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By Jeff, on January 12th, 2010%
I’ve been hearing some grumblings in Democratic circles over the past 36 hours or so about 10 Democrats who voted for David Ralston, the Republican nominee, for Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives instead of Calvin Smyre, the Democratic nominee.
The 10 were Ellis Black, Bob Bryant, Amy Carter, Mike Cheokas, Bubber Epps, Carol Fullerton, Gerald Greene, Bob Hanner, Kevin Levitas, and Alan Powell.
I wanted to look at it from a bit more clinical perspective, so I used the General Assembly Vote Tracker to do a basic mathematical analysis (I’m a computer geek and a former math teacher, sorry!) on these ten Representatives’ votes from 2009, as well as both Parties’ nominees for Speaker – David Ralston from the GOP and Calvin Smyre from the Dems.
My methodology was simple: I weighted all nay votes as -1, all yea votes as +1, and all no votes or excused votes as 0. I did one analysis with all 526 votes the House cast last year, and another round counting only those votes where there was at least one no vote from one of the 12 people in question. Under this analysis, a person who is present and votes no 100% of the time will have a score of -526 for the first round and -172 for the second round. Similarly, a person who is present and votes yea 100% of the time will have a score of 526 or 172. A person who is either present and whose yea/nay votes are exactly 50/50 or who is never present for any vote will have a score of zero. The results are below the jump.
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By Tim Nelson, on January 12th, 2010%
I hate people who don’t have the courage to tell others their opinion and than stand behind it with a name and a face, “Squakboxes” in Newspapers are my biggest pet peeve, anyone who wants to take jabs in anonymity needs to get somewhere past age 12.
I was born and raised in a somewhat military family, my Dad retired out of the Indiana National Guard as a LTC. in 1996, he only did 3 years active duty, in Germany late in the Cold War. My mom worked as a secretary for the school district, and both spent time on the Township board. (A township is a level of government similar to a district in relation to Georgia) My dad has also served on the school board for nearly 20 years, not because he wants to run, but because every year the citizens put him on the ballot and coax him into running.
I graduated from a public high school 55 miles south of Chicago with 68 other students. I then attended Junior College for a year, followed by a year of serving as a State Secretary for the Illinois FFA Association (this is a full time unpaid job) after being elected by my peers at the State FFA Convention.
I then moved to Southern Illinois where I continued my education getting a BS degree in General Agriculture from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. While at SIUC I participated in Army ROTC, Student Government, Collegiate FFA, and worked for Residence Life.
Following Graduation I was admitted to Graduate school at The University of Southern Mississippi where I studied Higher Education and Construction Engineering Technology. After 2 semesters I was hired by Norfolk Southern Railroad to work in track maintenance, I did so for 4 years before starting my own business, a repossession company I ran for 4 years. I then closed up shop and went to work as a millwright for EGC Construction where I did new construction at P&G in Albany, GA, after receiving a layoff in August of 2009 I continued to hunt the local market for a job. I was soon picked up as Plant Maintenance manger by Spirit Service Company where I am currently employed.
I am divorced without kids and am currently residing in the Century District of Lee County. I look forward to contributing more on this site as I am not known as one to hold his tongue!
[UPDATED] My name is Tim Nelson and I live in the Century District of Lee County
By Tim Nelson, on January 12th, 2010%
During a recent Facebook conversation about taxing strippers, the topic quickly switched our horrible education system. I looked up the numbers that the State of Georgia puts out, and found the following:
$14,455,443,139.50 (Number of tax dollars spent on K-12 Education in 2009)
440276 (number of students in Public Schools)
Total tax dollar per Student —– $32,832.6848
You see the State has a way of giving you a $3000-$4000 number that doesn’t include most of the taxes earmarked for education. To me this is a major issue that needs to be corrected immediately!
As a Libertarian I sit on the fence on which way to go, I hope some others can help me decide which side is greener.
Continue reading Education
By Tom, on January 12th, 2010%
It was a typical Monday. I had stopped to get my breakfast at my local breakfast getting spot. I had my food and sweet tea in hand and was headed for the door when I overheard the most curious thing. A gentleman, who I don’t know from Adam’s housecat, said “I don’t think people who don’t pay taxes should be allowed to vote.”
At first blush, I wanted to agree. After all, we pay for their salary so why not let just us decide. That feeling lasted about .013 seconds. I’m pretty ashamed that it lasted that long. Continue reading A pale sense of freedom
By Jeff, on January 12th, 2010%
Never did I think that I would find myself quoting Starship Troopers on this site, because it is a very totalitarian movie with few things I agree with politically (though I do like its “service guarantees citizenship” mantra). That said, the movie had a GREAT repeated line that I’ve long applied to politics:
You’re it, until I find someone better.
Some individuals, groups, and blogs will tie themselves directly to a particular candidate in a sycophantic, almost symbiotic, relationship. They adore their candidates to a near religious level while decrying those that do the same thing with candidates they disagree with, particularly when those candidates are from the other side of the aisle.
That isn’t me, and I hope to God it never is – not even with John Monds, who is the single candidate I’m pushing for the hardest.
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