RUTHFULLY YOURS

In a graduation season when distinguished guests such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Condoleezza Rice, Christine Lagarde, some state senator from Colorado and a camel in Minnesota have all been bounced from campus by student protests, John Kerry somehow managed to slip through the net and deliver his speech to Boston College students. Can you guess what it was about, boys and girls?

Secretary of State John Kerry warned graduates of Boston College on Monday that they have doom and destruction to look forward to if they don’t take climate change more seriously than previous generations.

‘And I know its hard to feel the urgency as we sit here on an absolutely beautiful morning in Boston,’ Kerry said, ‘you might not see climate change as an immediate threat to your job, your communities or your families.

‘But let me tell you, it is.’

If the U.S. does not act, ‘and it turns out that the critics and the naysayers and the members of the Flat Earth Society – if it turns out that they’re wrong, then we are risking nothing less than the future of the entire planet.’

This is apparently the one speech you’re still allowed to give at American universities.

A thousand minutes — give or take, just past midnight to 7 p.m. — may seem like a long stretch to sit in silent vigil at the doorstep to the White House in Lafayette Square, but not so much for a Marine vet who has been on some grunt shifts in his life.

Thus Terry Mahoney, who served as a sergeant in the Marine Corps, didn’t think twice about the extended vigil, in which he tried to imagine what it felt like for Amir Hekmati passing his 1,000 days in a tiny cell in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

He tweeted selfies in the still of the Washington night, greeted the sun with a standard parade of joggers rushing past, and saw the runners replaced by droves of suits wielding smartphones.

And as every moment of everyday life unfolded in the square, nothing changed for a Michigan man falsely accused by the Islamic Republic of conspiracy to commit espionage.

Monday’s vigil brought the Hekmati family to Washington to meet with lawmakers, give a hug or two to all of the players who’ve helped try to bring Amir home, and alert a passerby or two in the park to a cause they may have known nothing about — a proud first-generation American and Iraq war veteran who went to visit extended family in Tehran for the first time, only to find himself arrested without due process and facing a death sentence at one especially harrowing time during his lengthy incarceration.

“If someone would have pulled me aside and whispered in my ear the challenges that were awaiting me, I would have never believed them. If they would have told me that my brother would have been captured by Iranian intelligence officials and held in Evin prison, I would have thought that they had watched too many movies. If they would have told me he would be sentenced to death, I would have thought they were crazy, and if they would have told me this death sentence would be overturned but he would be kept in solitary confinement, away from his family, attorney and the outside world, I would have thought they were out of their minds,” Amir’s sister Sara told a crowd assembled on the lawn.

The British government should deny its enemies the opportunities for exploitation presented by the International Criminal Court and withdraw now from the process. Any other course would represent an unprecedented and historic betrayal.

Today the United Kingdom sits alongside Libya, Darfur and Sudan as the International Criminal Court [ICC] launches an investigation into alleged war crimes by the British Army in Iraq.

This perversion brings to mind German Pastor Martin Niemoeller’s powerful words at the end of the Second World War:

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak for me.”

It was not long before they came again for the Jews – this time in the newly established Jewish state. And over the years, Israel’s enemies, unable to destroy her in battle, have used “lawfare” – the abuse of Western laws and judicial systems – to try to undermine and delegitimize her.

The main building of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons/Vincent van Zeijst)
A leading player in this unremitting assault has been the UN Human Rights Council [UNHRC], which has passed resolution after spurious resolution against Israel while ignoring horrific human rights abuses around the world. The fundamentally flawed Goldstone Report, which concluded that Israel had been guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the IDF’s defensive operation in Gaza in 2008-09, is an example of the UNHRC’s distortions of reality.

To their credit, the United States and five European countries opposed the UNHRC’s resolution to endorse Judge Goldstone’s assault on the Jewish state. Predictably, the United Kingdom declined to vote. This is characteristic of Britain’s refusal to speak out when Israel, one of the West’s staunchest allies, comes under attack, whether by rockets from Gaza directed against her civilian population or by lawfare, directed against her government and armed forces.

And now another instrument of the “international community” is coming for Britain. In the latest of a barrage of legal attacks against British forces in recent months, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s preliminary examination will look into allegations that British troops abused detainees during the Iraq conflict between 2003 and 2008.

Bensouda will decide whether or not Britain is making genuine investigations into these allegations and whether prosecutions are likely to be brought against individuals if the evidence warrants it. If Bensouda is satisfied, she will then lay down standards to be followed by the British judicial system and monitor progress and performance against those standards.

Property rights must be treated as integrated with other individual rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. To divorce any or all these rights is to pose a perilous dichotomy.

The Guardian of Every Other Right: Part V

“Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.” – Ayn Rand, 1963*

Chapter 7 of James Ely’s book, “The New Deal and the Demise of Property-Conscious Constitutionalism,” chronicles the Supreme Court’s timid retreat from a semi-efficacious defense of property rights, unsure of the propriety of property rights unless linked to the “public good,” browbeaten by “public opinion,” and savaged by the Progressives.

The new political outlook emphatically rejected the laissez-faire philosophy. Justice Louis D. Brandeis expressed this reform sentiment when he declared in 1932, “There must be power in the States and the Nation to remould, through experimentation, our economic practices and institutions to meet changing social and economic needs.” (Italics mine; p. 125)

“Experimentation” meaning that Progressivism was basically a John Dewey-esque program of applied political and economic Pragmatism. While “constitutionalism” relied on a strict interpretation of the Framers’ principled meanings – an “ideology” regarded with hostility by Progressives and others of a collectivist stripe – Progressivism is an ideology empty of any principles except a desire and commitment to control, rule, and “harmonize” the whole country and make it fit into an authoritarian straightjacket. If a new” sin” tax or regulation of manufacturing or a new levy on corporate profits doesn’t work here, maybe it’ll work over there, and if it doesn’t, we can try something else. Never mind the inconvenience to property owners and the dislocation of market forces the experiment produces. You can’t achieve an omelet of “social equity” without breaking some eggs. Or some heads. Theories and principles and definitions just get in the way.

Borrowing from the Progressive legacy, President Roosevelt’s New Deal program was grounded on the notion that government had an affirmative duty to promote the general social welfare….Congress and the states enacted an extraordinary array of measures that greatly enlarged governmental supervision of the economy and sought to redistribute wealth and economic power. This social welfare approach flatly contradicted the insistence on limited governmental activity, marketplace competition, and respect for property rights that were at the heart of traditional constitutionalism. (Italics mine; p. 125)

Perhaps Pope Francis will address the ongoing persecution and massacres of Christians in the Moslem world???? rsk

Pope Francis will take a helicopter from Jordan to Bethlehem in “a sign of recognising Palestine” as Father Jamal Khader of the Latin patriarchate in Jerusalem said.

The Pope will be in the “holy land” to spiritually bestow a birth certificate to another Arab-Islamic state.

“This visit will help us in supporting our struggle to end the longest occupation in history”, Ziyyad Bandak, Mahmoud Abbas’s adviser for Christian affairs, told Voice of Palestine radio. “He will have a lunch with Palestinians, with families suffering from the occupation… then he will visit Dheishe refugee camp to witness the suffering of Palestinian refugees”.

Pope Francis will be accompanied by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem “in the building of the Great Council on the Esplanade of the Mosques”. It will be an implicit recognition of Islamic hegemony over the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most sacred site in the world.

The Pope will begin his visit in the fictional and terrorist “State of Palestine” and not in the real and democratic State of Israel.

We should not see as natural the fact that different Popes refused to recognize Israel for fifty years after its founding.
History repeats itself. In 1974 the Vatican implicitly recognized the Palestinian Liberation Organization, but not the State of Israel. It took twenty years to do that. We should not see as natural the fact that different Popes refused to recognize Israel for fifty years after its founding.

The number of so-called taxi-rapes has snowballed to such an extent that a British judge recently issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while travelling in a cab.

Ibrahim Munir, an exiled senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood now living in Britain, when asked if violence would be an option, replied, “Any possibility.”

“Do I have to change my religion to get the best [banking] deal?” — Lloyds Bank customer, quoted in The Daily Telegraph.

Islam and Islam-related issues were omnipresent in Britain during the month of April 2014, and can be categorized into three broad themes: 1) The British government’s growing concern over Islamic extremism and the domestic security implications of British jihadists in Syria; 2) The continuing spread of Islamic Sharia law in all aspects of British daily life; and 3) Ongoing questions of Muslim integration into British society.

1. Islamic Extremism and Syria-Related Threats

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a “thorough probe” of the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities in Britain. At a press conference, he said:

“We want to challenge the extremist narrative that some Islamist organisations have put out. What I think is important about the Muslim Brotherhood is that we understand what this organization is, what it stands for, what its beliefs are in terms of the path of extremism and violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its presence is here in the UK.”

The review will be headed by Sir John Jenkins, the British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. This has led some analysts to surmise that the oil-rich nation—which sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to its own stability—is pressuring Cameron to ban the group from British soil. (Cameron’s announcement also came just weeks after Britain finalized a deal for the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon strike jets to Saudi Arabia.) Jenkins has been asked to compile a report on the movement’s “philosophy and values and alleged connections with extremism and violence.”

Just like old times. Bonnie and Clod are back, with all the sturm, drang, thunder and lightning that made the Clinton years such good and not-so-clean fun.
Politics lost their X-rating when Bill and Hillary departed Pennsylvania Avenue with their considerable baggage piled high on the wagon. Only wars and arguments about boring stuff followed, about guns, taxes and whether two little men could fit together on a wedding cake. Monica’s thong and Hillary’s lamp-throwing titillated, but Barack Obama’s fear and trembling in the shadow of the mosque frightens everybody.
Hillary is trying to shape her 2016 presidential campaign, if there is one, as an international adventure high above the fray, where mere mortals sweat out campaigns. She will soon learn, as Republican strategist Mark McKinnon says, “there is no ‘above the fray’ in politics anymore. There is only the fray.”

Bubba can’t wait for the bang bang to start. He predicts the targeting of the wife will intensify as she moves closer to 2016. “It’s just the beginning,” he tells Gwen Ifill of PBS, “and they’ll get better at it.” Bubba purely loves the game, and that’s why he’s so good at it.

Whether Hillary likes it or not, everything will be about Bubba. Younger voters have no memory of him, and he relishes the opportunity to introduce himself, baggage and all. His raffish good ol’ boy charm makes him irresistible to voters. Who else could have won a second term with impeachment on the way? Charm, raffish or otherwise, is something no one has ever accused Hillary of. She’s not much like Lurleen Wallace, whom George Wallace installed as governor of Alabama when he was no longer constitutionally eligible to run himself, but the Wallace precedent will inevitably be applied. Bubba will apply it himself if no one else does.

This week Hillary took her first public policy steps as a neo-candidate, telling the American Jewish Committee that the United States must be “tough” and “clear-eyed” with Iran over its nuclear works, which would be a relief for Israel after eight years of timidity and vacillation by an administration that she was an important part of. She expressed polite League of Women Voters scorn for Washington gridlock — “I would like to see our own democracy work more smoothly” — and sounded more like she was ready for a well-mannered campaign for the Student Council than as a candidate for the White House.

This leaves the issue of the hour to someone else. Bubba elbowed everyone out of the way to jump into the furor over Hillary’s health and Karl Rove’s suggestion that she was brain-damaged after taking a fall in her home 18 months ago. Chuckling (appreciatively) at a question at an economic forum in Washington, he aimed a load of birdshot at the Republican campaign manager once called “George Bush’s brain.”

The Honorable Ed Timperlake is a Fellow at IASC was the first Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Public Affairs and then Public and Intergovernmental Affairs when VA was elevated to Cabinet status.

Veterans are sick and dying and some at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) simply do not care. It is time for a reckoning.

Over the last few years it has become known that the DVA’s Undersecretary for Benefits has demonstrated total incompetence, and now America is seeing that some leaders in the Veterans Health Administration, as currently reported, may have actually been criminally negligent. The Secretary, based on his Congressional testimony, over time appears rather oblivious.

It is a difficult story to report on because investigating and reporting on the medical health of specific veteran cases, patient privacy safe guards of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) apply. It is the responsibility for all in the media and law enforcement to publicly respect the privacy of veterans and their specific illness, wounds or disease. This is a critical issue, not to further hurt those who have given so much.

However, respecting HIPPA can still allow a discussion of what America’s veterans may be facing when VA care is denied or delayed. The emerging Department of Veterans Affairs scandal of secret waiting lists is abhorrent and unacceptable. For one generation it is doubly hateful and now for our current warriors equally potentially sinister and deadly.

My fellow Vietnam combat veterans were and now should again be concerned about a grateful nation not delivering on earned benefits and letting them die alone waiting in the dark during their end of life years. Unfortunately, veterans and their families have been there before, but one visionary DVA Secretary said not on his watch.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/review-faithless-execution-building-the-political-case-for-obamas-impeachment-by-andrew-mccarthy?f=must_reads
BY RUTH KING

Andrew McCarthy’s new book has ignited an epidemic of hives among Democrats who have not read it but fear the title. An e-mail from http://my.democrats.org/Stand-with-President-Obama warns in tall and bold letters: “Conservatives are getting excited about a brand new book “Faithless Execution-Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment.” They then implore: “It Comes Out Next Month…The Bogus Impeachment Talk Will Never Stop unless we put an end to it! Help Democrats Fight Back!” No doubt it will become a great fundraising vehicle.

Stand down silly Democrats. Thanks for the great pre-publication publicity, but if you read the book you would know that Andrew McCarthy, author of bestselling books on national security issues and one of America’s most respected prosecutors, argues that there is no appetite for it in either political party or among the majority of the population. While it is important to make the case that we have a lawless administration and a president guilty of serial impeachable offenses, it would, he contends, be foolhardy to file articles of impeachment in the absence of strong public support for the president’s removal. In fact, the author takes great pains to aver that the nation would be better served if the President changed course, followed his oath to execute the laws faithfully, and concluded his term. On the matter of legislators and pundits holding the President’s feet to the fire by demanding that he uphold the laws of the nation, McCarthy scolds both parties.

For American adults and voters the word “impeachment” conjures the costly, embarrassing and titillating case of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, which was about lying, perjury and scurrilous sexual behavior by the President.

But as the author of this essential book states: ” All presidential lawlessness is not the same….and real impeachment will never happen unless the people are convinced, by the nature of the president’s lawlessness, that it must be stopped and that it will not be stopped unless the President is removed from office.” Does Obama’s blatant disregard of the law fit the criteria for impeachment?

Andrew McCarthy lays out the political case for impeachment with methodical and scrupulous detail as both a preparation for litigation and a primer for American citizens and their elected legislators. The author is a skilled prosecutor who has determined, with undeniable evidence that President Obama has shown willful disregard for the chief executive’s fundamental obligation to “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

The following questions are occasioned by seven articles of impeachment offered by Andrew McCarthy, with the caveat that the standard adopted by the Framers – “high crimes and misdemeanors” – refers to political wrongs by officials in which high public trust is reposed, not ordinary penal statutes:

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/montana-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=must_reads

Filing Deadline (Major Parties): March 10, 2014- Filing is complete

Primary: June 3, 2014

To see the actual voting records of all incumbents on other issues such as Foreign Policy, Second Amendment Issues, Homeland Security, and other issues as well as their rankings by special interest groups please use the links followed by two stars (**).

U.S. Senate
Jon Tester (D) Next Election in 2018.
John Walsh (D) Incumbent

With Sen. Max Baucus confirmed as the new ambassador to China in February 2014, Montana’s governor appointed Democrat Attorney General John Walsh to fill the remainder of Baucus’ term.

http://johnwalsh2014.com/ http://www.walsh.senate.gov/

He enlisted in the National Guard as a private, working hard and rising through the ranks to become adjutant general, leading the Montana National Guard. As a battalion commander, John led more than 700 brave men and women overseas to Iraq in the largest deployment of Montana National Guard soldiers and airmen since WWII. As Adjutant General, he continued his life of service, preparing Montana’s service members for deployments and making sure they received the benefits they earned and deserve. During his time as adjutant general, John championed the Yellow Ribbon program, an initiative that provides valuable resources to National Guard members and their families at all stages of their deployment and ensures Guard members get their well-earned services and benefits when they return home. Montana’s successful Yellow Ribbon program became a blueprint for similar efforts nationwide.

ON ENERGY APRIL 29, 2014 Keystone supporters push for swift Senate vote

11 Senate Democrats urged Obama in a letter to approve the pipeline by the end of May. Six of the 11 are on the ballot this fall, including Landrieu, Begich and Walsh, and Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Warner of Virginia.
Dirk Adams (D) Challenger

http://www.adamsformontana.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY The Keystone XL Pipeline – The proposed Keystone XL pipeline (which is only a shortcut on an existing pipeline) is a bad deal for Montana. Yet Dirk Adams is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who is standing up against it. The pipeline promises jobs it won’t deliver. It will cause problems for landowners. The last pipeline TransCanada built in Montana had 12 spills in its first year of operation, spewing over 20,000 gallons of crude. The Keystone XL pipeline is bad for the environment and the businesses that depend on it. It is bad for Montanans’ health and pocketbooks.

Climate Change – Dirk Adams recognizes the critical nature of climate change. It is a global issue. In Montana where agriculture is our biggest industry, it’s a game-changer. Winters that are too wet or too dry or too cold or too warm wreak havoc with the water supply we depend on in the summer, which in turn affects our crops, livestock, and people’s paychecks. Climate change cannot be ignored. Adams is committed to making sure real and meaningful action is taken in recognition of climate change.

HEALTHCARE The Medicaid Expansion for Montanans is a no-brainer. All we need to do is say “yes” to federal funds and 60,000 more Montanans have health care coverage. Those federal funds include Montana taxpayer dollars. There’s no reason to send that money to other states when the need for health care here at home in Montana is great.

The Affordable Health Care Act (“Obamacare”) has the right goal. But many compromises were made along the way and implementation was clumsy. The Affordable Health Care represents a step in the right direction in terms of intent but there is still much work to do to reform our health care and insurance industries to achieve a system that is efficient, fair, and meets the health care needs of citizens.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Dirk Adams supports full access to reproductive health care for women, including birth control and abortion. Recognizing that rights that cannot be exercised are not rights, he also supports clinic access laws to keep physicians and patients and their families safe and free from bullying and intimidation. The lives and health of women will always come first for Adams when it comes to policy concerning reproductive rights and he will work to keep women’s reproductive health services available, accessible, affordable, and safe.

Adams’ mother ran the first family planning clinic in East Texas in 1962 (before abortion was legal). The importance of the full array of reproductive health care services being available for women was instilled in him from an early age and is one of the issues that defines him politically. Abortion rights are about more than health care, they are also about privacy, one of the most significant and serious issues of our times. They are about the integrity of the individual and the right to self-govern at the most intimate levels of one’s personal life. Dirk Adams is committed to being an advocate and champion for reproductive rights and services.
John Bohlinger (D) Challenger

http://www.bohlingerforsenate.com/
Susan Cundiff (R) Challenger

http://susanforussenate.com/
Steve Daines (R) Currently Congressman At Large

http://www.stevedaines.com/ http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Steve_Daines.htm**

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE I support full repeal of ObamaCare. This law imposes a heavy tax and regulatory burden on American families and small businesses, and it will cause millions of Americans to lose the health coverage they currently have. It will also lead to higher health costs and higher premiums, and it will drastically increase federal spending by subsidizing health coverage for millions of Americans and greatly expanding Medicaid. Further, the law weakened competition and choice in Medicare and authorized a board of unelected officials to make further Medicare cuts. I believe ObamaCare’s government-centered approach represents the wrong solution for the health care challenges in our country.

While ObamaCare is not the solution, I certainly recognize that our health care system has major problems. First and foremost, I believe doctors and patients, not insurance companies or the government, should be in charge of health care decisions. Further, I support reforms that would slow the rapid growth in health costs without jeopardizing access to high-quality care. I believe Congress should provide people with greater freedom in shopping for health insurance, make the costs of medical care more transparent, and reward innovation in the delivery of health services. I will also back commonsense medical liability reform, because doctors currently must practice high-cost “defensive medicine” to protect themselves against unwarranted lawsuits.

IMMIGRATION AND HOMELAND SECURITY As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I am committed to ensuring that the federal government effectively protects Americans from terrorism, drug trafficking, cyber attacks, and other threats, while safeguarding our liberties and privacy. Our country faces a number of threats, and I will work to conduct vigorous oversight of the government’s response to those threats. We must be vigilant against all who would do harm to this country, but must ensure that we don’t sacrifice our freedom and liberty in the process.

Protecting our nation’s borders is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation. The increase in illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and human smuggling is unacceptable. I will continue to work to secure our border.

ENERGY As a fifth generation Montanan, I know our state’s natural resources are central to our way of life and an engine to our economy and job creation. Our pristine glacial peaks and rivers, vibrant forests, wide open spaces, and rich mineral and energy deposits earn beautiful Montana its name-the treasure state. As a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, I will work to preserve Montana’s way of life by encouraging responsible stewardship as we continue to develop our natural resources.

In addition, I support an all-of-the-above approach to securing American energy independence that includes alternative sources of energy-hydropower, wind, and solar-along with coal, oil, and natural gas. Montana will continue to lead the way, through the pending construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, promoting exploration and sustained development of the Bakken oil shale, continuing to lead in domestic coal production, and expanding our renewable energy production. Montana is setting an example of how domestic energy development can be done in a responsible manner to reduce our dependence on foreign energy while sustaining our resources for generations to come.
Champ Edmunds (R) Challenger

http://www.champ2014.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY America’s enemies hold the key to our energy-a fundamental part of our free society. Over the past decade, natural resources-coal, oil and natural gas-have been discovered across North America that could make us energy independent and lower our cost of energy. We need to get the government out of the way and develop responsible American energy that produces jobs, revenue and security. I’m ready to approve the Keystone pipeline and responsible energy production across the country. This will bring thousands of jobs to Montana alone.

ECONOMY AND JOBS If we wanted to pay off the national debt today, every man, woman and child in the United States would have to write a check for over $53,000. The government cannot tax its way out of this crisis. We must grow the economy and the best way to do this is unleash the power of the free market through lower taxes and less regulation.

Montana families are working hard to make ends meet, yet the Federal Government continues to borrow and spend. As a single father of two, and a member of Montana’s House Appropriations Committee, I have experience balancing budgets and I want to take that experience to Washington with me.

HEALTHCARE Montana overwhelmingly agrees that government run healthcare is not a step in the right direction. Montana’s own senator, Max Baucus, authored the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare), voted for it and now calls it a “train wreck.” Meanwhile, insurance rates for Montanans are skyrocketing and small businesses are suffering.
​
Every Montanan wants healthcare to be affordable, but no Montanan wants the false promises, political favors and exorbitant costs of Obamacare. I support a market solution to healthcare that provides quality care at lower prices.

US HOUSE OF REP LOGO

At Large
Steve Daines (R) Is leaving his seat to run as Candidate for US Senate in 2014
Elsie Arntzen (R) Challenger

http://www.elsieformontana.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE The President sold Obamacare as a plan that would help cover the uninsured, lower insurance costs, and make it easier for businesses to cover their employees. As I predicted, the results have been the opposite. Insurance rates are skyrocketing, more people have had their plans canceled than have signed up, and businesses are eliminating jobs as a result of this disaster.

Obamacare must be repealed and replaced with common sense reforms that actually lower the cost of health insurance, not increase it and allow businesses to grow and succeed. I believe health care reform should include things like medical malpractice reform. This will stop the frivolous lawsuits that force doctors to practice defensive medicine and drive up costs. I think we should allow small businesses to pool together to buy insurance. This would enable Montana’s small businesses to have the same buying power as big businesses. Finally, I would allow people to purchase insurance across state lines to create more competition and lower costs.

ECONOMY The President and the radical left who support his agenda have declared a war on the West. Day after day, President Obama and his EPA issue rules and develop policies that hurt Montana’s Economy. His administration cuts off access to our public lands and places barriers in the way of responsible resource development here in our Treasure State.

They don’t understand our way of life in Montana. Washington doesn’t understand what it means to live off the land. They don’t understand that Montana resources reduce energy prices, and improve our economy, but can also reduce our reliance on energy from people who would like to see America destroyed.

I will stand up to Obama like the schoolyard bully he is to Montana’s economy.

SPENDING, DEBT AND BALANCING THE BUDGET As a school teacher, I have seen a lot of red ink on papers, but nothing compares to the red ink in our nation’s budget. Year after year trillion dollar deficits and a President with no plan to stop the out of control spending. As it stands now the greatest challenge facing our country is the towering 17 trillion dollar national debt.

Balancing our nation’s budget will not be easy. We cannot wave a magic wand and make the deficit disappear. However, there are some elementary, common-sense solutions we can find to stop the out of control spending. To start with, I would repeal Obamacare. That saves us 1.7 trillion dollars on day one. Next I would sponsor a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution to force Congress to make the tough spending choices that Montana families make every day, just like we do each session in the Montana legislature. Third, no more bailouts. And finally, I would permanently eliminate wasteful earmark spending.
Matt Rosendale (R) Challenger

http://mattformontana.com/
Corey Stapleton (R) Challenger

http://www.coreystapleton.com/home/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

MILITARY As a former Navy officer I will always be a close ally with all active duty military and veterans. I am an 11 year veteran myself. I received the Montana National Guard’s “Guardian of the Guard” Award in 2012 for my career of legislation on behalf of veterans. I firmly feel that we need to remain ever vigilant to threats against America, and continuously improve our readiness and abilities against those who would harm our country. – See more at: http://www.coreystapleton.com/issues/#sthash.ik9NFpGw.dpuf

JOBS AND ECONOMY Meaningful creation of jobs comes from the private sector. The fundamental conflict occurring in America between the major political parties is ‘scope’ of governmental intervention. Adding massive spending is not going to create sustainable jobs in Montana. Everyday I help Montanans figure out how they can afford to keep their homes, send their kids to school, and plan for retirement. But to do any of that first requires good jobs are available. I understand the worries too many families are facing, and my focus is keeping and creating good-paying jobs here in Montana.

NATIONAL DEBT National Debt America is trillions of dollars in debt, and Washington D.C.’s politicians use their position to convince Americans that somehow we need more debt. This is epic failure and endangers our national security and our ability to compete in a world economy. We need to reduce our national debt now. America’s rise to greatness last century was tied to the United States loaning money to other countries-not vice versa. Washington is mortgaging the futures of America’s children and grandchildren and it cannot be allowed to continue.
Drew Turiano (R) Challenger Tea Party

http://drewforcongress.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE The Affordable Care Act known as Obama-Care has without question become one of the greatest debacles in American history.

There is no longer a question of “is Obama-Care bad for America”, but “how much damage will Obama-Care do to America”?

With the Obama-Care tentacles now reaching into every aspect of America’s lives and businesses, we must stop any further encroachment. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this horrific law is costing America millions upon millions of full-time jobs. This is only the beginning of the Obama-Care devastation to our nation.

As your United States Congressman, I promise that I will do everything in my power to reverse this atrocity on America. I will never vote to fund any part of this law, nor will I ever vote to support this law in any fashion if given the opportunity.

I further promise that I will sponsor or co-sponsor legislation that disassembles as many portions of this law as I possibly can.

IMMIGRATION There are many different opinions on the issue of just how many illegal aliens are on American soil. Current estimates range anywhere from 11,000,000 (that the current administration is claiming) to as high as 25-30,000,000 that opposing experts claim.

The operative word in this entire discussion regarding this issue is “Illegal”.

Most in the media and the current administration are now content to use the words “undocumented worker”. These people are not only undocumented; they are illegal and are in legal terms-guilty of committing felonies by illegally entering the United States.

The current bill passed by the United States Senate last year known as S-744 seeks to totally undermine our current laws regarding immigration in America.

Below are only a few of the many reasons why I will oppose this horrific piece of legislation if elected as your next Representative:

S.744 does not require any additional border fencing or completion of current border fence requirements. Instead, it requires DHS to submit to Congress a fencing “strategy,” in which DHS recommends what additional fencing is needed along the U.S.-Mexico border, if any. (Sec. 5, p. 24)
S.744 voids state and local E-Verify laws. (Sec. 3101, p. 511)
S.744 does not require the deportation of a single illegal alien. DHS is never required to deport an alien whose RPI (Registered Provisional Immigrant) application is denied-for any reason.
S.744 states in (Section 2101 pages 64-67) that DHS is authorized to forgive and expunge the record of an illegal alien that has committed the following crimes. Keep in mind that many of these crimes are actually felonies.

As your Representative from the Great State of Montana, I will only support legislation that does the following:

Secures these United States of America from anyone entering without proper identification and documentation.
Enforces the current laws on the books. These laws were very effective for decades until this administration decided to begin ignoring them.
Prevents the American taxpayer from supporting anyone that is in the United States illegally.
Regulates the immigration to the United States of America by only those individuals that will assimilate into our society and provide an addition to America rather become a drain on our nation.

Ryan Zinke (R) Challenger

Retired Navy Commander

http://ryanzinke.com/
John Lewis (D) Challenger

http://montanansforlewis.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

CREATING JOBS Let’s bring ‘Made in USA’ home again During his role in public service, John Lewis was instrumental in helping Senator Max Baucus organize Montana’s famous economic development summits. The summits resulted in new, good-paying jobs across Montana. John supports responsible policies that boost Montana’s “all of the above” energy industry and also our state’s $6 billion-per-year outdoor industry. In Congress he will champion efforts to bring back manufacturing to America by closing tax loopholes that make it easier to for corporations to ship jobs overseas.

ENERGY SECURITY Finding a responsible balance Montana is uniquely positioned to be a world leader in energy development with all of our energy resources: wind, solar, natural gas, oil, geothermal energy, coal mining and biofuels. John supports responsible policy that balances all of our energy resources, with an eye toward the future. In Congress he will support a strategy that will protect Montana jobs in both traditional and renewable energy development.

HEALTHCARE All Montanans deserve access to affordable, quality health care
All of Montana is considered rural and many of its small towns are considered “frontier” communities that lack access to health care. John Lewis believes that all Montanans deserve access to affordable, quality health care no matter where they live. That means creating incentives to bring good health care providers to small communities. It means improving access to health care for veterans, seniors and children. And it means holding the nation’s insurance companies accountable-to make sure that they don’t charge women more than men, or that they don’t deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.