Abortion seems to incite fiery debates—because it is such an emotional and personal decision. When legislators attempt to restrict a woman’s right to make her own decision in consultation with her physician, it is a debate worth having. HB 954 would remove the option of a woman and her family to make a decision about her medical care. It is a private decision that doesn’t need to be legislated. It is personal not political.

The anti abortion House bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks and subject physicians and medical personnel to licensing sanctions and criminalization. The bill changes the window of time that an abortion can be performed from 26 to 20 weeks.

The not so subtle attempt by Georgia legislators to disregard Roe v Wade is not missed by women and their supporters in this state. Demonstrate that you trust the women of Georgia and their physicians to do what is best for them and their families.  Contact your state representatives to voice your opposition to HB 954. It is not a political decision and politicians shouldn’t make that decision for thousands of Georgia women.

The Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST) for upgrades to the city’s water and sewer system is one issue that voter support cuts across race, family income level, political party, gender, religion and age. Thanks to eight plus years of business and civic leadership most Atlantans haven’t forgotten the days when the city was paying millions in fines to EPA and the threat of a moratorium on sewer hook ups resulting in a damper on economic investment.

Atlanta has spent over $2 billion to make water infrastructure and system improvements using the city’s procurement process to engage world class vendors – small, minority and global businesses. The passage of the MOST next week will provide funding for the next phase, by no means the remainder, of needed water and sewer improvements. The early campaigns for the MOST were comprehensive in their scope and focused on educating the public about the essential need for clean water, rivers and streams for public health and business.

Some say, I among them, that the Upper Chattahoochee RiverKeeper did Atlanta a favor when they sued the city. Their suit forced the city and metro leaders to face their enormous responsibility of investing in water infrastructure, the value of experienced professional leadership in designing and implementing the water investment program and the need for everyone to sacrifice to make the investment. These are the factors that make the Atlanta Clean Water Program work, that have helped pass the MOST in 2004 and 2008 by wide margins.

Some well-known Atlanta champions of these contracting programs were former Northside City Council members like Richard Guthman and Barbara Asher and former mayors Sam Massell, Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young. Each generation of leaders has weighed the political and legal consequences of such programs. Many administrations faced court challenges, sometimes even at the federal level. In their own way these champions challenged the status quo which excluded minorities, women and small businesses from equal economic business opportunities.

Without minority contracting programs Atlanta would not be the city it is today.  Generations of businesses and businesspeople demonstrate the success of the programs here.  The Atlanta model for economic diversity became the blueprint for many other places including the federal government.  While the members of the US Supreme Court weigh the merits of this affirmative action suit from Texas, they ought to be cognizant of Atlanta and the others places where affirmative action has succeeded and not just default to their usual conservative or liberal stances as explained in Jeneba Ghatt’s blog post  “Affirmative Action Apocalypse?”

Whitney Houston’s death highlighted the reality of being a high-profile celebrity and reminded us that when facts are scarce it passes for news.

During the first few days of the death of pop icon Whitney Houston, fact and rumor were nearly interchangeable. In the rush to be first or to trend online, the facts became road kill for journalists and bloggers who tweeted and spread rumor instead of facts. From rumors of suicide to a funeral in Atlanta, she dominated a great majority of the news last week including her past addiction to drugs and what she may have been doing in her last days.

The public mourning for the singer begs the question if we can celebrate a person’s accomplishments while acknowledging their shortcomings or mistakes without vilifying them. CBS Sunday Morning’s Bill Flangan wrote a commentary the day after her death that spoke to the frustration so many of us shared. “Whitney Houston was a public figure her whole adult life. She battled her demons in the public eye…… In the next few days she will be eulogized. That’s as it should be, she deserves it. But wouldn’t it be great if all of us could then leave it at that? Let’s ignore the gossip press and scandal media that will try to exploit her memory now that she can’t defend herself.

Whitney Houston touched millions of us, but she does not belong to us. She was someone’s daughter. She was someone’s mother. Her memory, like her love, belongs to them. The rest of us will always have her music.”

For some of the nearly 14 million people who watched the televised “home going” for Whitney Houston they got a peek into a long cultural tradition at many African-American Baptist funerals. It was personal, soulful and spiritual. The program with its speakers, singers, processional/recessional and personal testimonies were familiar for many African-American viewers. These home goings are cathartic for the mothers, fathers, families and friends sharing their unconditional love and last goodbyes.

The media stories will continue for weeks; the toxicology report, her estate, her record sales and of course her daughter. Her child, who has never recorded a single song, or won a Grammy—yet she must bear the burden of being the daughter of a woman who shared her gift and her life under the scrutiny and judgment of the public. It is not a curse I would wish on anyone, especially an 18-year old-young woman who is struggling to find her way in the world without her mother.

Blogging While Blue Contributor Howard Franklin

Like so many others in Atlanta, Maynard Jackson gave me my start in politics.

Before I knew how important a figure he was, how much he had accomplished in business and politics, or how privileged I was to call him my employer, my mentor and my friend, he had made plans for us.

In 2002, he launched the American Voters League, the first organization to sell voting “the way Coca-Cola sells soda and Cadillac sells cars”.

His approach to youth voter engagement was truly innovative, and at 23, I was incredibly fortunate to be along for the ride as the organization’s CEO.

Anyone remotely acquainted with the story of Maynard Holbrook Jackson knows this wasn’t his first attempt at pushing the envelope.

He had done so – very successfully – many times before, from becoming the nation’s first African-American mayor of a major southern city to insisting on minority participation in lucrative government contracts.

And here he was again, pushing the political establishment to end its effective boycott of minority youth voters while extending an olive branch to the next generation of leaders.

The shove he gave the proverbial envelope with American Voters League would be his last. A heart attack spirited him away during a trip to Washington DC, where we were slated to meet with the president of the AFL-CIO.

I still remember the frantic 8 a.m. call from his executive assistant, urging me to abandon our meeting plans and rush over to the hospital.

Better still, I remember the encouraging words he offered, the praise heaped upon our shared mission, and the lessons taught from the driver’s seat of his Cadillac and the twenty-second floor of his office building.

Maynard’s passion for political involvement remains a driving force in the lives of so many. If there’s anyone I’d like to make proud, in this world or the next, it’s him.

-Howard Franklin, former CEO of the American Voters League

Jackson is legendary for his courage and commitment to diversity. He appointed women, neighborhood leaders and African Americans to his Cabinet and boards.  The times made the conversations tense and his proposals to include neighborhoods in city policy decisions, expand minority and female business enterprise opportunities from 1% to 25%, and to create the city’s economic development programs were very controversial. Atlanta survived the change and thrived as a progressive city and a pacesetter among American cities.

Over the years, from far and wide, I’ve heard stories about Jackson from numerous business and political leaders. As the William and Camille Cosby Endowed Chair at Spelman College, I began interviewing some of Jackson’s colleagues and friends in an effort to fill in information gaps about Jackson’s era.  Excerpts from the raw unedited video series, Maynard Holbrook Jackson: Setting the Record Straight will be shared from time to time on this blog as a tribute to Jackson’s leadership as mayor of this great city.

Next week we will launch a new look on our blog and introduce more videos and other bells and whistles to further engage our readers. As we look ahead, we will continue to be a part of the public dialogue on issues that are relevant to Georgia and the country and share those views in our own unique way.

We started the blog to offer a progressive space for people to share their perspectives about politics and other relevant social issues. We have been pleased with the response to the blog and the growing interest in the views of those who read and contribute to Blogging While Blue. Look for this blog to continue to offer alternative perspectives to those seen in traditional media sources.

1) The collective will and voices of women and their friends should not be taken for granted
2) Social media is proven yet again as an effective and efficient tool for grassroots mobilization
3) When politics trumps people the results can be disastrous

Planned Parenthood is no stranger to controversy and criticism. Last April, the House of Representatives voted to defund Planned Parenthood though the measure failed in the Senate. Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns to determine if the organization illegally used federal funds for abortions. The outspoken Republican Representative is also involved in the investigation of Solyndra the green energy company that received federal grants.

But when the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced that it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood because of new guidelines that bar it from funding organizations under congressional investigation, the response was immediate. Many women health advocates believed the rationale was deeply rooted in a longstanding conservative campaign against abortion—disguised under Planned Parenthood. Critics flooded the Internet to voice their disappointment in the decision by the Foundation. Members of Congress, public officials and healthcare advocates joined the fray. In just a few days Planned Parenthood raised an estimated $3 million in donations, which will be used exclusively for breast screening services.

During the controversy, social media was a critical tool in spreading the word and increasing grassroots participation. Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page received 10,000 new friends and there were more than 1.3 million Tweets referencing Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Originally, the Susan G. Komen Foundation statement said that “Grant making decisions are not about politics—our priority is and always will be the women we serve. Making this issue political or leveraging it for fundraising purposes would be a disservice to women.” The web was abuzz about former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel, now the senior Vice President for Public Policy and her role as the mastermind behind the defunding campaign. One thing is for sure there is very little wiggle room between Handel’s public Pro-life stance and her lack of support for the mission of Planned Parenthood. A political pro-life candidate who runs for governor in a red state—kinda sounds political. If it quacks like a duck then it’s a duck.

The sad truth was that the initial effort aimed at abortion took a huge swipe at low-income and underserved women who simply sought breast exams. The price of politics was costly for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. There is a clear crisis in leadership at the organization. The financial windfall is great news for women’s healthcare and those who might otherwise been undiagnosed. The only question now is—-was the priceless loss of the public confidence and trust in Susan G. Komen really worth it.

The House Democratic 2012 Legislative Agenda was announced with little fanfare but we think it is important to make the information available to readers. One of the highlights of the agenda is that every Monday and Thursday, Georgia House Democrats are inviting citizens to join them in discussing the issues and providing the legislators with their feedback on any legislation. The legislators will also offer training to constituents on how to advocate for the legislation that addresses their concerns and issues.

So far this year, the HOPE Scholarship proposals have garnered a good deal of media attention around the state. With last year’s extensive overall of the program that media attention is definitely warranted. For those who think we are complaining about the media, we aren’t. We recognize the media gurus have to make business choices about which issues to cover. BUT the public has a reasonable expectation that mainstream media will provide relevant coverage of the issues without regard to party affiliation. Even if that news may come from the minority party. So we are including a link here of the House Democratic 2012 Legislative Agenda as well as a video of the legislative agenda announcement.

We encourage our readers to contact their legislators personally to stay informed of the issues and to ensure that their voices are heard.

Links

http://youtu.be/wBGg7IU7lBc

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=111834783