the average monthly premium plus 15% for each uncovered month.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will expand further into our personal lives. The premium will be taken out of paychecks, thus removing any transparency from the system and diminishing the consumer's ability to make responsible choices. The IRS will be in charge of all collections, disbursements and the garnishing of wages for penalties. Checks for claims, payments for hospitals, clinics and health care providers will be written by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and administered through the sham insurance carriers. The IRS may collect the money for fines out of your bank account.
Widen-Bennett involves the taxation of your government controlled health insurance plans up to 25% and other taxes, including many deceptively hidden ones. Another attack on innovation will come from an exorbitant tax on device and drug companies doing research and development. . . .
American taxpayers will be subsidizing the premiums of those up to 400% above the poverty line. Already Americans are upset with the costs of the health care plans in the forefront of the debate. If amnesty is passed, as Congress intends, Americans will be forced to subsidize the 12-20 million predominantly low-skilled illegal aliens that are already in this country and the many millions more of their relatives that will enter this country through chain migration.
Tags: bill, nationalized health care, US Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Dictionary - Definition of Tax
Check out this RNC ad. Finally a home run! [Video]
BarackObamaExperiment.com
Tags: Barack Obama, big government, government healthcare, health care, Obamacare, RNC, Tax, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
BarackObamaExperiment.com
Tags: Barack Obama, big government, government healthcare, health care, Obamacare, RNC, Tax, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 28, 2009 - Olympics, Gag Orders and More
What does Globetrotting for the Olympics and a Gag order on Free Speech have in common? Well, I am sure you will discover the answer below.
Congress is observing Yom Kippur today. Tomorrow, the Senate will resume consideration of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. Also, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to resume its markup of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill.
The White House announced today that the President will travel Thursday night to Copenhagen (Denmark) to make a personal appearance before the International Olympic Committee with First Lady Michelle Obama Michelle Obama who is (or was) to make a presentation to promote Chicago as the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. This all smacks as a tribute to the Chicago and its political machine. A Huffington Post article expresses the lack of enthusiasm by Chicago residents for the Olympics: "Mayor Daley, rocking a 35% approval rating, says that the Games would be 'a huge boost to our economy, raising it to a new level. The Games will help us recover sooner from the recession that still grips our nation and enable us to better compete in the global economy.' There is only one problem with this argument: the history of the Olympic Games almost without exception brands it as a lie. . . . It's also difficult for Chicago residents to see how this will help their pocketbooks, given that Daley pledged to the International Olympic Committee that any cost overruns would be covered by taxpayers. This is why a staggering 84% of the city opposes bringing the Games to Chicago if it costs residents a solitary dime."
Wow, maybe the citizens of Chicago are waking up! Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), a ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said Obama's decision to go to Denmark to promote the Olympics is a sign that the president needs to "establish some priorities" -- the most pressing of which is the need to "respond to Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more U.S. troops in Afghanistan." And Folks, guess who is paying for this globe trotting trip. The American taxpayers. Do you feel safer now?
As the health care debate continues, more and more Democrats and the Obama administration seem determined to obscure or muzzle the real facts about their health care reform plans.
Back in August, at an Organizing for America event on selling his health reform plan, President Obama told supporters, “So you’ve really got to emphasize, I think, to seniors that, number one, nobody is talking about messing with your Medicare benefits.” And just last week, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd in Maryland, “Nobody is going to mess with your benefits. Nobody.”
However, last week the AP reported, “Despite Obama's repeated claims that Medicare benefits will not be cut, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told senators Tuesday that the elderly in the private Medicare Advantage plans could see reduced benefits under Baucus' bill.” And today, in a piece examining cuts to Medicare, The Washington Post acknowledges, “Many health policy analysts, along with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, agree that the Medicare Advantage cuts are likely to hurt, causing insurance companies to scale back popular extras such as dental coverage and gym memberships. They could also pull out of suddenly unprofitable markets, leaving seniors without a popular program and violating Obama's pledge that people who like their insurance can keep it.”
Even though major news outlets and the CBO director are saying it is true that seniors on Medicare Advantage could see benefit cuts under Democrats’ health care reform plans, the Department of Health and Human Services has refused to lift a gag order it imposed on insurance companies, prohibiting them from informing their customers of this very fact. The Obama administration on Thursday evening rejected Senate Republicans’ request that the Department of Health and Human Services lift a so-called gag order on insurance companies. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell summed up the situation to Fox’s Neil Cavuto last week: “I think the Democratic majority is undeterred by the facts. The facts are that they are trying to cut Medicare. They certainly are cutting Medicare Advantage as well. They are going to have a $500 billion—half a trillion—cut in Medicare over the next 10 years and they’re acting like they aren’t. No one believes that. The director of the CBO . . . has underscored what they are doing, and it’s astonishing.”
Tags: banning free speech, Barack Obama, Chicago, condescending attitude, Democrats, DHHS, government healthcare, Olympics, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Congress is observing Yom Kippur today. Tomorrow, the Senate will resume consideration of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. Also, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to resume its markup of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill.
The White House announced today that the President will travel Thursday night to Copenhagen (Denmark) to make a personal appearance before the International Olympic Committee with First Lady Michelle Obama Michelle Obama who is (or was) to make a presentation to promote Chicago as the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. This all smacks as a tribute to the Chicago and its political machine. A Huffington Post article expresses the lack of enthusiasm by Chicago residents for the Olympics: "Mayor Daley, rocking a 35% approval rating, says that the Games would be 'a huge boost to our economy, raising it to a new level. The Games will help us recover sooner from the recession that still grips our nation and enable us to better compete in the global economy.' There is only one problem with this argument: the history of the Olympic Games almost without exception brands it as a lie. . . . It's also difficult for Chicago residents to see how this will help their pocketbooks, given that Daley pledged to the International Olympic Committee that any cost overruns would be covered by taxpayers. This is why a staggering 84% of the city opposes bringing the Games to Chicago if it costs residents a solitary dime."
Wow, maybe the citizens of Chicago are waking up! Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), a ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said Obama's decision to go to Denmark to promote the Olympics is a sign that the president needs to "establish some priorities" -- the most pressing of which is the need to "respond to Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more U.S. troops in Afghanistan." And Folks, guess who is paying for this globe trotting trip. The American taxpayers. Do you feel safer now?
As the health care debate continues, more and more Democrats and the Obama administration seem determined to obscure or muzzle the real facts about their health care reform plans.
Back in August, at an Organizing for America event on selling his health reform plan, President Obama told supporters, “So you’ve really got to emphasize, I think, to seniors that, number one, nobody is talking about messing with your Medicare benefits.” And just last week, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd in Maryland, “Nobody is going to mess with your benefits. Nobody.”
However, last week the AP reported, “Despite Obama's repeated claims that Medicare benefits will not be cut, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told senators Tuesday that the elderly in the private Medicare Advantage plans could see reduced benefits under Baucus' bill.” And today, in a piece examining cuts to Medicare, The Washington Post acknowledges, “Many health policy analysts, along with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, agree that the Medicare Advantage cuts are likely to hurt, causing insurance companies to scale back popular extras such as dental coverage and gym memberships. They could also pull out of suddenly unprofitable markets, leaving seniors without a popular program and violating Obama's pledge that people who like their insurance can keep it.”
Even though major news outlets and the CBO director are saying it is true that seniors on Medicare Advantage could see benefit cuts under Democrats’ health care reform plans, the Department of Health and Human Services has refused to lift a gag order it imposed on insurance companies, prohibiting them from informing their customers of this very fact. The Obama administration on Thursday evening rejected Senate Republicans’ request that the Department of Health and Human Services lift a so-called gag order on insurance companies. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell summed up the situation to Fox’s Neil Cavuto last week: “I think the Democratic majority is undeterred by the facts. The facts are that they are trying to cut Medicare. They certainly are cutting Medicare Advantage as well. They are going to have a $500 billion—half a trillion—cut in Medicare over the next 10 years and they’re acting like they aren’t. No one believes that. The director of the CBO . . . has underscored what they are doing, and it’s astonishing.”
Tags: banning free speech, Barack Obama, Chicago, condescending attitude, Democrats, DHHS, government healthcare, Olympics, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
ACORN and Its Political Seed SEIU - Graft & Corruption
by Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post: While everyone in Washington is suddenly pretending they've hardly ever heard of ACORN, they might want to pretend they've never heard of the SEIU, one of the nation's largest unions. . . . You also don't talk about either organization without mention of Wade Rathke, co-founder of ACORN and founder of SEIU Local 100 in New Orleans. Rathke, who resigned from ACORN last year as "chief organizer" after it became known that his brother embezzled almost $1 million from the association, continues to run Local 100, as well as ACORN International, recently renamed Community Organizations International. Rathke's social justice empire is so vast that he is more hydra than man. Nine heads are surely better than one when you're organizing communities in at least 12 countries. While Rathke and ACORN undoubtedly have done much good for impoverished people here and abroad, it appears likely that American taxpayers indirectly have been helping to underwrite unionizing activities and advance political goals through the commingling of Rathke's various interests. . . .
Now picture a triangle. One point is ACORN; another point is the SEIU; the third point is the taxpayer. Now picture arrows flowing back and forth, representing the exchange of greenbacks and services. While various government agencies funded ACORN to help poor people become voters and homeowners, ACORN under Rathke created SEIU Local 100 (Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas) and SEIU Local 880 (Illinois, Indiana and Kansas). In turn, the SEIU wrote checks to ACORN for political activities and union organizing, according to ACORN whistle-blower affidavits. In 2008, the SEIU and Change to Win, a coalition of labor unions, gave ACORN $1,729,462, according to union financial reports filed with the Labor Department.
To break it down, ACORN and the SEIU are hand and glove. Rathke himself referred to the SEIU as "one of the pillars of the ACORN family of organizations" in a June 9, 2007, blog posting. This coziness has been long known among conservative watchdog groups, but Washington has paid little attention until now. . . .
Just last week, the Kansas City Star reported that two state agencies acting on an SEIU public records request sought to identify in-home health workers who care for the elderly and disabled. After complaints, the state acknowledged that it was under no legal obligation to provide the information and ceased helping the SEIU. Unionizing is not a state function, needless to say. And never mind the invasion of privacy.
One needn't be a mathematician to imagine what a national health-care option might mean to a union in search of new dues-paying recruits. The SEIU, which has promised "to fight tooth and nail" for a public option, is demonstrably persuasive. In Illinois, former governor Blagojevich (thank you for your patience) helped position the SEIU so that it could unionize health-care workers when he signed an executive order allowing collective bargaining. The SEIU showed its appreciation in advance by becoming Blagojevich's largest contributor, handing over $1.8 million for his two gubernatorial campaigns. Now that's community organization. . . . [Full Article: Not Far From the Tree] See Also: Illinois politicians' sordid ACORN/SEIU connections
Tags: ACORN, corruption, graft, SEIU To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Obama's Plan to Spread the Wealth
by Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum: When Barack Obama told Joe the Plumber he planned to "spread the wealth around," many people didn't realize he was not talking about spreading the wealth only of the super-rich. Now that Obama is elected, he is moving rapidly to expand welfare handouts for non-taxpayers, running up a tremendous national debt that will inevitably lead to higher taxes on the Middle Class.The enormity of this transfer of money away from working, taxpaying Americans to non-taxpayers (who voted overwhelmingly for Obama for President in 2008) has just been detailed in a sensational 53-page report by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe the colossal amounts of money involved in the Obama Administration's shocking cash transfers. Most people don't realize that the federal budget has become a vast machine for transferring wealth from the upper third of Americans (who pay 90% of federal income taxes) to the lowest third who earn less than 200% of the government-stipulated "poverty" level and pay no income tax. The size of this massive annual transfer rose by 40% to $714 billion over the last ten years, and is projected to rise to $1 trillion per year by the end of Obama's first term.
The term "welfare" embraces much more than the single program formerly called AFDC that was "reformed" (and renamed TANF) in 1996. It includes 70 other programs that provide unearned cash and non-cash benefits to people living in low-income households (but does not include Social Security, Medicare and unemployment compensation, which are earned through work and available to almost everyone). Obama didn't invent these means-tested transfers; they mostly started with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society welfare programs. Like most government programs, the cost of these welfare and aid-to-poor-and-low-income persons has increased, and Obama demanded vast additional increases, which Congress passed in the Stimulus and Omnibus bills.
Welfare spending was 13 times greater in FY 2008 than it was when LBJ started the Great Society in 1964. Means-tested welfare spending then was 1.2% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and now has reached 5 percent. These programs are now the third most expensive government activity, ranking below Social Security and Medicare spending, and education spending. National Defense ranks only fourth.
The real cost of these programs is unknown to the American people (one could say, kept secret from them) because the spending is distributed by 14 departments and agencies though 71 different programs. We are fortunate that Rector, a numbers expert, has made a painstaking analysis and shone light upon these transfers. In fiscal year (FY) 2008, government spending on means-tested welfare or aid to the poor amounted to $714 billion, of which approximately three-fourths was federal spending and one-fourth came from state government funds. States are required to match a percentage of federal welfare outlays.
Of the total means-tested spending in FY 2008, 52% was spent on medical care for the poor and low-income persons, 37% was spent on cash, food, and housing aid, and 11% was spent on social services, training, child development, federal education aid, and community development for low-income persons and communities. Roughly half goes to disabled or elderly persons, and the other half to households with children mostly headed by single mothers. Rector ran an adding machine tape and concluded that means-tested handouts in FY 2008 amounted to about $16,800 for every poor person, defined as below 100% of the designated poverty level. When welfare spending is related to the larger group of persons who qualify for benefits below 200% of the "poverty" level, we are giving $28,000 per year to every lower-income four-person household.
Why are we told that we have so inequality in the United States? That's because the Census counts only 4% of these welfare gifts to low-income people as their income, and most government discussions of poverty do not even refer to the massive transfers of money taking place.
To get an idea of how big is the debt Obama is creating, which ultimately will have to be paid by the Middle Class, let's compare spending on welfare to spending on fighting wars. Since the beginning of LBJ's Great Society spending, our government has spent $15.9 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars) on means-tested welfare, which is more than twice the cost of all major fighting wars in U.S. history. We spent only $4.1 trillion (in 2008 dollars) on World War II, which was the most expensive single undertaking in U.S. history.
Under Obama's budget, which has already been passed by Congress, federal welfare spending will increase by $88 billion in 2009, plus an additional $175 billion in 2010. This two-year increase of $263 billion will bring total federal and state welfare handouts to $890 billion a year, which is more than 6% of GDP.
Tags: Barack Obama, debt, Eagle Forum, Federal Welfare State, National Debt, Phyllis Schlafly, welfare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Dragnet Detectives School Barack Obama on Obamacare & America
Two old Dragnet detectives, Joe Friday & Bill Gannon give Obama their ideas on his attempts to dismantle our country. [video]
H/T InsureBlog, America, You Asked for It, and BulletPeople
Tags: Barack Obama, Dragnet, health care, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
H/T InsureBlog, America, You Asked for It, and BulletPeople
Tags: Barack Obama, Dragnet, health care, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday Night Video - Remembering John Wayne - A Great American
Bill Smith, Editor: Hey - I am tired of all the Washington D.C. abuse and their B.S. I bet readers are too. So let's all relax and watch a wide screen Pictorial Tribute to John Wayne with relaxing music and some words from The Duke about America. The tribute was put together by Rob Mason, who lives in the UK. Mason recognizes a great American when he sees one and said, "Mr. John Wayne, the true measure of a man, was possibly the most decent human being to ever set foot on planet earth [or at least America]. John's character roles always allowed his own character to shine through and to be an inspiration to his audience. God bless You John Wayne." [Video]
Tags: America, American, cowboy, John Wayne, tribute, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags: America, American, cowboy, John Wayne, tribute, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The House Takes Action to Keep Government Running - Really?
Bill Smith, Editor: On Friday, the same Government that keeps passing bills that place us further in debt and insist on passing a major health care bill, had to "again" take action to keep the government afloat. The government was headed for a shutdown due to lack of government funding. So the House passed a "one month" bill which was approved by a 217-to-190 vote.
Imagine a family running up a massive debt. Let's assume the family like Congress is to busy doing ever thing else except planning and managing their money and now they are way over budget, out of money and about to go bankrupt. So, what do they do? They call a family meeting and draw-up a new extended budget - oops were are broke -- but based on this budget they just keep spending money (they don't have). Sounds nuts? It is! And so is Congress for not stopping its excessive spending and launching new bills full of new spending, earmarks and pork. And, allowing the Treasury to either print more money or sell more debt.
Congress is in fact doing the very thing for which "We the People (American citizens) would go to jail. And to add to the insult, Congress also increased the budgets for their own offices by over 8%. Maybe this increase is to pay for speed readers they need to help them read all the bills they are passing without reading them.
While the House was at it, they helped the struggling Postal Service by allowing it to delay required payments of $4 billion that are due next month to a health care fund for retirees. They even provided another months financing to cover expiring highway funds. And where did they attach this spending continuation bill? They attached it to a $4.7 billion House-Senate compromise bill to finance Congress’s own budget. They did not forget the rest of the government; they also extended the financing for the operating budgets of Cabinet departments and other agencies at their current levels (no 8% increase for them) through Oct. 31.
Can we trust Congress? After all, while the Democrat leadership is not doing their required business, they are moving forward to in-debt future generations, to pass nationalized health care, cap-and trade and other inane legislation and even asking the executive branch to gag the free speech of Americans so they don't talk about their proposed bills. Right now, the answer is a resounding "No we do not trust the leadership of Congress."
Tags: Democrats, federal spending, government funding, US House, 2009 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Imagine a family running up a massive debt. Let's assume the family like Congress is to busy doing ever thing else except planning and managing their money and now they are way over budget, out of money and about to go bankrupt. So, what do they do? They call a family meeting and draw-up a new extended budget - oops were are broke -- but based on this budget they just keep spending money (they don't have). Sounds nuts? It is! And so is Congress for not stopping its excessive spending and launching new bills full of new spending, earmarks and pork. And, allowing the Treasury to either print more money or sell more debt.
Congress is in fact doing the very thing for which "We the People (American citizens) would go to jail. And to add to the insult, Congress also increased the budgets for their own offices by over 8%. Maybe this increase is to pay for speed readers they need to help them read all the bills they are passing without reading them.
While the House was at it, they helped the struggling Postal Service by allowing it to delay required payments of $4 billion that are due next month to a health care fund for retirees. They even provided another months financing to cover expiring highway funds. And where did they attach this spending continuation bill? They attached it to a $4.7 billion House-Senate compromise bill to finance Congress’s own budget. They did not forget the rest of the government; they also extended the financing for the operating budgets of Cabinet departments and other agencies at their current levels (no 8% increase for them) through Oct. 31.
Can we trust Congress? After all, while the Democrat leadership is not doing their required business, they are moving forward to in-debt future generations, to pass nationalized health care, cap-and trade and other inane legislation and even asking the executive branch to gag the free speech of Americans so they don't talk about their proposed bills. Right now, the answer is a resounding "No we do not trust the leadership of Congress."
Tags: Democrats, federal spending, government funding, US House, 2009 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
ACORN's Corporate Donors Backing Off
Bank of America is reviewing its grant program, while CitiGroup is waiting for results of official investigations in the scandal. JP Morgan Chase had previously ended its relationship with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Banks and other financial institutions have given millions of dollars and other forms of support to ACORN for decades in response to boycott threats from the organization, as well as accusations of racism and other forms of discrimination in granting personal loans and mortgages.
The ACORN campaigns followed passage of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which was designed to pressure financial institutions to loosen lending standards in order to increase home ownership among poor and minority communities. Legislation strengthening CRA during the Clinton administration greatly encouraged such ACORN activities.
Bank of America has given 28 grants totaling almost $3 million to ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) since 2005, financial records show. A company spokesman said the activity exposed on videotape prompted the present review. “We do not condone the actions of ACORN Housing employees exposed in recently released videotapes,” Bank of America spokesman Richard Simon told The Examiner. “We have begun a review of ACORN Housing’s governance to ensure if these were individual incidents rather than a systemic breakdown before we make decisions on future actions.”
JP Morgan Chase contributed over $5 million in grants to the housing affiliate, over a five-year period. But this program is no longer active, Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman said. “JP Morgan Chase provided a five-year community development grant to fund affordable housing and foreclosure prevention initiatives across the country,” Zuccarelli said. “The commitment ended a year ago in 2008 and no further grants will be considered.”
Undercover videos made by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles posing as a pimp and prostitute, respectively, feature ACORN workers offering advice in Baltimore, Md. Brooklyn, N.Y. and San Bernardino, Calif. The ACORN staffers in Baltimore told O’Keefe and Giles how to falsify documents and obtain benefits for “very young girls” from El Salvador. ACORN is suing O’Keefe and Giles, as well as Andrew Breitbart, owner of the BigGovernment.com blog that published the videos, claiming the audio portion from Baltimore was obtained illegally under a Maryland law that bars tape recording individuals on the telephone without their consent.
Citigroup donated $5,000 to the Baltimore office in 2003. “We are deeply concerned about the recently released videos of frontline ACORN staff, and we look forward to the findings of the independent auditor and a timely conclusion to this matter,” said Citicorp's Andrea Hurst.
Dissident current and former officials of ACORN claim that donations made to AHC and other affiliates are often misappropriated. The organization’s finances are handled through the Citizens Consulting Inc. (CCI), according to the ACORN 8, a whistleblower group. “There’s no guarantee that any donations are going where they are supposed to be going,” said Ron Sykes, treasurer of the Washington D.C. ACORN and a member of the ACORN 8.
Bret Jacobson, president and founder of Maverick Strategies, said banks could risk legal action from unhappy shareholders if managers do not sever financial ties with ACORN. “It would be gross negligence for banks to continue paying public relations protection money to an organization that is so radioactive,” said Jacobson, whose firm specializes in political-public relations efforts. “ACORN has finally been exposed for its deep-seeded corruption and now bankers have to do a serious cost-benefit analysis of whether they want to be financially linked to a group willing to support child prostitution rings.”
Source: NetRight Nation
Tags: ACORN, Bank of America, Citigroup, Community Reinvestment Act, donors, Stop Acorn To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) Speaks Out On Deception On Health Care
| Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) identifies that misinformation and deception that is being fed to the public on Obamacare [Video] |
Tags: Chris Smith, government healthcare, healthcare, Obamacare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Obama's U.N. Apology - I Am Not George Bush - Israel on the Chopping Block
by William Warren:
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by Jim Meyers: Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said President Barack Obama's address to the U.N. was "unprecedented" and "unpresidential" as he sought to distance himself from the previous administration. . . .
"I have never seen an American president give a speech at the United Nations that spent so much time contrasting his administration with the previous administration," Bolton observed. ". . . I was struck by how personal it was, and I must say how unpresidential."
Obama also stated: "Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside...America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy." Bolton commented: ". . . these repeated efforts by the president in this speech to say implicitly, I am not George Bush, is I think unprecedented. "And I think it’s carrying an American political debate, which is legitimate to have, into the international arena. That is particularly what I find unpresidential."
Bolton also said that in his address Obama "put Israel on the chopping block. I don’t think there’s ever been a speech by an American president, let alone one at the United Nations, that was so critical of Israel." [Full Story: "Bolton: Obama Speech Puts Israel on 'Chopping Block'"]
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Gary Bauer: Jew Bashing At The U.N. - What a disgusting spectacle. For 96 minutes yesterday, Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi delivered an insane tirade to the U.N. General Assembly, blaming Israel for the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the U.S. military for producing flu viruses to help drug companies get rich. Qadhafi also called Obama “my son” and expressed his hope that Obama would be president forever. National Review is reporting that the Obama Administration has notified Congress that the State Department intends to contribute $400,000 of your tax money to foundations run by Qadhafi’s two children.
. . . After “Muammar the Mad” left the stage, along came the Iranian Shiite fanatic Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, who accused Israel of trying to dominate the world politically and economically. He accused Israel of “crimes” against defenseless Palestinian women and children, when of course it is radical Palestinians who strap explosives on to their children and use them as human bombs. Ahmadinejad continues his march toward nuclear weapons. The day he obtains them, Israel, America and any other nation that believes in the Judeo/Christian values of Western Civilization will be in danger. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke today and called out the U.N. cowards. . . .
And what about President Obama? He mentioned Iran and North Korea a couple of times, but mentioned Israel more than a dozen. He called Israeli homes in established Israeli cities “illegitimate.” And he pointedly said the Israeli “occupation that began in 1967” must end. On both points, he sadly parrots the views of Qadhafi and Ahmadinejad. No wonder that for the first time since its founding in 1947, Israelis see a U.S. president as overtly hostile to their security.
Obama’s Biggest Fan: Himself - Dan Gainor, a weekly columnist in the Fox Forum on Fox News, produced a study finding that Big Media is not Barack Obama’s biggest fan. That honor goes to Barack Obama himself. Gainor says that in 41 speeches this year, not including the disastrous one he gave yesterday at the U.N., Obama used the word “I” or “me” an astonishing 1,200 times. That includes only his 34 weekly addresses and seven major speeches. If we were to count every interview and speech Obama has given since he was inaugurated, the numbers would be off the charts.
Moreover, from his inauguration in January to the seven-month mark in August, Obama conducted 114 interviews. To put that in perspective, in their first seven months in office, Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton did 37 and 41 interviews respectively. If Obama continues at this rate, he will exceed all the interviews by former presidents combined! The man is truly in love with himself. I long for the days when the president spoke to the American people about “us,” not about himself. . . . It appears this president thinks the presidency is all about him when it is suppose to be all about America. [Gary Bauer is Chairman of the Campaign for Working Families]
Tags: anti-Israel, apology, Barack Obama, Gary Bauer, John Bolton, political cartoon, UN, United Nations, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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by Jim Meyers: Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said President Barack Obama's address to the U.N. was "unprecedented" and "unpresidential" as he sought to distance himself from the previous administration. . . .
"I have never seen an American president give a speech at the United Nations that spent so much time contrasting his administration with the previous administration," Bolton observed. ". . . I was struck by how personal it was, and I must say how unpresidential."
Obama also stated: "Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside...America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy." Bolton commented: ". . . these repeated efforts by the president in this speech to say implicitly, I am not George Bush, is I think unprecedented. "And I think it’s carrying an American political debate, which is legitimate to have, into the international arena. That is particularly what I find unpresidential."
Bolton also said that in his address Obama "put Israel on the chopping block. I don’t think there’s ever been a speech by an American president, let alone one at the United Nations, that was so critical of Israel." [Full Story: "Bolton: Obama Speech Puts Israel on 'Chopping Block'"]
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Gary Bauer: Jew Bashing At The U.N. - What a disgusting spectacle. For 96 minutes yesterday, Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi delivered an insane tirade to the U.N. General Assembly, blaming Israel for the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the U.S. military for producing flu viruses to help drug companies get rich. Qadhafi also called Obama “my son” and expressed his hope that Obama would be president forever. National Review is reporting that the Obama Administration has notified Congress that the State Department intends to contribute $400,000 of your tax money to foundations run by Qadhafi’s two children.
. . . After “Muammar the Mad” left the stage, along came the Iranian Shiite fanatic Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, who accused Israel of trying to dominate the world politically and economically. He accused Israel of “crimes” against defenseless Palestinian women and children, when of course it is radical Palestinians who strap explosives on to their children and use them as human bombs. Ahmadinejad continues his march toward nuclear weapons. The day he obtains them, Israel, America and any other nation that believes in the Judeo/Christian values of Western Civilization will be in danger. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke today and called out the U.N. cowards. . . .
And what about President Obama? He mentioned Iran and North Korea a couple of times, but mentioned Israel more than a dozen. He called Israeli homes in established Israeli cities “illegitimate.” And he pointedly said the Israeli “occupation that began in 1967” must end. On both points, he sadly parrots the views of Qadhafi and Ahmadinejad. No wonder that for the first time since its founding in 1947, Israelis see a U.S. president as overtly hostile to their security.
Obama’s Biggest Fan: Himself - Dan Gainor, a weekly columnist in the Fox Forum on Fox News, produced a study finding that Big Media is not Barack Obama’s biggest fan. That honor goes to Barack Obama himself. Gainor says that in 41 speeches this year, not including the disastrous one he gave yesterday at the U.N., Obama used the word “I” or “me” an astonishing 1,200 times. That includes only his 34 weekly addresses and seven major speeches. If we were to count every interview and speech Obama has given since he was inaugurated, the numbers would be off the charts.
Moreover, from his inauguration in January to the seven-month mark in August, Obama conducted 114 interviews. To put that in perspective, in their first seven months in office, Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton did 37 and 41 interviews respectively. If Obama continues at this rate, he will exceed all the interviews by former presidents combined! The man is truly in love with himself. I long for the days when the president spoke to the American people about “us,” not about himself. . . . It appears this president thinks the presidency is all about him when it is suppose to be all about America. [Gary Bauer is Chairman of the Campaign for Working Families]
Tags: anti-Israel, apology, Barack Obama, Gary Bauer, John Bolton, political cartoon, UN, United Nations, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Pelosi Shameful & Senior Tsunami Coming To Congress
Jim Martin (President: 60 Plus Association) in the following two videos points out that seniors are not happy with House Speaker Pelosi or the proposed health care bills [Videos]:
Tags: 2010, 60 Plus, health care, Jim Martin, Nancy Pelosi, videos To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
| They would like to get this bill through now cause I'm telling you this right now, there is a senior citizen tsunami headed towards the halls of Congress. It's a veritable flood if you will and unless it subsides between now and 2010, there is going to be some intense paying at the polls." [video] | "I've got a message for the [Speaker Nancy Pelosi]. These seniors have served...And for her to say they're un-American, that is one of the most shameful statements I've ever heard coming out of an elected representatives mouth. And on the Nazism charge, my heavens, these folks fought Nazism!" [video] |
Tags: 2010, 60 Plus, health care, Jim Martin, Nancy Pelosi, videos To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Biden's Wildest Dreams Don't Fit Reality America
Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, made the following statement after Vice President Joe Biden declared, with regards to the Democrats' so-called stimulus plan, "In my wildest dreams, I never thought it would work this well":
"Unless the Vice President's measure of stimulus success is the highest unemployment rate in 26 years, then it is hard to fit his wildest dreams with reality. The reality is the Obama Administration promised that borrowing $787 billion would keep our nation's unemployment below 8 percent. Now, after eight months of stimulus spending, more than two million jobs have been lost and unemployment is quickly approaching 10 percent.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect the Administration's forecasts to be so far off. Let's give the American people back their hard-earned money, and work together on a real economic recovery plan based on tax relief for working families and fiscal discipline in Washington."
Tags: economic stimulus, Joe Biden, Mike Pence To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
"Unless the Vice President's measure of stimulus success is the highest unemployment rate in 26 years, then it is hard to fit his wildest dreams with reality. The reality is the Obama Administration promised that borrowing $787 billion would keep our nation's unemployment below 8 percent. Now, after eight months of stimulus spending, more than two million jobs have been lost and unemployment is quickly approaching 10 percent.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect the Administration's forecasts to be so far off. Let's give the American people back their hard-earned money, and work together on a real economic recovery plan based on tax relief for working families and fiscal discipline in Washington."
Tags: economic stimulus, Joe Biden, Mike Pence To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 25, 2009 - More Polls & Democrats Condescending Attitude Towards the Public
Update: Members of the U.S. Senate Financial Services Committee will be voting NEXT TUESDAY on amendments to keep abortion coverage out of Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) health care bill. Sen. Baucus's health care bill explicitly includes abortion and would subsidize health plans that cover all elective abortions. Such subsidies for abortion goes well beyond the status quo of preventing federal funds either from paying for abortion or subsidizing plans that covers abortion as is prevented under current laws governing Medicaid, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, and the State Children's Health Insurance Plan. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced several amendments that would prevent government funding for abortion and would protect current conscience laws for health workers.
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Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. No votes are scheduled Today. At 3:30 PM, Paul Kirk is scheduled to be sworn in as the "temporary" junior senator from Massachusetts. [Another liberal democrat maneuver.]
Yesterday the Senate voted 77-21 to pass H.R. 2996, the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment appropriations bill. Prior to passage, Democrats were successful in tabling two Republican amendments and a motion to recommit the bill to committee. The Senate voted to table an amendment from Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) the defund the administration’s climate czar. Also tabled was a motion from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to recommit the bill to committee and have its funding reduced by $4.3 billion.
Another poll today shows that after an unprecedented media blitz, a speech to a joint session of Congress, town halls and rallies and innumerable media interviews, President Obama’s health care proposals still lack majority support from Americans. According to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll less than half of the respondents approve of the President’s handling of health care, 47%, which has remained below 50% since the poll began asking about this in July.
The CBS/NYT poll follows Tuesday’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which found that more Americans think “Barack Obama’s health care plan” is a “bad idea,” 41% than think it’s a “good idea,” 39%. That’s statistically unchanged since August when 42% thought it was a bad idea and 36% said it was a good idea. For the first time, less than 20% believe the president’s health care plan will improve the quality of their care. And 36% think their care will get worse. And a plurality, 48%, oppose “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies.” In August 47% opposed. And a plurality, 48%, say they’re more concerned about health reform efforts “[g]oing too far and making the health care system worse than it is now. . . .”
Prior to this week's NBC/WSJ poll was a Gallup poll that found by nearly two to one, more believe the health care proposals before Congress will make costs worse (42%) than better (22%). By 38%-22%, a plurality believes the “insurance company requirements” for coverage will get worse under the Democrats’ proposals. If Democrat proposals pass, a third think quality will suffer while only 18% think it will improve and a third think their overall coverage will get worse with only 22% saying it will improve.
Note that all these polls were taken after President Obama’s heralded appearance before a joint session of Congress, his Sunday show blitz, and numerous speeches and town hall events touting his health care plan. Perhaps this continued skepticism from Americans explains why the administration seems so determined to prevent people from learning more about the troubling aspects of the bills in Congress, such as cuts to Medicare advantage, which could lead to reduced benefits.
When the insurer Humana tried to inform its customers about these potential cuts, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus complained to the Department of Health and Human Services, where a former staffer of his was able to preside over the department ordering an investigation of Humana and instituting a gag order on insurers discussing these cuts. The order came despite the fact that CBO Director Doug Elmendorf confirmed the cuts would result in benefit cuts, just as Humana warned.
Senate Republicans find this order outrageous and completely unacceptable. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP Senate leadership sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday saying, “Until your department rescinds its gag order and allows seniors to receive information about matters before Congress, we will not consent to time agreements on the confirmation of any nominees to your department or associated agencies.” Unfortunately, Roll Call reported last night that the administration this rejected this demand and will continue its outrageous investigation.
Sen. McConnell said on the floor this morning, “Supporters of this bill are watching the clock. They know the longer it sits out there, the more Americans will oppose this trillion dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and threatens the health care choices that millions of Americans now enjoy. . . . More and more, it seems like supporters of this legislation just don’t believe that the American people know what’s best for themselves, so they want to keep them in the dark about the details. But that’s not the way Democracy works. . . . This is precisely the kind of condescending attitude from lawmakers in Washington that ordinary Americans are tired of. This is the kind of thing they’re protesting and speaking out against across the country. And over the last few months, Congress hasn’t given them any reason to believe that their concerns aren’t exactly right.”
Tags: banning free speech, condescending attitude, Democrats, DHHS, exit polls, government healthcare, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. No votes are scheduled Today. At 3:30 PM, Paul Kirk is scheduled to be sworn in as the "temporary" junior senator from Massachusetts. [Another liberal democrat maneuver.]
Yesterday the Senate voted 77-21 to pass H.R. 2996, the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment appropriations bill. Prior to passage, Democrats were successful in tabling two Republican amendments and a motion to recommit the bill to committee. The Senate voted to table an amendment from Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) the defund the administration’s climate czar. Also tabled was a motion from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to recommit the bill to committee and have its funding reduced by $4.3 billion.
Another poll today shows that after an unprecedented media blitz, a speech to a joint session of Congress, town halls and rallies and innumerable media interviews, President Obama’s health care proposals still lack majority support from Americans. According to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll less than half of the respondents approve of the President’s handling of health care, 47%, which has remained below 50% since the poll began asking about this in July.
The CBS/NYT poll follows Tuesday’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which found that more Americans think “Barack Obama’s health care plan” is a “bad idea,” 41% than think it’s a “good idea,” 39%. That’s statistically unchanged since August when 42% thought it was a bad idea and 36% said it was a good idea. For the first time, less than 20% believe the president’s health care plan will improve the quality of their care. And 36% think their care will get worse. And a plurality, 48%, oppose “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies.” In August 47% opposed. And a plurality, 48%, say they’re more concerned about health reform efforts “[g]oing too far and making the health care system worse than it is now. . . .”
Prior to this week's NBC/WSJ poll was a Gallup poll that found by nearly two to one, more believe the health care proposals before Congress will make costs worse (42%) than better (22%). By 38%-22%, a plurality believes the “insurance company requirements” for coverage will get worse under the Democrats’ proposals. If Democrat proposals pass, a third think quality will suffer while only 18% think it will improve and a third think their overall coverage will get worse with only 22% saying it will improve.
Note that all these polls were taken after President Obama’s heralded appearance before a joint session of Congress, his Sunday show blitz, and numerous speeches and town hall events touting his health care plan. Perhaps this continued skepticism from Americans explains why the administration seems so determined to prevent people from learning more about the troubling aspects of the bills in Congress, such as cuts to Medicare advantage, which could lead to reduced benefits.
When the insurer Humana tried to inform its customers about these potential cuts, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus complained to the Department of Health and Human Services, where a former staffer of his was able to preside over the department ordering an investigation of Humana and instituting a gag order on insurers discussing these cuts. The order came despite the fact that CBO Director Doug Elmendorf confirmed the cuts would result in benefit cuts, just as Humana warned.
Senate Republicans find this order outrageous and completely unacceptable. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP Senate leadership sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday saying, “Until your department rescinds its gag order and allows seniors to receive information about matters before Congress, we will not consent to time agreements on the confirmation of any nominees to your department or associated agencies.” Unfortunately, Roll Call reported last night that the administration this rejected this demand and will continue its outrageous investigation.
Sen. McConnell said on the floor this morning, “Supporters of this bill are watching the clock. They know the longer it sits out there, the more Americans will oppose this trillion dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and threatens the health care choices that millions of Americans now enjoy. . . . More and more, it seems like supporters of this legislation just don’t believe that the American people know what’s best for themselves, so they want to keep them in the dark about the details. But that’s not the way Democracy works. . . . This is precisely the kind of condescending attitude from lawmakers in Washington that ordinary Americans are tired of. This is the kind of thing they’re protesting and speaking out against across the country. And over the last few months, Congress hasn’t given them any reason to believe that their concerns aren’t exactly right.”
Tags: banning free speech, condescending attitude, Democrats, DHHS, exit polls, government healthcare, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Was Free Speech Protected? Not realy - Review of the Lay case
Editor's Note: the following "excerpt" from the article is long but it identifies a sinister effort to limit free speech (which should be of concern to all), especially the free speech of Christians exercised since the foundations of the United States. And this situation exists in the "heart of the Bible belt" in Alabama. A radical Federal Judge imposes her will on the citizen's of Alabama.----------------
by Timothy Baldwin*: September 17, 2009 not only marked the celebrated day of the approval of our Constitution by the Constitutional Congress in 1787 . . ., it also marked another, what I call, LAY case, reflecting the power and control of the federal government over individual, local and state affairs, and the submission of its lowly subjects, We the People.
Some of you may have learned of the principal of Pace High School in Pace, Florida, Frank Lay, who was charged with violation of an order entered by Federal Judge Margaret C. "Casey" Rodgers, prohibiting him, the teachers and the staff of Pace High from praying or holding any religious ceremonies at school or at school functions, which originated out of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU. As you have likely already guessed, sometime after the order entered (and was actually consented to by Lay), Lay had a prayer conducted at a Pace High staff function (a building dedication with no students present). This was deemed a violation of the court's order and Lay was charged with contempt of court.
Lay had a hearing on the contempt charges on Constitution Day, September 17, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. (CDT). Hundreds of people stood outside the federal courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, showing their support for Lay, their disgust with the federal government, or just their interest to see what would happen. (A few even showed their protest against Lay.) It appeared as though it was a pep rally of sorts with high-school kids chanting, "We Love Jesus, Yes We Do, We Love Jesus, How 'Bout You!" and other similar chants. Around 11:30 a.m., much of the crowd began marching around the federal courthouse (which sits downtown Pensacola) seven times, to sort of re-enact and metaphorically demonstrate the judgment of God falling on the city of Jericho in the book of Joshua, as if to suggest that they wanted God to condemn Judge Rodgers, or that Judge Rodgers was attacking Lay and she was the sole evil presented in this case, or other similar theories to that effect.
It was obvious that most people present deemed the matter against Lay to be what they would classify as spiritual in nature; and by spiritual, I mean to say that the issue to them did not regard constitutional government, federalism, the evils of centralized power over State power, the true meaning and sense of the Constitution, etc. Rather, it had almost a tone of "We believe in God, and you, Judge Rodgers, do not . . . We believe in prayer, and you, Judge Rodgers, do not . . . We love Jesus, and you, Judge Rodgers, do not . . . Lay should be allowed to pray in school, and you, Judge Rodgers, should let him." It had very similar qualities to an "evolution verses creation" debate you would see at a college or university.
What most of these people fail to understand is that the matters of constitutional government, federalism, the evils of centralized power over State power, the true meaning and sense of the Constitution, etc., are just as spiritual in nature as the matters of praying in public and loving Jesus.
Do these people at the rally, most of whom would likely claim to be Christian, not understand that God created Natural Law (Thomas Jefferson called it "Nature and Nature's God" in the Declaration of Independence) upon His creation of the world, a Law that God Himself binds Himself to for His glory and for man's benefit? Do these people not recognize that binding our government (State and federal) to their respective constitutions conforms to God's Natural Law, that men adhere to their agreements (i.e., compacts/constitutions)? Are these people still ignorant of the principles of limited power, jurisdiction and self-government created by God and expressed by Him in His Word--and that these principles apply even when their favorite political party is in office?
After several hours of waiting outside (even during serious downpour of rain), Frank Lay and his entourage exited the courthouse, with Lay's wife giving the "peace sign" with both hands and the rest of the group with smiles on their faces, anticipatorily revealing that Judge Rodgers had found Lay "not guilty" of the contempt charges. It was as if a major victory had been won for Lay, his family, all those who were supporting him outside of the courthouse and for all "public-prayer-supporting" Americans. You can be certain that many felt this was a victory.
The crux of the "not guilty" verdict, in fact, demonstrates just how Lay lost, how America lost, how tyrannical our federal government is, and how far gone and ignorant we are. It showed just how the citizens of this country willingly LAY down when actual confrontation arises. Consider how Lay was found "not guilty" and supposedly victory was won in this case:
First. The Prayer Was "Unintentional": "Freeman was asked why he gave the prayer when Lay asked. 'It was just out of reflex,' he answered." (Source: The Pensacola News Journal) In other words, in order for Lay to "win" at this hearing, he essentially had to say, "Oops, Judge, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do it; it won't happen again." You call that a victory?Ladies and gentlemen, this is not victory! It shows every sign of defeat! This is, once again, precedent to reaffirm and reestablish that the federal government is America's god. We will do what it says, when it says, and how it says. We will not challenge the issue on philosophical and foundational merits, because to do so would require us to reconsider the power of the federal government over jurisdiction that originally belonged to the states and the people.
Second. The Judge's Order, Which Lay Consented To, Is "Constitutional": "Both sides also agreed that the constitutionality of Rodgers' temporary injunction will not be up for debate, meaning today's proceeding will focus on whether Lay and Freeman violated the order." (Source: Ibid.) Not only did Lay have to metaphorically bow at the feet of Judge Rodgers to keep from going to jail, but Lay also had to literally admit that the order prohibiting him from praying at school or at school functions was constitutional and that he is bound to follow it. Again, how is this a victory?
Third. From Now On, He Will Comply With the Order Not to Pray: In a 10:00 p.m. interview with WEAR, Channel 3 News, Lay admitted on live television that he will comply with the "Consent Order" not to pray and that "changes will be made at Pace High School" to reflect this compliance. Just like a little child who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and knows he is in trouble with his parents, Lay had to promise to be a good little boy and to do exactly what he was told by the federal government to get off the hook of punishment.
While I speak in irritation, I am pleased, of course, that Lay was not found guilty and that he was not sentenced to jail and fined. I do not wish that on any person of any faith for simply praying. But what has to be recognized is that Lay did not win, LAY LAID DOWN: the federal government showed its force, and the people submitted. Lay can go home, but the "law" remains the same and tyranny is triumphant. I am also pleased that there is a legal attempt underway to challenge Judge Rodgers' order as being "too broad" and, yes, unconstitutional (for indeed it is). For, in fact, this is the kind of challenge that is needed in cases such as this. The American people simply cannot sit by and let these rogue federal judges continue to trample our religious liberties!
In the meantime, people -- and particularly Christian people -- repeatedly complain about the federal government when issues like this arise, proclaiming that their "freedom of religion" is being denied. But do these same people stop to think about the reasons why? . . . Do they not stop to realize that the people they have been electing and reelecting to public office are the very ones who make the laws and appoint the judges and bureaucrats who continue to make war against our liberties?
To start with, the only way to become victorious in these matters (on a national level) is for the people to retake power usurped by the federal government through the constitutional amendment process. . . . We must support State representatives, governors, and sheriffs who will stand on the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to defend their citizens against federal encroachment. We must re-educate the masses into principles that founded our federal republic. We must begin taking responsibility for our own actions, and teaching our children the fundamental tenets of liberty. Only then will we be able to kick the federal government out of the affairs in which they do not belong.
The reality is, this federal takeover did not happen overnight, and if things keep going the way they are, and people keep acting the way they do, you will never be free from the tyranny in your lifetime and your children will never be free from it in their lifetime. What is worse, the vast majority of people's ignorance seems to be at a pinnacle, thus perpetuating the death grip of federal control over freedom. The result: LAY case after LAY case after LAY case; one person LAYing down after the other. Consequently, these cases are never victories for the principles of freedom in America. They serve only to remind us that the principles of tyranny prevail in this country. Yes, individuals like Frank Lay may be let go from time to time -- at least for now. But the time will inevitably come when EVERYONE will be forced to submit and lay down. [Full Article]
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*Tim Baldwin is the son of Dr. Chuck Baldwin. He is an attorney who graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. He is a former felony prosecutor for the Florida State Attorney's Office and now owns his own private law practice.
Tags: Alabama, banning free speech, Chuck Baldwin, federal government, free speech, National Day of Prayer, Tim Baldwin To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Mad Money
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| by William Warren |
Now, here’s the problem with that lead: we now have a President of the United States whose most avid plaudits come from two-bit, tin-horn Marxist dictators who have spent their entire adult lives imprisoning, murdering, and maiming their enslaved minions. And to make matters worse, that President – Barack “Sorry-to-be-an-American” Obama – is in lockstep agreement with all of what Castro says and much of what Castro does. . . .
[T]hen, Obama felt compelled to warmly embrace the Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez at the same Latin America Despots Dance at which he cuddled up to Danny and Fidel. In return, Chavez lauded Obama as “more of a Marxist than Fidel and me.” He enthused that “the changes that started in Venezuela in the last decade of the 20th century have begun to reach North America.” And he warned his compadre Barack not to go too fast in socializing the US lest he create a backlash.
Obama, for his part – ever the faithful amigo intimo ¬– repaid Chavez loyalty first by appointing Arturo Valenzuela as the Obama Administration’s “Western Hemisphere Czar.” Sr. Valenzuela, it should be noted, considers Chavez one of the history’s greatest Latin American leaders. He has even gone so far as to praise Chavez’ crackdown on Venezuela’s formerly free press.
Not content with putting Hugo’s good buddy in charge of everything Latino, Obama added injury to insult by appointing Chavez’ lickspittle Mark Lloyd as the Federal Communications Commission’s “Diversity Officer.” Not only does Mr. Lloyd agree with Mr. Valenzuela that Venezuela’s free press was an anathema, he has even gone so far as to praise Chavez for his “incredible revolution” that gutted the country’s democratic institutions top to bottom.
So, it’s little wonder that we now have “a President of the United States whose most avid plaudits come from two-bit, tin-horn Marxist dictators who have spent their entire adult lives imprisoning, murdering, and maiming their own people” kowtowing to like-minded despots at every opportunity. And creating opportunities where none exist.
Which, of course, is exactly what he did in the UN speech that won Castro’s praise. In essentially apologizing (once again) for all things American and declaring that “rich nations have a particular responsibility to lead” in de-industrializing the world, Obama has shown (once again) that he can tout Marxist dogma with the best (no, make that the worst) of them. . . . During the 2008 presidential campaign, a posturing, preening Barack Obama piously advised the American people to “Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself.” We are, Mr. Obama. Yes, sadly, we finally are. [ Full Story]
Tags: Americans for Limited Government, Barack Obama, despots, political cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!