Fitna- The Islamic Threat Exposed
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Geert Wilders who made this film is under a death fatwa for "insulting" Islam by making this film.
Geert Wilders who made this film is under a death fatwa for "insulting" Islam by making this film.
Liberty
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Numbers USA- California Taxpayer Protection Act
From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: 30DEC08
Introduction to the California Taxpayer Protection Act
Dear Friends,
I want to call your attention to a statewide initiative in California that may change the debate on the automatic citizenship that is wrongly bestowed upon children born to illegal aliens and foreign visitors in the United States. The initiative—The California Taxpayer Protection Act—is being planned for the June 2010 California ballot. This may seem like a distant point on the horizon, but it’s really not when you consider the herculean efforts necessary to secure a spot on the ballot in the state. Supporters are being sought from across the nation for this important initiative.
Initiative Background
The initiative is sponsored by Taxpayer Revolution and authored by Ted Hilton, a scholar of Constitutional Law and expert on the 14th Amendment’s original intent. The measure has three major provisions that would:
• Create a second type of California birth certificate for children born to illegal aliens and others who are not permanent residents. The current certificate would be limited to children with at least one parent who submits an affidavit stating that he or she is a citizen or a permanent legal resident (Social Security Number verified);
• Restrict illegal alien parents from applying for child-only CalWORKS benefits (TANF) for their U.S. born child by requiring lawful presence of all applicants; and
• Limit public benefits by requiring a signed affidavit under penalty of perjury that one is a citizen or qualified alien, and using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program to verify legal residency.
Birth mothers who are not citizens or legal residents would be required to: apply for a birth certificate in person; provide complete identity including means of support; submit three passport type photographs; and be fingerprinted. All of this information would be provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such mothers also would pay an additional $75 fee.
Qualifying the Initiative
To qualify for the ballot, the initiative requires 433,971 signatures. Since a cushion is needed for security, the proponents are seeking a total of 550,000. The last month to begin signature gathering, which must occur over a five-month period, is June 2009. However, experts believe that the best five-month period for gathering signatures is February through June.
Reasons to Support
NumbersUSA has long supported ending the automatic granting of U.S. citizenship to children born here to illegal aliens, finally righting a misguided and unintended interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Prior to the introduction of this initiative, we have promoted passage of bills in Congress to this end. Those bills have not been successful and are not likely to see action in the 111th Congress. As such, we need to consider an alternative means for moving forward.
Passing an initiative in California requiring the issuance of two types of birth certificates will ignite the national debate needed as a precursor to ending automatic citizenship. Success in California will set the stage for other states to follow and likely prompt litigation that could give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to rule. The high court has never decided a citizenship case for children of temporary residents or those here illegally. We are confident such a case would finally end this misbegotten policy.
The initiative has already been endorsed by Representatives Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.; Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus Chair) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Ward Connerly (proponent of English language and other initiatives), Peter Nunez (former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury), the California American Legion, and others.
How You Can Help
The proponents at Taxpayer Revolution are seeking assistance. Click here to visit the initiative’s web site and look for ways you might help. To submit your contact information, please click here.
I hope you find all this information helpful.
Sincerely,
THANKS,
P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA’s positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an “attachment.”)
This may be a good time for you to make sure that you’ve let us know all of the areas you are interested in. In order to further customize the type of alerts you receive click here http://www.numbersusa.com/survey?action=longlist
As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user
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Shariah Financing- Jihad with Money
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Gun Control
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GOP Chair Candidates-Info
Here is some condensed info about the RNC Chair candidates, a site to find and contact your State GOP Reps who will do the voting and a site where you can actually log in your vote.
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There are 168 members who will be voting to decide the next RNC Chairman at the RNC Winter Meeting on January 20, 2009. There are three members from each state who are able to vote, the state Chairman, the state National Committeeman and the state National Committeewoman. To locate the names of who your local state members are, perform the following steps: Go to the National GOP Website - State Parties page http://www.gop.com/Connect/States.aspx
and select the state in which you live, which will bring up all three voting member names for the state selected. You will also see phone number(s) listed to contact your local state voting members. You can pick a new state by selecting “State Parties” from the menu bar.
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List of Candidates”
Robert M. Duncan : http://www.gop.com/About/AboutBio.aspx?Guid=440ac9cd-8163-47f5-9c39...
Chairman, Republican National Committee
Robert M. (Mike) Duncan, a 30-year political strategist and veteran of Republican politics, was elected as the 60th Chairman of the Republican National Committee in January 2007.
Duncan has worked for and advised Republican candidates and parties at the local, state and national level his entire adult life. He has held a wide variety of positions at the RNC, most recently as General Counsel and before that, Treasurer. During his career, he has served on the campaigns of five Presidents, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. He has been a delegate to six Republican National Conventions and is one of the few persons ever to serve on four standing convention committees.
Chairman Duncan’s service has extended to the federal government. In 1989-90, during a sabbatical from his banking career, he worked in the George H. W. Bush White House as assistant Director of Public Liaison. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows in 2001 and nominated him to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board, a position to which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in March 2006.
Duncan has been equally active in his home state of Kentucky, where he helped in the successful campaign to win back Kentucky’s statehouse for the first time in 36 years. In 1998 he took a leave of absence from his business and chaired Jim Bunning’s successful U.S. Senate race. In addition Duncan is a long-time supporter and fundraiser for Senator Mitch McConnell.
A civic capitalist, Chairman Duncan is active in numerous professional and nonprofit organizations. He served as board chairman of a state university and a private college. He is a Trustee of the Christian Appalachian Project, the 15th largest private social services agency in America. His public service has been recognized with several distinctions, including honorary degrees from the College of the Ozarks, Cumberland College, and Morehead State University. His student-mentoring program, in its 28th year, has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Los Angeles Times.
The Duncan family is the principal owner of two community banks with five offices in eastern Kentucky. Chairman Duncan has served as President of the Kentucky Bankers Association and as a Director of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati Branch.
Mike Duncan and his wife Joanne are 1974 graduates of the University of Kentucky College of Law. They live in Inez, Kentucky and have one son, Rob, an Assistant United States Attorney in Lexington, Kentucky, who is married to Valerie Ridder of Springfield, Missouri.
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Katon Dawson : http://www.katondawson.com/Home.html
Katon Dawson was elected Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party in spring 2002 and unanimously re-elected in 2004 and 2007. The fourth-longest serving State Republican Party chairman in the country, Dawson serves on the Budget Committee of the Republican National Committee.
Dubbed “a tough-as-nails southern warrior” by Washington Times Columnist Donald Lambro, Dawson has turned the South Carolina Republican Party’s financial deficit into a large surplus with aggressive fundraising and sound fiscal management. Dawson has broken all previous fundraising records for a state political party chairman in South Carolina.
Historic electoral success has been the hallmark of Dawson’s tenure at the helm of the South Carolina Republican Party. During the four election cycles Dawson has been State Chairman, Republicans have won nearly 80% of the elections in which they fielded a candidate. Under Dawson’s leadership, the South Carolina Republican Party has gained a U.S. Senate seat, re-taken the governorship and picked up two statewide constitutional offices. Republicans have also increased the number of seats the party holds in both chambers of the South Carolina General Assembly. Currently, Republicans hold eight out of nine statewide constitutional offices in South Carolina.
Dawson has been recognized nationally for preserving South Carolina’s First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Primary status. The South Carolina Republican Party’s First-in-the-South Presidential Primary has grown in significance over time. Since 1980, no candidate has won the Republican nomination for president without winning South Carolina’s Republican primary. In August 2007, Dawson made a historic trip to New Hampshire’s Executive Council Chambers at the State House in Concord. There, at a nationally televised press conference, he hand delivered a letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner announcing Saturday, January 19, 2008, as the date of the 2008 First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Primary.
Dawson has earned extensive coverage by local, statewide and national press. Dawson was the only State Republican Party Chairman in the country to host two live, nationally-televised FOX News Republican presidential candidates’ debates during the 2008 presidential primary season. Dawson has appeared on FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, National Public Radio and Dan Rather Reports. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, TIME, Newsweek, Washington Times and U.S. News and World Report. Dawson’s guest columns have been published in The Politico, The State and the Greenville News.
Dawson participated in a “Presidential Primary Symposium” in April 2008 at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was the featured speaker at a North Carolina Republican Party dinner in June 2008. He has also spoken to students at the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and Charleston Law School. Dawson served as a panelist discussing presidential politics at the University of Virginia Center For Politics’ 2008 American Democracy Conference hosted by Larry Sabato.
Dawson has been active in Republican Party politics for more than 40 years. On Halloween night 1964, Dawson was just 8 years old when his mother drove him to the downtown auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina, to hear Ronald Reagan stump for Republican presidential nominee Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Dawson was a flag-bearer on that historic evening and was honored to meet Reagan that night. “I remembered I wanted to be part of that excitement from that day forward”’ Dawson told the Associated Press in a 2007 interview.
Dawson went on to volunteer for President Richard Nixon and coordinate Students for Gerald Ford at the University of South Carolina. Dawson was member of Young Professionals for Ronald Reagan. Dawson was a regional captain of then-Gov. George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. Dawson also served as co-Chairman of South Carolina’s delegations to the 2004 and 2008 Republican National Convention and President of the 2004 South Carolina Electoral College.
Dawson is president and general manager of family-owned Burns Auto Parts in Columbia, South Carolina. He is married to Candy. They have two children – Anna and Katon, Jr. Dawson graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science in Management. He is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
The Dawson Plan: http://www.katondawson.com/The_Dawson_Plan_files/DawsonPlan.pdf
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Saul Anunzis: http://www.anuzisforchair.com/about/
About Saul
Saul Anuzis is not your typical Republican State Chairman. He is an unabashed Reagan-conservative with strong opinions about the role of government. He is also one of the most tech savvy chairmen in the country. The phrases often used to describe him include “constantly inmotion”, “whirlwind”, “true believer” and “man with a plan”. He joined the Teamsters union and rides a Harley Road King. But he leaves the Harley home when he’s campaigning so he can Twitter, blog and blackberry on the road. He is also a Boy Scoutmaster and a hockey dad. And, he is as committed to the Republican Party’s conservative roots as he once was to the liberation of Lithuania, the country his parents fled before seeking the American dream in Detroit, Michigan.
Saul is a believer in the core principles of Republicanism. They are the reason he became a Republican. He certainly wasn’t born into it. Saul grew up in a working class neighborhood in Detroit. He played in the streets with the kids of other autoworkers. He saw Ronald Reagan speak to those workers with a message that spoke to him as well. And he knows that, until we reach those voters again, Republicans will not win.
Saul attended the University of Michigan, Dearborn, where he studied economics. To help pay his way through college, Saul loaded trucks and was a member of the Teamsters Union. It was in college that he got his first taste of politics. There, he helped found a College Republican chapter and served as Student Government President. In 1980, Anuzis was elected as one of the youngest delegates to the Republican National Convention. He went on to attend President Reagan’s first inaugural ceremony that next January. Soon thereafter, he was elected Third Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and also served two terms as a Congressional District Chairman, precinct delegate and candidate for public office.
Throughout the 1980’s Saul worked in the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate for Senator Dick Posthumus of Grand Rapids. Posthumus would eventually become Senate Majority Leader, Lt. Governor and the party’s nominee for Governor in 2002. Saul found himself drawn to Jack Kemp’s free market/empowerment philosophy and played a key role in the Michigan effort for Kemp in 1988.
In 1990, Anuzis took a break from politics to focus on his family and business interests. Today, Saul and his business partner own Quick Connect USA, a telecommunications firm providing local, long distance, VOIP, Internet, and data services to residential and small businesses throughout Michigan. Anuzis serves as Chairman of the company but is currently on a leave of absence and maintains no day-to-day responsibilities due to his responsibilities to the Michigan Republican Party.
In 2005 and again in 2007, Saul was unanimously elected Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. In 2007, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Republican National Committee, and, he served on the Committee on Arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention. During his time as Michigan Chairman, Saul has actively cultivated relationships with members of the Republican National Committee all across the country. His daily blogs and regular updates are a source of up-to-the-minute information for Michigan activists and national GOP activists as well.
In addition, Saul is a regular contributor to many other right-of-center blogs, and has been recognized by many as one of the most tech savvy of the state GOP chairmen for his use of the latest web tools to communicate with supporters.
Saul is particularly proud of his Lithuanian family’s history. His parents and grandparents both received the Righteous Among the Nations award from Israel’s National Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, for helping, among others, three young girls escape from a Jewish ghetto during World War II.
After the war, Anuzis’ family came to America, where a priest gave his father a set of 19 books on how to become an electrician, a difficult task for a man who was learning to read and speak English at the same time. His father then spent 32 years as a skilled tradesman and UAW member at the Fleetwood Fisher Body Plant on Fort Street in Detroit.
Anuzis is actively involved in several Lithuanian-American organizations and serves on several non-profit boards. He currently serves as the Republic of Lithuania’s Honorary Consul to Michigan. He was also a Gubernatorial Appointee to the Michigan Jobs Commission and the Michigan Export Development Authority.
Saul has been married for 23 years to Lina (Alksninis) Anuzis. They have four sons. Matas attends Michigan State University, Tadas and Vytis are in high school at Lansing Catholic Central, and Marius attends Resurrection Middle School. The family resides in Lansing, Michigan.
Tha Anunzis Plan: http://www.anuzisforchair.com/ideas/
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Michael Steele : http://www.steeleforchairman.com/
Personal History and Life Story
A self-described Lincoln Republican. Michael S. Steele earned a place in history in 2003 when he became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland. His experiences as a successful elected conservative African-American Republican and his engaging speaking style have launched Steele into national prominence. His first major exposure was during an appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Since then President George W. Bush chose Steele to be part of the U.S. delegation to the investiture of Pope Benedict XVI, and as a member of the Presidential Delegation to the Leon H. Sullivan Summit VIII in Tanzania. Steele has been an entertaining and eloquent guest on cable political talk shows such as HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.
An expert on political strategy, fund-raising, PACs, and election reform, he is the current Chairman of GOPAC. He has served on the National Federal Election Reform Commission and the NAACP Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform.
Born in 1958 at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Steele was raised in Washington, DC. He spent three years as a seminarian in the Order of St. Augustine in preparation for the priesthood, but, ultimately, chose a career in law instead. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1991.
He is currently a Partner in the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf in Washington, DC. From 1991–1997, Steele was a corporate securities attorney at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Washington, DC, specializing in sophisticated financial transactions on behalf of Wall Street underwriters. He also was a corporate finance counsel for the Mills Corporation and founded his own company, The Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm. His writings on law, business and politics have appeared in The Washington Times, Politico.com, Townhall.com, and The Journal of International Security Affairs, among others.
Named a 2005 Aspen Institute–Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership and awarded the 2005 Bethune-DuBois Institute Award for his ongoing work in the development of quality education in Maryland, Steele also has served on a variety of boards and commissions including Export–Import Bank Advisory Board, the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors, and the Republican National Committee.
Lt. Governor Steele serves on the Administrative Board of the Maryland Catholic Conference and is a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills, MD, where he attends mass regularly with his wife Andrea and their two sons Michael and Drew.
The Michael Steele plan: http://www.americac2c.org/forum/topics/michael-steeles-blueprint-for
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Ken Blackwell: http://kenblackwell.com/
Ken Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council, and the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow for Public Policy at the Buckeye Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He is a visiting fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the American Civil Rights Union. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union and Pastors Retreat Network. Mr. Blackwell is also the Chairman for the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, and a member of the National Rifle Association’s Public Affairs Committee. He is a columnist for the New York Sun, a contributing editor and columnist for the conservative news and opinion site Townhall.com, and a public affairs commentator for the Salem Radio Network.
He has a distinguished record of achievement as a finance executive, entrepreneur, diplomat, educator and independent corporate director. He is one of the nation’s leading conservative voices and a strong advocate free market enterprise. In 2006, he became the first African-American in Ohio history to be a major party nominee for governor.
In 2004, the American Conservative Union and the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs honored Mr. Blackwell with the John M. Ashbrook Award for his steadfast conservative leadership. Past recipients of the award include President Ronald Reagan, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Charlton Heston.
Mr. Blackwell’s public service includes terms as mayor of Cincinnati, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1994, he became the first African-American elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio when he was elected treasurer of state. He subsequently was elected to two terms as secretary of state.
Mr. Blackwell is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (2003– present), a director of the Academy for Government Accountability (2007–present), and a former member of the federal senior executive service. He was co-chairman of the board of directors of the Campaign Finance Institute (2003–06) in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government (2003–06). Mr. Blackwell has been a member of the national advisory boards of the Princeton Review (2000-06) and Youth for Christ (2003-05). He is a former chairman of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board (1998–2001) and member of the Advisory Panel of the Federal Elections Commission (1999-2003). In addition, Mr. Blackwell served on the board of directors of the ICMA Retirement Corporation (1999– 2004), Fifth Third Bank, Fifth Third Bancorp (1993-94), the Cincinnati Public Employees Retirement System (1985-88) and Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals (1996-99).
In 2002, he received meritorious recognition from the Center for Digital Government, and was recognized by Government Technology magazine as one of the top 25 public sector leaders in information technology. He is a past president of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council. More than 25 years ago, he began his work in using technology to help government fulfill its mission and commitment to citizens as a member of the board of directors of Public Technology, Inc., located in Washington, D.C.
A certified government finance manager, Mr. Blackwell was a 1999 recipient of the Government Finance Officers Association’s Excellence in Government Award. In 2006, he received the prestigious National Leadership Award from the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. He was formerly a Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (1990) in Washington, D.C. He has served on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans.
Mr. Blackwell was a delegate to the White House Summit on Retirement Savings in 1998 and 2002. During the 1990s, he served on the congressionally appointed National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, and in 1998, he co-edited a book with Jack Kemp, entitled, IRS v. The People: Time for Real Tax Reform. In 2006, he co-authored with Jerome R. Corsi Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare. An advocate for tax simplification and government reform, Mr. Blackwell has testified before Congressional committees on taxation, government operations, election systems, education, and banking matters.
Mr. Blackwell also has served on the boards of directors of the International Republican Institute, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the Congressional Human Rights Foundation. He was a scholar-in-residence at the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati College of Law (19991-93).
As the U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, he led the U.S. delegation to all four of the preparatory meetings for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and presently serves on the advisory board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
His international activities have taken him to 53 countries and strengthened his understanding of emerging international markets and the growth of democracy worldwide. Mr. Blackwell has held the nation’s highest security clearance, and twice received the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award from the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton for his work in the field of human rights.
He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Xavier University (OH), where he later served as a vice president and member of its faculty. In 1992, he received Xavier’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has been a Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, the Aspen Institute, the Salzburg Seminar in Austria and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (British-American Project). His continuing education has included executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.
Among his awards are honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions of higher education in Ohio, including Ashland University (2002), Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (1999), Lourdes College (2003), Wilberforce University (1980), Wilmington College (1996), Urbana University (1997), Indiana Wesleyan University (2005) and Franklin Pierce College (1992) in New Hampshire. He is a recipient of the Veritas Award (1998) from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut and the President’s Award for Public Service and Leadership (1995) from Central State University in Ohio.
In 1998, Mr. Blackwell delivered the Becket Lecture on Religious Liberty at Oxford University. Since the spring of 2004, he has been a member of the Arlington Group, an influential national coalition of pro-life, pro-family and religious leaders and organizations. He has lectured at Harvard, the University of New Castle in England, and the Moscow State Institute for International Relations in Russia, and the International Academy of Public Administration in Paris. Many of his speeches and lectures have been published in “Vital Speeches of the Day.”
His commentaries have been carried in major newspapers across the United States, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as all major newspapers in Ohio. He is a regular guest commentator for Salem Communications. Salem Communications operates 59 radio stations in 22 of the nation’s top 25 markets and owns 95 stations nationally. He also has been a frequent guest on network and cable news and public affairs programs, including Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, CNN’s Crossfire and Inside Politics, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, and PBS’s The Jim Lehrer Newshour and Tavis Smiley Late Night.
Mr. Blackwell is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati. He was a founding partner of the highly successful Blue Chip Broadcasting Company, a network of 20 urban format radio stations. At the time of its sale in 2001, Blue Chip Broadcasting had become the second largest African-American owned radio company in the nation. He and his wife of 39 years, Rosa, who currently serves as superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, have three adult children. In 1994, the Blackwells were honored as one of the National Council of Negro Women’s Families of the Year, and, in 1996, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell together received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dreamkeeper Award from the Cincinnati Historical Society. In 2006, the Blackwells became minority shareholders in the Cincinnati Reds, the city’s major league baseball team. Mr. Blackwell is a member of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, the Literary Club of Cincinnati and is a life member of the NAACP.
The Blackwell Plan: http://kenblackwell.com/the-blackwell-plan/
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Chip Saltsman: http://www.chipsaltsman.com/
John “Chip” Saltsman, Jr. is a Tennessee Republican with the experience, energy, and dedication necessary to bring our Republican Party to resurgent national leadership. As a business owner, as Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, and as campaign manager of a Republican presidential campaign, Saltsman has learned how to compete and how to win.
Born March 24, 1968 in Nashville, Tennessee, Saltsman attended Christian Brothers University in Memphis, at which he earned his bachelor’s and master’s in business administration degrees. Before the Republican Revolution of 1994, Tennessee was represented by two Democratic Senators, a Democratic Governor, and a Democratic State Legislature. With Saltsman’s help, conservatives elected Senator Bill Frist, Senator Fred Thompson, and Governor Don Sundquist that year in a sweeping landslide.
Elected Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party in 1998, Saltsman quickly faced a crisis of conscience when his long-time mentor Governor Don Sundquist made imposition of a state income tax the centerpiece of his second term. Refusing to permit his party to betray its commitment to fiscal conservatism, Saltsman strongly opposed the income tax proposal, which failed after grassroots opposition from conservatives across the state inspired a tax revolt. Today, Tennessee remains one of only nine states without a broad-based income tax.
Saltsman next faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge as he worked to defeat then-Vice President Al Gore in his home state of Tennessee, despite President Clinton’s success there in 1992 and 1996 and despite the fact that Gore and his father had represented the state in the Senate for a combined twenty-six years. Saltsman’s hard work and political leadership ensured George W. Bush’s victory in Tennessee, without which Florida’s narrow margin would have been nothing but an interesting footnote.
Saltsman followed this accomplishment by working as Development Director for Senator Frist at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2002 election cycle, where he helped Republicans regain control of the Senate after the defection of Senator James Jeffords handed the chamber to Democratic control in May 2001.
Saltsman then became Senior Political Advisor to Majority Leader Frist at VOLPAC, a political action committee chaired by Frist and dedicated to recruitment and support of Republican candidates for political office nationwide. In 2004, eighteen of the twenty two races that VOLPAC supported were successful. And, in 2006, VOLPAC helped ensure the election of Senator Bob Corker over Harold Ford, Jr. in Tennessee.
Saltsman was also an important figure in Senator Frist’s preparations for a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and was labeled “Frist’s secret weapon” by Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post and “a multi-talented superstar ...[who has] demonstrated uncanny, remarkable leadership in every endeavor he’s undertaken” by Frist himself. However, following the completion of his two terms in the Senate, Frist decided against a run for the presidency. With Frist’s departure from public service, Saltsman became National Campaign Manager for Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign on February 1, 2007.
Saltsman oversaw all aspects of the campaign, including political, fundraising, communications and operations, and he led the dark horse candidacy to a surprise second place in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll and then to victory in the Iowa Republican Caucuses. Huckabee’s campaign proceeded to record victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia on Super Tuesday, before ending his campaign on March 4, 2008 with 270 pledged delegates.
Saltsman is currently considering a run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, so that our party can pick itself up, develop and offer new ideas, introduce new candidates, and present new leadership. Despite our defeat this November, he firmly believes that the Republican Party can arise bolder, stronger, and more cohesive in the months and years to come.
Chip Saltsman Plan: http://www.chipsaltsman.com/index.cfm?Page=Memo
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Tina J. Benkiser: http://www.texasgop.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Chairman_Benkisers...
Republican Party of Texas Chairman
Tina Benkiser, an experienced and respected leader in the areas of law, politics and volunteerism, has served as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas since 2003. Committed to promoting conservative principles and building infrastructure so that those who share such principles can get effectively involved in the political process, Chairman Benkiser has helped build one of the strongest, most successful parties in America.
Under Chairman Benkiser’s leadership, Texas Republicans have achieved historic successes. In addition to electing the largest conservative Congressional delegation in the nation and being entrusted with all statewide offices and control of the Texas Legislature, Republicans have won almost 500 seats previously held by Democrats, making historic gains in every area of the State in recent elections. Tina is using her extensive experience to fight for conservative principles and win Republican victories the right way with smart planning, good organizing, hard work and, above all, character and integrity.
During her tenure, Tina has launched aggressive campaigns on a number of conservative issues. She has fought to protect traditional family values, protect private property rights, protect 2nd Amendment rights, promote ballot integrity, reform our legal system, protect and secure our borders, and limit government growth and spending to name a few. Inspiring people who share our principles, Tina knows how to share a conservative message in a positive and practical way.
Understanding the value and strength of grassroots activists, Tina travels extensively speaking to thousands of people as well as the press about the Party and its principles. She is a frequent guest on television and talk radio while continuing to reach voters through millions of calls, direct mail and a vast array of electronic media.
Chairman Benkiser is a corporate transactional and intellectual property attorney. She lives in Houston with her husband Eric.
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Blackwell and Benkiser join forces- Dec. 18.2008:
Blackwell and Benkiser Form Ticket
http://kenblackwell.com/2008/12/blackwell-and-benkiser-form-ticket/
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"How do we influence the RNC in the race for chairman?"
There's a great website that lets you do this quickly and easily- http://www.chooseyourchairman.com/
There are also links to the individuals' websites where you can learn more about their plans for the GOP.
And, my favorite part, the site uses your zipcode and notifies your RNC voting members of your choice for chairman.
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There are 168 members who will be voting to decide the next RNC Chairman at the RNC Winter Meeting on January 20, 2009. There are three members from each state who are able to vote, the state Chairman, the state National Committeeman and the state National Committeewoman. To locate the names of who your local state members are, perform the following steps: Go to the National GOP Website - State Parties page http://www.gop.com/Connect/States.aspx
and select the state in which you live, which will bring up all three voting member names for the state selected. You will also see phone number(s) listed to contact your local state voting members. You can pick a new state by selecting “State Parties” from the menu bar.
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List of Candidates”
Robert M. Duncan : http://www.gop.com/About/AboutBio.aspx?Guid=440ac9cd-8163-47f5-9c39...
Chairman, Republican National Committee
Robert M. (Mike) Duncan, a 30-year political strategist and veteran of Republican politics, was elected as the 60th Chairman of the Republican National Committee in January 2007.
Duncan has worked for and advised Republican candidates and parties at the local, state and national level his entire adult life. He has held a wide variety of positions at the RNC, most recently as General Counsel and before that, Treasurer. During his career, he has served on the campaigns of five Presidents, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. He has been a delegate to six Republican National Conventions and is one of the few persons ever to serve on four standing convention committees.
Chairman Duncan’s service has extended to the federal government. In 1989-90, during a sabbatical from his banking career, he worked in the George H. W. Bush White House as assistant Director of Public Liaison. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows in 2001 and nominated him to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board, a position to which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in March 2006.
Duncan has been equally active in his home state of Kentucky, where he helped in the successful campaign to win back Kentucky’s statehouse for the first time in 36 years. In 1998 he took a leave of absence from his business and chaired Jim Bunning’s successful U.S. Senate race. In addition Duncan is a long-time supporter and fundraiser for Senator Mitch McConnell.
A civic capitalist, Chairman Duncan is active in numerous professional and nonprofit organizations. He served as board chairman of a state university and a private college. He is a Trustee of the Christian Appalachian Project, the 15th largest private social services agency in America. His public service has been recognized with several distinctions, including honorary degrees from the College of the Ozarks, Cumberland College, and Morehead State University. His student-mentoring program, in its 28th year, has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Los Angeles Times.
The Duncan family is the principal owner of two community banks with five offices in eastern Kentucky. Chairman Duncan has served as President of the Kentucky Bankers Association and as a Director of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati Branch.
Mike Duncan and his wife Joanne are 1974 graduates of the University of Kentucky College of Law. They live in Inez, Kentucky and have one son, Rob, an Assistant United States Attorney in Lexington, Kentucky, who is married to Valerie Ridder of Springfield, Missouri.
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Katon Dawson : http://www.katondawson.com/Home.html
Katon Dawson was elected Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party in spring 2002 and unanimously re-elected in 2004 and 2007. The fourth-longest serving State Republican Party chairman in the country, Dawson serves on the Budget Committee of the Republican National Committee.
Dubbed “a tough-as-nails southern warrior” by Washington Times Columnist Donald Lambro, Dawson has turned the South Carolina Republican Party’s financial deficit into a large surplus with aggressive fundraising and sound fiscal management. Dawson has broken all previous fundraising records for a state political party chairman in South Carolina.
Historic electoral success has been the hallmark of Dawson’s tenure at the helm of the South Carolina Republican Party. During the four election cycles Dawson has been State Chairman, Republicans have won nearly 80% of the elections in which they fielded a candidate. Under Dawson’s leadership, the South Carolina Republican Party has gained a U.S. Senate seat, re-taken the governorship and picked up two statewide constitutional offices. Republicans have also increased the number of seats the party holds in both chambers of the South Carolina General Assembly. Currently, Republicans hold eight out of nine statewide constitutional offices in South Carolina.
Dawson has been recognized nationally for preserving South Carolina’s First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Primary status. The South Carolina Republican Party’s First-in-the-South Presidential Primary has grown in significance over time. Since 1980, no candidate has won the Republican nomination for president without winning South Carolina’s Republican primary. In August 2007, Dawson made a historic trip to New Hampshire’s Executive Council Chambers at the State House in Concord. There, at a nationally televised press conference, he hand delivered a letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner announcing Saturday, January 19, 2008, as the date of the 2008 First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Primary.
Dawson has earned extensive coverage by local, statewide and national press. Dawson was the only State Republican Party Chairman in the country to host two live, nationally-televised FOX News Republican presidential candidates’ debates during the 2008 presidential primary season. Dawson has appeared on FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, National Public Radio and Dan Rather Reports. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, TIME, Newsweek, Washington Times and U.S. News and World Report. Dawson’s guest columns have been published in The Politico, The State and the Greenville News.
Dawson participated in a “Presidential Primary Symposium” in April 2008 at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was the featured speaker at a North Carolina Republican Party dinner in June 2008. He has also spoken to students at the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and Charleston Law School. Dawson served as a panelist discussing presidential politics at the University of Virginia Center For Politics’ 2008 American Democracy Conference hosted by Larry Sabato.
Dawson has been active in Republican Party politics for more than 40 years. On Halloween night 1964, Dawson was just 8 years old when his mother drove him to the downtown auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina, to hear Ronald Reagan stump for Republican presidential nominee Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Dawson was a flag-bearer on that historic evening and was honored to meet Reagan that night. “I remembered I wanted to be part of that excitement from that day forward”’ Dawson told the Associated Press in a 2007 interview.
Dawson went on to volunteer for President Richard Nixon and coordinate Students for Gerald Ford at the University of South Carolina. Dawson was member of Young Professionals for Ronald Reagan. Dawson was a regional captain of then-Gov. George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. Dawson also served as co-Chairman of South Carolina’s delegations to the 2004 and 2008 Republican National Convention and President of the 2004 South Carolina Electoral College.
Dawson is president and general manager of family-owned Burns Auto Parts in Columbia, South Carolina. He is married to Candy. They have two children – Anna and Katon, Jr. Dawson graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science in Management. He is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
The Dawson Plan: http://www.katondawson.com/The_Dawson_Plan_files/DawsonPlan.pdf
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Saul Anunzis: http://www.anuzisforchair.com/about/
About Saul
Saul Anuzis is not your typical Republican State Chairman. He is an unabashed Reagan-conservative with strong opinions about the role of government. He is also one of the most tech savvy chairmen in the country. The phrases often used to describe him include “constantly inmotion”, “whirlwind”, “true believer” and “man with a plan”. He joined the Teamsters union and rides a Harley Road King. But he leaves the Harley home when he’s campaigning so he can Twitter, blog and blackberry on the road. He is also a Boy Scoutmaster and a hockey dad. And, he is as committed to the Republican Party’s conservative roots as he once was to the liberation of Lithuania, the country his parents fled before seeking the American dream in Detroit, Michigan.
Saul is a believer in the core principles of Republicanism. They are the reason he became a Republican. He certainly wasn’t born into it. Saul grew up in a working class neighborhood in Detroit. He played in the streets with the kids of other autoworkers. He saw Ronald Reagan speak to those workers with a message that spoke to him as well. And he knows that, until we reach those voters again, Republicans will not win.
Saul attended the University of Michigan, Dearborn, where he studied economics. To help pay his way through college, Saul loaded trucks and was a member of the Teamsters Union. It was in college that he got his first taste of politics. There, he helped found a College Republican chapter and served as Student Government President. In 1980, Anuzis was elected as one of the youngest delegates to the Republican National Convention. He went on to attend President Reagan’s first inaugural ceremony that next January. Soon thereafter, he was elected Third Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and also served two terms as a Congressional District Chairman, precinct delegate and candidate for public office.
Throughout the 1980’s Saul worked in the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate for Senator Dick Posthumus of Grand Rapids. Posthumus would eventually become Senate Majority Leader, Lt. Governor and the party’s nominee for Governor in 2002. Saul found himself drawn to Jack Kemp’s free market/empowerment philosophy and played a key role in the Michigan effort for Kemp in 1988.
In 1990, Anuzis took a break from politics to focus on his family and business interests. Today, Saul and his business partner own Quick Connect USA, a telecommunications firm providing local, long distance, VOIP, Internet, and data services to residential and small businesses throughout Michigan. Anuzis serves as Chairman of the company but is currently on a leave of absence and maintains no day-to-day responsibilities due to his responsibilities to the Michigan Republican Party.
In 2005 and again in 2007, Saul was unanimously elected Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. In 2007, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Republican National Committee, and, he served on the Committee on Arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention. During his time as Michigan Chairman, Saul has actively cultivated relationships with members of the Republican National Committee all across the country. His daily blogs and regular updates are a source of up-to-the-minute information for Michigan activists and national GOP activists as well.
In addition, Saul is a regular contributor to many other right-of-center blogs, and has been recognized by many as one of the most tech savvy of the state GOP chairmen for his use of the latest web tools to communicate with supporters.
Saul is particularly proud of his Lithuanian family’s history. His parents and grandparents both received the Righteous Among the Nations award from Israel’s National Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, for helping, among others, three young girls escape from a Jewish ghetto during World War II.
After the war, Anuzis’ family came to America, where a priest gave his father a set of 19 books on how to become an electrician, a difficult task for a man who was learning to read and speak English at the same time. His father then spent 32 years as a skilled tradesman and UAW member at the Fleetwood Fisher Body Plant on Fort Street in Detroit.
Anuzis is actively involved in several Lithuanian-American organizations and serves on several non-profit boards. He currently serves as the Republic of Lithuania’s Honorary Consul to Michigan. He was also a Gubernatorial Appointee to the Michigan Jobs Commission and the Michigan Export Development Authority.
Saul has been married for 23 years to Lina (Alksninis) Anuzis. They have four sons. Matas attends Michigan State University, Tadas and Vytis are in high school at Lansing Catholic Central, and Marius attends Resurrection Middle School. The family resides in Lansing, Michigan.
Tha Anunzis Plan: http://www.anuzisforchair.com/ideas/
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Michael Steele : http://www.steeleforchairman.com/
Personal History and Life Story
A self-described Lincoln Republican. Michael S. Steele earned a place in history in 2003 when he became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland. His experiences as a successful elected conservative African-American Republican and his engaging speaking style have launched Steele into national prominence. His first major exposure was during an appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Since then President George W. Bush chose Steele to be part of the U.S. delegation to the investiture of Pope Benedict XVI, and as a member of the Presidential Delegation to the Leon H. Sullivan Summit VIII in Tanzania. Steele has been an entertaining and eloquent guest on cable political talk shows such as HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.
An expert on political strategy, fund-raising, PACs, and election reform, he is the current Chairman of GOPAC. He has served on the National Federal Election Reform Commission and the NAACP Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform.
Born in 1958 at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Steele was raised in Washington, DC. He spent three years as a seminarian in the Order of St. Augustine in preparation for the priesthood, but, ultimately, chose a career in law instead. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1991.
He is currently a Partner in the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf in Washington, DC. From 1991–1997, Steele was a corporate securities attorney at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Washington, DC, specializing in sophisticated financial transactions on behalf of Wall Street underwriters. He also was a corporate finance counsel for the Mills Corporation and founded his own company, The Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm. His writings on law, business and politics have appeared in The Washington Times, Politico.com, Townhall.com, and The Journal of International Security Affairs, among others.
Named a 2005 Aspen Institute–Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership and awarded the 2005 Bethune-DuBois Institute Award for his ongoing work in the development of quality education in Maryland, Steele also has served on a variety of boards and commissions including Export–Import Bank Advisory Board, the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors, and the Republican National Committee.
Lt. Governor Steele serves on the Administrative Board of the Maryland Catholic Conference and is a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills, MD, where he attends mass regularly with his wife Andrea and their two sons Michael and Drew.
The Michael Steele plan: http://www.americac2c.org/forum/topics/michael-steeles-blueprint-for
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Ken Blackwell: http://kenblackwell.com/
Ken Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council, and the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow for Public Policy at the Buckeye Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He is a visiting fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the American Civil Rights Union. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union and Pastors Retreat Network. Mr. Blackwell is also the Chairman for the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, and a member of the National Rifle Association’s Public Affairs Committee. He is a columnist for the New York Sun, a contributing editor and columnist for the conservative news and opinion site Townhall.com, and a public affairs commentator for the Salem Radio Network.
He has a distinguished record of achievement as a finance executive, entrepreneur, diplomat, educator and independent corporate director. He is one of the nation’s leading conservative voices and a strong advocate free market enterprise. In 2006, he became the first African-American in Ohio history to be a major party nominee for governor.
In 2004, the American Conservative Union and the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs honored Mr. Blackwell with the John M. Ashbrook Award for his steadfast conservative leadership. Past recipients of the award include President Ronald Reagan, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Charlton Heston.
Mr. Blackwell’s public service includes terms as mayor of Cincinnati, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1994, he became the first African-American elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio when he was elected treasurer of state. He subsequently was elected to two terms as secretary of state.
Mr. Blackwell is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (2003– present), a director of the Academy for Government Accountability (2007–present), and a former member of the federal senior executive service. He was co-chairman of the board of directors of the Campaign Finance Institute (2003–06) in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government (2003–06). Mr. Blackwell has been a member of the national advisory boards of the Princeton Review (2000-06) and Youth for Christ (2003-05). He is a former chairman of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board (1998–2001) and member of the Advisory Panel of the Federal Elections Commission (1999-2003). In addition, Mr. Blackwell served on the board of directors of the ICMA Retirement Corporation (1999– 2004), Fifth Third Bank, Fifth Third Bancorp (1993-94), the Cincinnati Public Employees Retirement System (1985-88) and Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals (1996-99).
In 2002, he received meritorious recognition from the Center for Digital Government, and was recognized by Government Technology magazine as one of the top 25 public sector leaders in information technology. He is a past president of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council. More than 25 years ago, he began his work in using technology to help government fulfill its mission and commitment to citizens as a member of the board of directors of Public Technology, Inc., located in Washington, D.C.
A certified government finance manager, Mr. Blackwell was a 1999 recipient of the Government Finance Officers Association’s Excellence in Government Award. In 2006, he received the prestigious National Leadership Award from the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. He was formerly a Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (1990) in Washington, D.C. He has served on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans.
Mr. Blackwell was a delegate to the White House Summit on Retirement Savings in 1998 and 2002. During the 1990s, he served on the congressionally appointed National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, and in 1998, he co-edited a book with Jack Kemp, entitled, IRS v. The People: Time for Real Tax Reform. In 2006, he co-authored with Jerome R. Corsi Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare. An advocate for tax simplification and government reform, Mr. Blackwell has testified before Congressional committees on taxation, government operations, election systems, education, and banking matters.
Mr. Blackwell also has served on the boards of directors of the International Republican Institute, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the Congressional Human Rights Foundation. He was a scholar-in-residence at the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati College of Law (19991-93).
As the U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, he led the U.S. delegation to all four of the preparatory meetings for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and presently serves on the advisory board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
His international activities have taken him to 53 countries and strengthened his understanding of emerging international markets and the growth of democracy worldwide. Mr. Blackwell has held the nation’s highest security clearance, and twice received the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award from the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton for his work in the field of human rights.
He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Xavier University (OH), where he later served as a vice president and member of its faculty. In 1992, he received Xavier’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has been a Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, the Aspen Institute, the Salzburg Seminar in Austria and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (British-American Project). His continuing education has included executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.
Among his awards are honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions of higher education in Ohio, including Ashland University (2002), Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (1999), Lourdes College (2003), Wilberforce University (1980), Wilmington College (1996), Urbana University (1997), Indiana Wesleyan University (2005) and Franklin Pierce College (1992) in New Hampshire. He is a recipient of the Veritas Award (1998) from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut and the President’s Award for Public Service and Leadership (1995) from Central State University in Ohio.
In 1998, Mr. Blackwell delivered the Becket Lecture on Religious Liberty at Oxford University. Since the spring of 2004, he has been a member of the Arlington Group, an influential national coalition of pro-life, pro-family and religious leaders and organizations. He has lectured at Harvard, the University of New Castle in England, and the Moscow State Institute for International Relations in Russia, and the International Academy of Public Administration in Paris. Many of his speeches and lectures have been published in “Vital Speeches of the Day.”
His commentaries have been carried in major newspapers across the United States, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as all major newspapers in Ohio. He is a regular guest commentator for Salem Communications. Salem Communications operates 59 radio stations in 22 of the nation’s top 25 markets and owns 95 stations nationally. He also has been a frequent guest on network and cable news and public affairs programs, including Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, CNN’s Crossfire and Inside Politics, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, and PBS’s The Jim Lehrer Newshour and Tavis Smiley Late Night.
Mr. Blackwell is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati. He was a founding partner of the highly successful Blue Chip Broadcasting Company, a network of 20 urban format radio stations. At the time of its sale in 2001, Blue Chip Broadcasting had become the second largest African-American owned radio company in the nation. He and his wife of 39 years, Rosa, who currently serves as superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, have three adult children. In 1994, the Blackwells were honored as one of the National Council of Negro Women’s Families of the Year, and, in 1996, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell together received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dreamkeeper Award from the Cincinnati Historical Society. In 2006, the Blackwells became minority shareholders in the Cincinnati Reds, the city’s major league baseball team. Mr. Blackwell is a member of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, the Literary Club of Cincinnati and is a life member of the NAACP.
The Blackwell Plan: http://kenblackwell.com/the-blackwell-plan/
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Chip Saltsman: http://www.chipsaltsman.com/
John “Chip” Saltsman, Jr. is a Tennessee Republican with the experience, energy, and dedication necessary to bring our Republican Party to resurgent national leadership. As a business owner, as Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, and as campaign manager of a Republican presidential campaign, Saltsman has learned how to compete and how to win.
Born March 24, 1968 in Nashville, Tennessee, Saltsman attended Christian Brothers University in Memphis, at which he earned his bachelor’s and master’s in business administration degrees. Before the Republican Revolution of 1994, Tennessee was represented by two Democratic Senators, a Democratic Governor, and a Democratic State Legislature. With Saltsman’s help, conservatives elected Senator Bill Frist, Senator Fred Thompson, and Governor Don Sundquist that year in a sweeping landslide.
Elected Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party in 1998, Saltsman quickly faced a crisis of conscience when his long-time mentor Governor Don Sundquist made imposition of a state income tax the centerpiece of his second term. Refusing to permit his party to betray its commitment to fiscal conservatism, Saltsman strongly opposed the income tax proposal, which failed after grassroots opposition from conservatives across the state inspired a tax revolt. Today, Tennessee remains one of only nine states without a broad-based income tax.
Saltsman next faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge as he worked to defeat then-Vice President Al Gore in his home state of Tennessee, despite President Clinton’s success there in 1992 and 1996 and despite the fact that Gore and his father had represented the state in the Senate for a combined twenty-six years. Saltsman’s hard work and political leadership ensured George W. Bush’s victory in Tennessee, without which Florida’s narrow margin would have been nothing but an interesting footnote.
Saltsman followed this accomplishment by working as Development Director for Senator Frist at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2002 election cycle, where he helped Republicans regain control of the Senate after the defection of Senator James Jeffords handed the chamber to Democratic control in May 2001.
Saltsman then became Senior Political Advisor to Majority Leader Frist at VOLPAC, a political action committee chaired by Frist and dedicated to recruitment and support of Republican candidates for political office nationwide. In 2004, eighteen of the twenty two races that VOLPAC supported were successful. And, in 2006, VOLPAC helped ensure the election of Senator Bob Corker over Harold Ford, Jr. in Tennessee.
Saltsman was also an important figure in Senator Frist’s preparations for a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and was labeled “Frist’s secret weapon” by Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post and “a multi-talented superstar ...[who has] demonstrated uncanny, remarkable leadership in every endeavor he’s undertaken” by Frist himself. However, following the completion of his two terms in the Senate, Frist decided against a run for the presidency. With Frist’s departure from public service, Saltsman became National Campaign Manager for Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign on February 1, 2007.
Saltsman oversaw all aspects of the campaign, including political, fundraising, communications and operations, and he led the dark horse candidacy to a surprise second place in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll and then to victory in the Iowa Republican Caucuses. Huckabee’s campaign proceeded to record victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia on Super Tuesday, before ending his campaign on March 4, 2008 with 270 pledged delegates.
Saltsman is currently considering a run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, so that our party can pick itself up, develop and offer new ideas, introduce new candidates, and present new leadership. Despite our defeat this November, he firmly believes that the Republican Party can arise bolder, stronger, and more cohesive in the months and years to come.
Chip Saltsman Plan: http://www.chipsaltsman.com/index.cfm?Page=Memo
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Tina J. Benkiser: http://www.texasgop.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Chairman_Benkisers...
Republican Party of Texas Chairman
Tina Benkiser, an experienced and respected leader in the areas of law, politics and volunteerism, has served as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas since 2003. Committed to promoting conservative principles and building infrastructure so that those who share such principles can get effectively involved in the political process, Chairman Benkiser has helped build one of the strongest, most successful parties in America.
Under Chairman Benkiser’s leadership, Texas Republicans have achieved historic successes. In addition to electing the largest conservative Congressional delegation in the nation and being entrusted with all statewide offices and control of the Texas Legislature, Republicans have won almost 500 seats previously held by Democrats, making historic gains in every area of the State in recent elections. Tina is using her extensive experience to fight for conservative principles and win Republican victories the right way with smart planning, good organizing, hard work and, above all, character and integrity.
During her tenure, Tina has launched aggressive campaigns on a number of conservative issues. She has fought to protect traditional family values, protect private property rights, protect 2nd Amendment rights, promote ballot integrity, reform our legal system, protect and secure our borders, and limit government growth and spending to name a few. Inspiring people who share our principles, Tina knows how to share a conservative message in a positive and practical way.
Understanding the value and strength of grassroots activists, Tina travels extensively speaking to thousands of people as well as the press about the Party and its principles. She is a frequent guest on television and talk radio while continuing to reach voters through millions of calls, direct mail and a vast array of electronic media.
Chairman Benkiser is a corporate transactional and intellectual property attorney. She lives in Houston with her husband Eric.
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Blackwell and Benkiser join forces- Dec. 18.2008:
Blackwell and Benkiser Form Ticket
http://kenblackwell.com/2008/12/blackwell-and-benkiser-form-ticket/
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"How do we influence the RNC in the race for chairman?"
There's a great website that lets you do this quickly and easily- http://www.chooseyourchairman.com/
There are also links to the individuals' websites where you can learn more about their plans for the GOP.
And, my favorite part, the site uses your zipcode and notifies your RNC voting members of your choice for chairman.
Shariah Financing
Great Site on the Islamization threat and video on shariah Financing:
http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/shariah-islamic-finance
Democrats
” />Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democrat Party… as they have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance. This photo is of a Democrat black bear in Montana nicknamed ‘Bearack Obama’ who wants to know “Where’s my Change...change...change..?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
For those who say the Iraqi’s would have been better off under Saddam
I posted this in a comment section at this site, but want to give it it’s own BLOG space.
Many people are angry at George Bush. When asked why, they invariably all reply “Bush lied, people died, there were no WMD’s”, or some version of this. When asked to elaborate further, few do or can. They seem to be convinced that we committed some evil sin by going into Iraq, that the Iraqi people would somehow be better off if we had not.
Whatever one’s viewpoint on whether we should or should not have gone into Iraq,(and I stand with the “should have” group), none can argue against the brutal realities of life under Saddam for the Iraqi people. Our biased mainstream media glosses over this. Some liberal thinking people believe the horror stories are some kind of “neo-con” propaganda or conspiracy. This posting is a “Reality check” for those of you who feel this way.
I am hereby asking you to take the time, to have the courage, to put aside your biases and to watch the following 4 videos. They are graphic and very upsetting. They were shown at Saddam’s trial. When done, please reflect on what you have seen. Are the Iraqi people better off now, or do you truly feel it was better for them then? They are a country struggling with their new Democracy, something they have never in their history had before. They have made great strides. I, for one, pray for their success, that they become a strong, peaceful, prosperous and happy country. I thank our precious, brave troops for all they have done in Iraq and other places in the world, to secure and maintain our freedoms, and for all they have sacrificed to help others, Germany and Japan being prime examples. God Bless and protect out troops.
Videos:
http://fdd.typepad.com/fdd/2006/01/alert_saddams_c.html
Many people are angry at George Bush. When asked why, they invariably all reply “Bush lied, people died, there were no WMD’s”, or some version of this. When asked to elaborate further, few do or can. They seem to be convinced that we committed some evil sin by going into Iraq, that the Iraqi people would somehow be better off if we had not.
Whatever one’s viewpoint on whether we should or should not have gone into Iraq,(and I stand with the “should have” group), none can argue against the brutal realities of life under Saddam for the Iraqi people. Our biased mainstream media glosses over this. Some liberal thinking people believe the horror stories are some kind of “neo-con” propaganda or conspiracy. This posting is a “Reality check” for those of you who feel this way.
I am hereby asking you to take the time, to have the courage, to put aside your biases and to watch the following 4 videos. They are graphic and very upsetting. They were shown at Saddam’s trial. When done, please reflect on what you have seen. Are the Iraqi people better off now, or do you truly feel it was better for them then? They are a country struggling with their new Democracy, something they have never in their history had before. They have made great strides. I, for one, pray for their success, that they become a strong, peaceful, prosperous and happy country. I thank our precious, brave troops for all they have done in Iraq and other places in the world, to secure and maintain our freedoms, and for all they have sacrificed to help others, Germany and Japan being prime examples. God Bless and protect out troops.
Videos:
http://fdd.typepad.com/fdd/2006/01/alert_saddams_c.html
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