The Office of Senator LumineVonReuental (A Farewell to the Senate)

[DC Al Fine]

Here's my official endorsement

I have decided to endorse Lumine for Midwest Senate. Now some of you may be thinking "DC, who cares? You're a prominent socon. TNF hates socons and regularly tries to outlaw your way of life. You'd vote for a bag of lettuce over him." Now that may be true, but this endorsement is not just an Anybody But TNF vote. Lumine has been a consistent fiscal moderate,  a strong advocate for religious liberty, and most importantly he's a statesman who won't spend all his time vilifying other politicians. I would be proud to have him serve in the Senate.

[Lumine]

Speech on the Rational Education Act:

January 3rd, 2013:
Midwest Governor LumineVonReuental started his Midwest Tour today, and the first stop was a former city in which he resided: Cheyenne, WY. There he blasted Senator TNF for his latest Education bill.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be honest with you, I'm quite frustrated today. I decided to check the bills the Senate was discussing, and I found one of our esteemed Senator's pet projects: his education bill. You'll imagine how surprised I was at finding out that the Senator was trying to ban homeschooling. Yes, you heard me, banning homeschooling. He finds it normal to blast me for speed limits, but apparently the Rational Education Act is a freedom bill who no one would oppose. Naturally, most of the Senate called out the Senator on this frivolous project, and you know what he replied? He said that his opponents were determined to allow the abuse of children by religious and erstwhile fanatics. In what world, Senator, is homeschooling child abuse? What is the purpose of having freedom in Education if you want to establish something more authoritarian than the supposed crimes that you accuse your rivals of?

My opponent likes to brag about being a man of the people, and there he is, restricting a right that makes no harm with an unconstitutional piece of legislation, while saying such unfortunate comments and making the Senate a more bitter place. If he believes that the rest of the Senate is wrong on this issue, fine, then make actual arguments about it. But to keep attacking out of nowhere with comments that make no sense at all is something unbecoming of a Senator. From now on, I'll be shadowing our Senator's bills and projects to give my own version or response, just as a public exercise to show the real differences behind our styles and beliefs.

The way I see it, you can't be doing a good job when less than 15% of the citizens of the region approve of you, and this is no conspiracy from a pollster, since we live in a center-left region. Homeschooling can prove successful and it can fail as well, but nobody has the right to take that decision away from the parents and force them to accept a determined system without a reason. This bill is frivolous, and I don't see how this is a bright spot on the legislative record of Senator TNF."

[Lumine]

First Campaign Ads Released!

January 3rd, 2013:

Today, the Lumine Team released the first two of the series of campaign ads that are to be run across the Midwest for the entire campaign. Although the editing skills of the team are at a pretty low level (honestly, they are very simple and easy to make), they hope that the message will be more important. As such, here are the links and descriptions:

Ad N°1: Who is LumineVonReuental?

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5DWy8RBSWQ
Description: A brief look at the record of the candidate as Mideast Assemblyman, Midwest Archduke, Midwest Governor and Presidential Candidate.

Ad N°2: A History of TNF Quotes

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6BNjspzQ34
Description: With the race underway, it is always good to get to know your opponent. When you look behind to the past, it's easy to be amazed at how things change...

[Maxwell]

Nice to see some ads!

[Rooney]

Your speech blasting the anti-choice, anti-intellectual freedom, anti-educational freedom "Rational" Education Act brought a tear to my eye. You are awesome, governor!

[Senator Cris]

First Campaign Ads Released!

January 3rd, 2013:

Today, the Lumine Team released the first two of the series of campaign ads that are to be run across the Midwest for the entire campaign. Although the editing skills of the team are at a pretty low level (honestly, they are very simple and easy to make), they hope that the message will be more important. As such, here are the links and descriptions:

Ad N°1: Who is LumineVonReuental?

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5DWy8RBSWQ
Description: A brief look at the record of the candidate as Mideast Assemblyman, Midwest Archduke, Midwest Governor and Presidential Candidate.

Ad N°2: A History of TNF Quotes

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6BNjspzQ34
Description: With the race underway, it is always good to get to know your opponent. When you look behind to the past, it's easy to be amazed at how things change...

GREAT!

[Flake]

Those ads were beautiful.

[Lumine]

Nice to see some ads!

GREAT!

Those ads were beautiful.

Thank you! I'm still struggling with the basics of Sony Vegas, but hopefully as the campaign goes on I'll be able to release more detailed ads.

Your speech blasting the anti-choice, anti-intellectual freedom, anti-educational freedom "Rational" Education Act brought a tear to my eye. You are awesome, governor!

Thank you very much, Rooney! While I acknowledge the advantages of our public education system, I feel we must always preserve the right to choose for the parents. The worst thing we can do in Education is to keep a closed mind and restrict freedom on it to such a degree.

[Fed. Pac. Chairman Devin]

Cross regional endorsement good luck Governor!

[Lumine]

Cross regional endorsement good luck Governor!

Thank you Devin, good luck to you as well!

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Endorsed for Senate.

[Lumine]

Endorsed for Senate.

Thank you very much, JCL!

[Enderman]

I just want to say this:

Four months ago, Rooney made it close and competitive, with you Limune, it will be a landslide, no matter how TNF spins it.

[Lumine]

I just want to say this:

Four months ago, Rooney made it close and competitive, with you Limune, it will be a landslide, no matter how TNF spins it.

I really hope so Jack, TNF is a very tough opponent!

[Lumine]

Speech on the End to Imperialism Act and the Bill of Rights Amendment:

January 7th, 2013:
Midwest Governor LumineVonReuental continues his tour after participating in the Althing debates, going to Helena, Montana. There he briefly spoke about Senator TNF's new bills. He is expected to speak on the Pacific Stimulus and economic policy later today, and his new Super PAC is also expected to be launched tonight.

"Good day, Helena! How are we feeling today? I have to say I'm quite optimistic, this race started a mere week ago and we are already gaining ground! With ads being aired and a mostly positive reaction to my campaign, I already have the endorsements of nineteen Atlasians. But regardless of the number, I want to stress the fact that these Atlasians come from most if not all sides of the political system. You have Federalists, Progressives, Independents, Laborites and Democratic Republicans supporting this candidacy, this attempt to bring more statesmanship and moderation to the Senate. In the meantime, Senator TNF's Education bill is getting killed by the Senate and it's passage looks increasingly unlikely, so yes, this is a great day!

Now, going into subject, I said before that I was shadowing my opponent's moves on the Senate so I could provide a better contrast to his bills and show some of the differences between our styles and beliefs. And Senator TNF has sent an act and an amendment to the Constitution to the Senate during the past days, so this is the perfect occasion to do so! The first bill is called "An Actual End to Imperialism Act", and a toned down version passed the Senate a few weeks ago,   closing military bases abroad (that trained foreign military). However, this version call to forgive the debt of developing nations, making sure that the CIA does not intervene with the governments of foreign nations (including surveillance), closing all military facilities, withdrawing from NATO, dismantling nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, cutting military funding and CIA funding in half (and increasing military retirement funds), embargoing Israel and banning drones inside Atlasia. Boy, where do I start...

I believe that we need to rething our approach towards foreign affairs, since sometimes our minds seem to be in the Cold War and not in 2014. I believe we need some serious reform of the way the conduct foreign relationship, and that includes the way NSA and CIA act. But you cannot make lasting and successful changes in foreign policy with radical changes, that only allows further instability and sends the wrong message to the rest of the world. Allow me to counter a few points here: I would support reducing the interest rates for developing nations, but to entirely forgive debt would only encourage irresponsibility from most of these government to not pay their debts, and history certainly proves that, with many cases during the 1980's and 1990's. I agree with the CIA overreach, and I would certainly like to see their activities restricted, but some of these proposals would only tie their hands around their back, depriving them of an actual purpose. I agree, it's not a good idea to spy on your allies, but what about your enemies? Same goes for military facilities and military funding, we have reduced those levels of funding by a lot during the last years. I would like input from our Generals (the GM in this case, I guess) on how would such drastic changes affect our military. I don't want a bloated military, but I want it well funded and ready to strike when necessary.

I do commend the Senator on increasing funds for military retirement, those men gave their health (often their lives) to defend this nation, and the least we can do for them is actually taking care of their needs, psychological or financial. I am a little bit conflicted in the Israel issue, I certainly despite what they are doing to the Palestinian, but an embargo is a radical answer that will make things worse. We have to force Israel to stop the apartheid style policies, but that has to come, as I stated in my presidential campaign, in a gradual process of negociationg and assertive pressure. I would also like to state that I detest chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, I hate the idea of seeing those things used in a battlefield, and I would even be willing to destroy chemical and biological arsenal. But to strip ourselves of our nuclear arsenal is ridiculous. If we want to disarm the world's nuclear arsenal, that means we will have to disarm all nations at the same time. My last comment goes for NATO: We have to reform NATO and make it an alliance with different goals and new nations included, yes, but abandoning it is not the answer.

That for one side, and the Amendment the term "Bill of Rights". I'd like to point out that the Senator made a mistake, for his changes concern Article VI of the Constitution, not Article IV. But in short, the Amendment calls for abolishing involuntary servitude as punishment, abolishing life imprisonment, allowing the right to vote despite socioeconomic status, service in the armed forces, imprisonment, previous conviction of a crime, disability, or gender identity and a bunch of other statements. When it comes to voting right, I approve of letting people vote regardless of gender, disability, armed forces and socioeconomic status, for I believe denying those people the right to vote is fundamentally wrong. I do, however, have a problem with allowing felons to vote. One of the purposes of putting people in jail is depriving them of a series of rights that serve as a punishment for crimes, and it kinda loses it's meaning when we just let them vote. Same goes for the life imprisonment. I understand when people say it's cruel, I do, but the crimes you have to commit to earn a life imprisonment sentence have to be a lot more cruel. Sometimes, regardless of therapy, some criminals will still be dangerous after decades of imprisonment, and I don't wish to see them running free.

The final changes go too far, though. Some of them are harmless, like allowing for basic rights for all Atlasians, which I'm fine with. Some of them a little bit Utopian, and I honestly want to see how the Senator wishes to make them a reality or actually enforce those rights. And there are two parts that concern me very much: Abortion and Civil Unions. My concern towards Civil Unions goes to this part: "The Republic of Atlasia shall not legislate a limit on the number of persons able to join a civil union". Now, forgive me if I am mistaken, but wouldn't this mean a right to polygamy? And the abortion part also goes too far. I am personally pro-life, but I'm willing to maintain a certain "truce" or "balance" in order to prevent what we saw in the Mideast, but to openly state a right to abort on demand... Not only shows a lack of respect for pro-life positions, it also shows a complete disregard for the life of those future human beings. Call me a conservative or a reactionary on this one, but there's just no way I can support that.

Forgive me for such a lengthy response, and forgive for not really presenting my concrete proposals for these matters, but those will come very soon.

[Lumine]

Well, well, well, looks like our esteemed Senator did not like my opinions on his bills... He even decided to give me a lot of nicknames! ModerateVonHero (love that one), ImperialistLumine, IsraelFirstLumine, Bombs Away Lumine, Lock 'Em Up Lumine,  tl;dr Lumine, Traditional Marriage Lumine and the eloquent Advocate of Compulsory Pregnancy Lumine. I'd say that a politician who has to use such names to talk about political rivals is desperate and vicious, but we're talking about TNF, so... Well, I'll just call him "Esteemed Senator", or Big Brother TNF if he's too annoying.

I want to take the time to reply to his statements, but before I do that, I want to present my third Ad! It was done very quickly, so I could address some of the things that happened today. Mainly, the bizarre notion that our esteemed Senator is a consistent fighter for freedom.

Ad N°3: Fear, Loathing and Cynicism in Atlasia

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12KWwpJp8GQ
Description: Senator TNF claims to be a consistent fighter for freedom, but is he?

[Goldwater]

Endorsed!

[Lumine]

Endorsed!

Thank you very much, Senator!

[GAworth]

Your new name makes me smile!

[Lumine]

Your new name makes me smile!

I take this nickname as a badge of honor!

[Sec. of State Superique]

TNF, the Freedom Fighter, just like Fidel and his friends!

[Lumine]

TNF, the Freedom Fighter, just like Fidel and his friends!

TNF as Castro? That's quite a fascinating idea, xD, but wouldn't that make Xahar Che Guevara?

[DC Al Fine]

TNF, the Freedom Fighter, just like Fidel and his friends!

TNF as Castro? That's quite a fascinating idea, xD, but wouldn't that make Xahar Che Guevara?

Not true. Considering how many left wing policies Xahar has thwarted, he has more in common with Batista

[Lumine]

TNF, the Freedom Fighter, just like Fidel and his friends!

TNF as Castro? That's quite a fascinating idea, xD, but wouldn't that make Xahar Che Guevara?

Not true. Considering how many left wing policies Xahar has thwarted, he has more in common with Batista

Well, all I can say is that I feel very sorry for Cuba...

[Flake]

There's nothing I like better than a good Lumine ad.