Know your Radicals before you vote to let them destroy America. We cannot afford to make the same mistakes we made before. NO APPOLOGIES FOR CAPITALISM HERE!
In political jargon, the term useful idiot was used to describe Sovietsympathizers in Western countries.
The implication is that though the person in question naively thought themselves an ally of the Soviet Union, they were actually held in contempt and were being cynically used.
The term has been extended to other people perceived as propagandists for a cause they do not understand.
Beware of the Useful Idiots who live in liberal democracies. Knowingly or unknowingly, they serve as the greatest volunteer and effective soldiers of Islam. They pave the way for the advancement of Islam and they will assuredly be among the very first victims of Islam as soon as it assumes power.
The following information was gathered on Facebook from a former Muslim who chillingly warns America about the Muslim threat and unlike Ron Paul's head in the sand approach to dealing with Islam I think its very important that we take the threat seriously.
Diane M. George WARNING FROM A FORMER MUSLIM
I was born and raised as a Muslim. My whole family is still Muslim. I
know every genetic code of Muslim. I know Islamic brain. I live and
breath with them. I am an insider. I left Islam when I understood that
Islam is a sick and evil religion.
The following is the Islamic message
to the West.
To the infidels of the West:
The Constitution for the new Islamic Republics of Euro Arabia and Amer-Islamism are under construction.
We will fight the infidel to death.
- Meanwhile American laws will protect us.
- Democrats and Leftist will support us.
- N.G.O.s will legitimize us.
- C.A.I.R. will incubate us.
- The A.C.L.U. will empower us.
- Western Universities will educate us.
- Mosques will shelter us
- O.P.E.C. will finance us
- Hollywood will love us.
- The leadership of the UN and most of the United Nations will cover our asses.
Our children will immigrate from Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran,
and Indonesia and even from India to the US and to the other Western
countries.
They will go to the West for education in full scholarship.
America is paying and will continue to pay for our children’s educations
and their upbringing in state funded Islamic schools.
We will use your welfare system. Our children will also send money home while they are preparing for Jihad.
We will take the advantage of American kindness, gullibility, and
compassion. When time comes, we will stab them in the back. We will say
one thing on the camera and teach another thing to our children at home.
We will give subliminal messages to our children to uphold Islam at any
cost. Our children in America will always care more about Islamic
Country’s interest than US interest.
We will teach our children
Islamic supremacy from the very childhood. We will teach them not to
compromise with Infidel. Once we do that from the very early age our
children won’t hesitate to be martyr. We will take over the Europe first
and then US will be the next. We already have a solid ground in the UK,
Holland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, and now in the US.
Our
children will marry Caucasian in Europe and in America. We will mixed
with intricate fabric of the Western society but still will remember to
Jihad when time comes. Who are we?
We are the “sleeper cells”.
We will raise our children to be loyal to Islam and Mohammad only. Everything else is secondary.
At the time of the real fight we will hold our own children as our
armor. When American or Israeli troops shoot at us the world will be
watching. Imagine,… Imagine the news in the world “Death of Muslim
babies by infidels”.
We know CNN, ABC, CBS are broadcasting
live. Al-Jazeera will pour gasoline on the fire. The news will spread
like wildfire. “Americans killed 6 babies, 10 babies”. “Jews killed two
women”,
Keep your Nukes in your curio cabinets. Keep your
aircraft carrier or high-tech weaponry in the showcase. You can't use
them against us because of your own higher moral standard. We will take
the advantage of your higher moral standard and use it against you. We
won’t hesitate to use our children as suicide bomber against you.
Visualize the news flash all over the world, …Muslem mother is sobbing,
…crying. …her babies are killed by Jews and Americans, the whole
world is watching live. Hundreds of millions of Muslims all around the
world are boiling. They will march through Europe. We will use our women
to produce more babies who will in turn be used as armor/shield. Our
babies are the gift from Allah for Jihad.
The West manufactures
their tanks in the factory. We will manufacture our military force by
natural means, by producing more babies. That is the way it is cheaper.
You infidels at this site cannot defeat us. We are 1.2 billion. We will double again. Do you have enough bullets to kill us?
On the camera:
- We will always say, “Islam is the religion of Peace.”
- We will say, “Jihad is actually inner Jihad.”
- Moderate Muslims will say there is no link between Islam and Terrorism and the West will believe it because the West is so gullible.
- Moderate Muslims all over the world will incubate Jihadists by their talk by defending Islam.
- Using Western Legal system we will assert our Sharia Laws, slowly but surely.
- We will increase in number. We will double again.
You will be impressed when you meet a moderate Muslim personally. As
your next-door neighbor, coworker, student, teacher, engineer,
professionals you may even like us.
You will find us well mannered,
polite, humble that will make you say, “wow, Muslims are good and
peaceful people”, But, we will stab you in your back when you are
sleeping as we did on 911.
There will be more 911 in Europe and in America. We will say, “We do not support terrorism but America got what it deserved.”
Muslims, CAIR, ISNA, MPAC and other international Islamic Organizations
will unite. We will partner with Leftist, ACLU, with
the UN, and if we have to then, even with France. Fasten your seat-belt.
The war of civilizations has just begun.
We will recite Quran
and say Allah-Hu-Akbar before beheading infidels, as we have been doing
it. We will video tape those and send it to all infidels to watch. They
will surrender - ISLAM means surrender.
We will use your own values of kindness against you.
This is the wildest. Remember the video of that great patriot
telling folks to protect the constitution and take back America?
Obama
calls this kind of talk disturbing, perhaps because he is a disturbed progressive Liberal with communist leanings.
This brings me to my next subject, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. I know, I can hear the Liberal teeth grinding, and the Media lies expanding as I write, but trust me its to no avail I'm saying it anyway!
Scott Walker is the greatest example of a near perfect leader, who sees like no other the great damage that private sector Unions cause in America. They leach BILLIONS from taxpayers to give it to well feed members at the expense of America's freedom to be great.
Those laws often impair economic growth and innovation, as well as
destroy the freedom to contract, according to Randall G. Holcombe and
James D. Gwartney, economics professors at Florida State University.
Over time, these labor laws actually cause a shift in employment from
union jobs to nonunion jobs. In fact, research shows that the growth of
labor unions during the Great Depression actually increased
unemployment. Unions are still destroying jobs today.
“In the short run, because labor law has given to unions an advantage
in the bargaining process, union contracts have had the effect of
increasing the wages and benefits of union workers,” they wrote.
“In the
long run, the higher cost of union labor brought on by those union
contracts has resulted in a steady decline in private sector unionism,
and has eroded U.S. manufacturing in unionized industries — most
visibly, the railroad and auto industries.”
Myth:
Unions bargain on behalf of their members to get employees the wages and benefits they deserve.
By crawling in bed with government to pass laws which
benefited the unions at the expense of employers — and, in the long run,
employees — union leaders have drained American businesses dry.
The
long, slow decline of private sector unions reflects the economic
destruction they left in their wake as they searched for fresh blood to
leech. And today they’ve found the biggest source yet, the government.
Armand Thieblot, an economic consultant who has written books on union corruption and violence, writes:
"When Samuel Gompers, then head of the American Federation
of Labor, was asked in the early 1920s what unions wanted, he famously
replied, “More.” At the time, everyone correctly understood that unions’
targets were the capitalists from whom additional wages and benefits
would be wrested by force, and also that if unions were successful,
capitalists would have to be content with “Less,” thus, just a transfer
of economic rents within the system from one factor to another.
By the 1980s and 1990s, however, when unorganized capitalists had
become thin on the ground and those already organized had mostly been
rendered uncompetitive by past concession to union demands, unions’ new
guiding trope became “More government.” To achieve it, unions became
mordantly political. In economic terms, after unions had absorbed all of
the readily available economic rents from their capitalist opponents,
they have turned to seeking rents from new sources beyond the system —
from the polity at large (from taxpayers), using government as the
intermediary."
Myth:
Project labor agreements reduce project costs and delays and are good for construction workers as a whole.
PLAs are agreements between construction project owners and unions that
contractors on the project must use union labor, even if they otherwise
would not. David G. Tuerck, economics professor and chair at Suffolk
University, cites numerous examples of how nonunion workers were harmed
when they worked under PLAs, “first by forcing them to pay twice for
benefits already offered their workers and second by forcing pay cuts on
their workers.”
Then, unions use veiled threats to “labor peace” to
intimidate project owners into accepting PLAs for “job stability.”
Further, PLAs increased costs for every project studied which used them,
sometimes as much as 20 percent.
“PLAs are motivated by a desire on the part of the construction
unions to shore up the declining union wage premium against
technological changes and other changes that make traditional union work
rules and job designations obsolescent,” Tuerck writes. “Now the PLA
has evolved into an instrument that the unions employ in tandem with the
prevailing wage laws in order to reduce the competitive advantage of
nonunion contractors.”
Myth:
Prevailing wage laws are good for competition, improve safety and quality, and help train new workers.
The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, signed into law by President Herbert
Hoover, mandates that on federal construction projects, workers be paid
the so-called “prevailing wage” for similar local workers. In practice,
the wage is set far higher than the actual prevailing wage, closely
mirroring union pay scales. This virtually locks out nonunion
construction workers from federal contracts.
George C. Leef, director of the Pope Center for Higher Education
Policy, finds that all of the arguments for prevailing wage laws fail to
stand up to even the slightest scrutiny. Worse, the Davis-Bacon Act was
racially motivated:
“The hearings and debate on the legislation
revealed some ugly racial overtones with comments on how ‘cheap colored
labor’ was driving down wages of white workers.” Robert Bacon originally
proposed the bill because he was upset that a construction firm from
outside his district, employing black workers, built a veterans’
hospital in his district.
Myth:
Organized labor has worked to promote racial equality.
In 2008, Richard Trumka, who is now the president of the AFL-CIO, said,
“We know, better than anyone else, how racism is used to divide working
people.” He should, because the unions have been doing it for their
entire existence, and still are,
as Paul Moreno, history professor at Hillsdale College, illustrates.
It
isn’t — and probably never was — the employers oppressing the black, or
the Chinese, or the Hispanic people. Most employers, as it turns out,
really are color blind, as Martin Luther King, Jr., noted in 1957:
“With
the growth of industry the folkways of white supremacy will necessarily
pass away. Moreover, southerners are learning to be good businessmen,
and as such realize that bigotry is costly and bad for business.”
As racism goes, unions made the KKK look like amateurs. Big Labor
lobbied for, and got, special laws to make them completely immune for
whatever they did — all the way up to outright murder. In United States v. Enmons,
in 1973, the Supreme Court held that unions were immune from
prosecution under the Hobbs Act if their violent acts were in
furtherance of a “valid union objective.”
Detroit makes a great example. At the start of the 20th century,
Detroit was a boom town and its manufacturing jobs were paying 33
percent above the national average. Union organizers brought their
message of capitalist greed and exploitation to already highly paid auto
workers, where it largely fell on deaf ears. Until the Great
Depression, when union organizers used a variety of underhanded tactics
to force automakers, steel plants and other manufacturers to unionize.
(Interestingly, Henry Ford at the time threatened to break up his
company rather than submit to union demands; he finally gave in when his
wife threatened to leave him.)
Stephen J.K. Walters, economics professor at Loyola, explains what
happened next. Companies, squeezed hard and struggling to survive, would
move their operations out of Detroit and other cities, and later, out
of the country entirely.
Myth:
Public sector unions work for the general prosperity of their members and all Americans.
The cost of employee wages and benefits accounts for half of the $2.2
trillion that state and local governments spent in 2008, and that number
is set to grow dramatically as employees retire and generous pension
packages kick in. Though, calling them generous is an understatement.
Moreover, according to Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies
at the Cato Institute, those pension obligations are grossly
underfunded, which will make the fiscal crisis even more acute this
decade.
Businesses can and do mitigate the inefficiencies of a unionized
workplace, but governments are much more constrained and have less
incentive to do so, driving up taxpayer costs even further.
And public
sector unions use their large war chests to buy influence and
protection. “So the problem with public sector unions is not just that
they block compensation reforms, but that use their privileged status to
control broader policy debates.”
Myth: Right-to-work laws harm employees and prevent employers from freely contracting with unions.
That Act forces employers to bargain with unions “in good faith,” which
is interpreted to mean that employers must capitulate to virtually
every demand of the unions or be accused of acting in bad faith.
This is
hardly freedom of contract. Right-to-work laws mitigate, but do not
entirely fix, this problem.
I have some experience with this, since I once worked in a
non-right-to-work state and was forced to join the union. I would rather
have negotiated my own terms; I’d likely have gotten a better deal.
It
seems many Americans agree, as millions of them have moved from
non-right-to-work states to right-to-work states in the last decade, a
migration that shows no signs of stopping. Richard Vedder, economics
professor at Ohio University, found that both predictive models and real
world evidence show that right-to-work states experience more economic
growth than non-right-to-work states.
Myth:
Labor unions support trade liberalization because it lowers the prices of goods that workers buy.
They believe that increasing globalization has directly led to the
decline of their unions, and thus their power. This isn’t exactly true,
according to Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy
Studies at the Cato Institute.
“Although the evidence is lacking to
implicate globalization as a whole, two aspects of the trend have been
found to have significant negative effects on labor unions: inward
foreign direct investment (FDI), and ‘social integration’ across
borders.”
When foreign companies invest in the U.S., companies here realize
that they can also invest in other countries. “The correlation of FDI
and declining rates of union density suggests that ‘many workers feel
greater insecurity from seeing capital mobility in their sectors, even
if not in their own particular firms,’ Slaughter (2007: 344–45)
concluded.”
And social globalization, “the spread of ideas, information, images
and people,” a natural result of advances in communications and
transportation, “reinforces what Dresher and Gaston (2007: 176) call a
‘growing normative orientation towards individuals rather than
collectivism [which] makes collective organization more difficult.’
Adding to the trends are rising levels of immigration and perceptions of
younger workers who view unions as old-fashioned and anachronistic
institutions.”
Myth:
Paying workers higher wages will reduce unemployment and stimulate the economy.
This doctrine originated with a 1921 report that Hoover commissioned
while he was Secretary of Commerce dealing with what was, in retrospect,
a minor recession.
In addition to recommending higher wages, the report
also said that government spending (now known as the stimulus package)
can help the country recover from a recession. Neither is true, of
course, and the report might have been completely forgotten had Hoover
not become President. He put his disastrous ideas into practice, and the
rest, as they say, is history.
Worse, proponents of these theories, which John Maynard Keynes
gleefully signed on to, are more concerned with theories than facts,
according to Lowell E. Gallaway, economics professor at Ohio University.
That’s just a polite way of saying they’re full of crap. Galloway
writes:
In the intellectual world, the high-wage doctrine
continues to have its appeal. Prior to his appointment as chairman of
the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, collaborating with Martin
Parkinson, noted:
“Maybe Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford were right.
Higher real wages may have paid for themselves in the broader sense that
their positive effect on aggregate demand compensated for their
tendency to raise costs” (Bernanke and Parkinson 1989: 214).
More
recently, Paul Krugman reiterated this view in a New York Times oped
(3 May 2009), arguing, “Many workers are accepting pay cuts in order to
save jobs.” He then asks, “What’s wrong with that?”
His answer refers
to what he calls “one of those paradoxes that plague our economy right
now . . . workers at any one company can help save their jobs by
accepting lower wages, but when employers across the economy cut wages
at the same time, the result is higher unemployment.” This is simply a
reprise of Klein’s (1947) views.
Never mind the existence of more than a
century of empirical evidence to the contrary. Krugman’s concern is not
with the empirical problem, but with the theoretical connection between
wage rates and employment.
The high-wage doctrine still lives. In all
probability, this persistent adherence to an incorrect doctrine once
again will prove to be detrimental to the U.S. economy, just as it was
in the 1930s.
It is possible for unions to exist and provide valuable services to
their members in a market free of government-sponsored violence and
control, but those services would likely have to be geared toward
helping employees improve themselves, rather than extracting undeserved
compensation from employers.
Charles W. Baird, professor emeritus of economics at California State
University, East Bay, examines what constitutes a free market, how
existing labor laws destroy freedom, and what a union might look like in
a true free market. It won’t happen any time soon, though, he says:
“It
is politically impossible, at this time in America, to repeal the
Norris-LaGuardia Act and the National Labor Relations Act and replace
them with any sort of free-market union law. Nevertheless, it is
worthwhile to prepare the ground now for doing so in some future, more
enlightened time.”
If you’re wondering why you’re out of a job, why Detroit is a
wasteland, and why the economy is on the verge of collapse, don’t be so
quick to blame Wall Street: Some of the blame belongs to the labor
unions.
["AFL-CIO building, Washington, D.C." photo by Derek Blackadder; CC BY-SA 2.0]
“The whole process is pretty unusual. We had one of the local affiliates
here [reporting] about someone signing it, proudly saying they signed
80 different recall petitions,” Walker said on “Fox and Friends.” “As we
see it, you should only be able to sign it once and only once, and it
should be for a legal citizen.”
Not if your a Progressive Liberal, they can cheat, steal and get away with most Illegal stuff simply because of 'Rules for Radicals' protocols and the fact that Unions rule supreme, the ends justify the means so the rules are like water to them, they shift whenever it suits them.
"If we fail, I think it sets back courage in government by at least 10
years and maybe a generation. People will be too afraid to do the hard
things." -Gov. Walker
If the American people do not put their foot down on the necks of these Union thugs soon, it will be to late to stop it. They are trying to gain control of private sector Jobs to the point there will be no more freedom for employers to hire or fire based upon BAD BEHAVIOR and that means a more dangerous world for the rest of us!
The FACTS about Governor Walker’s Responsible Budget Repair Plan, this man should get an award!
The current state of affairs is not a sustainable one for maxed-out taxpayers footing the bill.
The average Wisconsin state employee compensation (salary and fringe
benefits) in 2010-11 was $76,500. Employee salary and fringe benefits
comprises more than 60% of state government general fund operating
costs. The average Wisconsin teacher compensation (salary and fringe
benefits) in 2009-10 was $74,844. (Source: Department of Public Instruction website)
But the cost to taxpayers keeps growing.
Wisconsin taxpayers pay over $1 billion per year for state government
employee health insurance; more than double what was paid only 10 years
ago. But employees themselves pay only 6% of that amount.
Big savings are needed to fill a big hole this fiscal year.
Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill contains more than $30 million in
savings over a three month period by requiring state employees to
contribute to their pension and health care benefits.
Public protections for state employees will remain.
Wisconsin’s statutory civil service laws, among the strongest in the
nation, will remain in force to ensure Wisconsin can maintain a
professional and experienced state workforce. In addition, employee sick
leave, vacation, and retirement benefits will remain unchanged.
Fundamental reforms are needed for a sustainable path forward.
While pension and health care contributions are a vital part of solving
our current deficit problems, the long-term structural problems facing
the state and local governments cannot be solved without a fundamental
reform of Wisconsin’s labor relations.
As Governor Walker said today in a
national press conference, in the past public union contracts have
taken an average of 15 months to pass. With a $3 billion budget deficit,
we don’t have that much time.
Simply requiring pension and health
care contributions does nothing to solve crushing problems such as the
Department of Corrections out-of-control overtime costs, the Madison bus driver making more than
$150,000 per year, or the outstanding first year teacher who was laid
off by MPS because she lacked seniority. The time is now to put
Wisconsin on a sustainable path, and Governor Walker is the conservative
leader to do it.
During tough times, Walker is protecting our most vulnerable citizens.
As Department of Health Services Secretary Smith outlined in a memo on
February 8, 2011, alternative plans to achieve the type of savings
needed to balance the books would be dire.
Other alternatives would require:
- Eliminating services for 194,539 children on Medical Assistance; or
- Eliminating services for 92,599 adults on Medical Assistance; or
- Eliminating services for 16,284 elderly, blind or disabled persons.
Walker is saving thousands of public employee jobs.
To achieve similar savings in the state’s general fund over three
months would require laying off more than 1,500 state employees.
Governor Walker knows there have been enough layoffs across the state
already – 250,000 Wisconsin jobs have been lost since the beginning of
the recession.
No wage cuts, layoffs, or furloughs.
Governor Walker said in an email to state employees that both the
Budget Repair Bill and the 2011-13 Biennial Budget will contain no wage
cuts, no layoffs, and no furloughs for state employees.
That’s right, no more furloughs.
Walker’s sensible solutions effectively mean the 3% of state employee
wages lost through Jim Doyle’s unpopular furloughs will offset the
increased pension and health care contributions Governor Walker is
asking of public employees to help balance the state’s budget.
LIBERAL MYTH VS. THE FACTS!
HATE FROM THE RIGHT? RIGHTTTTT!
These protestors should be the ones who show shame, supporting Communists and America haters over common sense Budget cuts!
Mind blowing speech by Robert Welch in 1958 predicting Insiders plans to destroy America
"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should
be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the
power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus
laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in
the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at
least] four centuries." - Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith,
1788
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the
society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened
enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is
not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education." -
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"There
has never been a golden age of liberty, and there never will be. People
who value freedom will always have to defend it from those who claim
the right to wield power over others." - David Boaz
ELECTION 2012
Finally! The untold facts on all Senate candidates
Here's an in-depth look at 33 seats up for grabs – and who's grabbing
Control of the U.S. Senate is now up for grabs in what could be one
of the most competitive elections in years – and the struggle for power
appears to hinge on 10 hotly contested seats that could go to either
party.
Thirty-three U.S. Senate seats are now available for the taking.
Democrats have 23 seats up for election, including two independents
(Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is retiring, and Vermont's Bernie
Sanders, who is seeking re-election) who caucus with the Democrats. Of
those 23, six are retiring and 17 are seeking re-election.
Republicans have only 10 seats up for election. Two Republicans
are retiring, while eight are seeking re-election. To claim a Senate
majority, Republicans must gain four seats (or three to tie) in 2012.
According to the Cook Political Report,
some of the biggest toss-up Senate seats include New Mexico, Wisconsin,
Ohio, Virginia, Montana, Nevada, Missouri, Massachusetts, Nebraska and
North Dakota. All are controlled by Democrats, except Massachusetts,
where Sen. Scott Brown is struggling to hold his favor with voters
against Elizabeth Warren, who is leading in recent polls.
The Cook Political Report also rates 21 races as being to some
extent competitive, five more than any of the three preceding elections.
The following is an in-depth look at all current
contenders seeking their party's nomination and, ultimately, election to
the Senate in 2012. (Please note that there are four pages to this profile.):
A lawyer, small-business owner and former Judge Advocate General
Corps officer, Brian Hill was honorably discharged from active duty as a
major. He was deployed around the world, including numerous times to
Kuwait, Egypt and Qatar. Hill has also lived overseas and in eight
different states. In the United States, he supported Operation Iraqi and
Enduring Freedom in Washington, D.C., Georgia and Virginia.
Hill's degrees include: bachelor of science in political science
from Southern Connecticut State University, juris doctor from Howard
University School of Law and master of law in military law with a
specialty in federal contract law from the Army Judge Advocate General
Legal School and Center.
Hill advocates reducing the following: corporate and personal
marginal tax rates, the size of federal bureaucracy, complexity of the
tax code, federal regulations, the debt and the deficit. He supports
increasing fair trade, domestic energy production and legal immigration
for highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs.
He proposes eliminating the alternative minimum tax, the federal
gas tax, death tax, capital gains tax, food taxes and payroll taxes.
On health care, Hill seeks to eliminate Obamacare, separate
health insurance from employment, enact tort reform, promote federal
health-savings accounts, impose means testing for all entitlements and
eliminate waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Additionally, he supports school choice, repealing "No Child Left
Behind," imposing term limits, killing Cap-and-Trade legislation and
developing a domestic energy plan to explore America's own natural
resources.
A professional wrestling magnate, Linda McMahon
developed World Wresting Entertainment, or WWE, with her husband, Vince
McMahon. The largest professional wrestling company in the world, WWE
promotes two brands: Raw and SmackDown. She stepped down as chief
executive officer of WWE in 2009 and is widely recognized as one of the
nation's top business executives.
World Wrestling Entertainment superstars John Morrison and the Miz perform for U.S. troops Dec. 4, 2009, in Iraq.
Linda McMahon
McMahon said she will soon offer a comprehensive jobs plan that
"acknowledges that economic growth is not a government program." She
said Obamacare is "a massive new entitlement that America cannot afford"
and promised to work to repeal it and replace it with a "market-based
proposal that reduces costs to individuals and increases competition."
McMahon proposes allowing businesses to "pool risk" and offer insurance
to employees at a discounted rate, allowing companies to sell health
insurance across state lines and eliminating frivolous lawsuits.
On
energy, she supports simplifying and expediting approval for oil and
gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and some federal lands.
On education, McMahon supports school choice, online education and homeschooling.
McMahon
serves on the boards of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.,
and the Close Up Foundation. In 2009, she was appointed by Gov. M. Jodi
Rell to serve on the Connecticut Board of Education.
She graduated from East Carolina University with a bachelor of
science degree in French. McMahon won Connecticut Tea Party Patriots'
2012 Senate straw poll in February.
Chris Shays is a former U.S. representative who served Connecticut's
4th district for two decades and a prominent GOP moderate. He lost a
re-election bid to Democrat Rep. Jim Himes in 2008.
Shays served
as co-chairman of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting, an
independent, bipartisan legislative commission tasked with studying
wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shays has voted with
Democrats many times, including casting his vote against all four
articles of impeachment for then-President Bill Clinton and against the
federal marriage amendment. He also voted for gun control and for
overturning the ban on open homosexuals serving in the military.
Shays earned a master of business administration and a master of public administration degree from New York University.
A libertarian and strong supporter of
the Second Amendment, Paul Passarelli believes in the "presumptive
right of the people to possess all manner of guns, knives, swords,
weapons, etc." While he supports what he terms a woman's "right" to have
an abortion, he opposes the use of federal funds to pay for the
procedure.
Passarelli explains on his campaign website that he believes homosexual marriage must be recognized by the federal government:
"The
question of whether gay marriage should be recognized by the federal
government in the [legal] aspect is unquestionably yes, subject to all
of the same provisions as heterosexual marriage. There was a time when
the notion of marriage across religious lines was 'taboo' when marriage
across ethnic lines was too [sic]. While some people are still offended
when they see a 'mixed' marriage, the law cannot be."
Whenever he
votes on a bill, Passarelli promises to issue a summary on his vote and a
position paper detailing his thoughts and analysis. He also proposes
legislation that would require members of Congress to receive "the same
health care as citizens are able to obtain privately and at similar
out-of-pocket expense."
Passarelli describes himself as a political outsider, an advocate of American civil liberties and a fiscal conservative.
A former representative and secretary of the state of Connecticut,
Democrat Susan Bysiewicz graduated from Yale University and Duke
University School of Law.
Bysiewicz implemented Connecticut's
CONCORD system, giving the public online access to information about
more than 340,000 registered businesses in the state. According to her
campaign website, she also completed the Connecticut Voter Registration
System to streamline the state's electoral rolls, protect voter rights
and prevent voter fraud.
As a U.S. senator, Bysiewicz said she
will keep well-paying jobs in her state by rebuilding infrastructure,
investing in new industry and cutting taxes for the middle class and
small businesses. She promises to push for simplification of the tax
code and ensuring small businesses have the resources they need to
survive.
On energy, Bysiewicz would support investment in research
by universities to develop new technologies to create "green jobs" and
foster energy independence. She seeks to expand companies developing
solar, wind and biofuel technology. On education, Bysiewicz would seek
to increase federal funding for Head Start, Pell Grants and federal
college loans. She said she would advocate elimination of tax breaks
that encourage corporations to ship jobs overseas, ensuring the state's
workers are "competing on an even playing field with foreign workers."
She
promises to protect key elements of Obamacare, including: 1) reducing
the cost of health insurance to small businesses, 2) requiring
preventative care, 3) prohibiting denial of coverage due to pre-existing
conditions, 4) allowing children to receive health insurance on their
parents' plan until age 26 and 5) extending Medicare's prescription drug
coverage.
Finally, Bysiewicz pledges to "promote open and
transparent government" by holding regular office hours, ending
corporate influence on elections and making earmark requests
transparent.
A Democrat representing Connecticut's
5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, Chris
Murphy is known for knocking on doors and holding dozens of "supermarket
office hours."
Murphy authored Connecticut's Stem Cell Investment Act and a statewide ban on smoking in the workplace.
During
his second congressional term, Murphy was appointed to the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, where he helped draft Obamacare. Murphy's
campaign website describes him as being "a leading voice for the public
option."
As current co-chairman of the Congressional Land
Conservation Caucus, Murphy prides himself on his commitment to
environmental protection. He has also advocated for the federal
government to abandon the Defense of Marriage Act and end the "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell" policy that banned openly homosexual individuals from
serving in the military. A firm supporter of abortion "rights" and
"comprehensive sex education," Murphy promises to fight against "efforts
that chip away at Roe v. Wade."
Murphy attended Williams College and received his law degree from the University of Connecticut.
A corporate attorney and son of a Chinese immigrant, William Tong
spent his childhood working side-by-side with his parents in their
family restaurant, washing dishes, cooking and waiting tables. When his
father faced deportation in 1972, the elder Tong wrote a six-page letter
to President Richard Nixon. Just one year before William Tong was born,
the Department of Justice allowed his father to stay and become a U.S.
citizen.
In a 2006 state representative race, Tong soundly
defeated a Republican incumbent and made history as the first Democrat
ever to represent the 147th district in the General Assembly and the
first Asian-Pacific-American elected to state level in Connecticut's
history.
The Hartford Courant nicknamed him the "Asian Obama."
Tong
proposes increasing credit for small businesses, expanding foreclosure
relief to stabilize the housing market and taking the lead on renewable
and alternative technologies by creating financing programs to speed
adoption of fuel cells, solar panels and energy-efficiency products.
Tong
is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago Law
School. Within just 50 days of announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate,
Tong reportedly raised $550,000.
A 14-year union member, Democrat Lee
Whitnum holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the
University of Maryland and a master's degree in administration, planning
and social policy from Harvard University. She is author of two novels, "Hedge Fund Mistress" and "What About the Dead?"
Whitnum's
latest book is "Anti-AIPAC not Anti-Semitic: The Israel Lobby's
Dangerous Control of Congress."
She describes herself as "vehemently
anti-AIPAC and anti-Zionist." On her campaign website, she writes,
"American fundamentalist Christian Zionists are a huge, misguided,
political force in our country. ... Israel needs to do right by its
underclass; any decisions based on maintaining a 'Jewish majority' is
racial prejudice and, as Americans, we should reject it as contrary to
our values. If Israel desires racial purity – compensate your underclass and relocate them. Many would go – and absorb the rest. Slaughter and oppression is not the answer."
She also writes, "I am running to stand by President Obama in the inevitable showdown with Netanyahu."
John Carroll enlisted in the U.S.
Army and served during the Korean War. After graduating from the
University of Hawaii, he transferred to the U.S. Air Force and became a
jet fighter pilot. He earned his law degree from St. Mary's University
College of Law and later specialized in aviation law. Carroll was a
commercial pilot for Hawaiian Airlines from 1958 to 1989.
Carroll
was elected five times to the Hawaii State Legislature, with four terms
as a representative in the House and one term as a state senator.
"I
have the experience needed to do this job and will bring a consistent
set of conservative values that I share with so many of Hawaii's
people," he said in a press release announcing his Senate bid. He
offered the following 10-point plan:
1) Lower Hawaii's high cost of living by seeking relief from the archaic Jones Act.
2)
Restore ideological balance on the national agenda by giving a voice to
those in Hawaii who do not believe in the liberal policies espoused by
all of our congressional delegation.
3)
Reinvigorate the national and state economies through tax reduction,
deregulation and promotion of the principles of our free-enterprise
system.
4) Demand fiscal
accountability from local and national government. Cut costs and
eliminate waste before incurring more debt or resorting to taxation.
5.
Overhaul the federal tax code. The existing tax laws have become
convoluted, complex and unfair. We should seek simplification, a
national sales or flat tax alternative, and eliminate the income tax and
IRS.
6) Adherence to the integrity of
constitutional law. Personal freedoms guaranteed by the U.S.
Constitution are not negotiable, and not subject to judicial
"modification."
7) Re-establish
sustainable agriculture and aquaculture in Hawaii. Once a model for
sustainability and self-sufficiency, Hawaii is now almost totally
dependent on expensive imports for food and energy.
8)
Fight the "dumbing down" of America and Hawaii. Our public-education
system has failed generations of young Americans and has hastened the
decline of our ability to compete globally.
9) Defend our island values and environment. Hawaii's unique resources and ecosystem must be protected for future generations.
10)
Kanaka Maoli justice. Resist the race-based "define and separate"
policies inherent in the proposed Akaka bill, and release land, in fee,
directly to qualified native Hawaiians.
Linda Lingle, former governor of
Hawaii from December 2002 to December 2010, was appointed by President
George W. Bush to serve on the honorary delegation to accompany him to
Jerusalem for the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary in May 2008.
She is active in the Republican Jewish Coalition.
On July 6, 2010, Lingle vetoed Hawaii House Bill 444, which would
have allowed civil unions for homosexuals in Hawaii, arguing the issue
should be decided by referendum. Her campaign website explains that her
top priority as U.S. senator will be "federal policies and initiatives
that will encourage job creation in the short term and create a vibrant
and growing economy in the longer term."
Linda Lingle and President Obama at the White House in 2009.
More than a year and half after Barack Obama was elected president, Lingle is known for publicly voicing the alleged exact location of Obama's birth,
saying, "The president was, in fact, born at Kapi'olani Hospital in
Honolulu, Hawaii." Her disclosure was believed to be the first time a
state government official had declared the precise place where Obama was
born, despite numerous other published claims, including some for a
different hospital in Honolulu.
"It's been an odd situation," Lingle said, referring to the
continuing controversy over the disputed natural-born citizenship of
Obama. "This issue kept coming up so much in the campaign, and again I
think it's one of those issues that is simply a distraction from the
more critical issues that are facing the country. … I think it's again a
horrible distraction for the country by those people who continue
this."
Lingle earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge.
Ed Case attended Williams College in
Massachusetts, graduating with a major in psychology in 1975. After
college, he worked as a legislative assistant for U.S. Sen. Spark
Matsunaga.
Just a few years later, intent upon a career in
elective politics, he earned a law degree from the University of
California, Hastings, College of Law in 1981. He returned to Hawaii in
1981 and worked as a law clerk to Hawaii Supreme Court Justice William
Richardson. In 1983, he joined the law firm Carlsmith Ball, where he
practiced for 20 years, focusing on land and commercial law. He became
partner at the firm in 1989.
In 1994, Case was elected to the
Hawaii House of Representatives. He served eight years and was later
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives following the death of U.S.
Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii. He served three terms in the U.S. House.
As
part of his agenda, Case said he will reject "unreasonable and harmful
levels of taxation, regulation and spending," focus on small businesses,
bring federal contracts to Hawaii, propose a balanced-budget amendment
to the U.S. Constitution, cap discretionary spending and strengthen
efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in government.
He also
supports reforms for No Child Left Behind and banning the use of Social
Security trust funds for non-Social Security purposes. Case promises to
improve Obamacare with the addition of tort reform "and other cost
controls" and "heighten global environmental protection as centerpiece
to our foreign policy."
Born in Fukushima, Japan, on Nov. 3, 1947, Mazie Hirono became a
naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959, the year Hawaii became a state. She is
the first Asian-American woman to be sworn into Congress.
Hirono
graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Hawaii at
Manoa and earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in
Washington, D.C., where she focused on public interest law. Following
graduation from law school, Hirono returned to Hawaii and served as
deputy attorney general before entering private practice. She was
elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives in 1980. She was later
elected as Hawaii's lieutenant governor in 1994, where she served two
four-year terms.
Hirono has been endorsed by EMILY's List for
pro-choice women. She voted "no" on banning federal health coverage that
includes abortion. In 2007, she voted "yes" on expanding research to
more embryonic stem cell lines and providing "emergency contraception"
at military facilities.
She opposed a constitutional ban on
same-sex marriage. Hirono also voted no on opening the Outer Continental
Shelf to oil drilling and barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse
gases. She supports enforced limits on "CO2 global warming pollution"
and removing oil and gas exploration subsidies.
Hirono supported
the Cash for Clunkers program and repeal of the military's "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell" policy. She voted to expand the Children's Health Insurance
Program and supports eliminating tax breaks for the wealthy.
Bill English describes his name recognition as being on a level with "a pet rock named Seymour."
However,
English supports a return to the principles of the nation's Founding
Fathers and its Constitution. He advocates the immediate repeal of
Obamacare and a "more common sense approach to health care in America
that does not violate the Constitution and does not bilk the American
people of their heard-earned dollars with unconstitutional requirements
to purchase government health care." He supports a reduction in
government and "government interference in the lives of all Americans."
A
states' rights advocate, English also supports fiscal responsibility
that "takes care of the needs of the citizens of this country and does
not dole out American tax dollars to foreign nations in the form of
foreign aid to dictators who steal from their own citizens and would
gladly slip a knife between the ribs of America the first chance they
got." His fiscal policy is simple: "If we don't have the money, we don't
spend the money." He supports a fair tax and term limits in the House
and Senate.
English argues for reduced involvement in United
Nations mandated policies and treaties that haven't been ratified by
Congress and supports "absolutely no involvement either by treaty or by
agreement with the United Nations World Court."
Finally, on
immigration, English advocates for "immediate expulsion of all foreign
nationals who have entered or crossed our national borders illegally"
and the completion of the national border security fence.
The youngest of eight children, John
Sanchez was raised by a single mother in New Mexico. He has been a
small-business owner for nearly 30 years. Sanchez served in the New
Mexico House of Representatives from 2000 to 2002. In 2012, he was
elected lieutenant governor.
Sanchez believes in getting the
government out of the way so entrepreneurs can grow their businesses and
create jobs. He explains on his campaign website, "As the federal
government grows and becomes a larger percentage of the American
economy, it stifles private sector job growth and forces a greater
reliance on government services and programs."
He is seeking to
put an end to open-border policies that allow human trafficking and
drugs to erode the nation's communities. He explains, "We must protect
our borders so that Americans are afforded the safety and security that
they rightfully expect."
Sanchez describes himself as a pro-life
conservative who has "never wavered in his commitment to protecting the
unborn." He also advocates for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare,
arguing that affordable and accessible health care starts with honest
liability reform so good doctors and patients can make health decisions.
Sanchez supports a balanced-budget amendment and has signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge.
Sowards family. Greg Sowards and wife are pictured in white shirts.
In 1970, Greg Sowards enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed
in Korea, where he provided support for operations in Vietnam while
maintaining a U.S. presence there. Sowards explains, "I learned the
meaning of sacrifice, and the necessity to defend the rights of people
to form and preserve a democracy in the face of communism. During this
time away from the United States, I became aware of the sanctity of our
Constitution and the liberty that it affords."
When Sowards
returned to the states, he graduated with his teaching degree from
Brigham Young University. He and his wife, Karen, started their first
business in 1982 – manufacturing mini trampolines. However, he soon
learned that he could buy imports for less money than he could buy raw
materials. Sowards recalled, "I learned that one-sided trade agreements,
unfair taxes and over-regulation hurt businesses and the economy here
in the United States."
He soon patented a soccer training device called
the Kwik Kik and sold tens of thousands of them around the world.
In
1987, he and Karen began a child-care business in Las Cruces, N.M. The
business thrived, and they now care for more than 600 children in six
facilities and employ more than 70 people.
Once he takes office as
a U.S. senator, Sowards promises to ask himself the following five
questions before considering any piece of legislation:
Is this legislation worth putting our children and grandchildren into debt?
What effect does it have on America's traditional family?
Does it take rights away from law-abiding citizens and give them to criminals?
Does it strengthen and uphold the U.S. Constitution?
Does it protect the sovereignty of America?
Sowards
believes "life is not a choice," marriage is between one man and one
woman, unimpeded gun ownership is a right and fiscal responsibility is
not an option but a responsibility. He believes the government must
slash spending, lower taxes and eliminate burdensome regulations to
allow businesses to reinvest profits, hire employees and produce new
products.
Finally, Sowards pledges to vote for repealing Obamacare – without replacing it –and for legislation that will simplify the tax code.
Heather Wilson was the first woman
ever to command a basic training unit after the U.S. Air Force Academy
began admitting women. She graduated from the academy in 1982 as a
distinguished graduate and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to study at
Oxford University. She continued her education at Jesus College, Oxford
University, earning a master and doctor of philosopy in international
relations. Her book, "International Law and the Use of Force by National
Liberation Movements," won the 1988 Paul Reuter Prize, the second ever
awarded.
Heather Wilson
Wilson served in the U.S. Air Force for seven years, until she was
chosen to serve as director for European defense policy and arms control
at the National Security Council. She left government work in 1991 and
founded Keystone International Inc., a company that specialized in
working with senior executives in American defense and scientific
corporations.
In 1995, then-Gov. Gary Johnson appointed Wilson to
be cabinet secretary for New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families
Department. Wilson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
where she served New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 1998 to
2009.
Wilson is also known for blasting CBS and Viacom at a House
FCC hearing in 2004 after Janet Jackson exposed her breast during a
half-time show at Super Bowl XXXVIII.
"You knew what you were
doing," she told the president of Viacom. "You knew what kind of
entertainment you were selling, and you wanted us to be all abuzz, here
in this room and on the playground in my kids' school, because it
improves your ratings. It improves your market share, and it lines your
pockets."
On the issue of life, Wilson has voted for: expanding research to
more embryonic stem cell lines, banning partial-birth abortion,
forbidding human cloning and banning abortion funding in U.S aid abroad.
On
the economy, Wilson voted against the $15 billion bailout of GM and
Chrysler and against the $60 billion stimulus package in 2008. She also
voted for restriction of bankruptcy rules and regulation of the subprime
mortgage industry. Wilson has voted for a ban on homosexual adoptions
in Washington, D.C., and she believes marriage is between one man and
one woman. She received an "A" rating from the National Rifle
Association, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record.
Raised by a single mother in public
housing, Hector Balderas is the first person from Wagon Mound, N.M., to
graduate from law school and become an attorney. He earned his degrees
from New Mexico Highlands University and the University of New Mexico
Law School and accepted a job as an assistant district attorney.
Balderas
served one term in the New Mexico state legislature, where he supported
legislation strengthening penalties for sexual predators, creating
incentives for clean energy and funding virtual education for rural
public schools. According to his campaign website, he "became frustrated
with the lack of accountability he was seeing from too many local and
state officials that were wasting and abusing taxpayer dollars."
In
November 2006, he was elected New Mexico state auditor, where he was
charged with regulatory oversight of more than $60 billion in
governmental assets and 603 government entitities. His office issued
subpoenas to public officials and contractors to provide full accounting
of how tax dollars were being spent.
The son of an electrician and factory worker, Martin Heinrich
graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in
science and engineering. He has served New Mexico's 1st congressional
district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2009.
In 2010,
NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC endorsed Heinrich, stating, "Rep. Heinrich
has a solid record of standing up for women's freedom and privacy. He
is an outstanding advocate for New Mexico's common sense pro-choice
values. Rep. Heinrich's victory in 2008 is one reason the state has an
entirely pro-choice congressional delegation – and we want to keep it that way."Due to his support for abortion, he has a 0 percent record on votes scored by the National Right to Life Committee.
Heinrich
is an active environmentalist who served on the Albuquerque City
Council, pushing for use of wind and solar power. In 2006, Gov. Bill
Richardson appointed him to be New Mexico's natural resources trustee.
In
2008, Heinrich said he did not support homosexual marriage; however, he
was an original co-sponsor of Rep. Jerry's Nadler's bill to repeal the
Defense of Marriage Act. In August this year, Heinrich told the New
Mexico Independent he "absolutely" supports homosexual marriage.
Andres Valdez –
Democrat Andres Valdez is executive
director of Vecinos United and an activist who speaks out against cases
of alleged police brutality. According to the website NMPolitics.net,
Valdez did not raise enough money by Sept. 30 – $5,000 – to file finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. He does not have an active campaign website.
Upon announcing his intention to run, Valdez said, "I want to rock the boat. I know I'll probably be the dark horse."
After serving as a North Dakota state legislator for 26 years, Rick
Berg became North Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House of
Representatives. In 2010, he defeated nine-term Democratic U.S. Rep.
Earl Pomeroy to become the first Republican in three decades to fill the
seat.
Berg also ran a commercial real-estate firm in Fargo. He
graduated from North Dakota State University with a bachelor's degree in
agricultural economics.
Berg is a pro-life social conservative
who believes marriage is between one man and one woman. He also supports
repeal of Obamacare, preserving Second Amendment rights and opening the
Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling.
In March 2011, he voted
yes on terminating funding for National Public Radio. In June 2011, he
voted for a resolution against sending armed forces to Libya without
congressional approval.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1990, Duane Sand served on
three nuclear submarines and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander.
He was discharged from active duty in 1999 but was recalled to serve as a
U.S. Navy officer during the Iraq war.
Sand helped organize tea
parties in North Dakota. He believes Congress must cut unnecessary
spending and pass a balanced-budget amendment immediately. According to
his campaign website, Sand is calling for a comprehensive energy plan
now, "a plan that uses all the resources available to our state and
nation safely, including oil, natural gas, wind, solar, clean coal,
nuclear and renewables, and ends the ban on offshore drilling."
He
describes himself as "100 percent pro-life" and says he will work on
pushing legislation "to protect life at every stage, including a push to
confirm conservative nominations to the bench." Sand also believes
marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.
Finally, Sand said he is "committed to going to Washington and dismantling the Obama agenda, starting with Obamacare."
The son of legendary NFL coach George
Herbert Allen, George Allen grew up in a football family with "grace"
before every supper. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the
University of Virginia and attended University of Virginia Law School.
Allen served as a law clerk in Southwestern Virginia for conservative
Judge Glen M. Williams.
A self-described "common sense
Jeffersonian conservative," Allen once held Thomas Jefferson's seat in
the Virginia General Assembly. He became the 67th governor of Virginia
in 1994 and represented Virginia's 7th district in the U.S. House of
Representatives from 1991 to 1993. He served in the U.S. Senate from
2001 to 2007.
As governor of Virginia, Allen issued an order that
changed 25 years of taxpayer-funded abortions by altering the Virginia
state employee health benefits plan to prohibit coverage of elective
abortions. He also signed into law legislation requiring parental
notification when minors seek abortions.
As senator, he voted to ban
partial-birth abortions and prohibit federal funding of the procedure.
Allen also co-sponsored the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act in 2005 so
mothers seeking abortions would be informed that the unborn baby could
feel extreme pain in the womb during the procedure. He has earned a 100
percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee.
Allen
believes in upholding the Defense of Marriage Act and supports both
state and federal constitutional amendments to enshrine marriage as an
institution between one man and one woman. He is also a strong advocate
of property rights and opposes U.N. Agenda 21 and foreign treaties that
jeopardize America's sovereignty.
In the Senate, Allen was an
original co-sponsor of the Homeschool Nondiscrimination Act, or HONDA,
legislation that sought to clarify federal laws that overlook or
unfairly impact homeschoolers. The law would have allowed homeschooling
families to save $2,000 a year in tax-free accounts for educational
expenses.
Allen is a strong advocate of Second Amendment rights, tax cuts and efforts to repeal Obamacare.
A small businessman and broadcast
journalist, Tim Donner established Horizons Television Inc., a media
production company, and founded One Generation Away, a public policy
organization. He is also the host of "Talkin' Baseball," a nationally
syndicated radio program.
Tim Donner
Donner graduated from Syracuse University with a bachelor's degree in
broadcast journalism and political science. He began his career as a
sports broadcaster in Boston and central Massachusetts.
In 2005,
Horizons Television Inc. produced "Inconvenient Truth, or Convenient
Fiction?" The documentary response to Al Gore's global warming manifesto
debuted in Washington, New York and San Francisco. Donner's father, Joe
Donner, was involved in founding the National Review magazine.
Donner
advocates elimination of federal funding for Planned Parenthood and the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He believes Medicare can be
salvaged for the next generation by allowing citizens to redirect
Medicare taxes into retirement health-savings accounts. He also supports
securing Social Security by gradually raising the age of eligibility
and applying basic means testing to eliminate the wealthiest Americans
from the program.
On immigration, Donner supports the Red Card Solution,
a plan to use private employment agencies to track immigrant workers
and match them with employers. The strategy would employ "smart cards"
to enhance the current system of e-verification.
Donner also
supports domestic oil drilling, development of renewable sources of
energy, repeal of Obamacare and the Second Amendment right to bear
arms.
He advocates a flat tax and simplifying the system to a single income tax rate – ideally
23 percent – while closing loopholes for special interests. Donner also
supports the idea of a fair tax that would abolish the IRS, eliminate
all income and payroll taxes and replace them with a single national
sales tax of 23 percent for some goods and 30 percent for others.
"Either the flat tax or the fair tax would be far superior to the
current income tax system," he stated on his campaign website.
A U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam era whose family history in
Virginia dates back to the time of the Revolutionary War, E.W. Jackson
is bishop of Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va. He graduated
from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Law School. Jackson
practiced and taught business law and ran his own small business for 10
years.
In 2009, Jackson launched Staying True to America's
National Destiny, or STAND, a national grass-roots organization
dedicated to restoring America's Judeo-Christian heritage and values. In
2010, he established STAND America PAC to recruit and support
conservative black candidates to run against liberals in Congressional
Black Caucus districts.
"The black community has been deceived
into voting for liberal black leadership which does not reflect their
values," he explained. He urges black voters to register as independents
and vote their Christian values. Jackson has said, "The Democrat
Party's commitment to abortion, homosexuality and moral relativism is an
affront to the values of the black Christian community. It is a
'coalition of the godless.' Black Christians do not belong in a
'coalition of the godless' and should not vote for those who are."
A
tea-party favorite, Jackson has been published nationally and
internationally. He has been seen and heard on Fox News, ABC, C-Span,
National Public Radio, and his work has been reported in the Wall Street
Journal, Washington Post and New York Times, among others.
Jackson
said he is running for U.S. Senate for one reason: "I believe that the
debt that we continue to accumulate as a country will lead us to ruin.
If sent to Washington, my focus will be working to halt our dangerous
spending and borrowing binge." To do so, Jackson promises to support
lower taxes, work to cut through burdensome overregulation that chokes
businesses and repeal "the abomination that is Obamacare."
He also
pledges to be a tireless advocate for veterans, to bring clean energy
and jobs to Virginia and to protect the sanctity of life and traditional
marriage. He offers a 10-point plan to "reverse the Obama agenda."
A newcomer to electoral politics,
David McCormick served as a pilot in the Air Force for 30 years and
spent more than a decade working for United Parcel Service. He graduated
from Baylor University with a degree in business. McCormick earned his
master's degree in business and human resources from Amber University
and his law degree from Regent University Law School. He is now a
part-time law professor at Regent University and a Hampton Roads lawyer
who specializes in bankruptcy, traffic and divorce cases.
McCormick pledges to turn up the HEAT in Washington:
Honesty
Efficiency
Accountability
Thriftiness
"These
four values are crucial to any successful effort to return our nation
to its position of strength, freedom and prosperity that for generations
we enjoyed," he explains. "[A]s your senator, these will be the values
exemplified in everything I do."
McCormick's campaign website also has a kid's corner
that features a lesson comparing government prolifigacy to a squirrel
that fails to store enough seeds and nuts to make it through the winter.
A homeschooling mother of three,
Jamie Radtke became swept up in the spontaneous grassroots movement that
reshaped the entire political landscape in America: the tea party. She
served as president of the Richmond Tea Party and chairwoman of the
Federation of Virginia Tea Party Patriots. Radtke worked to promote
constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility and free
markets.
In 1995, Radtke graduated from Liberty University with a
bachelor's degree in government. In the same year, she worked for the
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Jesse Helms.
She earned her master of public policy from the College of William and
Mary and spent two years at American Management Systems as a consultant
to the Virginia Department of Taxation.
Jamie Radtke
Radtke supports individual rights and responsibility, inalienable
human rights for the born and unborn, free enterprise, restraints on
taxing and government spending, religious freedom, limited government,
the integrity of the traditional family as the basic unit of society and
respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.
An engineer and self-described
"fiscally conservative progressive" who is socially liberal, Kevin
Chisholm said he wants to see the federal government put on a
"long-term, steady diet to restore America's fiscal health."
Chisholm
earned his degree in environmental engineering from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute and worked for private rail companies and
government in helping minimize the cost of environmental compliance. He
managed teams and multi-million dollar budgets to reduce the cost of
remedying chemical and nuclear contaminated disposal sites in many
locations throughout the U.S. From 2003 to 2010, he served as the
official for energy and utilities for the Arlington, Va., public-school
system.
According to his campaign website, Chisholm travels by
public transportation whenever practical because he believes "the
fundamental reasons we have had most military conflicts over the past
three years have related to imported oil."
"I am both an energy
expert and a father of two young adults," he said. "I simply cannot look
them in the eyes and say we Americans are being responsible. We have
fought too many wars over oil and squandered too many years through
inaction. Energy is about the stability of our economy, jobs, and using
resources not to fight wars but to build a better future."
Former governor of Virginia from 2006
to 2010, Time Kaine served as chairman of the Democratic National
Committee from January 2009 to April 2011 at the request of President
Obama. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's
degree in economics and from Harvard Law School. During law school,
Kaine took a year off to work as a Catholic missionary in Honduras.
Kaine
practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in fair housing
law, representing people who claim to have been denied housing due to
their race or disability. He was elected mayor of Richmond by the city
council in 1998. He used public funds for an anti-gun-violence rally,
but later reimbursed the city after constituents raised concerns about
the funding at a city council meeting. Kaine was elected lieutenant
governor in 2002.
He was elected governor of Virginia in 2005.
An
"avid outdoorsman," Kaine declares, "I reject the anti-science
mentality of those who claim we can be indifferent to human impact on
the climate. There is a well-funded effort under way to deny that human
actions are having an impact. The right strategies for dealing with
climate change are complicated, and we must always take a balanced
approach. But we cannot ignore our own responsibilities as stewards of
our environment."
Kaine promises to fight to protect and
strengthen Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. He supports Obamacare
as "a first step to put patients in charge of their health care
decisions and put the brakes on runaway health care costs that were
crippling patients and businesses. Kaine also supports a form of
"comprehensive immigration reform" that would require millions of
illegal aliens to admit a violation of immigration laws and pay a
penalty. Once they have accepted responsibility and paid the fines, he
explains, "we should allow individuals to seek lawful adjustment of
their immigration status." Kaine supports the DREAM Act, allowing
children of illegal aliens to receive in-state college tuition. To
declare his run for U.S. Senate, Kaine filmed two announcement videos – one in English and the second in Spanish.Likewise, in 2008, he endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama for president in Spanish.
Kaine's website declares that the tea party is "wrecking the economy"
and costing the nation jobs. He includes a petition and declares, "Tell
the tea party to stop their political gamesmanship and extend the
payroll tax cut so we can put Americans back to work."
A U.S. Marine veteran and founding
partner of Lead Star cosulting firm, Courtney Lynch earned a law degree
from the College of William and Mary and is co-author of "Leading from
the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women."
Lynch
describes herself as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, and
her campaign focuses on fiscal responsibility and job creation. Lynch
has created an "action plan" called "Securing the Future, Restoring the Dream" on her campaign website.
Frank Lasee is a Republican member of the Wisconsin Senate who has
represented the 1st Senate District since 2011.Lasee graduated in 1986
from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a degree in history.
Before his election to the state assembly in 1994, Lasee was the
Ledgeview, Wis., town board chair and was a telemarketing supervisor for
an insurance company.
As a state senator, Lasee helped balance the state budget and
close a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes or fees. He helped to
reform auto insurance and make frivolous lawsuits more difficult to
pursue. As a U.S. senator, Lasee promises to fight to repeal Obamacare
and oppose the burdensome EPA regulations that drive up bills for
businesses and families.
"Most importantly, I am committed to balancing our federal budget
without raising taxes and beginning the difficult task of reducing our
out-of-control national debt," he wrote on his campaign website. "This
is what it will take to get our nation working again."
A businessman and politician, Mark Neumann represented Wisconsin's
1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from
1995 to 1999. In 2010, Neumann lost a bid to become the GOP nominee for
governor of Wisconsin.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a
master of science degree in supervision and instructional leadership.
After graduating, Neumann moved to Milton, Wis., where he taught
mathematics at Milton High School and Milton College.
In 1986, he
started a home construction company in his basement. By 1991, his
company was listed as one of the fastest growing companies in America by
the magazine Inc.
Upon announcing his intention to run for U.S. Senate, Neumann
told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he sensed a change in the nation's
mood in favor of balancing the federal budget.
"People are connecting the dots that the growing debt can bring
America to its knees," Neumann told the paper. "They are seeing that
this debt is real."
His campaign website states:
I'm running for Senate because our $14.6 trillion debt
is destroying our country. This debt not only hurts our economy, but
threatens to end the American Dream. The day of reckoning isn't in 50
years, it's coming now. We see it already in our credit rating
downgrade. That won't be the last one without getting the debt under
control. Poor credit ratings mean high interest rates, high
unemployment, lower housing values and a transformed America. We must
cut spending, balance the budget and repeal Obamacare to create jobs.
That's why I'm running for Senate.
John Schiess offers no biographical information on his website. However, he advocates implementation of a fair or flat tax.
On abortion, Schiess said, "I am against all government funded
abortions and am against 98 percent of them generally. My religion
recognizes three exceptions: life of the mother, rape or incest and
gross deformity. This decision is made by choice of the family in
counsel with church leaders. This decision is made as early as possible,
in the first trimester."
Schiess also notes, "The founding fathers regarded homsexual
sodomy as a crime against nature; it should be outlawed and severely
punished. The state of Virginia authorized dismemberment; the laws of
other states were even more severe. George Washington even authorized
the expulsion from the army of a soldier guilty of sodomy. Thomas
Jefferson authored a bill calling for castration. Now we teach it in our
schools!?"
Schiess considers the "Mexican Reconquista movement" the most dangerous domestic threat to America's sovereignty.
A former Wisconsin governor and candidate in the 2008 presidential
election, Tommy Thompson touts his tax and spending cuts as governor.
"Barack Obama and Harry Reid have a vastly different idea for your
hard-earned money," Thompson said, according to Reuters. "They want more
and more and more. But I will fight them every step of the way."
Thompson
is a former captain in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve, and he
holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He was
elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1966. Thompson served an
unprecedented four terms as the 42nd governor of Wisconsin. He left
office when President George W. Bush appointed him Health and Human
Services secretary. Thompson announced his resignation from Health and
Human Services in 2004.
Thompson is president of Logistics Health Incorporated, senior
partner at Akin Gump, a Washington, D.C., law firm, senior adviser at
the consulting firm Deloitte and chairman of the Deloitte Center for
Health Solutions.
Thompson says he is committed to getting America working again
through balancing the budget, repealing Obamacare, opposing new tax
hikes and reducing burdensome regulations standing in the way of job
growth.
The first openly homosexual non-incumbent elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives, Tammy Baldwin has been representing Wisconsin's 2nd
congressional district since 1999. She double-majored in political
science and mathematics at Smith College in 1984 and earned a law degree
from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989. After college, she
interned in the office of then-Gov. Tony Earl, where she worked on his
initiative on pay equity for women.
Baldwin prides herself on having voted against going to war in
Iraq, and she supports ending the war in Afghanistan. In Congress, she
has been an outspoken advocate for universal health care, and she pushed
investment in clean energy technology and renewable fuels. Baldwin
considers herself a national leader on civil rights and equality issues,
including "LGBT equality."
During the 2008 presidential election, Baldwin pledged as a superdelegate to Hillary Clinton.
Gregory Paules –
Gregory Paules
Gregory Paules is a resident of Eau Claire, Wis., who is seeking
to "restore the office of senator back to that of public servant." He
earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is employed by Lutheran Social Services of
Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Paules' favorite television shows
are "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report." He does
not have an official campaign website at this time.
"I want to return the government back to the hands of the people," he wrote on his campaign Facebook page.
"And while I acknowledge there needs to be balanced budget cuts and
strict fiscal responsibilty, I do support the preservation of current
programs put in place to assist those in need – such as: Medicare,
Social Security, and extended unemployment benifits. I support complete
withdraw from Afghanistan, and I pledge to fight for the rights granted
to every citizen under the Constitution."
About the incumbent:Dianne
Feinstein, one of California's first female senators, has served in the
U.S. Senate since 1992 and was mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to
1988. Feinstein has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
extension of the Patriot Act, expanding research on stem-cell lines,
stimulus spending and bailouts, adding sexual orientation to definition
of hate crimes, removing oil and gas exploration subsidies, factoring
global warming into federal project planning, $2 billion for the Cash
for Clunkers program, raising Congress' pay, gun control, expanding the
Children's Health Insurance Program, repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell,
prohibiting "sexual-identity discrimination" at schools, federal funds
for declared "sanctuary cities," increasing the tax rate for people
earning more than $1 million and instituting national service as a new
social invention.
She has voted "no" on a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage,
banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds, barring EPA from
regulating greenhouse gases, protecting middle-income taxpayers from a
national energy tax and prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or
grazing land.
Feinstein's pro-abortion position has earned her a 100 percent
rating by NARAL. She has voted against banning partial-birth abortions
and in favor of allowing the military to perform abortions.
Grundmann, a 51-year-old chiropractor and herbalist
practicing in San Leandro, Calif., promised on his campaign website, "In
the first minute after my election to office, I will begin a national
campaign regarding the truth about the IRS and the Fed. I will introduce
legislation to abolish the Fed and replace it with the issuance of
interest-free United States notes as our new currency, which are issued
by a committee of the United States Treasury. [T]his single act will
bring about a wave of true and real prosperity upon this nation such as
has been scarcely imagined."
Grundmann opposes abortion and homosexual "marriage." He seeks to
abolish the Department of Education and encourage abandonment of the
public-school systems in favor of homeschooling. He supports development
of nuclear power and believes global warming is a hoax.
Keith Holbrook, a 37-year-old senior
chemical plant technician in California, has no political experience at
all – and he's proud of it. In fact, he claims to only want one term in
office.
He describes himself as a "middle-class, blue-collar worker" who
passed the California High School Equivalency exam. A single parent, he
admits to having filed for bankruptcy.
Holbrook advocates smaller government, banning "sanctuary cities"
for illegal aliens, ending earmarks and imposing term limits on
Congress.
"I represent the middle class," he explains on his campaign
website. "I want to make the opinions and feelings of the middle class
heard in Washington, D.C. … I am a concerned American trying to make a
difference. I am not interested in being a politician. I'm a leader, and
I'm interested in writing legislation that I feel is in the best
interest of this country and its citizens."
(Editor's note: Other challengers in this race include
Republicans Tim Kalemkarian and Michael Stollaire. However, they do not
have campaign websites at this time.)
About the incumbent:Tom
Carper has served in the Senate since 2001. Before his election, he was
governor of Delaware and a representative in the U.S. House, where he
served five terms. He co-wrote the "Protecting Cyberspace as a National
Asset Act of 2010," which would have granted the president emergency
powers over the Internet.
He has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare, stimulus
spending, removing oil and gas exploration subsidies, factoring global
warming into federal project planning, $2 billion for Cash for Clunkers
program, pay raise for Congress, expanding the Children's Health
Insurance Program, extending the Patriot Act's roving wiretaps, applying
habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees, federal funds for declared
"sanctuary cities" and instituting national service as a new social
invention
Carper has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting U.N.
funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors from
crossing state lines for abortion, barring the EPA from regulating
greenhouse gases, protecting middle class from a national energy tax,
prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing land, increasing
tax rates for people earning more than $1 million, repealing the "death
tax" and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax.
There are no challengers to Carper's bid at this time.
About the incumbent:Bill
Nelson has served in the U.S. Senate since 2001. He's a former U.S.
representative and former Florida treasurer and insurance commissioner.
Nelson has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines, federal stimulus
and bailouts, adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes,
repealing tax subsidies for companies that move U.S. jobs offshore,
protecting the middle class from a national energy tax, removing oil and
gas exploration subsidies, factoring global warming into federal
project planning, $2 billion for Cash for Clunkers program, raising
Congress' pay, expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program,
extending the Patriot Act's roving wiretaps, repeal of Don't Ask Don't
Tell, continuing federal funds for declared "sanctuary cities,"
increasing tax rate for people earning more than $1 million, repealing
the "death tax," reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends, sanctions
on Iran to end its nuclear program and instituting national service as a
new social invention.
Nelson has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting U.N.
funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors from
crossing state lines for abortion, banning federal funds to
organizations that perform abortions, constitutional ban of same-sex
marriage, school choice, barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse
gases, prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing land and
requiring photo ID to vote in federal elections.
"It's time to send a new 'Bill' to the Senate," declares William Fisher's campaign website.
A Christian, conservative, and life-long Republican living in
Florida, Fisher supports Israel, investigation of the Fed, legislation
"with teeth" to protect victims of identity theft, killing Cap and Trade
and securing the nation's borders. He opposes abortion, bailouts, NAFTA
and the purchase of foreign goods.
"We need to protect our environment; however, I do not believe we
need to destroy our economy to do so," Fisher explains on his website.
"We [hear] about global warming day after day on the liberal media
machine, and how its man's fault. I find it funny that the media does
not cover other natural environmental causes like the more then two
hundred volcanoes on the oceans floor.
There is so much frozen methane
gas coming out of the North Atlantic Sea floor, British Petroleum is
trying to [tap] into it for energy. ... If you really want to slow down
global warming, stop buying foreign goods."
A Florida state representative for District 87 from 2002 to 2010 and
Boca Raton attorney, Adam Hasner announced he was running for U.S.
Senate on Mark Levin's nationally syndicated radio show.
Hasner earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a juris doctorate from Florida State University.
He was chosen to serve as the deputy majority leader of the
Florida House by then-Speaker Marco Rubio in 2007 and later promoted to
majority leader that same year. In 2010, Hasner led the House Republican
effort in Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. He is national co-chairman of the citizen action group,
Pass The Balanced Budget Amendment. Hasner's wife ran the California
gubernatorial campaign of Republican former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in
2010.
A close friend to Gov. Charlie Crist, George LeMieux was a U.S.
senator from Florida from September 2009 to January 2011. While serving
as senator, LeMieux was an active member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, the Commerce Committee and the Special Committee on Aging.
LeMieux saw several of his legislative priorities signed into law,
including Medicare anti-fraud legislation and an export promotion act.
He introduced a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution and the
2007 Solution, a plan that would have reduced government spending to
2007 levels. LeMieux opposed wasteful earmark spending, which earned him
a 93 percent rating from the National Taxpayers Union.
As deputy attorney general, LeMieux led an agency of more than
400 attorneys and argued a death penalty case before the U.S. Supreme
Court and won the case with a unanimous decision. LeMieux is now
chairman of the Florida law firm Gunster Yoakley & Stewart.
LeMieux graduated from Emory University with a degree in
political science and went on to earn his law degree from Georgetown
University Law Center in 1994. After school, he interned for Rep. E.
Clay Shaw Jr. and U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III.
George LeMieux speaks at CPAC (photo: Gage Skidmore)
LeMieux is campaigning on a platform of fiscal responsibility. His campaign website explains:
"While in the Senate, I put forward a plan that would
balance the budget by 2013 and cut the debt in half by 2021. My plan
did this by freezing all federal spending at fiscal year 2007 levels
($2.729 trillion). If we did that, we could extend all of the 2001 and
2003 tax cuts, index the Alternative Minimum Tax for inflation, and we
would actually begin to pay down the national debt."
LeMieux said it is his plan to grow the nation's military training
and test missions in Florida and ensure the state is the "best possible
place for defense contracting companies to do business."
On health care, LeMieux opposed Obamacare and says he believes it must be repealed:
"Instead
of making the fundamental changes needed to get the system working for
Americans, the bill cuts $500 billion from Medicare, drastically expands
a broken Medicaid system, raises taxes by over $500 billion, increases
the cost of health care for Americans and kills jobs," he explained.
"This is not reform.
What is needed is a targeted, step-by-step
approach that will reduce cost and increase access without adding to the
deficit. We could do things today such as reducing junk lawsuits,
allowing small businesses to pool their resources, cross state
purchasing of health insurance, expanding the use of health savings
accounts, and cracking down on fraud and abuse that would move us in the
right direction to lower costs."
On the issue of illegal immigration, LeMieux wrote, "[I]f we
build security fences and walls, man the borders with law enforcement,
prosecute and jail those who violate the law, we can meaningfully reduce
illegal immigration."
A strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Le Mieux is a proud
member of the National Rifle Association and voted with the NRA 100
percent of the time while serving in the U.S. Senate. He is also
pro-life and a supporter of traditional marriage between a man and a
woman.
A retired U.S. Army colonel, businessman and university instructor,
Mike McCalister served honorably in the Army National Guard, Army
Reserves and on active duty for a total of 33 years between 1971 and
2005.
McCalister has worked with physicians at biotech and health-care
companies to improve efficiencies in the health-care system. He is a
licensed agribusiness professional and owner of a small tree farm. He
holds a degree in agriculture from Southeast Missouri State University
and a doctorate in management from the Union Institute in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
As senator, McCalister said his No. 1 priority will be "to get
Floridians back to work by cutting spending, reducing the deficit,
lowering taxes and protecting our products and proprietary technologies
and investments against unfair foreign competition." He said he is
"frustrated that political insiders have done little to combat high
unemployment, rising gas prices and falling home prices."
A conservative Republican, inventor, manufacturer, businessman and
author specializing in environmental engineering of products and
equipment, McNeil has 12 U.S. patents granted – with the last five in the environmental field.
Ron McNeil
McNeil notes on his website that the government cannot spend the
nation into prosperity, but it can spend, tax and control the nation
into insolvency:
"It can make nearly everyone poor, but it cannot
make everyone rich," he wrote. "Who will hire you when this country is
near financial collapse and businesses cannot withstand all the
government taxes, insurance and other requirements for your employment?"
He outlines the following five actions that must be taken to put America back on track:
1) Energy:
We need fossil fuel, nuclear, natural gas and every other means
possible to produce energy – and to eliminate the need to purchase
foreign energy.
2) Military:
America must have the strongest military on earth with the latest in
technology and intelligence gathering capability. We must eliminate our
practice of "nation building" war efforts in other countries, restrict
foreign aid intended as influence buying and concentrate our efforts on
protecting America and our borders.
3) Free enterprise:
We must rebuild our free enterprise business advantage, reclaim our
world leadership position and employ American citizens. This includes a
3-5 year tax moratorium on bringing money into the U.S. to build
businesses and a 25-year commitment on corporate tax reduced to 10
percent of retained earnings. ... There will be no more U.S. or foreign
corporations making billions of dollars in the U.S. market and paying no
taxes to our federal government.
4) Tax system:
We must replace our ever-expanding federal tax system which creates a
punitive distribution of the tax load with a simple combination of low
taxes on income (1/2 percent to 12.5 percent) and a fair tax on
ependitures (12.5 percent).
5) Abide by the U.S. Constitution:
We must require all three branches of our government to abide by our
written U.S. Constitution. There can be no making or altering of laws by
the judicial branch, no violating legislation enacted from either the
Senate or House of Representatives in Congress and no executive orders
or other alterations by the president that do not clearly adhere to the
true and tested documented laws of this nation.
A Vietnam veteran, Craig Miller volunteered to enlist in the U.S. Air
Force during the war. After taking the oath to defend the Constitution,
he eventually deployed to Cam Rahn Bay in South Vietnam. Miller served
honorably and won the Air Force Commendation Medal.
Miller earned a degree in business administration from Florida
Technological University (now known as the University of Central
Florida).
Craig Miller
As a teenager, Miller worked as a dish washer for Red Lobster Inns of
America. He left to join Uno Restaurants and spent 17 years growing a
small business into a national chain that reached sales of more than
$400 million. Miller spent a year at Furr's Restaurant Group before
joining Ruth's Chris Steak House as president and chief executive
officer. He led Ruth's Chris through four years of record growth, sales
and profits and a successful public offering. Miller was selected to
serve as chairman of the National Restaurant Association.
Miller was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to be state tourism
commissioner in 2007 and has served on the board of trustees at the
University of Central Florida Foundation.
To grow the economy and lower the unemployment rate, Miller
suggests reducing the tax burden and easing burdensome regulations
currently in place. He advocates lowering corporate income tax rates to
make businesses more competitive and reducing taxes on capital gains.
Miller supports repeal of Obamacare, because he says it is "scaring
small business owners and hurting job creation."
Miller supports a balanced-budget amendment to eliminate deficits
going forward. He promises to only vote to confirm judges who will be
"neutral arbiters of the law" and to fight for the unborn, defend
individual Second Amendment rights and work to preserve traditional
marriage as being between one man and one woman.
On energy, Miller said a comprehensive approach – one that includes nuclear power, clean coal and hydropower –
is the only sensible strategy that will simultaneously reduce costs and
protect national security. Miller also believes the U.S. must stay on
the offense in the global war on terror and continue to fight and
dismantle the Islamic fundamentalist networks that wish to do America
harm. "We also must keep a robust foreign policy that promotes human
rights, isolates rogue regimes and maintains strong ties with our
allies," he explained. "In the Middle East, America must always stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel."
A homeschooling mother, concert pianist and linguist who is fluent in
French and Spanish, Marielena Stuart says she opposed and survived the
ravages of communism under Fidel Castro.
"From an early age she
learned to defend her God-given rights, while members of her family were
imprisoned, tortured and executed," her campaign website states.
"Marielena Stuart knows the price that is paid when freedom is lost. She
knows, firsthand, that a socialist leaning government has a devastating
effect on economic growth and job creation."
Stuart believes fewer taxes and a strong private sector are the
best ways for America to regain its economic strength. She pledges to
take any and all actions to curb the nation's current fiscal crisis.
Stuart also says she believes the killing of innocent human life is
destroying our society, not just morally, but economically as well.
"To
be for abortion is to be against your own survival," she explained.
"What will become of our nation, if this human carnage is not stopped?
As a candidate for the United States Senate, I am committed to
uncompromising action in defense of the sanctity of all human life which
comes to each of us as a gift from Almighty God."
As a columnist for Renew America, Stuart has shared her expertise in foreign affairs, national defense and strategic military matters – especially those dealing with China-U.S. relations.
(Editor's
note: Republican Alexander George is another challenger in this race.
However, he does not have a campaign website at this time.)
About the incumbent:Ben
Cardin has served in the U.S. Senate since 2007. Before his election,
he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007.
He has expressed support for affirmative action, civil unions, providing
benefits to homosexual partners of federal employees, abortion, the
death penalty and increased federal funding for health coverage.
Cardin has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
bailouts/stimulus, allowing human embryonic stem cell research and
expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines, making the Patriot
Act permanent, removing oil and gas exploration subsidies, factoring
global warming into federal project planning, a moratorium on offshore
oil drilling, $2 billion for Cash for Clunkers, raising Congress' pay,
expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program, federal funds for
declared "sanctuary cities," increasing tax rate for people earning more
than $1 million, instituting national service as a new social invention
and providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers.
Cardin has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting U.N.
funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors from
crossing state lines for abortion, barring federal grants to
organizations that perform abortions, making it a crime to harm a fetus
during another crime, banning partial-birth abortion, constitutional
amendment banning same-sex marriage, banning gay adoptions in D.C.,
barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, protecting the middle
class from a national energy tax, authorizing construction of new oil
refineries, prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing land,
requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections, banning
physician-assisted suicide, building a fence along the Mexican border
and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax.
A former U.S. Secret Service agent, Dan Bongino was assigned to
investigate federal crimes including but not limited to protective
intelligence, computer crimes, bank fraud, credit-card fraud and
counterfeiting. His signature investigation involved more than $300
million in potential financial fraud and a nexus to international
terrorism. The investigation earned Bongino the Department of Justice
recognition award, along with other agency specific awards, for
excellence in investigations. Bongino left his New York field office in
2002 to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in
Beltsville, Md.
In 2006, he began duty on the elite presidential protection
division during the administration of President George W. Bush. Bongino
remained on protective duty during the change in administration to
President Barack Obama. He was designated lead agent responsible for the
coordination of the Obama's trip to Prague for the signing of the START
treaty, his trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, amongst a myriad of terror
threats and Obama's visit to Afghanistan. He was awarded a series of
commendations and left the protective detail as one of the most
distinguished agents in history.
Daniel and Paula Bongino with their 7-year-old daughter
Bongino transferred to the Baltimore field office in 2010
where he broke up one of the largest fraud rings in Maryland history. He
and his wife, Paula, are owners of a number of small businesses ranging
from web solutions and design to sporting equipment. Bongino is
starting his third small business, Silverloch Risk Management, catering
to the assessment and mitigation of risk for high-profile clients.
Before becoming a Secret Service agent, Bongino worked for the
New York Police Department, leaving with official commendations for both
meritorious and excellent police duty. While working for the NYPD, he
attend the City University of New York, where he completed both his
bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology, concentrating in both
neuro-psychology and behavioral learning.
Bongino offers "four principles for prosperity"
by which he promises to measure all legislation: 1) reductions in tax
rates and simplification of the tax code 2) prioritizing education with
school-choice vouchers, charter schools, merit-based pay systems for
educators, "parent triggers" and year-round schooling 3) immigration
reform, including securing the borders, re-evaluating the current chain
migration and diversity visa-based system and aggressively enforcing
immigration laws and 4) encourage foreign investment by reducing
protectionist tariffs and increasing foreign capital investments in the
U.S. economy.
A strong advocate of school choice, William Capps said the federal
Department of Education's "sole job should be that of student loans for
college and tech education."
To fix the nation's illegal
immigration problem, Capps proposes the following: 1) Enact E-verify
across the entire nation, 2) repeal the 14th Amendment, 3) restrict and
reduce trade agreements with our border countries if they do not help in
stopping the illegal flow of their citizens into our country, 4)
provide states with funds to help in fighting illegal immigration, 5)
provide stiff fines to companies and U.S. citizens if they hire people
unlawfully in the country and 5) seek ways to improve the legal process
of those who are wishing to enter the U.S. in a lawful manner.
Capps
proposes capping the tax rate for all industry at 20 percent,
permanently. He also argues that it's time to stop buying foreign oil
from countries who are adversaries to the American way of life. "We need
to start employing American workers and producing the oil we need here
in the USA," he said.
Eric Wargotz has served Maryland as a doctor, small businessman,
community activist and elected representative. He has worked at a
nonprofit hospital in Prince George's County for more than 20 years. In
2006, he was elected president of the Queen Anne's Board of County
Commissioners. Wargotz has been selected as one of America's Top
Physicians and is recipient of the Physician Patient's Choice Award. He
is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Ohio State University
Medical School.
As senator, Wargotz promises to: 1) support and defend the
Constitution, 2) oppose earmarks, 3) support a balanced-budget
amendment, 4) vote to repeal Obamacare, 5) vote against tax increases,
6) oppose amnesty and secure the nation's borders, 7) defend the Second
Amendment, 8) protect the unborn, 9) preserve traditional marriage and
10) support congressional term limits in the House and Senate.
Raymond Blagmon is an accountant and a lieutenant commander logistics
officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves. He has completed two deployments in
support of Operation Enduring Freedom –one in the Persian Gulf and the other in the Horn of Africa.
Raymond Blagmon
Blagmon attended Howard University and the University of Maryland,
where he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1994. He then
attended American University and the University of Chicago, where he
earned a master's degree in taxation in 1998 and a MBA in finance and
entrepreneurship in 2002, respectively. Blagmon has been a certified
public accountant for 16 years.
On his campaign website, Blagmon explains that he's running for
Senate to help "balance the budget and bring down the national debt,
protect our environment and strongly promote peace." He said, "[T]he
Republican leadership's vision for America is way off course.
Republicans talk about cutting the budget and then offer no real
solutions. Republicans always say make government smaller and cut
spending and then offer no solutions."
Job creation, he said, will be one of his top priorities in the
U.S. Senate: "I will be a leader in new economic development initiatives
to revitalize our communities and will champion using stimulus dollars
to work with good corporate partners and innovative entrepreneurs to
build new manufacturing plants in Maryland."
Blagmon said he believes the U.S. government must balance the
budget and stop increasing the debt ceiling. However, he fully supports
Obamacare.
"The current health-care reform bill, now signed into law, has
some wonderful ideas that will help make health insurance quotes
economical and affordable," he said. "I will continue working with the
president and the Senate to ensure that this important piece of
legislation stays in place. And I will continue to work to make it an
even better plan for all Americans that includes a public option."
(Editor's note: Republican Rick Hoover is another challenger in
this race. However, he does not have a campaign website at this time.)
About the incumbent:Debbie
Stabenow has served in the U.S. Senate since 2001. Prior to her
election to the Senate, she served in the U.S House of Representatives
from 1997 to 2001. She has expressed support for regulating talk radio
with a measure similar to the so-called "Fairness Doctrine."
Stabenow has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines, Obamacare,
stimulus/bailouts, adding sexual orientation to definition of hate
crimes, loosening restrictions on cell-phone wiretapping, adding sexual
orientation to definition of hate crimes, $2 billion for Cash for
Clunkers, pay raise for Congress, expanding the Children's Health
Insurance Program, extending the Patriot Act's roving wiretaps, repeal
of Don't Ask Don't Tell, federal funds for declared "sanctuary cities"
and increasing the tax rate for people earning more than $1 million.
Stabenow has voted "no" on the following issues: banning gay
adoptions, constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, barring EPA from
regulating greenhouse gases, U.N. funding for population control
policies, prohibiting minors from crossing state lines for abortion,
banning federal grants to organizations that perform abortions,
protecting middle class from a national energy tax, removing oil and gas
exploration subsidies, prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or
grazing land, making estate tax cuts permanent and repealing the death
tax.
Republicans:
Scott Boman –
A long-time libertarian activist and supporter of Ron Paul, Scott Bowman became a member of the Republican Party in 2008.
In 1996 Boman ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. He
received 1,705 votes for .9 percent of the vote. In 2005, he was vice
chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan, and, in 2006, he was elected
chair of the party.
Boman was endorsed by the Stonewall Libertarians for his open support of homosexual "rights." He
has called for immediate repeal of federal and state Defense of Marriage Acts.
He was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union but chose
not to renew his membership in 2006 due to the ACLU's opposition to the
Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Boman does not yet have an official
campaign website.
Co-founder and former CEO of Cornerstone Schools, a group of charter
and independent schools in inner-city Detroit, Clark Durant sold
birthday cakes to fund his college education. He received his degree in
economics from Tulane University. He also served as a captain in the
U.S. Army Reserve and earned his law degree from Notre Dame Law School.
Durant worked as the assistant to the president of Hillsdale
College and then as vice president in 1972-1973. While at Hillsdale, he
helped start Imprimis, a free publication containing one notable speech
each month. In 2010, Imprimis reported a circulation of more than 2
million and was described by Salon.com as "the most influential
conservative publication you've never heard of."
Clark Durant
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan nominated him and he was confirmed
by the U.S. Senate, to serve on the board of the Legal Services
Corporation, which provides legal aid to low-income Americans. He also
served as one of four national co-chairs of Jack Kemp's presidential
campaign from 1986 to 1988. In 1994, he was elected to the state board
of education in Michigan.
On his campaign website, Durant explains, "When it comes to our
debt and economic growth ... we are in a time of great peril, something
similar to what was seen by our parents and grandparents in the Great
Depression. Simply put, our nation's economy is a mess."
Durant
believes the government must roll back spending to responsible levels,
halt any new programs, simplify the tax code, reduce taxes, eliminate
burdensome regulation that stifles economic growth and develop tax
incentives for innovation. He called Obamacare a "sharply partisan
health-care law that undermines health-care programs for our senior
citizens and bloats Medicaid." Durant promises to repeal Obamacare.
He contends that any reform of the nation's immigration system
must begin with secure borders. He supports establishment of pilot
programs for worker verification, hiring of more immigration officers,
deployment of the National Guard in targeted border areas and penalizing
those who smuggle and employ illegal aliens. He opposes inclusion of
illegal aliens in the Census for the purposes of reapportionment.
Durant is pro-life and opposes taxpayer funding for abortion,
embryonic stem cell research, partial-birth abortion and the Obamacare
contraceptive mandate. When it comes to marriage, he believes it is an
ancient institution reserved by natural law as a union between one man
and one woman –and should be legally
protected as such. Durant also promises to vigorously oppose any and all
efforts to undermine the Second Amendment right for law-abiding
citizens to protect themselves, their family and their property. He also
opposes efforts to do away with the Electoral College.
Gary Glenn, head of American Family Association's Michigan affiliate
since 1999, has received an endorsement from 2008 presidential candidate
Mike Huckabee. Huckabee said of Glenn, "Gary is a person whose clarity
of conviction is refreshing. He has boldly led on issues of life,
traditional marriage, and the Fair Tax. When I needed help in Michigan
in 2008, Gary didn't wait until it was convenient or popular, he stood
with me out of sheer courage of his views. Gary Glenn won't take a poll
to find out where he needs to stand. He will be a senator that will take
his values with him to Washington."
Glenn was one of two co-authors of the Marriage Protection
Amendment approved by Michigan voters in 2004. He was elected and served
two terms as Republican county commissioner, authoring the nation's
first medical savings account plan for county employees. He was the lead
spokesman and strategist of the successful effort to pass a state right
to work law in Idaho, prohibiting compulsory union membership or
financial support as a condition of employment. Glenn also served eight
years in the U.S. Army Reserves and National Guard.
He said the nation's "economy, security, liberties, moral
foundation and founding principles – all that's made America and
Americans exceptional in the history of the world – are under attack
from within."
"If they're not stopped, liberal ideologues like Debbie Stabenow
and Barack Obama will rob our children of their birthright of freedom
and turn our country into the United Socialist States of America," Glenn
said. "My mission and commitment is to do whatever I can to help
senators like Jim DeMint and Rand Paul and Mike Lee stop them."
He said the main focal point of the general election for Senate
in 2012 must be private-sector jobs. He proposes elimination of the
following federal programs and agencies:
Obamacare
Internal Revenue Service
Department of Education
Federal Reserve system
Department of Energy
Davis-Bacon Act
United Nations
Troubled Asset Relief Program
the paper $1 bill (save $184 million a year in printing costs by replacing it with a $1 coin)
In addition, Glenn believes the following agencies should
be privatized: 1) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, 2) U.S. Postal Service and
3) Amtrak.
Randy Hekman is a U.S. Navy veteran, former prosecutor and juvenile court judge.
He served as a lieutenant in the Navy from June 1969 to June 1972
and was assigned to the Office of the Special Assistant to the
Secretary of the Navy in the Pentagon, where he developed policies for
computer systems in the Department of Defense.
Randy Hekman
Hekman later became assistant prosecuting attorney in the Kent County
Prosecuting Attorney's Office. He was elected in 1975 as probate
juvenile judge in the Kent Country Probate Court. After 15 years, Hekman
left the bench to become the founding executive director of the
Michigan Family Forum based in Lansing. Hekman then served as executive
director of CBH Ministries for six years before taking on the role of
executive pastor at Crossroads Bible Church.
He earned his bachelor's degree from the Sloan School of
Management and his law degree from the George Washington University Law
School.
Hekman favors a balanced-budget amendment coupled with major cost
cuts and caps on future budgets. He also supports elimination of
earmarks, the Fair Tax, reduction of corporate taxes and repeal of the
16th Amendment that authorized the income-tax system. He is
anti-Obamacare, pro-life and believes marriage is between a man and
woman.
He said the key planks of his U.S. Senate campaign are:
Balance federal budgets expeditiously through a reduction in the enormous size of government without raising taxes.
Take aggressive action to begin paying off our staggering $14+ trillion deficit now through cost cutting, not raising taxes.
Deal realistically with astronomically large, unfunded entitlement liabilities in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Encourage
the nonprofit sector to greatly increase its contribution to human need
caused by the federal government's major reductions; consider a nominal
tax credit for individuals who contribute at least 10 percent of their
gross income to nonprofit entities.
Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a conservative who helped found the
House Tea Party Caucus, was born in the Netherlands and moved to America
with his parents at the age of three. He received a bachelor's degree
in political science from Hope College and a master of business
administration degree from the University of Michigan.
Pete Hoekstra
He represented Michigan's second district for 18 years before
stepping down to run unsuccessfully for governor in 2010. He lost the
Republican primary to Gov. Rick Snyder, who has officially endorsed
Hoekstra for Senate. During his gubernatorial run, Hoekstra embraced the
tea party.
Hoekstra said he wants to do away with the federal No Child Left
Behind law and lessen the restrictions in new federal banking and
health-care laws. He claims those changes will put more money into
school districts and allow businesses to add jobs.
"As I talk to business owners across the state ... they're frustrated,"
Hoekstra told the Associated Press. "It's because of the rules and
regulations of MIOSHA, OSHA and the Dodd-Frank bill."
While in the House, Hoekstra supported the 2008 Wall Street
bailout and the $15 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler. He supports a
balanced-budget amendment and construction of the fence along the
Mexican border. Hoekstra co-sponsored a bill declaring English as the
official language of the U.S. He has voted to reduce capital gains taxes
and eliminate the marriage penalty and death tax. Hoekstra co-sponsored
the Fair Tax Act to abolish the IRS and enact a national sales tax. He
was a member of the Congressional Flat Tax Caucus. Hoekstra also voted
against the "hate crimes" bill.
Hoekstra opposes abortion, taxpayer funding of human embryonic
stem cell research and homosexual "marriage." He is a fan of charter
schools, homeschooling and a constitutional amendment that says parents
have a fundamental right to raise their children without government
interference.
Peter Konetchy has worked in small business all his life. During high
school and college, he worked at small manufacturing company and drove a
delivery truck. After college, he worked as a custom programmer and
developed software for many industries, including mortgage processing,
property management, vending services, manufacturing and legal time,
billing and accounting.
In the 1980s, he started his own firm servicing the time, billing and
accounting needs of law firms originally in Michigan and, eventually,
throughout the nation.
Konetchy
graduated from the College of Business at Michigan State University
with a degree in accounting. He said he is running for Senate because he
understands the greatness of the United States.
"I appreciate the
constitutionally restrained government our founders provided, which
allowed this country to prosper and develop into a world-class beacon of
morality, personal liberty, economic dominance and military strength,"
he said. "The majority of our current 'citizen' representatives in
Washington do not share my perspective. Their role has morphed from
securing our God-given rights to becoming our life-long rulers. Their
actions are based on the accumulation of personal political power rather
than what is best for the people. They want to completely control the
thoughts and actions of the citizenry of the United States."
Konetchy
believes the powers of Congress should be limited to specific
enumerated powers within the Constitution. He supports the Second
Amendment, a balanced budget, the phased-out elimination of all
non-constitutional federal programs, free-market solutions over
government programs, energy independence, repeal of Obamacare, secure
borders and phasing out direct federal taxes in conjunction with
elimination of non-constitutional spending. He opposes abortion and the
idea that global warming is caused by humans and represents one of the
greatest threats facing mankind.
Chuck Marino has never served as a politician. Instead, he has spent
his career in the business arena – creating jobs, meeting payrolls,
balancing budgets, negotiating contracts and mentoring future managers.
He
established National Building Inspections, a company that serves banks,
insurance companies and business owners nationally for property
condition assessments, bank draws and asset reviews. NBI services 49
states (all but Hawaii). Marino served in the U.S. Marine Corp from
1969-1973, during the Vietnam era. He was an infantry soldier and a
warehouse manager.
Marino believes that if the U.S. started drilling for oil
tomorrow, it could put America back to work. He also believes the nation
needs a balanced budget and that Medicare and Social Security must be
fixed.
Marino proposes elimination of junk lawsuits, allowing
people to purchase health insurance across state lines, allowing
insurance groups from nontraditional groups (city/towns/American
Legions) and allowing individuals to have the same tax breaks as large
companies when they purchase health insurance. He is also pro-life and
supports immigration enforcement and strengthened borders.
Rick Wilson said his 35-year career as a manager in the auto industry
ended abruptly when the AC Spark Plug plant where he worked "became a
parking lot instead of a place of employment." He went to high school at
International School in Brussels, Belgium, and attended Central
Michigan University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial
management.
Wilson describes himself as a free-market advocate, and the following are some of his core beliefs:
Government is too big, and the federal stimulus bill made government bigger instead of creating jobs.
Taxes are too high and are going higher if Congress continues with its out-of-control spending.
The historic amount of debt we are passing on to our children and grandchildren is immoral.
I
am passionate about improving the quality of our public schools.
Accountability and high standards are paramount, as is adequate funding
for education.
A strong military and vigorous homeland defense will protect our interests and security around the world and at home.
I
am dedicated to winning the war against radical Islam. This is, as John
McCain stated, "the transcendent threat of our time," and, as I have
stated to him, the transcendent threat of all time.
Wilson is pro-life and believes only adult stem cells
should be used in stem-cell research. He supports "drill here, drill
now" and believes exploring America's oil and gas resources will result
in more jobs, more prosperity and better national security. Wilson also
supports strengthened borders, repeal of Obamacare, the Second Amendment
right to bear arms and the Fair Tax at both federal and state levels.
About the incumbent:Amy
Klobuchar has served in the U.S. Senate since 2007. She supports
homosexual "marriage," abortion, increased funding for health coverage,
the Equal Rights Amendment, the Patriot Act, fair trade and extending
the ban on assault weapons.
Klobuchar has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
bailouts and "stimulus" funding, expanding research to more embryonic
stem cell lines, protecting middle class from a national energy tax, $2
billion for Cash for Clunkers, raising Congress' pay, expanding the
Children's Health Insurance Program, repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell,
federal funds for declared "sanctuary cities" and increasing tax rates
for people earning more than $1 million.
Klobuchar has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting
U.N. funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors
crossing state lines for abortion, barring federal grants to
organizations that perform abortions, barring EPA from regulating
greenhouse gases, prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing
land and requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections.
Joe Arwood's public service began in St. Bonifacius, Minn., when he
joined the volunteer fire department. After some years of service, he
decided to run for city council and won.
His campaign website states, "I live in an average house on an
average street in an average city with a wife, a daughter, three dogs,
two turtles and a full-time job. I am the average Joe."
Arwood opposes "bloated farm bills" and says reform should make
farm programs more efficient and market oriented, and should not include
tax increases. "Farm bills should be designed to assist family farmers
in times of need, rather than direct subsidies to massive corporate
farming operations that put small family farms at a disadvantage," he
wrote. "We need to pass a farm bill that also gives the U.S. the ability
to open up new export markets for our products."
Joe Arwood with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul
Arwood supports veterans and believes the Department of Veteran's
Affairs must overcome the benefits claim backlog, ensure a seamless
transition back home for new veterans, care for wounded warriors,
continue the mission of accounting for all U.S. military personnel from
all wars and increase veteran's mobile health-care clinics and cover all
those with Agent Orange exposure. He promises to seek cuts in defense
spending on projects that the Department of Defense has identified as
unnecessary and apply "a common-sense approach" to identifying bases in
areas of the world that may no longer be needed.
Concerning the economy and jobs, Arwood proposes lowering
coporate tax rates and streamlining the regulatory requirements for job
creators. He opposes federal Department of Education interference in
local schools and supports involvement of parents and local independent
school boards in children's education. On energy, Arwood thinks drilling
for oil is not enough. He proposes construction of new oil refineries
and pipelines in the U.S.
Arwood supports a balanced budget and sensible cuts to the
federal bureaucracy as a way to stop the acquistion of more debt. He
promises to work across party lines to advance reforms to the current
tax code. For individuals, he proposes "a flatter, simpler system for
taxpayers to pay income taxes." He also promises to forward a bill
immediately to suspend the 10 percent penalty for early withdrawals from
401Ks and qualifying pension plans, allowing people the freedom to
direct those funds and use them to pay down mortgages to save their
houses, credit cards or expand small businesses.
A former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Dan
Severson retired from the U.S. Navy after serving for 22 years as a Top
Gun fighter pilot and commander. He flew A-7s and FA 18 Strike Fighters
(the Hornet – same plane as the Blue Angels) and earned two meritorious
service medals for leadership.
Severson is an inventor and has a patent for an LED light
communication system. He graduated from St. Cloud State University with a
bachelor's degree in physics.
As a U.S. senator, Severson said his priorities will be to:
A retired U.S. Army first sergeant, Dick Franson earned his
bachelor's degree in public administration with a minor in Middle East
studies. He earned numerous military honors and served in Vietnam. He
was a Democratic candidate in the 2008 congressional elections for the
Senate in Minnesota, but he lost in primaries.
(Editor's note: Jack "Doc" Shepard is another challenger in
this race. However, his campaign website does not offer biographical information or positions on political issues.)
About the incumbent:Claire
McCaskill has served in the U.S. Senate since 2007. She has supported
"morning after" contraception at all military health facilities,
expanding preschool and Head Start, expanding Pell Grants and HOPE
Scholarships, raising the minimum wage and increasing federal funding
for health-care programs.
McCaskill has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
bailout/stimulus, expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines,
protecting the middle class from a national energy tax, factoring global
warming into federal project planning, expanding the Children's Health
Insurance Program, extending the Patriot Act's roving wiretaps,
repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, continuing federal funds for declared
"sanctuary cities" and increasing the tax rate for people earning more
than $1 million.
McCaskill has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting
U.N. funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors
crossing state lines for abortion, banning federal grants to
organizations that perform abortions, barring EPA from regulating
greenhouse gases, removing oil and gas exploration subsidies, $2 billion
for Cash for Clunkers, prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or
grazing land, raising Congress' pay and repealing the Alternative
Minimum Tax.
A strong voice on national security issues in the U.S. House of
Representatives, Todd Akin serves as chairman of the Armed Services
Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. He also serves on the
budget committee, where, according to his campaign website, "he has
fought to rein in government spending and debt, despite pressures from
the White House, those across the aisle and some within his own party
that just can't keep their hands off the government credit card." Akin
also served as chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Regulatory
Reform and Oversight.
Akin is a long-time supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, a
leader in his local church, former board member of National Right to
Life, and he sits on the board of the Mission Gate Prison Ministry – an
outreach program that seeks to end the revolving door recidivism rate
among those released from prison and get lives back on track.
Todd Akin at tea party (photo: Fired up! Missouri)
Akin believes the U.S. system of taxation must be overhauled. He has
long been a supporter of the FairTax, because he said, "The FairTax
allows taxpayers to keep more of what they make and empowers the
taxpayer to take a greater role in managing their tax burden." Akin has
been a co-sponsor of a balanced-budget amendment and an advocate for the
recent cut, cap, and balance legislation that would reduce spending
outlays, cap the debt ceiling and balance the federal budget. In 2009,
he opposed the $787 billion stimulus plan.
On education, Akin believes it's time to end Washington's trend
as "federal superintendent of education" and give control and funding
back to the states and local school boards. He notes that reducing
excessive federal regulations will make more dollars available to local
schools and allow those who actually interact with students to focus
spending where it is most needed.
Akin is committed to strong defense, the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the belief that life begins at conception.
John Brunner is chairman of V-Jon
Inc., a health-care product company his grandparents founded. It is
best known for its Germ-X hand sanitizer and is one of the largest
privately held companies in St. Louis, with an estimated $560 million in
annual revenue.
He is a former U.S. Marine and prides himself on
not having the background of an experienced politician. Upon announcing
his candidacy in his warehouse, Brunner said, "I'll match my experience
as a manufacturer and job creator against a career politician's resume
of borrowing and spending anytime, anywhere."
Brunner opposes tax
increases, massive government spending, the economic stimulus "failure"
and Obamacare. As senator, he promises to make addressing the nation's
massive debt his top priority. He supports a balanced-budget amendment
and promises to never seek an earmark in any bill. Brunner said his plan
for the economy is to eliminate bureaucratic regulations that strangle
job creators and reduce the tax burden on businesses and family farms
and to reform the U.S. tax code "to produce a smaller, flatter tax rate
for everyone." Finally, Brunner said he supports term limits in
Congress and will serve no more than two terms in the U.S. Senate.
Sarah Steelman served as state treasurer of Missouri from 2004 to
2008 and was responsible for managing more than $19 billion of the
state's annual revenue. She managed the investment of more than $3
billion in long-term and short-term investments in the state's
portfolio. Steelman started the first terror-free investment fund in the
nation, which ensured that taxpayer dollars were never invested in
terrorist-sponsoring countries. She also served as chairman of the
states' Higher Education Savings Board and chairman of the Missouri
Housing Development Commission.
Sarah Steelman
In 1998 and 2002, Steelman was elected to the state Senate, where she
served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and the
Environment.
Previously, she served as deputy director of the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources' Division of Geology and Land Survey.
Steelman worked as an economist for the Department of Revenue and as an
adjunct professor in economics at Lincoln University. She also served as
an investment broker and as director of a local Big Brothers and Big
Sisters program.
Steelman graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in economics from the University of Missouri.
She promises to vote 100 percent pro-life in the U.S. Senate,
including giving her support to the complete defunding of Planned
Parenthood and other abortion-providing organizations. She said she will
fight to end the practice of partial-birth abortion and oppose the
confirmation of judges who attempt to legislate from the bench.
On immigration, Steelman opposes any effort to grant amnesty or
provide government benefits to those who are in the U.S. illegally. She
supports securing the U.S.-Mexico border through the completion of the
fence, increasing Border Patrol agents on both the Mexican and Canadian
borders and efforts of states like Arizona to take action to enforce the
laws the politicians in Washington will not. She also supports efforts
to increase the punishment for employers who knowingly hire illegals.
On national energy policy, Steelman has an "all of the above
approach," advocating more domestic production of energy from existing
sources of oil, coal and natural gas and encouraging conservation and
the development of alternative sources of energy like wind and solar
power.
Steelman promises to vote in the U.S. Senate for a full repeal of
Obamacare, opting instead to promote medical malpractice lawsuit
reform. She supports a balanced-budget amendment, a ban on federal
earmarks and simplification of the tax code.
An advocate of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, Steelman
said she will oppose any efforts to restrict the right of citizens to
own, possess and carry a firearm. She also opposes any efforts to force
the registration of firearms or any other policies that unduly burden
the lawful purchase or possession of guns.
Missouri Medical supply chain entrepreneur Samuel Lipari originated the
online delivery of hospital supplies, reducing costs by 40 percent to
institutional users in the 1990s. He has published several online
columns; however, his campaign website offers little to no biographical
background or information on Lipari's political positions.
About the incumbent:Jon
Tester has served in the U.S. Senate since 2007. He has supported
abortion, tuition tax credits, low-interest loans and Pell Grants, the
Second Amendment, repeal of the Patriot Act, repeal of Don't Ask Don't
Tell and increased federal funding for health care.
Tester has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
stimulus/bailouts, expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines,
protecting the middle class from a national energy tax, removing oil
and gas exploration subsidies, factoring global warming into federal
project planning, $2 billion for Cash for Clunkers, prohibiting eminent
domain for use as parks or grazing land, pay raise for Congress,
expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program and continuing federal
funds for declared "sanctuary cities."
He has voted "no" on the following issues: restricting U.N.
funding for population control policies, prohibiting minors crossing
state lines for abortion, barring federal grants to organizations that
perform abortions, barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases,
requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections and increasing the tax
rate for people earning more than $1 million.
A fifth-generation Montana cattle rancher and small-business owner,
Denny Rehberg spent a majority of his life working on the family ranch.
After attending Washington State University, he went to work in the
Montana Legislature as an intern and later as a legislative assistant
for Montana Rep. Ron Marlenee.
Denny Rehberg
In 1984, Rehberg was elected to the Montana House of Representatives,
where he helped balance the state's budget without raising taxes. Gov.
Stan Stephens then appointed him lieutenant governor. In 1992, Rehberg
joined forces with Attorney General Marc Racicot in their successful bid
for governor and lieutenant governor.
In 2000, Rehberg was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives. One of the first measures he sponsored was a
balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He serves on the
powerful House Appropriations Committee and was recently appointed
chairmen of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and Related Agencies, which oversees more than one-quarter of
federal discretionary spending.
Rehberg voted against the stimulus bill, Obamacare and all of the
various government bailout programs. He said the biggest threat to the
nation is its out-of-control government spending while it continues to
borrow more money from China. As senator, Rehberg promises to address
waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies, departments and programs. He
advocates an end to federal earmarks and using leftover funds from
stimulus and government bailouts to pay down the national debt. Rehberg
also said the government must get off the backs of entrepreneurs by
decreasing burdensome regulations and lowering taxes.
On energy,
Rehberg suggests Montana look into expanding markets domestically and
using its own abundance of oil, coal and natural gas. He also supports
development of alternatives forms of energy, such as wind, solar,
biofuels and geothermal power.
About the incumbent:Ben
Nelson has served in the U.S. Senate since 2001. He was elected
governor of Nebraska and served in that office from 1991 to 1999. Nelson
has expressed support for the death penalty, public schooling, funds to
stop global warming, expanding free trade, more federal funding for
health coverage and a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He
opposes abortion and school vouchers.
Nelson has voted "yes" on the following issues: Obamacare,
bailout/stimulus, restricting U.N. funding for population control
policies, prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion, banning
partial birth abortions except to save the mother's life, constitutional
ban on same-sex marriage, adding sexual orientation to definition of
hate crimes, barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases,
protecting the middle class from a national energy tax, removing oil and
gas exploration subsidies, banning drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, raising pay for Congress, expanding the Children's
Health Insurance Program, reauthorizing the Patriot Act, continuing
federal funds for declared "sanctuary cities," permanently repealing the
"death tax" and instituting National Service as a new social invention.
Nelson has voted "no" on the following issues: barring federal
grants to organizations that perform abortions, expanding research to
more embryonic stem cell lines, factoring global warming into federal
project planning, $2 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program,
prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing land, requiring a
photo ID to vote in federal elections and for voter registration,
applying habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees, increasing tax rates for
people earning more than $1 million and repealing the Alternative
Minimum Tax.
Jon Bruning, a tea party-backed candidate for U.S. Senate, was sworn
into office as Nebraska's 31st Attorney General in 2003. He was elected
to the Nebraska Legislature in 1996 and 2000.
Bruning was endorsed by the Tea Party Express in May 2011."We
believe Jon Bruning is a strong candidate," a Tea Party Express
spokesman told the Omaha World-Herald. "He's strongly in tune with tea
party values. He's also able to put together a first-rate campaign."
Bruning received both his undergraduate and law degrees with
distinction from the University of Nebraska. Upon receiving his law
degree, Bruning went to work for both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eighth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.
From 1995 to 1997, he served as general counsel for Vital Learning
Corporation, an Omaha-based business that provides educational services,
personal business development and management training. From 1999 until
2003, Bruning worked as general counsel to Tagge-Rutherford Financial
Group.
Jon Bruning and family
On the same morning President Obama signed Obamacare into law,
Bruning and 12 other attorneys general filed suit against "the federal
government to stop the massive health care overhaul, claiming it's
unconstitutional." He said Obamacare "tramples on individual liberty and
dumps on the states the burden of an unfunded mandate that taxpayers
cannot afford."
Bruning joined eight other state attorneys general in filing an
amicus brief in support of the Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 – the Support
Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act – nearly two weeks after
the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Arizona over the
anti-illegal immigration law.
Bruning supports repeal of Obamacare, the Second Amendment right
to bear arms, overturning Roe v. Wade and elimination of earmarks.
Deb Fischer owns a ranching business with her family near Valentine,
Neb. She was elected to the Valentine Rural High School Board of
Education, became president of the Nebraska Association of School Boards
and served as a commissioner on the Coordinating Commission for
Post-Secondary Education.
In 2004, Fischer was elected to the Nebraska Unicameral to
represent the 43rd Legislative District. She currently serves as chair
of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee and is a member
of the Revenue Committee and the Executive Board. Fischer earned a
bachelor's degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Fischer has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising not
to raise taxes on individuals and businesses. As senator, she promises
to take her budget-cutting skills to Washington and convince Congress to
cut spending, not raise taxes. She opposes printing money to pay the
national debt and firmly believes Washington's first priority must be to
cut spending and pass a balanced-budget amendment.
Fischer is pro-life and also promises to vote for repeal of
Obamacare, act as a key ally for Nebraska agriculture and be an advocate
for gun owners. She advocates an increase in Border Patrol agents and
troops on the U.S.-Mexico border and widespread use of E-verify to
validate legal immigrants when they apply for jobs. Fischer opposes
in-state college tuition and amnesty for illegal aliens.
As a young man, Pat Flynn's jobs
included detasseling, irrigating, working cattle and hog confinements.
He earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
In 1982, Flynn started a successful insurance business. He later became an investment adviser and ran his business for 29 years.
Flynn's campaign website states:
In his later teens and twenties, Pat's life was not always
exemplary. He had encounters with the law regarding alcohol and
marijuana; thankfully the law won regarding these situations. With the
grace of God and a recovery program, Pat has been able to overcome this
adversity and has been able to help effect change in other's lives. He
is not proud of this part of his past but has taken full responsibility
for his actions and understands the concerns and challenges of many
others in our society with these same issues.
He helped start and lead a volunteer, high-school youth ministry program for 13 years.
Flynn supports enactment of policies that allow farmers to base
their crop-planting decisions on market demand, not government subsidies
and regulations. On agriculture, he supports enforcement of anti-trust
laws, repeal of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, enforcement
of the Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyard Act and maintaining
branding for cattle as the industry standard for identification. Flynn
believes the Environmental Protection Agency should back off and "let
farmers farm." He supports an end to subsidies, mandates and
regulations.
Flynn offers a "Blueprint for Recovery and Prosperity,"
with a plan to return to the fiscal year 2008 federal budget, cut
funding to angencies by 40 percent, defund federal programs that
duplicate another, defund abortion organizations, cut funding for the
war in Libya, cut funding to the U.N. by 50 percent, repeal Obamacare,
repeal the Dodd/Frank financial reform bill, abolish the IRS and address
entitlements of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
On immigration, Flynn supports increased workplace compliance
with hiring practices, repatriation, English as the official U.S.
language and a temporary worker program. He is also pro-life and a
strong supporter of the Second Amendment.
When he needed money to attend the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Don Stenberg detassled corn, hauled
bales, mowed lawns and served as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool.
In college, he lettered in track and won an athletic scholarship.
After
graduating from law school and business school, Stenberg practiced law
until he was named as legal counsel to the governor of Nebraska in 1979.
He served as director of the Policy Reasearch Office, assistant to the
governor and director of the Department of Administrative Services,
where he saved state taxpayers more than $1 million.
Stenberg
served as attorney general of Nebraska from 1991 to 2003 and currently
serves as the state treasurer. He was also legal counsel to Gov. Charles
Thone from 1979 to 1983. In one of the closest elections in Nebraska
history in 2000, Stenberg lost the race for U.S. Senate to Democrat Ben
Nelson by only two points. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S.
Senate in 1996 and 2006. In 2011, he announced his intention to run for
the Senate a fourth time.
Stenberg touts his record of
restraining government spending as an example for how the federal
government must slash its out-of-control spending. As state treasurer,
he asked the Nebraska Legislature to cut the budget by 13 percent for
each of the following two years. As Nebraska attorney general, he
operated his office on the third smallest AG budget in the nation.
As
a U.S. senator, Stenberg promises to oppose any new taxes and consider
additional tax cuts to strengthen the economy and create jobs. He also
pledges to vote for repeal of Obamacare, support a balanced-budget amendment,
serve no more than two terms and oppose all bailouts, earmarks and
cap-and-trade legislation. Stenberg has received an A or A+ rating from
the National Rifle Association for his support for the Second Amendment.
A
strong pro-life advocate, Stenberg defended Nebraska's ban on
partial-birth abortion all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and
personally argued Stenberg v. Carhart in support of the ban. As Nebraska
attorney general, he also joined a friend of the court brief in the
U.S. Supreme Court in support of Washington and New York's statutes
banning assisted suicide.
Finally, Stenberg adds, "As Nebraska's
next United States senator, I will offer legislation to repeal every
rule and regulation adopted by the Obama administration. Any that are
truly needed can then be submitted by the bureaucrats to Congress for a
vote."
Spencer Zimmerman –
An Air Force veteran who was
stationed at Offutt from 2000 to 2004, Spencer Zimmerman is an
Omaha-based truck driver and business administration graduate of
Edgewood College in Madison, Wisc. According to the Lincoln Journal
Star, he is author of a novel titled "The Epoch Point." The report notes
that Zimmerman plans to center his campaign on a proposal to promote
establishment of a unicameral Congress as a solution to the mounting
federal deficit.
"We need to create a business-friendly
environment in Nebraska and throughout America that will continue to
bring new jobs and opportunity to our shores by preventing tax or fee
increases and promoting innovation by eliminating regulations that
stifle entrepreneurs," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman does not have an official campaign website at this time.
Russell Anderson earned a bachelor's
degree in geography and a master of business administration. While he
says he thought of opening a business once, "our government is so
anti-business that I suspect I would have been unsuccessful." His work
background includes jobs at a fast-food restaurant, a car dealership,
eight-and-a-half years in the U.S. Air Force and temporary positions
after his separation from the service.
Anderson believes in a
larger conspiracy behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
including the idea that President George W. Bush was either "gullible
and completely fooled as to what was going on, or he was an insider on
the whole event."
His campaign website states:
"My thoughts on
9-11 would be revisited in 2010 after new material was brought to my
attention. This new material includes the simultaneous destruction of
Building 7 at the World Trade Center, the molten steel at the World
Trade Center that could not be melted by jet fuel, the suspiciously
short video clips of the blast at the Pentagon, the apparent downing of a
flight riddled with controversy, and an apparent attempt by the George
W. Bush administration to hide and destroy evidence of the trillions of
dollars that went missing from the economy announced one day prior to
9-11. It is important to know that two planes were seen hitting the
World Trade Center; three buildings fell."
Anderson is calling for an "impartial full investigation" of the 9/11 attacks with "full disclosure to the public."
“If you’re married and you have a wife, and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife “I love you” the day you get married?
Or, should you tell her every single day when you wake up, and at every opportunity?
That’s how I feel about my relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the most important thing in my life, so any time I get an opportunity to tell Him that I love Him, or get an opportunity to shout Him out on national TV I’m going to take that opportunity.
So I look at it like in my relationship with Him, I want to give Him the honor and glory anytime I have the opportunity.”
The following is the Islamic message
to the West.
We will take the advantage of American kindness, gullibility, and
compassion. When time comes, we will stab them in the back. We will say
one thing on the camera and teach another thing to our children at home.
We will give subliminal messages to our children to uphold Islam at any
cost. Our children in America will always care more about Islamic
Country’s interest than US interest.
University. She is author of two novels, "Hedge Fund Mistress" and "What About the Dead?"
Konetchy
graduated from the College of Business at Michigan State University
with a degree in accounting. He said he is running for Senate because he
understands the greatness of the United States.
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