Payday loan ACTION ALERT!!!!

By now everyone has probably heard of the hb163, the payday loan bill. I am not going to repeat everyone else's arguments of why this is a bad bill. It will be up for reconsideration in the house next week and we need to contact these Democrats and tell them to vote against this bill and let them know that we are watching them. Below are the Democrats that are supporting this bill and if we contact them enough this week, we may be able to sway a few votes.

Tyrone Brooks 404.656.6372
Keith Heard 404-656-0220
Mike Jacobs 404-656-0325
Joe Heckstall 404-656-0220
Lynmore James 404-656-0116
Sheila Jones 404-656-0323
Pedro Marin 404-656-0314
Billy Mitchell 404-656-0116
Ron Sailor 404-656-0287
"Able" Mable Thomas 404-656-0314
Al Williams 404-656-6372

Let them know that we are watching their votes and we need them to stand up for everyday Georgians by saying "NO" to the payday loan industry.

Confederate History Month

By now I hope everyone has heard of the bill in the Georgia Senate to create a Confederate History Month. I was prompted to write this post after reading other blogger's comments about the Bill.

I think this is a horrible bill and I'm scared that this is moving forward.

The historical context of the confederacy has a serious racist background. The confederacy represents a divided nation that split due to slavery. After the civil war ended as well as reconstruction, the idea of such a strong pride of the confederacy died down. At the beginning of height of the Civil Rights Movement, there was an emergence of the Confederate flag as well as the idea of the Confederate states. This was a symbol of rebelling against the idea of equality for blacks.

Now the Republican-led Georgia General Assembly is race baiting with the idea of commemorating this dark side of American history. I think its deplorable that anyone would even consider an entire month to celebrate this. I'm hoping at least 8 republicans vote against this. If the General Assembly passes this, I think they would have to concurrently pass a resolution apologizing for slavery.

Another factor we must examine is the financial impact of something like this. There will be calls from numerous civil rights organizations to boycott Georgia. On the bright side, this may energize the Black community in a remarkable way. We may see turnout in 2008 explode and make a serious impact in many elections.

How A Democrat can beat Saxby in '08

I think we have a good chance to start chipping away at the Republican gains in Georgia in 2008 but we must start today. I think we need a member of Congress to run against Saxby. Preferably Jim Marshall but I think that Sanford Bishop and John Barrow will work too.

We need them to meet with the house leadership and come up with the funding gap for Peachcare. Then they have a big press conference with the party leadership and a bunch of kids and parents in the background.

The line to be used in the media should be something like "While the Georgia Legislature decided to take a recess and ignore thousands of innocent children, we were fighting to make sure that every child in Georgia has access to healthcare". We use this issue in working family homes throughout the state to show that Democrats have the same values as everyday Georgians.

We also need a presidential candidate with an actual pulse who will not kill every Democratic candidate in Georgia.

The 10th district race is also very important for 2008. If we make this seat competitive now, we lay the groundwork for an excellent field campaign for other races to come.

We also need our safe congressmen to campaign like they are in for the fight of their lives. If they campaign hard, they can energize our base in those districts and increase voter turnout.
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