November 2012 Election Endorsements
 

Rick Vandeven
U.S. Congress, Missouri, 8th District
Libertarian
website

Rick Vandeven came to Rolla last week for the candidates forum and again showed that he stands head and shoulders above his Democratic and Republican opposition. (The incumbent Republican disrespected her constituents by not even showing up.)

In response to a question about what he would do if he was elected to join Congress, Rick responded that he isn't running to join 'em, he's running to fight 'em.

Rick wants to end our foreign military adventures and return thousands of dollars of war taxes to the people. When asked what would constitute victory in Afghanistan, he responded: How can you talk about victory in expensive illegal undeclared wars that have been so devastating to civilian populations?

Rick is a breath of fresh air in the polluted political discourse. Let's send Rick to Washington to fight for us.

Rick Lisenbe
Phelps County Sheriff
Democrat
website

Rick Lisenbe has really turned the Phelps County Sheriff's Department around since we elected him four years ago. Phelps County Sheriff is a job for a law enforcement professional; and that's Rick. Rick is retired from the Missouri Highway Patrol. I haven't heard a serious complaint about Rick during the four years he has been Sheriff; and that's got to be a record here in Phelps County.

Rick's challenger lacks the experience and qualifications to be Sheriff.

Let's elect Rick Lisenbe to be our Sheriff for another four years.

Charles L. "Bud" Dean
Phelps County Commissioner, District 2
Democrat

Bud Dean has been County Commissioner for 12 years. Being a County Commissioner is not an easy job; and the County Commission is no place for partisan politics. You have a budget of around $15 million; and you have to manage miles and miles of rural roads and bridges. Bud's lived in rural Phelps County all his life. He knows the County well.

Bud's challenger, as a member of the Rolla City Council, voted to declare every home in the City of Rolla blighted. This was supposed to make businesses want to relocate to Rolla. Needless to say, it hasn't worked out. Who would want to locate their business in a city where every house is blighted? This mindset would be a disaster for Phelps County.

Let's elect Bud Dean to another four years as County Commissioner.

Big Bird
President of the United States
Sesame Street
website

There's not much to choose from among the two front runners. Both are in favor of continuing our overseas military adventures which are devastating to the local populations and bankrupting our treasury. Both are in favor of the continuing erosion of Civil Rights at home. Both believe the president has the right to kill anyone anywhere anytime with no oversight or review. Both are for expanding our fossil fuel / nuclear energy dependence which is causing severe climate disruption. Both choose to ignore global warming which is a major threat to the continued survival of civilization as we know it. Both are bought and owned by wealthy corporations and individuals. And neither can tell the difference between a corporation and a person.

What's that? They have different opinions on the ownership of weapons and abortion rights? That's a smoke screen; We can debate whether the people should be allowed to own assault rifles while the military amasses larger and larger arsenals of weapons of mass destruction and our police become more and more militarized. We can debate abortion rights while they take away our most basic rights: free speech, habeas corpus and the right to freely assemble.

Some people claim to see a difference between the two candidates. I don't.

You could vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Constitutionalist Virgil Goode. Or you could write in Green Party candidate Jill Stein and at least your vote would be counted. Or you could write in anyone you want. Or course, they won't count your vote, but then our votes don't count for much anyway. 67% of us want a quick end to the War Against Afghanistan, while both front-runners vow to continue this 11-year-long debacle.

I'm going to write in Big Bird. Mitt Romney wants to pay back all the money we've borrowed from the Chinese by sending Big Bird to China. Barack Obama asked Big Bird to work on his reelection campaign; but Big Bird's no fool. Instead of working on Obama's campaign, he's running for president himself. Big Bird has always been one of my big favorites; so I'm honored to be his campaign manager. I hope you'll all vote for Big Bird. Remember, a vote for Big Bird is a vote for Big Bird.

Click on Big Bird image to enlarge to full size.