Playing Possum, Spraying Spittle, and the Sneakiest Day

It’s not over till the fat lady sings; I maybe humming, but I ain’t singing yet.

Despite what you may have heard or read, HB954 is NOT dead! Thanks to you, however, it is on life-support.

 Readers, you have done an amazing job towards getting us to this point. Thank you very much. Your calls have been having the desired effect and you should be very proud.

 Now we have one final push to cut off the head of this poisonous snake. Tomorrow is the last day of the session; and it is the sneakiest day of the session. The stories I could tell you about last-day antics would seem unbelievable. Some are hilarious, and some would scare the pants off of ya. As I write this, you can just bet your bottom dollar that the arm-twisting and horse-trading is at a fevered pitch in the back room, and you can be darn sure not much good will come to us out of it. But I am dead serious about this folks. It is not safe to blink until midnight tomorrow. So prop those eyelids open and remain vigilant.

 Now, is the time for a big push. We cannot lose ground! "Dweeby" McKillip has had a fit and fallen in it. He is whining like a three year-old, that his bill is being ambushed. And his puppeteer, the ever dangerous Dan Becker, the President of Georgia Right to Life, is foaming at the mouth and spraying spittle with every word, so keep your hankie handy.

 Here is Mr. Becker’s mantra. Taken directly off of the Georgia Right to Life web site. (bolded mine)

 It is the principle that all human life has God given, constitutionally recognized value. The idea is simple yet bold.  Ultimately, it may provide a direct challenge to the central holding of Roe v Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal in the United States.  Personhood will restore respect and effective legal protection for all human beings, including the unborn.  It encompasses the threat of emerging issues, such as cloning, embryo experimentation and euthanasia.  "The prolife movement must mature beyond the singular goal of 'saving babies' and engage our current culture of death", says Georgia Right to Life President Daniel Becker.

 Boy howdy, every time I read this I have nightmares for weeks – real weeks, not "Dweeby" weeks.

 I know that your dialing finger is complaining about being over-worked lately, so promise it a vacation – starting Friday. Meanwhile, we need to make more calls. We are too close to victory and just as close to defeat. We cannot let this slip away now. You have done an excellent job of spreading the word through your networks. I have received calls from folks all over this state – Valdosta, Augusta, Calhoun, Clayton, Albany, Athens (especially Athens), plus many others hometowns, from folks who are expressing both outrage at HB954, as well as thanks for getting the word out. Many had no idea about HB954 and its unconscionable implications, until they heard from you. So, please stay vigilant and keep up the good work.

 "Dweeby" and Becker are thinking that because HB954 is being referred to as dead (I call it playing possum), and that Speaker Ralston has not (yet) appointed a conference committee, that we all will wipe our hands, pat ourselves on the back and say "job well done". And that's when they will "pull a sneaky". Well, think again bubba, because all along they have under-estimated us and think of us as politically naïve. Now, we may not be savvy cigar smoking, backroom deal making politicos, but we ain’t stupid.

 While they are still in the stuck in the "barefoot and pregnant" mentality mode, we have moved on, to stiletto heels and contraception. And we ain’t goin' back. They really just can’t seem to figure this out. Perhaps they need to get out of the man cave a little more often.

 So rev up your dialing finger again good folks: Make just three simple calls.

 Lt. Governor Casey Cagle 404.656.5030

 Senator Tommy Williams  404.656.0089

 Governor Nathan Deal   404.656.1776

 Here is your message:

 Do not let Speaker Ralston bully you and the Senate on HB954. There is a link at the bottom of the email if you would like a longer explanation about why this is the message. Of course you can just say whatever you are comfortable with saying.

 And, if your dialing finger is holding up, give your your Senator a call too. The link to find your Senator http://sos.ga.gov/MVP2/logon.aspx

 Hang in there! And remember, no blinking.

 Onward!


 http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-government/abortion-bill-skids-to-1399907.html

"It's time for women to stop being politely angry." - Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee

Now I gotta tell ya, when a group of old white guys start worrying themselves into a fit about my inner workings, it makes the hair on the back of my neck go up. And Monday it was standing at attention, and quivering.

I gotta admit, however, Monday’s Senate hearing on HB954 was educational in many ways. Just like an IRS tax audit can be educational.

A fine example of a teachable moment was when the ever fussy & dweeby Representative Doug McKillip tried his darndest to explain the new McKillip Math of “our weeks” and “their weeks” to his fellow committee members. At one point, I could swear I saw steam coming off his pointy little head.

Nearest as I could make it out, Dweeby figures that conception begins the moment the sperm is released and starts frantically searching for an egg, like a sugar crazed four-year-old on Easter morning.

Now this is important, because the clock starts ticking at that precise moment towards the 20-week HB954 deadline limit, for a legal abortion and the criminalization of doctors.

As McKillip screeched on, my mind began to ponder Dweeby’s "personhood" moment, or as I call it, “Sperm Finds Egg Theory.” I would think that precise sperm-egg moment would be pretty darn hard to pinpoint. It seems reasonable to think that really only the sperm knows for sure, and he ain’t talking. Smoking a cigarette maybe, but definitely not talking to anybody but McKillip.

All during Dweeby’s testimony and even during questioning of the panel of medical and legal experts, the terms "our weeks" and "their weeks" continued to stump them all. His fellow committee members sitting around the table never did get it. Throughout the meeting, they would continually ask Dweeby, “Now, are we talking about ‘their weeks’ or ‘our weeks?’” It was all pretty weak, if you ask me.

Gosh darn it, you just can’t make this stuff up. It was like listening to that old baseball comedy routine, Who's on First  – only not funny.

Now all this talk about "their weeks" and "our weeks" made me a tad nervous. I'm thinking we had better start guarding the weeks we have left, or we will find them stripped away along with all our other reproductive stuff. So gird “your weeks” ladies, especially if you see Dweeby McKillip coming your way. I think we should all tear a page out of our calendars and send it to McKillip and tell him we want our weeks back.

During Dweeby’s testimony and convoluted explanation of ours versus theirs weeks, I glanced over at the medical and legal experts who were waiting to testify; they had that astonished wide-eyed disbelieving look of those uninitiated in the political process. You see that with newbies, bless their hearts.

When it was their turn at the microphone, they each explained how in the medical & legal field, contraception and pregnancy is calibrated to real math. Now I gotta say real math (although not my strong suit) has been working pretty darn well for sometime now - for most folks, that is. However, it is just not precise enough for the minutiae-obsessed Dweeby.

As is the usual course of action under the gold dome (a widely recognized logic free zone), these good ole boys, ever fact averse, totally discounted the compelling testimony of the medical and legal experts and gave Dweeby his votes, or at least the Chairman said they did. We will really never know, it being a voice vote, and Chairman Unterman denied a call for a confirming hand vote. Even the politically astute were wide-eyed at this blatant example of Georgia democracy in action.

Jay Bookman of the AJC has written an excellent accounting of Monday's meeting. http://bit.ly/GByeNk

As is his habit, he brings insight and clarity to this six-hour debacle. Read it and weep. I suggest you print it out and stick it in your calendar under July; then take it out and read it just before you go to the polls to vote in the primary. That ought to get the hair on your neck up and your dander too. Moreover, it should put you in the right frame of mind to pull that lever.

As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words; however, HB954 seems worthy of at least 2,000 words, so I have included two photos for your review and an editorial graphic.

Dweeby McKillip at the hearing - in near fetal position - trying to cipher out his new "weak" math on paper.

Classic Dweeby, as he resorts to counting on his fingers or as I call it, Dweeby's digit math.

Today is International Women's Day.

We aren’t in Kansas any more. 

Today, if Dorothy were to encounter men with no brains, no hearts and no courage, she wouldn’t be in Oz. She’d be in Congress!


If the recent spate of sinister and fact-averse legislation, put forth by our misguided misogynistic legislators, in their ongoing and escalating war on women – in Georgia and across the nation – has made you frustrated, angry, bewildered, beleaguered, sad, unbelieving, wounded, miserable, dismayed, discouraged, grumpy, repulsed, worried, victimized, annoyed, cross, exasperated, fuming, dispirited, furious, irascible, irate, maddened, offended, outraged, riled, wrathful and feeling like the only fireplug at the dog show; well then - have I got an opportunity for you!

It’s opportunity to raise that big clear voice of yours and speak truth to power. We must demonstrate our strength, as we did with The Komen Foundation and Rush Limbaugh. We must send the message loud and clear. We will not stand down. We will stand up. We will not go back. We will fight back. We will not be powered down. We will power up.


See you Monday at the Capitol.

"Walk in My Shoes, Hear Our Voice"
Circle Around the Georgia State Capitol
Monday, March 12, 2012
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Stand With Us:
o ACLU of Georgia
o Atlanta Women's Medical Center
o Feminist Women's Health Center
o Georgia Equality
o Georgia Rural Urban Summit
o Georgia WAND
o Georgia Women for a Change
o League of Women Voters of Georgia
o MoveOn
o National Association of Social Workers - Georgia Chapter
o Planned Parenthood Southeast
o Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
o Spark Reproductive Justice Now!

Stand with us for women's health and lives -- for freedom, equality, justice, and human dignity for all. Join us for a peaceful, but not silent, single file walk around the Gold Dome. Our voices will no longer be silent or ignored.

Organizing Principle:
We are here today to reclaim our voices. We are rejecting legislation that is being considered, or has passed, that does not comply with the following principles for all of Georgia’s women:
- to determine when and whether to have children,
- to have a healthy pregnancy;
- to become a parent and parent with dignity, and
- to have safe and healthy relationships and families.

Logistics:
11 am – Meet Up at Central Presbyterian Church Exterior Courtyard -201 Washington St. SW; Atlanta, GA 30303
MARTA is the best way to arrive. Exit at the Georgia State Station. If you drive there is plenty of parking at the Underground Deck – but it is a bit pricey, carpools encouraged.
11:30 am to 1 pm – Walk the Sidewalk in a Single File Line

Bring a sign sized no more than your body’s width. Suggested Messages (or be creative).

· Trust Georgia’s Women
· I Trust Georgia’s Women
· We are the 51%
· I Trust the 51%
· I am [fill in name] and I can be Trusted.
· Trust Georgia’s [fill in women who need a voice] - such as Trust Georgia’s Black Women, Trust Georgia’s Immigrant Women, Trust Georgia’s Lesbians, Trust Georgia’s Moms, etc.


Many politicians now openly support a denial of basic health care for women or the reversal of essential women's rights. With the 2012 elections looming this year, the culture war seems to deliver a new insult to women's dignity every day.

This has got to stop. We know that efforts to restrict reproduction, sexual, and parenting freedoms are often linked to other forms of discrimination which we oppose.

We need our elected officials to respect and protect women's individual autonomy and right of conscience. Women, men, and all communities need accurate medical information and access to affordable health care.


www.HearOurVoice.org - 404-907-0272 - GAwalkcoalition@gmail.com

Grab a friend or two and come on down Monday.

A tale of two Bills & a Mosquito

A Tale of Two Bills and A Mosquito

Down at the Georgia State Capitol there are two bills relating to education in Georgia. These two bills came about in response to last year’s Georgia Supreme Court ruling, declaring unconstitutional the Georgia Charter School Commission (GCSC) and its authority to approve and fund charter schools over the objections of local schools boards. It is important to point out that both bills give the state the right to create charter schools.

First, I should make my bias known. I support charter schools and live in a city that has a pretty darn good charter school system. And it is safe to say that one reason folks move to Decatur is for our schools. And I see nothing wrong with exploring new ideas and options to improve Georgia’s educational system. Providing a quality education to our children is one of the most important responsibilities we have as parents, and as a society.

This ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court was viewed as a set-back for the 16 state-approved charter schools recommended by the GCSC. So the Republicans authored HR1162 and are sponsoring it in the current legislative session as a means to override the court’s decision. If HR1162 passes as it is, it will most certainly end up back in court, continuing our trend of spending more taxpayer money in courtrooms rather than classrooms.

Here’s why it’s very important to care.

One glaring flaw with HR1162 is that it makes taxation without representation constitutional. HR1162 will give state officials power to move money from public schools districts into “special schools”. The proposed amendment will enable political appointees to override the decisions of local school boards and local voters, and re-direct local tax funds to any “special school” that the state creates or designates. Please note – charter schools are only one type of “special school”. How many other “special schools” can there be? Are homes with home-schooled students “special schools too”? “Special schools” are not clearly defined, but left open to interpretation. So where does it end?

I am deeply concerned about HR1162. At issue here is a proposed state constitutional amendment. Anytime you are about to change the constitution, it begs prudence and the need to look at all angles closely, not just in the legislation itself, but also the motivation behind the legislation, something that is always as elusive as that mosquito in the bedroom at night.

Now for the second bill.

Rep. Scott Holcomb’s HR 1335 thoughtfully addresses the flaws in the Republican sponsored bill and is a viable alternative to HR1162.

HR 1335 stays out of the murky territory of “special schools” and focuses only on charter schools. Additionally, HR1135 puts charter schools squarely within the Constitution, removing any doubt about the state’s support of this educational option. This clarity will help with Race to the Top initiatives and with the attraction of support from foundations. It also reaffirms the state’s role in education policy.

Most importantly, HR1335 limits funding of state-created charter schools to state-provided funds, thereby removing the risk of a power-grab or financial grab from local taxpayers.

Yet, HR1335 cannot get a hearing on the floor of the Republican controlled legislature!

Granted, in my county, the current DeKalb School Board may not be a shining example of good stewardship, but it is critical to remember – we have the power to vote them out and replace them, or even recall them. This is not control I am eager to hand over to the state.