See the Parallel?

In my daily email from Rasmussen the top highlighted title tells us that 3 in 10 persons consider themselves to be socially liberal.

If you look to the right there is another on the page titled "29% Have Favorable Opinion of Federal Government".  Who out there wants to bet against me when predicting that a very high percentage of questioned individuals within the two polls answered both questions affirmatively.
So, if you are socially liberal, it is likely you are comfortable with government enforcing laws and rules that have the intent of making all persons "equal".  The goal "equal" achieved by taking from one person to give to another.
Equal is a nice objective.
Government is the worst tool for accomplishing that.
That is if the objective is to lift the "less fortunate" to the status of the "more fortunate".
If the objective is to lower the standard of living to where there are groups of "less fortunate" and "fortune deprived".
Then again there will always be the additional "ruling class" and "ruling class associates", that are exempt from the laws and rules created by the "ruling class".

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Raylan

Another of last year's Christmas gifts. Happy to say that I got another $50 gift card for Barnes & Noble and should be able to restock my ready to read pile.

Anyway, this is a book written by Elmore Leonard the includes the character used as the foundation for the Fx television series Justified. The show is entertaining and I had heard that Elmore Leonard had a cult following so we grabbed Raylan of of the bargain table. In checking up on the author I learned that he wrote 3:10 to Yuma which in the remake my cousin had the lead female role.

Written in a style that suits itself to television, Leonard's writing has a rapidly flowing pace, changing scenes often, sometimes with only a minimum of linkage, that being the main character, the gun slinging Federal Marshall Raylan Givens.  The main character has an abundance of country street sense that serves the man well his pursuit of murderous criminals and tainted women.
I enjoyed the short book, would read another, but would not make an effort to purchase another.

Kerry is a Fool Masquerading as a Wise Man

Ms. Glick has succinct way of getting to the point, anybody who thinks that he latest peace initiative is anything but retreat from reality is a fool.
I could not agree more.
Love the cartoon.

Caroline B. Glick: Kerry isn't just another fool masquerading as a wise man. He's dangerous

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Money for Nothing and Your Shiks for Free

My incredibly insightful points are in an italic blue font, this to make the important content to stand out.  Not.

Congress.org presents: MEGAVOTE, December 23, 2013, for Georgia's 13th Congressional District:

Recent Congressional Votes

Senate: Jeh Johnson, of New Jersey, to be Secretary of Homeland Security

Senate: Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Senate: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014

Senate: John Koskinen, of the District of Columbia, to be Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The First Session of the 113th Congress has come to a close.

The Senate will be back on January 6, 2014.  Too early.

The House will be back on January 7, 2014.  Not late enough.

Recent Senate Votes:

Jeh Johnson, of New Jersey, to be Secretary of Homeland Security

Vote Confirmed (78-16, 6 Not Voting)

Jeh Johnson, a former Defense Department lawyer, was confirmed as the fourth secretary of Homeland Security.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted YES

Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES

Anybody proposed by the President to run Homeland Security is bound to be a stooge, regulated to press conference speeches that are seld congratulatory lies about how tough they are.  I don’t care who has the office, the job is to spread bullshit.

Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Vote Agreed to (64-36)

The Senate gave final approval to this two-year budget deal that increases discretionary spending caps to $1.012 trillion in 2014 and $1.014 trillion in 2015. The 2011 sequester level was $967 billion.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted YES

Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES

My Senators joined the bandwagon and approved a 4.6% spending increase in the first year, greater than official inflation, way greater than wage growth. In their minds they have an agreement so it must be good. As always in the minds of elected officials spending growth is good, even if spending out-paces GDP.

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014

Vote Agreed to (84-15, 1 Not Voting)

The Senate cleared the 2014 fiscal year defense policy bill for the president's signature. The bill authorizes $625.1 billion in discretionary spending, which is $3.1 billion less than last year.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted YES

Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES

Seeing that the above continuing resolution was a decision to spend an additional 45 billion dollars, saving 3.1 billion on defense seems about right for this group.  Spend more money than you didn’t have yesterday and pretnd you are balancing by making miniscule cuts the liberals favorite peace time target.

John Koskinen, of the District of Columbia, to be Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Vote Confirmed (59-36, 5 Not Voting)

The Senate confirmed John Koskinen to be head of the Internal Revenue Service.  The IRS has been led by acting commissioners since November 2012 and is under increased scrutiny as the agency takes on new responsibilities under the 2010 health care law. Koskinen's term runs through November 12, 2017.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted NO

Sen. Johnny Isakson voted Not Voting

I am curious as to why Isakson dodged the vote, perhaps a NO would draw an audit.

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Gigi

This puzzle finished just in the nick of time for Christmas. The star being as small as it is was a pain to fit, ended up wedging it in using the justification that we do not want the piece being swallowed by a teething toddler.

Is for my neighbor's youngest and 5th grandchild.

Ho Ho Ho

Ha Ha Ha

 On first glance I thought the above was a store coupon, probably from Macy's.

I was already a fan and now I can see he is capable of some twisted humor.
Paul Broun should be the favorite to replace Senator Saxby Chambliss.

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No More Money for the RNC

That is what you get for insulting the base.

Congress.org presents: MEGAVOTE, December 16, 2013, for Georgia's 13th Congressional District:

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Millett Nomination  confirmation
• House: Budget Agreement  passage
• House: Defense authorization  passage

Upcoming Congressional Bills

• Senate: Fiscal 2014 Budget Compromise

The House is in recess until January.

Recent Senate Votes:

Millett Nomination confirmationVote Confirmed (56-38, 6 Not Voting)
In the first vote on President Barack Obama's nominees to the federal judiciary since the chamber changed its filibuster rules, the Senate confirmed Patricia Ann Millett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on December 10. Her confirmation required a simple majority under the new cloture rules adopted on November 21, which apply to all nominees except for those to the Supreme Court. Milletts nomination received two votes from the Republican caucus  Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  while five Republicans did not cast a vote. Her confirmation was the first of 11 votes mustered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. during the week of Dec. 9.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted NO
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted NO
I think it is pretty interesting that the Senate leader was willing to blow up decades of precedent for such an inconsequential nominee. Frankly I am also surprised that the President  didn't just go ahead and stick Millett in the spot while they were voting on the subject, all while claiming that the Senate was on recess. Senator Frank Leahy stalled nominations for years while the Bush family was in office.  
Well all I can say about this is, you better get you shit in order because if the pointers are right, the Senate will go Republican in the next election. Payback is going to be a bitch. 
  
Recent House Votes:
Budget Agreement  passage
Vote Passed (332-94)
Before leaving for the rest of the year, the House passed legislation based on talks between House and Senate conferees that establishes a budget for fiscal 2014 and increases discretionary spending caps for fiscal 2014 and 2015 that would be offset by increases in passenger air travel fees and federal employee pension contributions and a two-year extension of sequester cuts to Medicare. The agreement raises the spending cap for this year to $1.012 trillion from the sequester level of $967 billion established in 2011. The bill modifies oil and gas programs to reduce spending by $4.5 billion over a decade and federal student loan debt collection that would save $5 billion. The compromise passed the House comfortably with 169 Republicans and 163 Democrats in support. The Senate is expected to vote on it this week.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
Leading indicator says if my Representative voted for it, it probably sucks. Let's all pretend we're cutting cost. Never considered myself a TEA Party man, but if you look underneath all of it the principles are sound. Never mind all those liberal labels that are aim at disguising the goal of always increasing spending. The Republican National Committee will get NO more money from me; for the crap the Speaker spewed onto the group that put the Republican in control of the House of Representatives.  

Defense authorization  passage
Vote Passed (350-69, 13 Not Voting)
In one of its final acts of the year, the House passed the defense bill (HR 3304) by a vote of 350-69, authorizing $625.1 billion, which would account for more than half of the federal governments discretionary spending in fiscal 2014. Including mandatory spending, the defense bill authorizes $632.8 billion. To save time in the waning days of the session, the defense authorization agreement was simply loaded onto a small House bill the Senate already had passed. The authorization bills is roughly $3.1 billion less than the fiscal 2013 enacted level. Of that, it would authorize $526.8 billion for the Defense Departments base budget, $80.7 billion for overseas contingency operations  mainly the war in Afghanistan  and $17.6 billion for national security programs within the Energy Department. In addition, the measure would make several statutory changes aimed at reducing sexual assaults in the military. It also would continue the existing ban on transferring detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba to the United States.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
Fiscal votes that include policy alterations for the military. Is that the carrot or the stick? Insist on women being in the armed services, ok. Insist that women be held to different standard than soldiers, for the same pay, ok. 
I am sorry this stuff is happening, but when you put women into a testosterone driven profession, filled with, at least on the non-commissioned side, the marginally illiterate. People are going to be hurt. Besides the victims, who's screaming, the same folks that insisted on putting women in harms way.

Upcoming Votes:
Fiscal 2014 Budget Compromise - H.J.Res.59
The Senate will take up the House passed budget compromise on Tuesday.
More evidence that it sucks. Reid never calls a vote that doesn't screw some conservative over.

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Nelson K. Rodgers

Saw this story in the last Georgia Tech Alumni magazine.
As head of the undergraduate Industrial Engineering students, this man help me pick a career that has been stimulating and stable.  I grew up with another man who captained similar ships in the Navy of the 1950's, they were both great men for their service to our country.
Nelson, as all the ISyE students referred to him, was interesting when he described how sitting in a bar he and coworkers drew up the plans for the first container ships, he had all of our attention when he taught the major's ethics class.

This man made me feel at home academically when I probably did not deserve to be.
Thank you and rest in peace.

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Meddling With The Internals

The darned UN is trying to stretch its legs and apply external pressure to stop law passed in the Senate of Uruguay. This not unlike what US citizens can expect from the UN' small arms treaty signed by Ambassador Kerry.

BBC News reposts that The United Nations has issue with new Uruguay's passage of a law legalizing the production and sale of marijuana.

The new law will allow registered Uruguayans over 18 to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) of the drug a month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25340324?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=%2AMorning%20Brief&utm_campaign=MB%2012.13.13

Uruguay is a sovereign nation and as such has the right to decide what goes on inside its borders. If that breaks the terms of a signed treaty, so be it, promises made by governments are broken all the time, usually to its own citizens.

Stinkin Pequots

On this day almost four-hundred years ago....

1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians.  This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

The family farm is near the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard Connecticut. For folks having both the proximity and the requisite family lineage, there is a palpable anger focused on the Pequots. They were responsible for the murder of many settlers. Much like foreign diplomats the Pequots are not always held responsible for damage done to persons and property off of the reservation grounds. More so it is well known that many "indians" would be better classified as the decendants of runaway slaves, who prior to the Civil War hid out on the Federally protected reservations. 

Anyway, I was in Mystic last week eating pizza and ended up in a discussion with a waitress on the subject of the "stinkin Pequots".

Congratulations to the National Guard. 

The UN 2nd

John Kerry is such a douche bag, to sign a treaty that contradicts the Consitution should be judged as treason. Not only that the man had his goons cut in front of me at Logan.

An Obama stooge.

Letter received from one of my Senators in response to signing a pertition posted by Dick Morris.

Dear  Mr. Stathamadness:

Thank you for  your recent correspondence regarding the United Nations Small Arms Treaty.  Your taking ti me to contact me is appreciated, and I understand your concerns regarding its potential impact on the Second Amendment right s of law-abiding Americans.   

On December 6, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 89, which was developed as a new international treaty for the global trade in con ventional arms.  The resolution was adopted without the support of the United States under  President George W. Bush's Administration. 

The Obama Administration , in October of 2009, reversed this decision, and announced that the United States would support negotiations on the condition they were, "under the rule of consensus decision-making needed to ensure that all countries can be held to standards that will actually improve the global situation." 

Despite vocal opposition and a failure to reach that "consensus ," a term that implies common resolve by the U.N.'s 195 parties,   Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty on  September 24, 2013.     Fortunately ,  ratification of the  agreement  would still require two-thirds of the Senate (67 Senators) to vote yes .   

On multiple occasions, Senators from both sides of the aisle have stated their intention to vote against ratification.  Most recently, o n October 15, 2013,  I joined,  along  with 49 of my colleagues to submit a letter to President Obama reiterating our staunch opposition.  On March 23, 2013, 53 Senators voted for an Amendment that would block the U.S. from entering the Treaty.    Only 34 votes are needed to bock ratification.

The Secon d Amendment rights of American c itizens should not be  subordinate to an international agreement , no matter how well-intended .  To be sure, should a vote on ratification come before the full Senate, I will be voting no.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at:  www.chambliss.senate.gov   .  Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance.

Through The Spyglass

Found this over at GottaGetDrunkFirst.
Gang banging a goat, there's moral authority for you.

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They Did It

Congress.org (congress.org) presents: MEGAVOTE November 25, 2013, for Georgia's 13th Congressional District:

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Executive and Judicial Nominations  Cloture
• House: Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting  Passage

The Senate is in recess until Monday December 9, 2013. The House is in recess until Monday December 2, 2013.

Recent Senate Votes:
Executive and Judicial Nominations  Cloture
Vote Sustained (52-48)
Senate Democrats succeeded Thursday in deploying the nuclear option to make the most fundamental change to floor operations in almost four decades, ending the minoritys ability to kill most presidential nominations by filibuster. The Senate voted, 52-48, to change the rules by rejecting the opinion of the presiding officer that a supermajority is required to limit debate, or invoke cloture, on executive branch nominees and those for seats on federal courts short of the Supreme Court. Three Democrats  Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas  voted to keep the rules unchanged. The nomination of Patricia Ann Millett to the District of Columbia circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals was the direct cause of this rule change. Senate Republicans, however, had blocked the nominations of two other D.C. Circuit Court judges in recent weeks as well, setting up the parliamentary showdown.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss voted NO
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted NO
If the Republicans had done this the press would have gone freakingg ape shit. As it is, they get a pass for sidestepping the opinion of the opposition.  Senator Leahy was a chronic appointment obstructionist. Basically, the Democrats have gone off the reservation following the President.  

Recent House Votes:
Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting  Passage
Vote Passed (252-165, 14 Not Voting)
In the last vote of the week, the House passed legislation on Thursday to ensure the timely consideration of all licenses and permits required for construction or operation of any natural gas pipeline projects. The bill, sponsored by Republican Mike Pompeo of Kansas, requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve or deny certificates within one year of receiving a complete permitting application. If other federal agencies, like the EPA, have to approve part of the project, then they would have 90 days to make a decision after the FERC ruling. In a mostly party-line vote, 26 Democrats joined all voting Republicans in support of the bill, and Democrats contributed all 165 dissenting votes.
Rep. David Scott voted NO
Why would the Democrats resist legislation that is designed to expedite shovel ready projects? Why would Democrats resist expansion of energy reserves of the United States and in agreement with North American allies?

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