Washington, D.C.–President Obama’s health care reform is being driven by the idea that people have a right to health care and health insurance coverage. “This is wrong,” says Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Center.

“There can be no such thing as a ‘right’ to products or services created by the effort of others, and this most definitely includes medical products and services. Rights, as our Founding Fathers conceived them, are not claims to economic goods, but to freedoms of action.

“You are free to see a doctor and pay him for his services–no one may forcibly prevent you from doing so. But you do not have a ‘right’ to force the doctor to treat you without charge or to force others to pay for your treatment. The rights of some cannot require the coercion and sacrifice of others.

“A real and lasting solution to our health care problems requires a rejection of the entitlement mentality in favor of a proper conception of rights.”

For more information on the Ayn Rand Center’s position on health care, please visit our Web site here.

Conway, Ark. (July 17, 2009)  The First Security Conway Kids Triathlon will be held at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, August 8, 2009, at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. The event is for kids ages 6 – 15 years by 12/31/09. The event will challenge participants in three categories: swimming, biking and running. Each competitor will receive a t-shirt and a custom medal will go to all who complete the race course.
Last year’s race was incredible with about 350 participants and we’re planning for an even larger race this year, said Shannon Milam, co-race director. We are expecting and planning for 400 kids! We have participants from all over Arkansas, as well as surrounding states. Our goal is to encourage life long sport participation and healthy lifestyle activities.  All proceeds for the event will be donated to CASA (Central Arkansas Special Advocates). The organization provides advocates for children in foster care in this area.”

“First Security is proud to be the leading sponsor of this worthwhile event for kids, says John Adams, President and CEO of First Security Bank of Conway. Conway is a community committed to our youth in many ways.

There are so many opportunities for children in our area. The triathlon is just one of these. First Security has been involved in the event for many years and has watched it grow each year. It is one of our favorite events.”

Following the competition, the participants and their families will be treated to post race food and drink provided by First Security’s Teal Grill. Bounce castles along with sno cone and cotton candy machines will also be available and provided by Central Events, Inc.

Registration forms can be picked up at any First Security Bank location, Sporty Runner, 24/7 Fitness and Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center. Cost is $20 before 7/31 and $25 after that date.  There will be no race day registration. Please visit our web site at www.conwaykidstri.com for further details.

First Security Bank of Conway is an affiliate of Searcy, Ark.-based First Security Bancorp and is one of the top 5 state-chartered banks in Arkansas. The privately help Bancorp has over $2.7 billion in assets and $310 million in capital, and 67 locations across the state.

Washington— U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) today said health care reform legislation must fix a system that is broken for our small businesses and self-employed individuals.

In a press conference on Capitol Hill today, Lincoln said she has heard from several Arkansas small business owners about their struggles to afford health care coverage for themselves, their employees, and their families among rising premiums.

“A Malvern small business owner recently told me that he is giving up his 17-year-old business because he can no longer afford his rising health care insurance premiums,” said Lincoln.  “His wife and his daughter each have a pre-existing medical condition, and he feels pressure to find a new job that provides affordable employer-sponsored coverage for his family.  Similar stories of hardship and frustration are being played out for other Arkansas small business owners and employees under the current health care system.  Since 2004, I have worked to address the small business health care crisis, and it is time for Congress to help those whose top priority is access to quality, affordable, and stable health care for their employees and their families.”

Several elements of Lincoln’s bipartisan Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act will be included in the Senate Finance Committee’s final health care reform bill currently being crafted.   As in SHOP, the Finance Committee bill will allow states to set up “exchanges” through which small groups, including the self-employed, and individuals can purchase coverage from a range of options.  Pooling small businesses and requiring health insurance companies to abide by more fair rating rules—like banning the practices of rating based on health status and denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions—will result in more affordable and stable coverage.  The Finance Committee bill will also include SHOP’s provision to provide tax credits to small businesses to help them afford coverage for their workers and their families.

The majority of uninsured Arkansans are self-employed individuals and employees of small businesses.  Although small businesses are the number one source for jobs in Arkansas, only 26 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer health insurance because it is simply too expensive.

Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, a key Congressional committee charged with writing and paying for health care reform.

“The Senate Finance Committee is still at work crafting a deficit-neutral proposal that will stabilize health care costs and offer affordable and quality coverage for all Arkansans and Americans,” Lincoln said.  “We are closer to achieving meaningful health care reform than ever before, and it’s important we take the time to get this right.”

Funding Provided by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

Washington – U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representatives Marion Berry (AR-01), Vic Snyder (AR-02), and Mike Ross (AR-04) today announced that 16 Arkansas police departments will receive a total of $8,683,270 to hire 60 new officers. The funds will provide up to 75 percent of the officers’ total salary and benefits for three years; state or local funds pay the remainder. The funds were allocated through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and paid for through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The funds will be distributed as follows:

City of Ward Police Department, 1 officer, $128,809

City of Cotton Plant, 1 officer, $64,981

City of Hot Springs, 2 officers, $321,522

Jonesboro Police Department, 7 officers, $1,008,574

Lake Village Police Department, 1 officer, $110,664

Little Rock Police Department, 20 officers, $3,043,680

City of Madison, 1 officer, $84,972

Marianna Police Department, 1 officer, $94,808

City of Montrose, 1 officer, $94,797

Morrilton Police Department, 1 officer, $144,378

Nashville Police Department, 1 officer, $117,417

North Little Rock Police Department, 9 officers, $1,455,849

Osceola Police Department, 1 officer, $123,371

City of Pine Bluff, 7 officers, $1,013,656

Texarkana Police Department, 4 officers, $678,400

City of West Helena, 2 officers, $197,392

“Keeping crime to a minimum can be a challenge for police departments that are inadequately funded. With these recovery dollars, Arkansas police departments will be able to hire additional qualified officers to help keep our communities safe for residents and visitors. I’ll continue to fight for Arkansas to ensure that we have the federal resources and support we need to stay safe and strong,” said Lincoln.

“During tough economic times, demand on law enforcement significantly increase. These economic recovery funds will ensure law enforcement agencies across Arkansas have the officers they need to meet emerging challenges and keep our communities safe,” Pryor said.

“This funding will help our state keep and create jobs for our local law enforcement officers,” said Berry. “At a time when our police officers are forced to do more with less resources, this funding will help support their efforts to keep our communities safe.”

“Police officers are key components of good law enforcement, and solid law enforcement is fundamental to keeping our communities safe and effective.   I am so happy to see Arkansas receive stimulus funding to hire new officers; our communities need this money,” said Snyder.

“Our communities depend on local law enforcement having the staff and resources they need to keep our families safe,” said Ross.  “Public safety should remain a top priority regardless of the current economic situation.  These recovery funds will be critical to help ensure our local communities have the police force they need to quickly answer the needs of their citizens.”

COPS grants are intended to enhance the community policing capacity of local law enforcement agencies that have a combination of high crime rates and a low officer to citizen ratio as reported through the national Uniform Crime Report.

Since 1995, COPS has funded the hiring of nearly 117,000 police officers and developed numerous technical assistance resources for law enforcement. All jurisdictions that receive grants must retain COPS-funded officer positions for at least one complete budget cycle following the three-year federal funding period.

Washington, DC – Today Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder (D-AR) and Ranking Member Rob Wittman (R-VA) continued their investigation of Professional Military Education with a hearing on officer development. Witnesses representing the four services and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed how they develop strategic leaders over the course of an officer’s career.

Chairman Vic Snyder (D-AR) opened today’s hearing by stating, “Service and joint officer professional schools must deliver the right education at the right time, and then the military has to take advantage of that investment by sending graduates to challenging assignments to broaden their experience and their knowledge even further.”  Snyder added, “During this time of increasingly complex security challenges, the nation must remain committed to bringing officers back from the battlefield to the classroom in order to increase their ability to meet the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s operational environments.”

Snyder stressed, “Because these schools are so critical to officer development and the strategic thinking of the nation’s armed forces, the committee should continue this important dialogue with the Department’s most senior leadership.”

Subcommittee Ranking Member Rob Wittman (R-VA) said, “Today’s hearing provided unique insight into how the joint professional military education requirements fit into overall leader development for the military services, and how well the individual services capitalize on the skills of joint educated officers though carefully managed follow on assignments.  We very much appreciate the military sending over these key senior-level witnesses today, who all provided essential insight into our review of professional military education.”

The subcommittee’s next hearing will seek testimony from witnesses who are recognized authorities on professional military education.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Mark Pryor today introduced legislation to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs’ business practices in order to improve services to veterans and cut inefficiencies and wasteful spending.

• Two Deputy Assistant Secretary positions to support the Acquisition, Logistics and Construction office;
• Five Deputy Assistant Secretary positions to support the VA’s Office of Information and Technology; and
• One Deputy Assistant Secretary to support the Office of Management

In mid-June, during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing regarding military construction and veterans affairs, Secretary Eric Shinseki testified that he needed congressional authority similar to Pryor’s proposal in order to “get some efficiency out of it so we have discipline and oversight.”

On important issues, voters want Libertarian solutions

WASHINGTON — The front page of Wednesday’s Politico was a sea of plummeting blue arrows as the paper reported on the slumping approval ratings of major Democrat officials across the nation.  America’s third largest party notes the rapid decline in support for Democrats, with support for Republicans still at record lows, is more proof Americans are looking for Libertarian solutions to the nation’s problems.

“Voters want elected officials who will cut taxes and spending, eliminate the deficit, make health care affordable and accessible, restore America’s traditional non-interventionist foreign policy and respect personal liberties.  Only Libertarians believe in all that.  On the issues people care about, the Libertarian Party is America’s only mainstream political party,” said William Redpath, Libertarian National Committee Chairman.

Libertarians were the only party to oppose both the Bush and Obama bailouts and the deficit spending of both the Republican and Democrat-controlled Congresses.

“Voters are rapidly turning on Democrats, but they still remember what happened under Republicans,” said Redpath.  “They want elected officials at all levels of government to restrain spending and stay out of their lives.  They know smaller government brings more prosperity and more personal freedom.”

Politico reports that many major Democratic officials once considered “safe,” such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, New Jersey Gov. John Corzine and North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue now all face uncertain re-election with favorability or approval ratings of less than 37 percent.  Many other major Democratic officials, including President Barack Obama, have seen a rapid collapse in public support.

Fueling the voter backlash is the Democrat’s $787 billion “stimulus” package that many see as wasteful spending, Democrat support for “bailout” interventions into the economy and news the Democrat health care reform bill will place the government in virtual control of their health care decisions.

But voters aren’t rushing to Republicans.  “There’s been no surge in GOP voter registration and little evidence that the party brand is experiencing a recovery. Last month, a New York Times/CBS poll reported that the GOP’s favorability ratings remained at a record-breaking low — 28 percent, down from a high of 59 percent in November 1994,” Politico reports.

“Americans believe freedom works best when it comes to both the economy and their personal lives.  The plummeting approval ratings of Democrats and the rock-bottom ratings of Republicans are a testament to that,” said Redpath.  “The only way to break the cycle of government sprawl and restore long-term prosperity and personal freedom is to vote Libertarian.”

For more information on this issue, or to arrange an interview with the Libertarian Party, please call Director of Communications Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or 202-333-0008, x. 225, or email Donny.Ferguson@lp.org.

The Libertarian Party is America’s third-largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties.  You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting http://www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Link to the Politico story: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25539.html

Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln has been honored by the Campaign to End Obesity for her commitment to fighting the obesity epidemic in Arkansas and across the nation. She was one of only six members of Congress to receive the annual award.

“Keeping healthy and fit should be a lifelong goal for Arkansans and all Americans. Nearly 70 percent of adults struggle with their weight and more than nine million children are overweight or obese, which can lead to more than 60 chronic illnesses. This recognition helps shine a light on the importance of healthy eating and exercise. I’m pleased to be honored by the Campaign to End Obesity,” said Lincoln.

Lincoln has long worked to improve the health or our nation’s adults and children. Earlier this year, she participated with two Arkansas schools in the American Horsepower Challenge, a walking competition with physical education equipment as the prize.

Lincoln partnered with Cloverdale Middle School and Dollarway Middle School to participate in the competition, which required Lincoln and 20 fifth and sixth grade students at each school to wear a pedometer and wirelessly report their steps to an online database. The pedometers helped Lincoln and the students monitor their daily activity for four weeks. Competing against schools across the nation, Lincoln and the students logged a total of 2,002,756 steps, or approximately 759 miles.

“Students today face so many distractions when it comes to staying fit. Video games, television, and the Internet have kept our youth from getting outdoors to play and exercise. Working together, educators and parents can play an important role in stressing the importance of eating right and exercising,” said Lincoln.

Lincoln’s award was announced at the second annual Breakfast with Champions held earlier this month in Washington.

Photo Caption: U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln is recognized as a champion in the fight against obesity by Lee Kaplan, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Campaign to End Obesity.

The Rose Bud Public Schools will be holding the 2009-2010 School Year registration for New Students in grades K-12 on Wednesday, August 5th from 9am to 2pm. Students who are registering will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian upon registration day. For more information, call 501-556-5152.

Washington – U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor today announced that the Senate has approved the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Development legislation, which contains funding for Arkansas priorities.

Pryor is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His presence on this committee allows him the opportunity to shape the legislation both during the committee process and on the Senate floor.

“These projects significantly contribute to the economic development and business growth of communities throughout Arkansas,” said Lincoln.  “I am pleased that we are taking positive steps towards securing federal dollars that will enhance navigation, flood control and water quality.   I’ll continue my fight to ensure that these much-needed funds reach Arkansas’s communities.”

“As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ve focused on allocating dollars where they can be most effective. That’s why I’m pleased with the funds we secured to maintain our rivers, dams and lakes and support forward-looking initiatives to develop alternative energy resources in our state,” Pryor said.

The annual Energy and Water Development bill includes funding for civil works projects of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, most of the Department of Energy, and a number of independent agencies.

The following is a list of Arkansas’s energy and water priorities included in the legislation:

$13 million for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) The DRA provides long-term coordination among federal, state, and local entities committed to economic development in the Lower Mississippi Delta region.

$1 million for the MidSouth/Southeast BioEnergy Consortium The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas State University, and the University of Georgia will use these funds to develop economic and environmentally viable systems to produce, harvest, and process relevant feedstocks for biodiesel and ethanol operations.

$500,000 for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) The UALR Nanotechnology Center will use these funds to continue to develop new approaches to improve the efficiency of solar energy devices at lower costs.

The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill includes funding for the following key Arkansas water projects at various stages of development:

Corps of Engineers

General Investigations
·        Southeast Arkansas (Boeuf Tensas project): $300,000
·        Pine Mountain Dam: $425,000
·        White River Basin Comprehensive Investigations: $250,000
·        White River Navigation to Batesville, AR: $170,000
·        Lower Mississippi River Resource Assessment (AR, IL, KY, IA, MS, MO and TN): $250,000
·        May Branch, Fort Smith, AR: $425,000
·        Southwest Arkansas, AR: $210,000

Construction
·        Grand Prairie, AR: $10 million
·        Mississippi River Levees (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO and TN): $45.439 million
·        St. Francis Basin, AR and MO: $3.7 million
·        Channel Improvements (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO and TN): $47.721 million
·        Red River Emergency Bank Protection (AR and LA): $2 million
·        Red River Below Denison Dam (AR, LA, OK and TX): $2 million

Operations & Maintenance
·        Channel Improvement (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO and TN): $67.350 million
·        Helena Harbor (Phillips County): $400,000
·        Inspection of Completed Works: $425,000
·        Lower Arkansas River, North Bank: $223,000
·        Lower Arkansas River, South Bank: $175,000
·        White River Backwater: $1.217 million
·        Mississippi River Levees (AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO and TN): $11.708 million
·        Osceola Harbor: $800,000
·        Yellow Bend: $115,000
·        Helena Harbor : $40,000
·        Beaver Lake: $8.864 million
·        Blakely Mt. Dam, Lake Ouachita: $7.079 million
·        Blue Mountain Lake: $1.914 million
·        Bull Shoals Lake: $14.484 million
·        Dardanelle Lock and Dam: $9.754 million
·        DeGray Lake: $7.003 million
·        DeQueen Lake: $1.752 million
·        Dierks Lake: $1.360 million
·        Gillham Lake: $1.366 million
·        Greers Ferry Lake: $7.759 million
·        Inspection of Completed Works: $673,000
·        McClellan-Kerr Navigation System: $40.016 million
·        Millwood Lake: $5.122 million
·        Narrows Dam, Lake Greeson: $5.005 million
·        Nimrod Lake: $2.289 million
·        Norfork Lake: $5.717 million
·        Ouachita and Black Rivers (AR and LA): $9.605 million
·        Ozark – Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam: $5.725 million
·        White River: $40,000
·        St. Francis Basin, AR & MO  $9.843 million

The Senate Appropriations Committee also included language in the bill encouraging the Corps of Engineers to consider funding for:

Sec. 205 Small Flood Control Projects
Wynne, AR
Indian Bayou, AR

Sec. 1135 Project Modifications for the Improvement of the Environment
Millwood Lake, Grassy Lake, AR
Lower Cache Restoration, AR