ICYMI: ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ at 50

How Would the "Clampetts" Vote in 2012?  Being from the Ozarks, becoming wealthy but being very practical and having realized their mistake in even leaving the Ozarks and moving to to California, being gun rights advocates and moonshine makers, Jed Clampett and  his mother-in-law Granny (a States' Rights advocate) would NOT  vote for Obama in 2008. They voted for Sarah Palin and the other guy. And by now they are TEA Party Patriots and supporting Mitt Romney in 2012 since Ron Paul did not win the GOP nomination.  And Jethro, knowing where his inheritance is coming from and always following in his uncle Jed's footsteps,  is not  an Obama supporter.  But Jed's young daughter Elly May slipped up in 2008 and voted for Obama and almost sent Granny to her grave.  But in 2012, Elly May will not be making the same mistake twice.  And by the way, they have left the libs in California and are now back in the Ozarks. Just saw them the other day ;)  ~ Ozark Guru

---

by F.William Houraney: Fifty years later and I still watch it. The only thing that has changed is that now I am the dad watching it with my kids. And just like we did in 1962, my kids absolutely love the Clampetts. The logic, the priorities and the all American innocence of this great TV family made this half hour an endearing family gathering for nine seasons – now going on 50 years.

By Robert Thompson, FoxNews: The show became an instant hit of mammoth proportions. It spent its first two seasons at the very top of the Nielsen ratings. At its peak, it was being watched by 60 million viewers per week. As late as 1982, eleven years after it had left the air at the end of its ninth season, nine of this show’s episodes could still be found on the list of the top fifty highest-rated broadcasts of all time, alongside Super Bowls, blockbuster miniseries, and special event programming. "The Beverly Hillbillies" was, without question, one of the most popular television series in the history of American television.

In the first episode, aired on September 26, 1962, we were introduced to Jed Clampett, his mother-in-law Granny, his daughter Elly May, and cousin Jethro, all poor mountaineers scraping out a happy but subsistence living in some remote location in the Ozarks.

The now-classic opening theme song elegantly sums up the premise of the show. Jed shoots at what he hopes will be the evening’s meal, but misses. His errant bullet pricks the surface of the rich American soil, and oil (“black gold, Texas tea”) commences gushing out of the ground. With his new found riches, his cousin Pearl convinces him that “Californy is the place you oughta be” (in the pithiest phrasing of American Manifest Destiny since “Go West, Young Man”), so he loads up three generations of his family and moves to Beverly Hills. . . . read more

---

Tags: Beverly Hillbillies, 50 yrs, articles, insights, memories To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Meet the New Left, Same as the Old Left

Seaton Motley, President, Less Government: There’s a “new” Leftist alliance on the scene.

What the New Internet Lobby Looks Like

The Internet Association formally threw open its doors for business Wednesday, unveiling the 14 Web companies that make up its membership (they include AOL, Amazon, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, RackSpace and Zynga, among others)....

Its launch, and its new chief...mark a turning point on Capitol Hill.

You may have noticed these names ring a bell or two.  Indeed, after you scratch off the thin layer of fresh Red paint, you find the same old Leftists, pushing the same old illegal and unpopular, failed and failing policies.

(S)everal different Internet groups have had similar purposes long before this Internet Association: The Internet Society; The Internet Engineering Task Force; Net Coalition; SaveTheInternet.com; The Open Internet Coalition; The Internet Defense League; The Internet Freedom Coalition; The Internet Alliance; The Internet Marketing Association; The Internet Commerce Association and The Internet Infrastructure Coalition.

These are all the same gaggle that pushed - and funded the push - for the government Internet power grab that is Network Neutrality.

Yet this same group opposed SOPA-PIPA - the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act.  Because - they claimed - it was too much government intrusion on the Web.

On SOPA, they caterwaul things like:
...(I)t would be a mistake to adopt the...approach...The problem...is that they go after all the wrong problems...There are a whole bunch of issues involved with breaking the Internet and the way it works...

Internet censorship is coming to America ...

Every site with user-generated content, including this one, would be put at risk...
But on Net Neutrality, it’s get-the-government-involved-at-all-costs - and complain that the government isn’t involved enough.

Julius Genachowski’s pretend net neutrality plan.... Genachowski’s own statement...portends the expected disaster.

The big telecom companies have claimed network neutrality violates their First Amendment rights.... But free speech is a two-way street and includes access to information.... What threatens the Internet’s valuable democratic and participatory nature now isn’t the government, but corporate censorship...

Let us remember that there is literally no such thing as “corporate censorship” - at least as far as the Constitution is concerned. The First Amendment states in part that:

“Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...”

It provides protection only from/against - the government. You may or may not like what companies at any time do or do not do. But whatever it is - or is not - it is never a First Amendment violation. By definition.

So, again, the Left claims that Net Neutrality is a protection against censorship. When it dramatically increases the role of the only actual censorship agent there is - government.

In Reality, these New-Old Leftists were opposed to SOPA-PIPA because they are universally against any sort of private property rights - and thus any enforcement thereof.

They are, after all, the “Spread the Wealth Around” crowd.  The “In Favor of Redistribution” crowd. They are the ones wanting the government to go even farther in commandeering control of the privately built, privately owned Internet networks.  They are the ones forcing these private property owners to rent their government-crony competitors access at absurdly low government-mandated rates.

This gaggle is just the latest in a very long line of “public interest groups.”  And as we know:

Leftists Don’t Form ‘Public Interest’ Groups–They Form Government Interest Groups

The underlying theme throughout is the advancement of as much government as possible - all the while as much as possible disrupting the free market and destroying or silencing those opposed.

Under the fraudulent guise of advancing the “public interest.”
By which they of course mean government interest.
After all, Media Marxists are... Marxists. And growing the government interest is what they do.This latest re-formation is made up of the Media Marxist

Crony Socialists - again, they want government to continue to force others to give them free stuff.  It’s called rent-seeking - and it ain’t pretty:

In economics, rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. One example is spending money on political lobbying in order to be given a share of wealth that has already been created.

Which reminds us:

Google: We Want Net Neutrality to Redistribute Your Wealth to Us
Please remember just how Crony-close to the Barack Obama Administration are the likes of “new” Alliance members Google and Facebook.

These are the same old Leftists - with a new veneer for a different obfuscated day.

---

Tags: new left, old left, leftists, The Internet, Seton Motley,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Barrage of Obamacare Tax Hikes Coming in 2013

Obamacare's Barrage of Tax Hikes

Rob Bluey, Heritage Investigates: The first presidential debate takes place in Denver on Wednesday with a focus on domestic issues, including President Obama’s unpopular health-care law. Obamacare imposes numerous tax increases on Americans, totaling more than $500 billion over a 10-year period.

According to Heritage’s analysis, these higher tax rates on income and investment threaten to slow economic growth. With so much uncertainty already stemming from Taxmageddon, this only adds to the concerns of American families and businesses.

One of the most alarming taxes — a new payroll tax on investment income — goes into effect in January 2013. It was cited by Americans for Tax Reform as one of the “top five worst Obamacare taxes coming in 2013.”

More charts like the one in this article are available in Heritage’s Federal Budget in Pictures.

---

Tags: Americans for Tax Reform, federal budget in pictures, Obamacare, Presidential Debate, tax increases To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

ObamaCare ‘Threatens Thousands Of American Jobs’

Democrat Former Senator Who Voted For ObamaCare Exposes Real World Consequences

Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN): ‘Threatens Thousands Of American Jobs’

“A 2.3% tax on medical-device sales, not profits, was imposed… there will be little or no increase in sales volume to offset the added cost of $30 billion—according to the Congressional Budget Office—to the industry. This tax comes straight out of a company's bottom line.” (“Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid On Medical Devices,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/12)

• “The hit will be severe. For a typical company, a 2.3% tax on revenues equals a 15% tax on profits. When combined with a 35% corporate tax and state corporate taxes, the tax rate for the medical-device industry will exceed 50% in most jurisdictions. Many marginally profitable businesses will then hemorrhage red ink, since they'll have to pay the excise tax whether they are making money or not.” (“Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid On Medical Devices,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/12)
  
  “…tax on medical devices that threatens thousands of American jobs…” (“Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid On Medical Devices,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/12)

• “This month, Welch Allyn—a maker of stethoscopes and blood-pressure cuffs—announced that it will lay off 10% of its global workforce over the next three years, but all of the jobs being cut are in the U.S.” (“Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid On Medical Devices,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/12)

• “In my state of Indiana alone, Cook Medical has canceled plans to build one new U.S. facility annually in each of the next several years, and Zimmer plans to lay off 450 workers, while Hill-Rom expects to lay off 200. Stryker, based in Michigan, anticipates having to lay off 1,000 workers.” (“Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid On Medical Devices,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/12)

Sen. Bayh Voted For ObamaCare Twice

Sen. Bayh voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (H.R. 3590, Roll Call Vote #396, Passed 60-39: R 0-39; D 58-0; I 2-0, Bayh Voted Yea, 11/24/09)

• Sen. Bayh voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. (H.R. 4872, Roll Call Vote #105, Passed 56-43: R 0-40; D 54-3; I 2-0, Bayh Voted Yea, 3/25/10)

House Bipartisan Passed Bill To Repeal Excise Tax On Medical Devices - Senate Dems Refuse To Vote On The Bill

Republicans led a bipartisan the effort to repeal part of Obamacare. They passed passed H.R. 436 (270-146) - amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on medical devices. Thirty-seven democrats joined 233 Republicans in passing the bill. However, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led 146 democrats to vote to continue her 2.3 percent ObamaCare excise tax on medical devises. . . . Now, will the Senate and President Obama support this repeal of the excise tax on medical devises?" (ARRA News Service, House Repeals Medical Device Excise Tax, 6/8/2012)

---

Tags: Obamacare, threatens jobs, American jobs Senate refuses to Act, House Bill 436 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Rep. Shelley Berkley’s Corruption

A.F. "Tony" Branco:

Rep. Shelly Berkley (R-NV) is a Nevada Democrat who is now running for the U.S. Senate.  Interestingly, she lists on her House website all the Caucus she belongs to but fails to mention she is a member of the House Democrat Caucus. But as depicted above Shelly is mired down in corruption and Ethics Violations.

It is amazing how this lady has used a makeup makeover for her campaign.  I guess "kidney corruption" pays off.  Below are two photos.  Her photo on her Senate campaign site and her "official" previous  congressional photo.
 Recommendation for Nevada voters:  DON'T VOTE For Berkley!!

---

Tags: Nevada, corruption, kidneys, bribery, ethics violations, Shelly Berkley, Editorial cartoon, AF Branco To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ahmadinejad at the UN: Sympathy for the Devil?

Isn't it time to send the UN to Geneva and cut the U;S. contribution from 24% to 6%.

Bob Morrison and Ken Blackwell

Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison, Contributing Authors: It is beyond reason. The inmates clearly have control of the asylum. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rant before the UN General Assembly in New York this week would better have been delivered in Stockholm. The famous Stockholm Syndrome was named for the way some hostages began to identify with their terrorist captors. It was offered as a psychological disorder.

In New York, at the UN, this psychological disorder is the new order of business. Ahmadinejad called for a new world order. Of what? A rule of a UN world body dominated--or at least held hostage by--the Terroristans that make up an increasing number of the members of the General Assembly.

The UN was founded to test the idea of collective security. Every member of the General Assembly had to declare war on Nazi Germany in order to gain admission to the new world organization, in 1945. Why must they have declared war on Nazi Germany? Because any government that did not see the Nazis as hostile to world peace could not be trusted to engage to work for world peace, could not be trusted to recognize rising threats to peace. Nazi Germany was thereby branded an international outlaw regime.

But how to explain Ahmadinejad's oh-so-respectful reception at the UN? He has openly called for the destruction of other UN members--namely the United States and Israel. He represents a regime that made war on the United States as long ago as 1979. When the Iranians invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in that year -- and held our people hostage for 444 days, they were violating the oldest rules of diplomacy. A nation's embassy in a foreign capital is sovereign territory of that nation. Invading and occupying our Embassy was, under centuries of international law, no different than invading and occupying Tallahassee, Florida or Olympia, Washington.

Admadinejad's regime invented suicide bombing. They put in motion the truck bomb that crashed through the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. That night, 241 U.S. Marines and Navy Corpsmen were murdered in their sleep. By Ahmadinejad's minions.

Ahmadinejad's regime sent thousands of their own children - - boys as young as 10 years old - - to their deaths in the decade-long war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The Mullahs of Tehran gave the boys plastic keys to wear around their necks as they marched them through Iraqi minefields. Those were the keys to "paradise."

If there is any regime on earth that comes close to Nazi Germany in its brutality, in its savagery, it is surely the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The UN has proclaimed Iran to be a violator of international nuclear non-proliferation agreements. The UN has sent arms inspectors to Iran for decades. The IAEA regularly reports that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon.

So what does the UN do about it? One hundred twenty UN members recently traipsed off to Tehran for a "non-aligned summit." And UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon traipsed with them.

What can this mean? The UN stares at the illegal and menacing Iranian nuclear weapons program -- in the words of Martin Luther--like a cow staring at a new door. They are totally dumbstruck.

Worst of all is this invertebrate Obama administration. Ahmadinejad holds court, calls for a new world order based on terrorism, is applauded in the UN General Assembly--and our delegation walks out! That'll show them!

There is not a tenet of the UN that Ahmadinejad has not flouted -- and he gets applauded for it. The Russians have an expression that fits here: When you go to dine with the devil, make sure you take a long spoon. What was this week's grim charade but a show of sympathy for the devil?

America and her allies won World War II against the Nazis. We defeated this enemy of mankind in just three and a half years. But here we are in the Age of Obama--paying New York City cops to protect this terrorist, Ahmadinejad. New York City will doubtless bill the State Department for police overtime. Maybe we won World War II because we were only paying for one side of the war.

Isn't it time to send the UN to Geneva and cut the U;S. contribution from 24% to 6%. Mr. Obama does not think the U.S. is any more "exceptional" than the Greeks or the British.

Very well, Mr. President, then let's scale back our UN dues to an unexceptional 6%. That may be the only thing that gets the attention of these dumbstruck UN delegates who cheer America's sworn enemy.
-------------------------
J. 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 a visiting professor at Liberty University School of Law. Bob Morrison is a Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council. He has served at the U.S. Department of Education with Gary Bauer under then-Secretary William Bennett. Both are contributing authors to the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Ken Blackwell, Bob Morrison, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iraq, speech, UN To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Internet Switch - Free Speech Threat

Cartoon by AF "Tony Branco:

Obama Contol of Free Speech:  If they don't accept Obama's excuses for the failing economy and the weakened state of America and keep writing about Obama could move to "Kill the Internet."

---

Tags: Barack Obama, executive order, the Internet, kill switch, excuses, propaganda, controlling news, stopping free speech, free speech To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama's Abandoned Power Plants

By Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: If voters knew how America's economy would look after two terms of President Barack Obama's administration, Mitt Romney would win in a landslide.

In the 2008 campaign, President Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that the “notion of no coal . . . is an illusion.” He noted that he favors a cap-and-trade system “[s]o if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

While Obama did not get to implement cap-and-trade, he found other ways to shut down coal burning power plants.

In the name of a rigidly anti-prosperity ideology, Obama's administration, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is continuing its war on jobs and reliable sources of energy. And like most onerous regulations, the true costs are not immediately visible.

As announced by Lisa Jackson, the chief EPA Administrator, three new regulations for air emission standards have been announced, which will cost American consumers more than $13 billion per year. Also, according to estimates by the Senate Republican Policy Committee, other rules dealing with coal ash and air could cost an additional $90 billion annually.

Obama's claim to have an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy is a ruse. Instead, his administration seems determined to extend our economic recession, while government bureaucrats find creative ways to make energy too expensive.

More than 2,000 employees of the coal industry were laid off this year, and that industry expects 10,000 more layoffs in direct and related jobs. In addition, as reported by Human Events, leaked documents from the Obama administration estimates that one rule on water quality requirements will be responsible for an additional 7,000 fired workers.

The new regulations are so extreme that, in effect, they require all new power plants must be powered by natural gas, an imperfect fuel. This may make the natural gas lobbyists who work with the Obama administration happy, but the incredible amounts of methane expanded natural gas would not please environmentalists.

In 5 months, natural gas prices have increased by 52%, with the Obama administration's rules largely to blame. According to Reuters data, as demand is expanding globally, natural gas is quickly approaching a price which is $2 more than the same per unit, which results in higher energy prices for cash-strapped consumers who already heat their homes with natural gas.

Even though industry has been able to dramatically decrease noxious pollutants from coal over the past 40 years, Obama's heavy-handed rules have slashed coal production by one-third. In my state of Ohio, the coal industry has been devastated by drastic EPA regulations.

As you can see from this map, 175 fully-functional coal burning plants are being retired across the country, which puts further strain on our outdated energy grid while putting thousands of employees out of work.

Environmentalist groups aligned with the Administration, such as the Sierra club, are happy to see coal burning plants shut down, and have nearly 400 more plants targeted. But with the Administration's emphasis on efficient "green energy" such as solar panels, they would not want to see the recent Heritage Foundation study which shows such a switch would increase a family's $200/month energy bill to $700.

President Barack Obama is playing favorites with sources of energy, while destroying jobs and hurting consumers. America is in desperate need of a new direction on energy policy.
---------------
Ken Blackwell is a conservative advocate. Blackwell is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council. He is the co-author of the new bestseller: The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency. He is Executive Vice President  of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies and a contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Ken Blackwell, Barack Obama, Abandoned Power Plants, EPA, lost jobs, jobs To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama Claims Woeful Results Were The Best That Could Have Been Expected

And the Words Are Excuses

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 28, 2012
Congress is not in session! But campaigning all over the U.S is in progress.

Thus we are focusing on a must read editorial in today's The Wall Street Journal. It focuses on the failures of President Obama’s economic policies.  Something that the most TV networks, with the exception of FoxNews, are NOT prone to do

The editorial opens by noting an exchange where former President Bill Clinton, making the case for Obama, is lecturing CBS’ Bob Schieffer that “I don’t know a single serious economist who believes that as much [economic] damage as we had could have been healed [in four years].”

The WSJ editors responds, "Well, let’s see. We can think of several serious people who said we could heal the economy in four years. There’s Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Christina Romer, Jared Bernstein, Mark Zandi, and, most importantly, President Obama himself.”

The editorial explains, “Mr. Obama told Americans in 2009 that if he did not turn around the economy in three years his Presidency would be ‘a one-term proposition.’ Joe Biden said three years ago that the $830 billion economic stimulus was working beyond his ‘wildest dreams’ and he famously promised several months after the Obama stimulus was enacted that Americans would enjoy a ‘summer of recovery.’ That was more than three years ago.

“In early 2009 soon-to-be White House economists Ms. Romer and Mr. Bernstein promised Congress that the stimulus would hold the unemployment rate below 7% and that by now it would be 5.6%.

"Instead the rate is 8.1%. The latest Census Bureau report says there are nearly seven million fewer full-time, year-round workers today than in 2007. The labor participation rate is the lowest since 1981.

“So it has gone with nearly every prediction the President has made about where the economy would be today. Mr. Obama promised that the deficit would be cut in half in four years, but the fiscal 2012 deficit (estimated to be above $1 trillion) will be twice the 2008 deficit ($458 billion).

Sidebar comment: In the last two weeks, there has been an avalanche of more bad economic news. We learned yesterday via Money.CNN.com that “[t]he U.S. economy grew even slower than initially reported in the second quarter” and via The Miami Herald that “student debt has stretched to a record number of U.S. households - nearly 1 in 5 - with the biggest burdens falling on the young and poor.” And “[b]ecause of the sluggish economy, fewer college students than before are able to settle into full-time careers immediately upon graduation.”

Last week it was reported by the WSJ that “[t]he income of the typical U.S. family fell or was flat in almost every state last year, with the drop particularly steep in places where the economy has been hit hard by the housing bust.” Meanwhile the AP reflects, “Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states last month, the latest evidence that hiring remains tepid across the country.”

Back to The Journal, the editors reflect, “There’s nothing unusual about candidates making grandiose promises that don’t come true. . . . The bad faith wasn’t then. It’s now. Mr. Obama really believed that government spending would unleash a robust recovery in employment and housing—an ‘economy built to last.’ Now that this hasn’t happened and with the Congressional Budget Office predicting a possible recession for 2013, Team Obama claims these woeful results were the best that could have been expected. The problem with this line is that every President who has inherited a recession in modern times has done better. Under Mr. Obama, measured on the basis of jobs, GDP growth and incomes, this has been by far the meekest recovery from the past 10 recessions.”

The WSJ's concludes: “When campaigning to be President in 1960, John F. Kennedy denounced slow growth under Eisenhower and Nixon and said ‘We can do bettah.’ Growth was 7.2% in 1959 and 2.5% in 1960. Since the recession ended under Mr. Obama, growth has been 2.4% in 2010, 1.8% in 2011 and, after Thursday’s downward revision for the second quarter, 1.7% in 2012.

“Mr. Obama is running for re-election trying to convince Americans that an economy limping at less than 2% growth, 8% unemployment, real incomes down 5.7% since the recovery began, and deficits of more than $1 trillion is the best we could achieve. We liked it better when he stood for hope and change.”

Also Reads:

• New York Post: "The New Normal" by James Pethokoukis - "Even a talker as talented as President Obama can’t do the impossible: Persuade Americans that the three-year-old economic “recovery” is anything other than pathetic. Growth is sinking back toward the recession red zone and unemployment’s firmly stuck at over 8 percent for 42 straight months. It’s no wonder a new Gallup poll finds 75% of us “dissatisfied” with the direction of the country. Or that a CNN survey finds that twice as many Americans (39%) think the economy is still mired in recession than think it recovering (19%)."
• Policymic: Top 25 Obama Excuses For a Failed Economy and High Unemployment by John Giokaris - "Obama was given a Democrat-majority Congress upon winning the White House in 2008. He got a $787 billion stimulus, a $410 billion omnibus, health care reform, financial regulation reform, and a jobs bill passed within his first 2 years in office, along with increments of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve.  Since then we’ve racked up a record $15.75 trillion debt, record trillion dollar deficits, a first ever credit rating downgrade, rising inflation, and social safety nets going completely broke within the next 20 years. But where are the jobs? Where’s the recovery? Where are all the fruits of those Keynesian economic solutions? There aren’t any results, but plenty of excuses."
• GOP.com: Obama’s Top Ten: Excuses For Economic Failure [Note: the list are direct quotes / excuses made by President Obama and quoted by independent news sources.]

---

Tags: the economy, Barack Obama, excuses, Wall Street Journal, WSJ To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Want a Free Phone, Vote for Obama

This is not advertising. Allegedly the phone is free :) Was not going to share this "enthusiastic promotion" but the video has had over a million hits in 2.5 days. And, I don't know how much longer the promotion will run ;) Share it with your friends.
Is this evidence Obama buying votes? A vocal protester outside of Romney rally explains how Obama gives all minorities free phones and that is why they should vote for him. Cleveland Ohio, September 26, 2012.

---

Tags: free phones, for minorities, vote Obama, scandal, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Media In Obama's Back Pocket

by William Warren:

---

Tags: Media, media bias, liberal media, Barack Obama, polls, editorial cartoon, William Warren To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama’s Tax Hikes Will Make Deficits Worse

Phil Kerpen

Phil Kerpen, Contributing Author: The national debt weighs heavily on the public consciousness, and for good reason. In 2008, the federal government added $458 billion to the national debt, at that point that largest annual deficit in history. Under President Obama, the deficit has been upwards of $1 trillion – more than twice the previous record – not once, but every year for four years running. Americans know that we cannot continue on our present fiscal course. But, unfortunately, the concern over the debt has diverted attention from its own underlying cause, the explosion in federal spending, and allowed Obama to pretend that his proposed tax hikes are part of the solution.

Obama assures us that his budget is a “balanced approach” – even if though it fails to ever achieve balance. There is really nothing balanced about Obama’s tax-and-spend budget, which anticipates continuing the record that has already won him the title of the biggest government spender in world history.

Obama has taken federal spending up from its normal, postwar average of 20 percent of the economy up to an elevated 24.4 percent over his four years in office. His never-balancing budget anticipates spending jumping to 30 percent of the economy by 2027, 40% by 2040, 50% by 2060, and 80% by 2080. Obviously, that level of spending will mean steeply higher taxes and gigantic deficits as far as the eye can see.

So when Obama tries to score political points by suggesting that the deficit problem can be solved with higher taxes – just the millionaires and billionaires paying a little bit more – he is obscuring the real problem, which is out of control government spending. He’s obscuring it because he intends to make it much worse.

If tax increases could actually be part of a plan to eliminate the deficit and get our fiscal house in order, most Americans would support them. This fact, confirmed by polling and focus groups, has spurred the ubiquitous Democratic talking point demanding the unbalanced “balanced approach.” But in reality tax increases would not help eliminate the deficit; they will make it worse.

Congress will spend every penny they get their hands on – and then some. A study of over 60 years of data by economist Richard Vedder found that for every dollar in higher taxes Congress takes in, they spend $1.17. In other words, sending Congress more money just encourages them to spend it all and borrow even more, driving deficits higher, not lower. And you can be certain that higher taxes will not go to deficit reduction as long as President Obama is there signing every bloated spending bill Congress puts on his desk, as he’s done for the past four years.

A recent poll from Resurgent Republic showed that a majority of Americans understand this well. Asked whether the revenue from a tax hike will go primarily to new spending or to deficit reduction, voters said new spending by a 62 to 38 margin. And 69 percent of independents know that any new tax revenue will be spent.

The exchange on this issue may well define who wins the critical first presidential debate. To win, Mitt Romney must make clear that his opposition to tax increases is borne not of ideological rigidity but of recognition that the deficit problem is a spending problem, and raising taxes will only encourage Washington to spend even more.
--------------
© Copyright 2012 Phil Kerpen. He is the president of American Commitment where he first shared this article; a columnist on Fox News Opinion, and the author of Democracy Denied: How Obama is Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him. Phil Kerpen is a contributing author for the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Phil Kerpen, Barack Obama, taxes, deficit, spending, federal spending To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Economy 'Sluggish,' 'Far Weaker Than Previously Believed' -- The President Still Want Tax Hikes?

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 27, 2012
Congress is not in session!

The AP reports today, “The U.S. economy grew at a sluggish 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, held back by the severe drought that reduced farm production in the Midwest. The growth rate was lowered from a previous estimate of 1.7 percent, the Commerce Department said Thursday.” AFP called the data “far weaker than previously believed” and economist Chris Williamson told CNNMoney, “The 1.3% increase in GDP was the weakest since the third quarter of last year and one of the weakest seen since the recovery began three years ago.” CNNMoney added, “Growth is still frustratingly slow, and economists often say the economy needs to expand at least 3% a year to bring the unemployment rate down significantly.”

Given yet another set of disappointing economic numbers, it just reinforces the folly of Democrats’ desire to raise taxes now. When he signed the last full extension of tax rates, President Obama said that “tax rates for every American were poised to automatically increase on January 1st" and allowing that to happen “would have been a blow to our economy just as we're climbing out of a devastating recession.” The president was right when he signed that extension in December 2010, and clearly, things haven’t improved since then.

So why are the president and Democrats now so adamant about raising taxes? In July, 51 Senate Democrats voted for a massive tax hikes. And The Wall Street Journal editors observed, “Mr. Obama is demanding tax increases, not tax cuts, and large increases at that.”

After the Democrats voted again for a tax hike, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said, “After nearly four years of spending and debt, millions of Americans are still struggling amidst the slowest recovery in modern times, and the economy is flat on its back. And they want to raise taxes. . . . [T]wo years ago, Democrats agreed that the higher taxes they’re now fighting for would hurt the economy. At a time when economic growth was 3.5 percent, 40 Democrats voted to keep rates where they were on the grounds that it was the best thing for jobs.” 

Bath Tub Politics:
With growth as low as 1.3% now, do Democrats still think it’s the time to raise taxes?  Or are they just floating their tax boat in the Reid - Obama election "bathtub."

Now that we addressed the Dems' desire for MORE Taxes, let's see if anyone considered any cuts in the Continuing Resolution passed last week.  I don't mean cuts to needed services, but how about cuts to any and / or wasteful service?  To save you, straining your fingers and brains seeking if there were cuts, they were none.  Below is an interesting "bath tub" infographic by Bankrupting America:

Click Image To Enlarge

---

Tags: Washington, D.C, Economy, sluggish, weaker, Democrats, higher taxes, no cuts in spending, Bankrupting America To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Update on EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule

Progressives "breaking windows" and
dragging down our economy and
reducing American's standard of living.

One year ago tomorrow, ARRA News addressed the EPA's effort to gut energy sources: "EPA will shut down these plants by imposing a ground-level ozone rule (the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). It is estimated that the cost of this rule will amount to $130 billion."

Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA News Service, said at that time:

"Many people, especially in rural America, are about to experience a rude awakening with serious reduced access to energy. Why? Because as Frank York discusses below, under President Barack Obama, "the EPA is going to gut the coal industry by shutting down 20% of the plants by 2012." . . . "How many blackouts or brownouts will occur because of EPA’s over regulation? How many jobs will be lost? How many families will be destroyed? These are the unseen consequences of shutting down coal plants." And the liberal / socialists in control of the Obama administration and the EPA, do not care. There goal is to "break as many windows as possible."

Fortunately, the EPA rule was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. And, noted on August 25, 2012 in an update to the previous referenced article:

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia [pdf copy] rejected an EPA rule known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). The rule was supposed to have gone into effect at the beginning of 2012, but the same court had previously stayed its implementation on procedural grounds. Last week’s ruling is the first to address CSAPR on its merits.

CSAPR governed emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from Midwestern coal-fired power plants, many of them Electric Cooperatives, and other sources. SO2, along with oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and others is a precursor of acid rain, which causes widespread environmental damage not only in the states where the sources are located, but also those downwind.

Today, ARRA News received a response to last month's court's decision permanently rejected an EPA rule known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR)which shutdown many Electrical Cooperatives.  It was via an email from Mel Coleman, CEO, North Arkansas Electric Cooperative:

"This is good news for North Arkansas Electric Cooperative members because the proposed rule was expensive, impractical and ignored just how far we’ve come in reducing power plant emissions. In fact, cooperatives across the country have reduced emissions by about two-thirds since the Clean Air Act was amended in 1990 and we are committed to developing the most cost-effective ways to build on that progress while keeping your electric bill as affordable as possible.

"So, while we support common-sense, balanced environmental policies that protect health and the environment and maintain affordable and reliable electric service; we believe that this specific proposal by the EPA was neither balanced nor equitable.

"While I welcome the Court’s ruling, I believe that it only underscores the need for a more coherent federal environmental policy."

Frank York at EPAAbuse.com concluded his article that begin this discussion a year ago today:

"If Lisa Jackson and President Obama’s real goal is to turn America into a Third World nation, they’re doing an excellent job so far. Imagine what four more years of Obama in the White House and Jackson at the EPA will mean for us. Get your survival food, propane tanks, and water purifiers ready. Obama and Jackson are breaking as many windows as they can."

Regardless of the court's decision stopping the implementation of the EPA's CSAPR, York's comment remains relevant today. It is most unfortunate, that the Obama administration has placed radial liberals, progressives, in the varied agencies whose efforts appear to be the destruction of both our economy and the standard of living and the comfort of Americans.

Americans have the opportunity to take back their country from the progressives at the polls on November 6th. The evidence is clear, we do not need another four more years of radical Obama minions carrying out the distorted Obama agenda behind closed doors and through department regulations. Time to stop Progressives "breaking windows" and dragging down our economy and reducing American's standard of living.

---

Tags: EPA, CSAPR, coal plants, reduced energy, breaking windows, EPA abuse, Obama administration, Mel Coleman, NAEC To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Deerly Beloved: Ryan Talks Hunting and Marriage in OH

Tony Perkins, FRC Action Update:  Paul Ryan is in the hunt for more than the vice presidency. This week, the Wisconsin Congressman didn't let campaign season get in the way of his state's deer season. After a rally in Ohio, the avid sportsman stopped by a local Bass Pro Shop to buy his daughter, Liza, some hunting gear. "My daughter she's been hunting with me for years, watching me, but she's old enough this year to hunt on her own," he told reporters. Ryan, who's never shied away from his love of the outdoors, told a cheering Pennsylvania crowd last month, "Hey, I'm a Catholic deer hunter. I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion."

Yesterday, he stuck to that theme, bonding with Buckeyes over their homegrown values. Asked by a Latino woman what the GOP could do better to win over Hispanic voters with the message of life, marriage, and religion freedom, Rep. Ryan said apologetically, "Our rights come from nature and nature's God, not from government. That notion, that idea produces liberty and freedom and free enterprise and opportunity and social mobility... The things you talk about like traditional marriage and family and entrepreneurship--these aren't values that are indicative to any one person, or race, or creed, or color. These are American values, these are universal human values." If Paul is as good at keeping Republican messaging on target as he is at hunting, he'll be too busy to use his bow after November 6.

---

Tags: Republican, candidate, vice-president, Paul Ryan, election 2012, deer hunting, marriage, campaigning, election, 2012, FRC Action, Tony Perkins To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Senate Republicans File Amicus Brief in Suit Over Unconstitutional Recess Appointments

The President’s decision to circumvent the American people by installing his appointees at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was continuing to hold sessions, and without obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate, is an unprecedented power grab,” Sen. McConnell said. “We will demonstrate to the Court how the President’s unconstitutional actions fundamentally endanger the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that he and 41 of his Senate colleagues filed an amicus brief in a challenge (Noel Canning v. NLRB) to the constitutionality of President Obama’s so-called “recess” appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in January. The case is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The suit is being brought by Noel Canning, a local, family-owned business in Washington State that bottles and distributes soft drinks. The company is challenging the NLRB’s determination that it must enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union.

The President’s decision to circumvent the American people by installing his appointees at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was continuing to hold sessions, and without obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate, is an unprecedented power grab,” Sen. McConnell said. “We will demonstrate to the Court how the President’s unconstitutional actions fundamentally endanger the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.”

The 42 Senate Republicans retained former Assistant to the Solicitor General Miguel Estrada to file the amicus brief. Mr. Estrada is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and serves as Co-Chair of the firm's Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group.

---

Tags: U.S. Senate, republicans, Amicus Brief, law suit, Noel Canning, Noel Canning v. NLRB, NLRB, small business, unions, unionization, Obama appointment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Ozarks Missing A Shinning Star - Andy Williams Dies At 84

ARRA News Service: - Moon River* legend and lover of the Ozarks Mountains, Andy Williams is dead at age 84. His spokesperson said, "Williams passed away last night (Tuesday) at home in Branson, Missouri following a year long battle with bladder cancer." Any Williams was a mid-westerner having been born and raised in Iowa. Below is a brief bio:

Wikepedia - Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer who recorded eighteen Gold - and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owned the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, named after the song "Moon River", with which he is closely identified.

Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa, the son of Jay Emerson and Florence (née Finley) Williams. Williams graduated from Western Hills High School in Cincinnati. He had three older brothers – Bob, Don, and Dick. . . .

In June 1991, Williams' brother Don invited him to the small Ozarks town of Branson, Missouri. Don Williams at the time was the manager for entertainer Ray Stevens, who had just opened a theater in Branson. While attending Stevens' show, Williams was encouraged by numerous Branson guests to open a venue in the town. This led Williams to build his own theater in Branson in time for the 1992 season, eventually opening on May 1, 1992. as the Moon River Theater. The name came from a song he made famous from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It went on to become the first theater ever to be featured in Architectural Digest, and also won the 1992 Conservation Award from the State of Missouri.

On September 25, 2012, Williams died at the age of 84, having suffered from bladder cancer for a year. Williams is survived by his wife Debbie and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian.

Fellow conservative blogger Bill Holland was a friend of Andy Williams. Holland shared today, "During my time in Branson I had the privilege of meeting and becoming friends with Andy. You could not find a Kinder, Gentler Person. He was Refreshing, and sometimes a little Silly but always in the best of Mood's. He Will be Missed. His Family, Debbie, Robert, Noel, and Christian and Andy will be in my Prayers...Sing Andy Sign, as I'm sure you will."

Neil Portnow, president and CEO of The Recording Academy remembered Williams in a statement: "Andy Williams' smooth voice and casual style turned the songs he sang into timeless classics and made him one of America's top pop singers. As host of his own weekly variety series, The Andy Williams Show, he helped put both established and emerging talent in front of American audiences. Williams was the first host of the live Grammy Awards telecast and hosted the show for seven consecutive years, beginning with the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in March 1971 at the Hollywood Palladium. The entertainment industry has lost a giant piece of its living history today, but Williams' legacy will forever be enshrined in the annals of music and television. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and all who will miss this American treasure."
--------
* Williams’ biggest hit was the Oscar-winning “Moon River” from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” which ultimately became the song most associated nd performed by him.

---

Tags: Andy Williams, dies, Branson, Missouri, Ozarks, Moon River, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

WaPo Fact Checker: "4 Pinocchios" For Obama

Liar-in-Chief?

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 26, 2012
Congress is not in session!

Today, Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler has caught President Obama in another outlandish claim (euphemism for LIE) from his interview with “60 Minutes.” This time, Obama is claiming that “90 percent” of the current deficit is the fault of the policies of President Bush.

Kessler explains, “CBO’s errors in forecasting played a large role in the demise of the projected surpluses. CBO had kept counting on a gusher of capital gains revenue — and then obviously failed to predict the recession of 2008. But Obama’s policies also played a big role during his presidency.”

After doing some calculations, Kessler writes, “Clearly, a huge part of the deficit problem — about half — stems from the recession and forecasting errors. But Obama’s policies represent a big chunk as well. . . . Moreover, an important part of Obama’s legacy — the health-care law — has not even taken full effect yet.”

In the Weekly Republican Address last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, detailed how Obama’s policies would continue to make things even worse. “To pay down the debt requires a surplus Under the President’s 10-year budget, there is never a surplus. The single lowest annual deficit is $543 billion. The annual deficit in the 10th year grows to $652 billion. Despite $1.8 trillion in new taxes, his budget increases our spending and debt every year, adding $11 trillion to the debt overall.”

Kessler concludes, “[A]t some point, a president has to take ownership of his own actions. Obama certainly inherited an economic mess, and that accounts for a large part of the deficit. But Obama pushed for spending increases and tax cuts that also have contributed in important ways to the nation’s fiscal deterioration. He certainly could argue that these were necessary and important steps to take, but he can’t blithely suggest that 90 percent of the current deficit ‘is as a consequence’ of his predecessor’s policies — and not his own. . . . Four Pinocchios

---

Tags: Washington Post, Fact Check, 4 Pinocchios, Barack Obama To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

5 Reasons Why Taxmageddon Is a Terrible Idea

Do you think a one-year $494 billion tax increase is the best wayto solve our economic problems?

Taxmageddon Is Coming
January 1, 2013

by Poya Osgouei, Heritage Foundation: When Taxmageddon hits on January 1, 2013, the financial devastation will be immense. Heritage Foundation experts strongly oppose the liberal plan to allow such massive tax hikes during this tough economy.
Taxmageddon will affect all Americans. Here are five consequences we can expect on January 1:

1. $494 billion in tax increases resulting from expiring tax cuts and the introduction of new Obamacare taxes;
2. $3,800 in new taxes on the average American household in 2013 alone;
3. A huge hit to low-income Americans as Taxmageddon falls primarily on middle- and low-income Americans;
4. Even slower job creation, resulting from the new taxes on work and investment, will prevent many unemployed Americans from finding new work; and
5. Uncertainty that will harm and slow down families, businesses, entrepreneurs and investors in making critical economic decisions.

Heritage economist Curtis Dubay elaborates on why this tax hike is a bad idea:

The August jobs report is the latest in a series of gloomy jobs reports. Well under projections, the economy added a paltry 96,000 new jobs in August, and July and June employment was revised downward. Most alarming were the nearly 400,000 workers who left the workforce in August, bringing the labor force participation rate to its lowest point in 30 years. GDP growth is also showing a trend of deceleration…

The mounting evidence shows that the economy cannot withstand a major tax increase in a few months. Rather than continue to subject the economy to Taxmageddon’s crippling uncertainty, Congress should take that burden off of America’s job creators now. Until it does so, we can expect further troubling economic data, including weak job numbers.

-----------
Suggested Articles:
Taxes Soaring Past Highest Level Ever
Norquist: Taxmageddon Is Coming - January 1, 2013
Government Will Take Almost Half Your Paycheck In 2013

---

Tags: Taxmageddon, 5 reasons terrible, Taxmageddon Is Coming, January 1, 2013 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

View From Here: The Middle-East

The below letter to the editor is by Robert "Bob" McDowell, Jr. He is a Professional Engineer and Geologist with over 50 years experience in creating drilling prospects, supervising drilling, well completion, production operation, and pipeline design for oil and gas including repair of problem wells. McDowell is a conservative and active in the Oklahoma Republican Assembly.

---

Bob McDowell

By Bob McDowell:  As things continue to surface on the happenings in the Middle East and North Africa area where the majority is Islam, we are finding that we have been blatantly lied to by the Obama administration. And, it is my opinion that we still have not learned the entire factual truth of the events of the last few months. As we are nearing the most important election in decades, if not at least a century, we need to be fully informed of just what has been going on behind the scenes in the National Capital and in the far flung operations.

First, it has become obvious, and admitted, that the uprisings in Libya, Egypt, and the nearby area, were carefully orchestrated by the 'Muslim Brotherhood' and bin Laden camps to coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on our nation. It has developed that the rulers of Libya and Egypt sent communications to the Department of State indicating that attacks were, in fact, in the planning stages, and for several months back.

And yet, reports have come to me that the Ambassador to Egypt ordered that the Marine guards be allowed only ONE round of ammunition. Further, information has come to me, not verified but possibly accurate, that the Ambassador to Libya was actually of homosexual persuasion. If that is true, it would potentially explain the savage treatment of him, and his body after his death, by the mob as homosexuality is punishable by death under Muslim law. It has been reported that he had requested additional security but it was denied. It is questionable why he was in the part of the Libya which is controlled by Al Qaida verses being in the Capital: Tripoli. That whole situation carries a strong smell in my opinion.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, there was a little reported attack on an air base, by 15 to 19 terrorists, wearing uniforms of the USA forces. The attackers destroyed seven vertical take-off jets including five Harriers that are irreplaceable because they are out of production. Killed in the action were two Marines including the unit commander. The media story has been that the attack was aimed at British Prince Harry who was also serving there in the British forces.

In my opinion, these enemy forces are becoming more aggressive, and successful, for of several reasons. One is their belief that we are weak and lack mental aggressiveness to pursue the course of action. This belief is also strengthened because of their perception that we are insulting them by appointing women to high offices, including Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, her chief assistant Huma Abedin (a known Muslim and daughter of the founder of the 'Muslim Sisterhood' and wife of former Congressman Wiener, a Jew), and Ambassador Anne Patterson to Egypt. In the Muslim community, women are considered to be vastly inferior and not permitted to drive, have money, work outside the home, or go in public without family male companion and covering from the simple head scarf to the complete burqa. Thus there is a lack of respect on their part for our representatives.

In my opinion, President Obama should have immediately given the citizens as much truth as was known. The he should have issued notice that the U.S. was closing our embassies and consulates and recalling all of our diplomatic representatives> Then he should have cut off ALL foreign aid to those nations which do not respect international diplomatic law and protocol. It has been reported that Egypt alone has been receiving over one billion dollars per year in U.S. foreign aid. We should also recall ALL military equipment given to them over the years, and suspend any shipments to us from them including the small amount of oil now coming from them. This last action would not really effect us since most of our imports come from nations on the American continents now.

---

Tags: Bob McDowell, Oklahoma, Middle East, opinion, letter to editor To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!