Monday, January 08, 2007

2007 Starting with a Bang

We're only eight days into January - not only are we seeing new officials take office under the Gold Dome, but we may also see one man derailed before his year even gets started. We'll see if anything sticks. Either way, it's not something I feel like revelling in. But if the allegations are true, it can't be tolerated.

Tina at Dorothea's List is spearheading an effort to make sure that every Georgia legislator is aware of the plight of the mentally ill in our state's facilities. Please consider volunteering to take the word doc letter that she has prepared and send it to your county's reps. and senators.

Six executions are slated for this January according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This coming on the heels of alleged botched executions in Florida and California, and continued calls for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Closer to home, some of my friends and neighbors were affected by the January tornados that struck in Coweta, Gwinnett, and other parts of north central Georgia on Friday. Coweta actually suffered another tornado last night, and other areas are still under severe weather warnings. Hopefully it's as beautiful in those places as it is here this morning.

In better news, Georgia's first rural hispanic lawmaker is set to take office. Tony Sellier of Crawford County will be sworn in today. Unfortunately, Tony's a Republican. But I still recognize this as an important step forward for the political role of minorities in our state. I wish he and all of the other freshman reps. and senators good luck this year, along with all other elected officials.

On a personal note, regular readers know that I took a lot of time off from this blog during the holidays. And I thank those that checked up on me. I apologize for not having said so earlier, and I'm happy to know I was missed. Some important changes are in the works for me personally. So posting may continue to be light for a while. Check out my neighbors on the blog roll. They do a great job of keeping me and everyone else informed.

And I also want to remember the fact that January 8th is my father's birthday. He would've been 83 today. This October will be mark the tenth anniversary of his death. Moms, dads, and other guardians and caretakers are never perfect. But they're asked to do the most important jobs in the world. So I thank them all.

Happy New Year everyone!

4 comments:

Eddie said...

I think the Hispanic community traditionally votes Republican. I remember the Cuban transplants in south Florida voted Republican and I heard that in California Arnold Schwarzenegger would not have been elected if it was not for the Hispanics.
And maybe that is why Republicans of any power seem to sweat under the collar when asked what they are going to do about "the Mexican problem".

Button Gwinnett said...

The Repubs have definitely skirted around some issues (or tried to) in order to make some headway within the Hispanic community. I don't know that this will be something permanent though.

Here in GA, we've got some great examples of Hispanic Americans contributing to the Democratic Party like Pedro Marin and Sam Zamrippa. Obviously, convincing more Hispanic voters that the Democratic Party will best represent them needs to be apart of their future strategy.

Anonymous said...

Is Zamarippa still in the senate?

Button Gwinnett said...

SamZam didn't run for re-election last year, so he's out as of Dec. 31st. But I wouldn't be surprised if he continues to be involved in groups like the Association of Latino Elected Officials.