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Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia’s response to my question related to S. 1871, the "STOCK Act":

“Dear Mr. Gregory:

Thank you for contacting me about legislation to ensure Members of Congress are not profiting on insider information. It is good to hear from you.

I have always believed the American people should have complete faith in who they choose to send to Congress and I have been eager to see more reforms for elected government like the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (Stock Act).

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has stated they do believe they have the authority to prosecute members of Congress and their staff, some legal scholars and insider trading experts question this, stating that Congress is exempt from prosecution for insider trading cases. In order to ensure that insider trading by members of Congress is explicitly illegal I became a co-sponsor of S. 1871, the "STOCK Act", which would prohibit federal lawmakers, their staffs and executive branch employees from using nonpublic information obtained through public service for any attempt at personal financial gain.

On February 2, 2011, the Senate passed the STOCK Act by a wide margin. Along with 95 other Senators I voted in favor of this legislation. The House of Representatives passed a modified version of the STOCK Act on February 9^th. The House and Senate must now resolve the differences in the respective bills. It is my hope that this will be accomplished quickly, and that the bill will soon be sent to the President for his signature.

Currently, like all members of Congress, I annually file a publicly available financial disclosure form that details all of my personal financial activity. The purpose of this filing is to provide transparency and accountability for all members of Congress and to ensure the integrity of our financial decisions and actions.

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 you believe I may be of assistance to you.”

(My response to the above:)

Senator Saxby Chambliss,

The response to my question on this subject matter is just repeating what you already provided, rather than answering the specific question or concern. My wife and I have always voted for you since we moved to Georgia and my wife, Valerie, obtained her citizenship here, giving up her British citizenship to become a "proud American Citizen" who probably knows more about American Government than I do.

Val attended Citizenship classes in California while I was serving in Vietnam, and it was here in Georgia she stood before a judge and answered questions and was sworn in while I was stationed at Ft. Gordon, in Augusta, so that I could regain my Security Access and we were sent to Ethiopia where we had an ASA Field Stationed, located in Asmara. She sacrificed a lot for me to continue in the field I served in (ASA, then INSCOM) and was what I would call the "perfect soldier's wife" who contributed more than most over the 20 years of military service I am proud to have provided the country I love so much.

But I must tell you Sir, I am a little disappointed that my questioned was not answered but only reflected what frustrates so many when they ask an elected member of either the House or Senate a simple question. All I wanted to know is how does S. 1871, the "STOCK Act" impact not by those who should be held to the same standard of those who believed in them, enough to elect them to the office they serve, their constituents, but members of their (Congressmen and Senators) families both immediate and extended, as well as their friends. What language in S.1871 prevents our elected leaders who serve in Congress from providing their privileged knowledge to members of their family to be used for personal gain, therefore lining the pockets of our trusted officials in question by proxy?

I am a simple minded 100% disabled Vietnam Veteran who like many others, are losing faith and trust in those we once fully supported and held to a higher standard, apparently higher than those we elected. Please forgive me if in any way this communication is or appears to be disrespectful, that is not my intention, but rather my duty as a Citizen of not only the Country I love, but the State of Georgia, my chosen State (I was Born in California) but have been a citizen of Georgia since 1982.

I wore my uniform for over 20 years, shed blood on foreign soil as so many others did, many giving far more than I, and lived in countries where sacrifice was not only mine, but my family, by choice, to ensure that we remain a "Republic" rather than the "Socialistic" direction my Government is taking us. I cannot express the pain of what is happening to "We the People" who believe in what our "Forefathers" gave us, trusted in us to preserve, the gift of our "Constitution" that protects us from the very Government who freely spends the hard earned money of a people who had faith in not only those who Govern, but each other.

We, those who elected the very people of whom I speak, share in the responsibility, for we are the people who elected those holding office, be it the House, the Senate, or the Oval Office, but we did so in "Good Faith" as our "Forefathers" entrusted us, we entrusted you. My health is not very good at this point in time, and I may be lucky enough not to see my America disappear into memory of free men, one day to be a footnote in history. My father (33 years of military service), one of my brothers (26 years of military service), another brother (22 years of military service), another brother (18 years of military service), my son (16 years of military service) and I (20 plus years of military service), a total of over 135 years of military service, all with honor, all serving to keep our great nation a free "Republic" never to fall to "Socialism" or "Communism". Now, the certainty of that are only a hope and a prayer, as those in Congress fail to hold those in the White House accountable, but then they are failing to hold themselves accountable and the treasures of our country squandered, and spent as if "We the People" do not matter. My father mattered, now buried at Arlington Cemetery along with my mother. My brother mattered, now buried at Arlington Cemetery. And all my brothers and son matter as they now live their lives, as I do, in prayer for a once great nation, slowly turning into what "we" all had disdain for, and still do, any governance of our America other than the one our Forefathers intended. My son continues to serve, only as a civilian now, as a contractor for our high.

Forgive me Senator Chambliss for going on more than I intended, but time is running out, and although I will do my part, as my wife and son will, when it comes to letting our voice be heard through our votes, but I fear that we who truly care will be outnumbered by those who fail to see what is happening to our America, and vote for more slick talk, more lies, more promises not kept, and less understanding of the price to be paid for getting it wrong in November. If I can't get a simple answer to my one question, by a man I respect and believe in, how can I expect anything more from the rest, from those I have no respect for, no faith in, no trust. I want to live long enough to cast my vote, but if we fail, then I guess I won't mind should my creator call me home sooner than I would like to go. To lose the country our "Forefathers" entrusted to us, watch our "Constitution" decay by being ignored, is more than I can accept. All I ask is that you do your part, and if I am wrong about you’re not answering my question, then I beg your forgiveness and offer my sincere apology.

Sincerely,

Milton F Gregory (MSG, U.S. Army, Retired)

America Needs Us

Yesterday, prior to the President’s “State of the Union” address to the “Congress”, I lay in my bed considering what this man has done and is doing to my America, “Our America”, and as bad as I felt, I felt even worse as I looked outside and viewed my garden, in its “Winter” state, then felt a tear on my cheek. The tear was not for our grey and garden in its usual winter drab appearance, nor was it the usual pain I felt riddled throughout my body, but the thought of what was coming last night, a meaningless, dreary speech made up of words filled with untruths and hollow, empty oratory that could only antagonize those of us who still have deep feeling for a country we believe in, and “We the People” who are what I believe God intended this country to be defended, loved and honored by. But for the moment I gazed at a small wren sitting on a branch outside my window and fell in love with America all over again. America, she needs us, all of us, and she needs us to do the right thing in November, and that is to “Restore” America, restore her honor, her dignity and her good name! America needs us!

I doubt if I can recall every trip I made across my America, or all the places I have been to, visited, or passed through. But I will always remember the beauty of the America I wish I had grown up in, at least more than the few years I did, after all, as an Air Force brat, I traveled the world, with the rest of my family, first with my father, then later as a member of the United States Army Security Agency, later to become the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command, and will always be grateful for the gift of having the opportunity to see the world before it became the current disaster it has become, as a result of power hungry men and women, filled with greed. No, I will always be grateful for the opportunities provided to me just because I was born in the good old USA, I am an American, and a very proud American at that, never ashamed of who I am, but so ashamed of the man who leads this great land as our President. But as ashamed as I am of this President, I believe in the American dream, the American way, and the American will to be great, the model for every free thinking man or woman to strive for! What a country, and anyone who has given up on her, never really ever knew her.

When I lie on the ground and feel the cool earth, I can almost hear her heart beat, feel the swell of the ground beneath me as she breaths. America is more than just dirt, rocks and trees, she is the dreams of every American, the heart of who we are and what makes us proud to be called “American”, feeling the pride deep within our souls. God not only blessed us with a gift, but kept the spirit of America alive in each of us who knows what being an American is, everyone who ever thought themselves to be a part of the “Tea Party” movement knows just what I am saying, for those in Washington who feel and have recently spewed the false premise that the “Tea Party” is dead, it never accrued to me that to be a possibility. I believe deep inside that the “Tea Party” is alive and well, and to doubt that will be a very dangerous assumption to make, but then, that’s fine with me! The more mistakes of that nature this President and those in the halls of Congress make, the more I feel this President is, along with his Socialist, Progressives, in Congress and the Senate are to looking in the want ads for their next job come November. But then, with all the money most of them have managed to pocket from the “Tax Payers” of this country, I am sure they all will be just fine as they travel the world, looking for the “utopia” they all want to live in, after trashing our America. We will get back up and fix what they broke, of that I am confident. November will be the most important election of our lifetimes, and that is not just something one says, it’s a fact, one we all must take serious and be sure to get out the vote!

Look around you and take in the beauty of our America, look at what we could lose if we fail, and we cannot do that, far more than anyone at the “Capital” has to lose, after all, they are blind to the great wonders of the most diverse country in the world. Filled with beauty from shore to shore, an abundance of natural resources being withheld from those who are willing to die for what God blessed us with and continues to bless us with every day. The backbone of those who brought those resources to be the power providing the engines that truly created the roadmap to the American dream. In the way of that elusive dream are men who thirst for power and money, and if crushing the American dream is the price for those we placed in positions of power and trust is preventing “We the People” from the continuance of building our America, then to those who betray us say; “So be it”!

How is it that these men of little substance can travel across the highways that bring the shores of East and West together can in good conscience deny those of us who only want to enjoy the gifts provided by our creator? Yet, we continue to elect them and reelect them so that they can continue to bring us closer and closer to leaving behind us that special gift God left us, only to diminish the meaning of a “Free” America? Yes, power and money drive these men and women of Capital Hill, men and women who for some reason fail those who elected them into a life where five hundred or so men and women decide the fate of millions of God loving good men and women who only want our future generations to know the blessings we have come to observe slipping away from us, and should they miss out on what we have known, and maybe some of us just might have taken for granted “America the Beautiful”! America needs us; she is begging us not to forget that a price has been paid for her existence, so that we and our children might enjoy the many gifts she has to offer. Please, I implore each of you to look at our America, every time you travel her roads, hike her mountains and parks, swim or fish in her waters, and smell the scent of the flowers that grace her hillsides and prairies, painted by God’s finger, what can be more beautiful that our America? Oh, our America needs us; she cries out for our help, we must not let her down.

Although I grew up around the world, I was lucky enough to spend some of my younger years in places that explode with the beauty of an America that a loving God blessed all of us with. He place his trust in us to keep her as close to the way he gave her to us, with all her beauty and wonder. While traveling the world I saw the wonders of what was given to many, and they all were entrusted to protect, so that our children and theirs will know the power of a gentle, loving God, who leaves us with a world of beauty and goodness, filled with generations of natural resources that our President would prevent us from accessing to be free from dependency by those who would destroy us, given the chance. He provided us with plenty and those in power turn their backs on God’s gifts, in order to limit those who want to know the American dream, so that they become dependent on those in power, “our elected leaders”, something our “Forefathers” had the insight to limit their efforts to take away the freedoms bestowed on each of us. And America cries out, “We the People” have the power to change all that by just casting one vote, each of us who want to restore honor and dignity to this great land, God’s blessing to those who understand the power they hold in their hands, they just have to cast their vote and return both the White House, Congress and Senate, back to the people, those who love and hear the call of our America’s cries for us to “Act”, echoing daily throughout this great nation called “The United States of America”! Oh yes, America needs us, are we going to join hands and stop the clear acts of those who ignore the “Constitution”, have contempt for the “Rule of Law” and promise to Socialize the only power on earth, power God provided us to protect his nation against the many who would bring the horrors of evil and hate to the shores that our children and grand children play on, swim in the seas that brought our forefathers who would declare our independence, write that perfect document called the “Constitution”, amended by men who acknowledged flaws of what no man could see at the time it was written. America is calling out to us, she needs us. Look around, do we really want to hand over to those who fail to understand God’s gifts? Can we actually do that?

Last night our President stood up and declared the repeated falsehoods proclaimed by the same President who promised what he knew he could not deliver, for this man followed the teachings of men who hated our “Republic”, the intended freedoms of our democracy, and most of all, that nearly perfect document called the “Constitution” only stands in the way of those who now lead us, lead this nation, and she cries out for us to hear the pain of her being slowly dissolved by men of little substance, but of great hatred for freedoms they were taught to hate. America is in trouble, and all she needs is for us to hear her cries, to respond, to vote, to get others to vote, bring back what is being stolen from all free Americans, their souls. Well, I for one will not allow my soul to be taken, not by any man, but only by my creator, and that will come all too soon. I pray to bring my vote to the elections of November 2012, and make my vote heard, let my America know I have not given up on her, she still matters, I hear her cries and if my life must be paid to ensure she lives on, then so be it. God knows that we are listening; he now waits to see if we do something about what we hear! America is calling out, she needs us, she needs us more than ever and we must and will respond, find her soul and embrace it once again, “We the People” will restore the health of an America worthy of our love, our responding to what she needs, and she needs us! As my ability to contribute continues to weaken, I know the price of failing to give what little I have left and that price is far too high, so I continue, I hear the cries of my America in the voice of every American who fails to understand what we are about to lose if we do not embrace our America and by our votes, tell her, we still care, and we will not let her down. It’s only too late if we turn our backs on her, that is something I cannot, nor will I ever do. So, I reach out for every had that will grasp mine and together we will save our America, after all, she needs us!