2014 Georgia Elections Are Worth the Attention

May 16, 2013 by · 1 Comment

Twit-FacebookThere’s been some encouraging news for Georgia Democrats this week. On Monday, Better Georgia released polling data that shows Georgia Democrats being competitive in Georgia’s 2014 open United States Senate race. In addition, Roll Call ran a piece about the groundwork that right wing conservative groups are doing to drop money in those races. On its face, the last piece of news doesn’t seem positive, but we think it is.

Earlier this year when Senator Saxby Chambliss announced he wasn’t going to run for re-election next fall it kicked off frenzy inside and outside of Georgia about the Democrats chances to gain the seat. Nationally, party insiders are salivating at Georgia’s changing demographics and the outcome of the 2012 presidential election in Georgia. Without any money directed to winning Georgia,President Obama received 46% of the vote, which was the best showing by Obama in any non-targeted state.

On Monday, Better Georgia released a poll testing Points of Light CEO Michelle Nunn’s bio against several potential Republican candidates. In almost all cases, Nunn was within the margin of error against all potential competitors and was eight points up against former gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel.

Despite the rosy poll results, it takes a lot of money to run a competitive statewide campaign for major office. Some will say this total is upwards of $10 million for a Senate race. To that end, Roll Call’s piece on Monday untangled a web of super PAC money likely coming to Georgia next year. Republicans Newt Gingrich, the Koch brothers and Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Anderson appear to be setting up shop in Georgia.

The mere notion that Anderson and the Koch brothers are coming to Georgia will scare some people. But Democrats shouldn’t worry too much. Democrats have proven in the last two election cycles that we can match the money and strategies of the best of the third party groups. There will be no more swift boating of democratic candidates without response. If the big GOP super PACs enter Georgia next year, they will likely be met by democratic super PACs.

Next year should be interesting. Georgia Democrats are making a comeback and next year is just the start. Expect new ideas, new candidates, and the best of all competitive races.

Filed Under: Atlanta, georgia, Georgia House Democrats, Georgia Politics, National Politics, Obama, political office, Uncategorized ·

Mother’s Day Everyday

May 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Beverly Isom
Blogging While Blue

I traveled to St. Louis, my hometown, this weekend to visit my mother for Mother’s Day and came face to face with the graceful reality of aging. As a baby boomer there are tons of information about everything from health and fitness news and dating websites to care giving coping skills. By 2030, about one in five Americans will be older than 65, we cannot avoid the inevitable certainty of getting older.

Mom-18 years old

Mom-18 years old

Many of my friends and I grew up alongside our mothers, who were teenagers themselves when they became parents. For those young women who wanted better options for their children, they often worked long hours and multiple jobs, while completing high school and college, and in neighborhoods that were less than ideal for raising a family. By default their children were often surrogate parents to their siblings. As the oldest and only girl, that responsibility fell to me. Selflessness was not a sacrifice it was a family value. I never resented the responsibility and these days, my brothers still treat me with a kind of somber respect that implies I am much older than them. But even as a young mother, my mother demanded deference for family that was fairly common in those days. The rules from the young mother were simple: you looked out for one another, you were accountable for one another, and you faced adversaries (real and abstract) as a united front.

Mable567So these days, I schedule my visits with my mother around the events like her doctor’s visits, family gatherings and holidays that typically include everyone crowded in the kitchen and doing more talking and laughing than anything else. So Mother’s Days are treasured moments in my mother’s house as she ages and quite frankly, as her children age.

I am grateful for the sense of family that the young mother instilled in her children so that we might appreciate Mother’s Day—-everyday.

Filed Under: girl child, women ·

First Time Candidates Can Win

May 10, 2013 by · 4 Comments

 

shirleynunnbloomberg

In 2008, hardly anyone other than a few of his closest associates and a handful of idealistic, smart, energetic and committed folks (and certainly none of those who now talk about who can and cannot win in Georgia) thought then freshman Illinois Senator Barack Obama had any chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president. Even if he won the nomination certainly few (Rev. Joseph Lowery, myself and a few other Georgia politicos) put much faith in his likely election as President of the United States.

In my case, before I was elected mayor of Atlanta, every mayor for at least 30 years before was an elected official.  Some people discounted my candidacy for that reason alone  and others because my name recognition was so low.  Even more people thought I could not win without a runoff against two city councilmembers.  I did.

The other challenge for first time candidates is fundraising. Pundits will say that unknown candidates can’t raise the amount of money needed to win a major race. I disagree. As an unknown candidate I raised $800,000 over the first ten months of my campaign and raised a total of $3 million for the general election. This fundraising total surpasses any other Atlanta mayoral candidate in history and was the 2nd most expensive US mayoral campaign of 2001 behind Michael Bloomberg’s race in New York.

Just a year ago most national media predicted a tight Presidential race and some even predicted President Obama could lose the election due to a bad economy, slow recovery and perceived loses of confidence of his political base. The South was expected to be impossible to penetrate. Yet voters in Virginia, the heart of Lee’s confederacy and Florida—not once but twice voted in favor of this maverick candidate. In Georgia, Obama won 47% of the vote in 2008 and 46% in 2012. Women voted for him and the African American and other minority vote was solid.

I trust the majority of Georgia voters are like other American voters who want honesty, intelligence and a commitment to the common good in their candidates; they will open their minds and consider voting for those candidates who speak and act honorably. If a candidate has a clear message, experience that is relevant and an approach to government and policy that is solution focused, Georgia voters will respond favorably.

As usual we will not all agree but there is little doubt that this Senate race has already created political buzz and anticipation.

Ga. Democrats still wander political wilderness

Senate Democrats Starting On The Defensive

Georgia Rep. Barrow Won’t Run for Senate

Filed Under: Georgia Politics, National Politics ·

The Courage of Neighbors and Strangers

May 7, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Charles Ramsey

Charles Ramsey

Neighbor Charles Ramsey asked the screaming woman, “Can I help?” The actions of neighbor Charles Ramsey helped police discover three Ohio women who vanished as teenagers about a decade ago.  Police have arrested the homeowner Ariel Castro, 52, a former school bus driver and his brothers in connection with the abductions. 

In another horrid captivity case in Philadelphia in 2011, Turgut Gozleveli was the owner of a building who found several disabled people held against their will in a Social Security fraud scheme living in squalor in the basement when he went to check on a noise he heard coming from downstairs. 

The acts of neighbors and strangers who made decisions that saved the lives of others has been well documented.

During the Boston Marathon bombing, many newspapers carried the photo of Carlos Arredondo in his cowboy hat providing emergency assistance to a man who appeared to have lost both his legs in the blast.

Kaitlin Roig was an elementary teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary school during the shooting, when her quick thinking lead her to rush 15 students into a bathroom and put a bookshelf across the door telling the children to be quiet to protect them during the rampage.

In the Aurora, Colorado movie-theater shooting a young man, Jarell Brooks, who was shot in the leg found the courage to lead a woman with her two small children to an exit door to safety.

Time and time again, it has been the humility of neighbors and strangers that has sparked their humanity in our darkest moments.  We are thankful for the acts of courage from neighbors and strangers when it was needed most.

 

 

 

Filed Under: girl child, girls, human rights, Uncategorized, women ·

It Can Happen Anywhere

May 3, 2013 by · 5 Comments
paolabaileyblog

paolabaileyblog

The recent allegations of rape and other charges against four Morehouse students have prompted this blog to once again address the issue of violence and sexual assault. We did not mince words when the high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio were convicted and while we know these young men are innocent until proven guilty, it is an opportunity to remind readers of the violence that can happen on a college campus.  This post is not about guilt or innocence it is about the growing danger of sexual assault on college campuses that has forced the U.S. Department of Education to implement guidelines when assaults take place. The federal Violence Against Women Act, signed into law in March by President Obama, requires colleges and universities to adopt policies to address and prevent campus sexual violence

And here is why:

§  One in 5 college women are raped during their college years.

§  One in 12 college men admitted to committing acts that met the legal definition of rape.

§  81% of on-campus and 84% of off-campus sexual assaults are not reported to the police.

§  In a survey of students at 171 institutions of higher education, alcohol was involved in 74% of all sexual assaults.

Every student has the right and no doubt most parents have an expectation that their child will be safe on a college campus as a student. The two-fold issue with rape and assault on college campuses now involves reporting the rape/assault and the action taken by the university or college once it is reported, before a court has determined guilt or innocence.

Some recent incidents at colleges around the country have been horrific, from a Wesleyan University fraternity house that was known as the “rape factory”, a Amherst College student who wrote about her rape in the student newsletter to a poster that was hung in the bathrooms at Miami University in Ohio that was titled “Top Ten Ways to Get Away With Rape”.

Wherever it happens, rape and sexual assault is violence against another person and it is unacceptable.  A culture that protects it, denies it or ignores it—is also unacceptable. While there are a number of lessons we have to teach young people everyday, we have to begin the grueling task of teaching respect and dignity for human life.

Filed Under: Atlanta, girls, human rights, Obama, Uncategorized, women ·

Georgia Democrats Predict a Return to Political Power

May 1, 2013 by · 6 Comments

Twit-FacebookBy Maynard Eaton

Is Georgia about to become a blue state again? Perhaps. A group of past and present Democratic Party power brokers prognosticated at the Atlanta Press Club this week about how the party’s fortunes were on the rise and predicted that a Democrat could win statewide by 2014 or 2016.

“We’re close, we know that,” said the Georgia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Berlon. “It’s not a question of if, it’s when. I think we are on the right track.”

A panel discussion included House Minority Leader Rep. Stacey Abrams, Georgia State political professor Stephon Anthony, Chairman Berlon, Rep. Scott Holcomb and Better Georgia CEO Bryan Long.

“There are two reasons we’re on the rise,” said Abrams, an attorney and astute debater, who is the first woman to lead either party in Georgia’s Legislature. “Demography is moving in our favor, and we’ve actually had electoral successes that indicate that. We’ve hit the lowest ebb that we are going to hit as Democrats. The reapportionment map that drew us so low was unable to destroy us.

“Every election from here on will be about gaining seats; it will be about gaining seats in the House and gaining seats in the Senate, making us competitive in state-wide races,” she continued. “That trajectory is a bit long. It’s a 2014, 2016, 2018 trajectory, but it’s coming.”

She noted that there is nothing on the Republican side that can create a drag for Democrats because GOP members are squabbling internally, particularly on the national and state level. “As long as we have a cogent strategy and are willing to work at it, we can take advantage of it,” she said.

For the past several years, the palpable public perception of the Democratic Party has been almost laughable given the Republican political domination in the Legislature and state-wide elections. But Abrams, who is considered a brilliant, thoughtful and open-minded up-and-comer in the Democratic Party, plans to reverse that mindset.

“The people react to what they remember,” opined Abrams, of DeKalb’s House District 89, which includes the communities of
Candler Park, Columbia, Druid Hills, Gresham Park, Highland Park, Kelley Lake, Kirkwood, Lake Claire and South DeKalb. “The seeding of new ideas takes time. I’ve only been employing my strategy for two years and I’ve been successful.” But, she cautioned, “That’s a small success in a narrow place in a really large state.”

She believes that if the state party and Better Georgia keep up the good work, the seeds will take root.

“You have a coalition of groups working in tandem to create a perception and that perception becomes reality. In Georgia when it comes to politics the perceptions become reality at election time,” she asserted. “So you watch us in 2014, you watch us in 2016 and you will see that what we are saying isn’t fantasy but really is a prognostication of our opportunities.”

Her energy and optimism was dampened a bit by some doubters within the party and on the Atlanta Press Club panel.

Stephen Anthony, a Georgia State University lecturer and former executive director of the state party, questioned the validity of the Democratic claims, agreeing that the panel’s prognostications were somewhat “pie-in-the-sky.”

“No not at all,” he said when asked if he agreed with his party’s optimistic political forecast. “I don’t think it’s as bad as it’s been, but I disagree with many of the things that were said tonight. Democrats have got to develop a different message. One of the ways that we were able to hold the fragile coalition that we held was that we looked after the have-nots and did a little bit for the have’s also.”

“Success is several years away,” he continued, “especially at the Congressional and General Assembly levels. It’s a vicious circle. With Republicans in power, they control reapportionment. And, they draw the lines their way.”

Maynard Eaton is a Blogging While Blue contributor. This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Daily World

Filed Under: Georgia Politics ·

An Honor for Four Little Girls in Birmingham

April 25, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

fourgirlsOn April 16, there was widespread recognition and celebration of the 50th anniversary of the eloquently crafted “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.  And yesterday the House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would recognize the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963 with the annual Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors.  The violence of bombs and explosions, the terror and fear that lives on after such violent acts take a long time to heal. The Congressional Medal even 50 years later is part of the nation’s healing.

That spring in 1963 from a Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any other city in this nation.”

That same year on one September Sunday morning, the girls were attending their regular Sunday school class when a bomb was thrown from a car into the church. The bomb was so powerful that it blew up a wall and sent stone and trash flying throughout the church.  When the dust and debris settled, the bodies of Denise McNair, 11; Carol Robertson, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Addie Mae Collins, 10 were discovered.

Dianne Braddock, the older sister of Carole Robertson and other family members watched the vote on Wednesday in Washington, DC and said that it was a “meaningful recognition,” that demonstrates the four girls “didn’t die in vain.”

Some 290 members of Congress have signed the resolution and it now moves to the Senate and to the President for his signature. The measure passed, 420-0. The award will be presented on Sunday Sept. 15 exactly 50 years to the date they were killed. Twenty-two other members of the church were injured in the bombing.

As we honor the Birmingham victims we remember the victims of the Boston Marathon and West, Texas and pledge to embrace King’s legacy of nonviolence.

Through the rubble of hate, may we learn the principles, teach the principles and live the principles of nonviolence that are our best hope for real peace.

http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy#sub2

Filed Under: civil disobedience, girls, human rights, Race in America ·

Deal Should Lead

April 22, 2013 by · 6 Comments

A lot has been made over the last week about Governor Nathan Deal’s refusal to comment on the proposed integrated prom for Wilcox County High School. Students at the school tried, wilcox high school promand successfully, raised money to hold the first integrated prom in school history. The Governor’s spokesperson called Better Georgia’s request for comment on the effort a “silly publicity stunt”.  Finally, on Wednesday, after pressure from national media sources, the governor spoke on the issue. This is what he said:

“None of us condone things that would send the wrong message about where we are with regard to race relations. But by the same token, I think that people understand that some of these are just local issues and private issues, and not something that the state government needs to have its finger involved in.”

Translation: I am not a leader.

Of course the governor should encourage others to do what’s right without an exception for local politics.  That’s like a parent at home watching their child treat another child badly and responding by saying “that’s a child issue”.  Yes we elect politicians to manage government and set public policy, but we also expect them to use their bully pulpit to lead. Governor Deal failed in this instance.

But who is surprised? Certainly not us. This is the same person who called seniors without birth certificates “Ghetto Grandmothers”.  This is the same person who boasted about voting against the Voting Rights Act.  This is also the same person who when asked if President Obama was born in America said “I have no idea where he was born”.

The Governor’s belief on race relations is something only he knows.  In our opinion, each of the examples above says more about his willingness to lead in a diverse state in complex times.  Each statement was made when the Governor was either running, or about to run for Governor in 2010.  He was clearly trying to deliver a positive message to Republican Party primary voters instead of saying what, hopefully, he believes in his heart.

Now three years later, the same thing is happening with the Wilcox County prom. The Governor is obviously concerned about his primary election next year and getting challenged for being too moderate. It’s hard to believe a high school prom became a political football in the first place, but since it did, Deal should lead.

Filed Under: Diversity, georgia, Georgia Politics, Obama, political office ·

Shopping with Guns?

April 10, 2013 by ·

Man openly carrying a holstered side arm disturbs customers.

Center for American Progress Report

Center for American Progress Report

On the first really warm Saturday this spring, customers were out in droves at the Stockbridge, Georgia Lowes Garden Center. Elderly couples, moms with children in tow were picking over vegetables and a myriad of flowers to start summer gardens. Into this bustling scene walked a man with a holstered gun strapped to his belt. When he entered the garden area, he went unchallenged by store staff. No staff person politely approached him and asked him to please leave his gun in his vehicle.

The reaction of the shopping customers was immediate. One pre-teen girl pointed at the man and said, “Mommy, that man has a gun.” The mother looked up from the petunias and responded, “Carla, get over here and stay behind me.” Clearly, the mother was agitated by the site of the man with the gun in the Garden Center. One elderly couple, probably in their late 70’s, noticed the man when the young girl pointed him out.  The husband asked, “Why does he need a gun to shop at Lowes?” The wife quipped, “I don’t know, maybe he’s going to shoot a shoplifter,” she half-joked. But, the woman promptly demanded of her spouse, “Let’s leave, Honey,” and they did. These types of conversations were repeated by several customers – yet no one, not even the disconcerted customers said a word to the man with the gun. Instead of speaking up and complaining to the store manager, they left the store. Except one person who was also made uncomfortable by the open display of weaponry in what should have been a gun free zone.

A team member of Blogging While Blue was present and witnessed the entire episode from the man’s entry to his departure. A store manager was called and a complaint was filed. The store manager, was challenged, “Why does Lowes let hand guns in their stores?” The response was, “I don’t know the laws. I don’t even know if Lowe’s has a policy on guns on the premises.” The store manager, pleaded ignorance and it was obvious from the conversation he was being truthful. When asked, “Do not Lowes customers have a right to shop in a safe environment and in a gun free zone?” There was no response, the store manager just shrugged his shoulders and encouraged a complaint to be filed with his corporate headquarters.

This incident happens daily in Georgia, giving rise to lots of unanswered questions. What about the rights of customers to shop serenely and not be violated by the sight of a man carrying a firearm to the point of leaving the store? What about the right of Lowe’s as a corporation to ban guns in their stores? (If they don’t already – this store manager clearly did not know.) Does Lowes enjoy property rights to control what goes on inside their store? Do their rights as storeowners get trumped by this man’s right to openly carry a weapon? Surely they do not. Or do they in Georgia? From this incident, let’s hope corporations, like Lowes, will step up to the plate and place limits on gun carry in their stores and put pressure on the Governor to lead the General Assembly to make sensible decisions about guns in Georgia.

Interestingly, the National Rifle Association’s position of “guns at any cost” is now forcing a state-by-state legislative debate. As customers uncomfortable with a man carrying a gun in a store complain to the corporate offices, this should force corporate leaders to do the right thing- adopt laws that create gun free zones.  Corporation-by-corporation gun policy makes no more sense than state-by-state laws. America needs uniform gun laws – universal background checks, limits on open gun carry, tight control of military assault weapons and magazines. Why does anyone need a gun to shop at Lowe’s on a warm spring day?

 

Filed Under: georgia, georgia justice system, Guns, Uncategorized ·

Children and Teachers Left Behind

April 9, 2013 by ·

Blogging While Blue Contributor, Claire McLeveighn

A time to cherish photography

A time to cherish photography

News of 35 indictments in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal has left people shaken throughout the United States, calling into question the reasoning behind our national “No Child Left Behind” policy. I am the daughter of public school educators- a teacher and an administrator- in New York City’s school system. Growing up in such a household, education was the top priority. Homework was to be started immediately upon arriving home from school and completed without television, music, telephone or other distractions. Completed homework was to be reviewed by either mother or father; and any “spare time” after completion of homework during the school week was to be used reading one of many books in our home or studying ahead of assignments in school textbooks. In short, nothing was to subvert earning honors level grades and the completion of a college degree. My parents’ formula worked. My sister and I both graduated from Seven-Sister and Ivy League institutions.  My parents were not wealthy people and both came from far more humble circumstances than their children. Yet high achievement seems to be eluding more and more US students.

We have been hearing for several years that the US is slipping in student competitiveness worldwide. Some of this can be attributed to the decrease in wages and income as more families fall under the federal poverty level.  Some will argue that India and China are producing so many more college graduates than the United States because those countries’ populations vastly surpass ours. However, none can dispute that while these countries and others are investing in education, the US is divesting. While many children in developing countries are attending school seven days per week, our local school districts are closing schools, shortening school years, eliminating teacher training and laying off educators, all in the reward-driven environment created by “No Child Left Behind.”  My father once told me that it is a teacher’s job to teach, and it is a student’s job to learn. What then, are the factors and conditions that allow both teacher and student to do their respective “jobs?” The best-trained, most effective teacher cannot teach a child who comes to school unprepared to learn. If no one at home fosters intellectual curiosity, the home environment is not conducive to learning – adequate and nourishing food, stable family life, structure, loving discipline, security, safety, tools and materials for intellectual development – or the parent or guardian does not value education or is too distracted by basic survival issues to be involved- how can any teacher slay those dragons? A Bronx, New York special education teacher said it this way:

“I can’t stand it that the metrics for evaluating students and schools change every year. I can’t stand it that students who are afraid to walk through the lobbies of their buildings are penalized when they don’t perform as well as kids whose nannies escort them past their uniformed doormen; kids whose only regular food comes from free breakfast and lunch provided at school; kids who watch their dads beat their moms and so don’t understand why it’s not ok to hit another child who doesn’t stand up for herself…”

Assumptions underpinning “No Child Left Behind” implementation – that teachers are the cause of poor performance, that punitive actions and financial rewards will solve student performance challenges – are seriously flawed and are destroying creative and caring teachers, whose lifelong passion is to teach, and rewarding anyone who can present, by seemingly any means, a prescribed numerical outcome. Our policy conversations focus on school safety, standards and teacher performance, but none of these can be honestly addressed outside the larger social context of the community and the home. Nor can they be addressed when as a nation, we spend on education do not invest in education. In a 2012 “Global Search for Education” interview with C.M. Rubin, Andy Hargreaves of Boston College said “All high-performing countries make strong investments in their public systems. Their private systems are small or negligible. Charter schools are not a serious option. A nation’s moral economy invests in education for everyone’s good wherever it can, and makes prudent economies that do not harm the quality of teaching and learning whenever it must.” Until we make the moral and financial commitment to education, our teachers, children, and nation will be left behind.

Filed Under: Atlanta Education, Uncategorized ·
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