Dr Nelva Lee: Businessowner, Professor, & State Senator?

She's Businessowner, Philathropist, & a Professor. Nelva Lee, a Conservative Democrat from McDonough is entering the political arena for the first time in her adult life, challenging Republican Rick Jeffares for State Senate District 17.

Lee was born in Colon, Panama, moved to New York at the age of 14, then Seattle, Minnesota, Hawaii & finally here in Georgia.

Lee is founder of the MITIO Institute which specializes in online medical intepreting & translating diploma program in addition Dr Lee is a associaie Professor of Health Sciences for various propriety universities & she has served in other capacities as well.

Dr Lee will face Ultra-Conservative Rick Jeffares for SD 17 which covers Henry, Newton & a portion of Rock County.

Lee is a strong candidate who can appeal across party, racial & cultural lines with her Pro-Life, Pro-Business, Pro-Gun Christian Background. With issues ranging from Illegal Immigration to Jobs & Education, Dr Lee would be a valuable asset to the State Senate, as well as the State of Georgia with her commonsense, down to earth professional approach instead of trying to grab headlines.

Support this up & coming democrat for the State Senate.

 Check out her website:  http://electdrlee.com/

10 Reasons Obama Should Lose in November

At last check:

 

1. US sovereign debt downgrade-1st time in US history.

2. Federal spending 25% of GDP, highest since WW2.

3. Budget deficit 10% of GDP, highest since WW2.

4. Federal debt 67% of GDP, highest since just after WW2.

5. Employment just at 58.1%, lowest since 1983.

6. Long term unemployment 45.9% of total, highest since great depression.

7. Increase in non-farm payroll only 0.5%, slowest job growth 26 months after a severe recession since WW2.

8. Homeownership down to 59.7%, lowest since 1965.

9. Percentage of taxpayers paying income tax only 49%, lowest in modern era.

10. Government dependency (receiving 1 or more federal benefits) at 47%, highest in US history.


We are at equivalent spending equal to a WORLD WAR spending, and that is mind boggling.

Obviously, this is not working and is not going to be sustainable.

 

If he wins re-election & at this point its 50/50, it would be because of voters  mistrust of handing the GOP total control of all 3 branches of government or just flat-out mistrust of Mitt Romney

Ben Hill County Democrat Gene Mitchell Announces Candidacy for State Senate

Last week Gene Mitchell announced his candidacy for the vacate State Senate 7 seat vacated by Greg Goggins (R-Douglas) who decided not to run for re-election in Ben Hill County.

Mitchell, a 26 year old former Marine who was honorably discharged from the Military Last year is the only democrat to qualify for the seat. He will face the winner of the republican primary in November.

Mitchell attended Fitzgerald High School & then later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps which his tour of duty took him to over twenty countries. He served in Active Duty from 2004- 2008 & then in the Reserves from 2008- 2011  After being discharged he entered Mercer University & majored in Political Science.

Gene looked to Fitzgerald to see what future lay there. He found limited opportunities for a returning college graduate. A community that fails to provide a means of living for its youth is doomed to die in the future & he wants to secure the future of those communities by helping south Georgia Grow for the current and future citizens of District 7.

Excerpts from his announcement, which by the way you find on his facebook page, he says..... As I look back on my life, the answer is clear that American dream still very much exists. As children, my sister and I lived with my single mother who did not graduate high school. My mother worked two jobs and went to night school until she obtained her GED and associates degree from East Central Tech. My mother did not accomplish this alone. I remember many weekends and nights when my sister and I would stay with my grandmother and Aunt Alisa, both of whom also worked two jobs.


Unfortunately, over the past ten years, a radical change has occurred in South Georgia.

The public education system which laid the strong foundation for me is under attack. Austerity measures implemented a decade ago have cut deep into Georgia's education budget, forcing local governments like Ben Hill county to foot the bill. These cuts in education have forced furlough days, layoffs, and struggling school systems to wonder how to properly provide adequate education for our children. As a man who was brought out of poverty by public education, I see this issue as the number one issue facing our children, our community, and the future of South Georgia.

The burden of funding education now pushed upon our local governments has not only created difficulties for our school systems but also for our local economies. The recession has deeply impacted south Georgia's manufacturing sector and the increased burden of funding education has crippled our local governments resources to invest in the quality of life and economic development of south Georgia. Fitzgerald has seen her sons and daughters move away in pursuit of finding a job because adequate employment is disappearing.

The time to reinvest in south Georgia is now.If we are going to succeed as a state, then all of Georgia must ensure that South Georgia develops economically. We can do this by developing infrastructure, steering away from policies that hurt farmers, and working together to ensure the entire state prospers, not just Atlanta.

Friends and family, the challenges we face today did not happen overnight. Likewise,we will not solve them overnight. We must work together, building consensus and moving forward with the plans we devise. Cynical attitudes and divisive rhetoric only constrain us.

I hope the DPG & the Democratic Senate Caucus get behind this young Bluedog Democrat & show its support

Check out his website: http://geneforga.com/

2012: Hottest Democratic Women of Georgia

Here are some of the Hottest Democratic Women of Georgia. I had to sort thru photo after photo that were sent to me by Peanut Politics viewers to determine who should be on this list, so here they are....

State Representative Yasmin Neal (D-Jonesboro) HD 75

Ava Fredericks National Committeewoman for Young Democrats of Georgia

Tawana Garrett, Chatham County Democrats

Angela Brown, Judge DeKalb Co Recorders Court

Nicole Denise Marchand, Chief Assistant D.A. Dekalb Co D.A. Office

Fenika Miller, Houston County Democrats, Georgie Federation for Democratic Women

Amber N English, Planned Parenthood Southeast/Young Democrats of Georgia

State Representative Elena Parent Brisedine

Cherise Jefferson, Political Consultant

Mikaya Milan Thurmond, daughter of ex-Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond

Alexi W. Russell UGA & GCSU

(I don't know if she's a Dem, but she belongs on this list)

State Reresentative Dar'Shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia) HD 94

Carry Smith, Young Democrats of Georgia, Chatham Dems

Candidate Spotlight: Mary Ann Whipple-Lue (D-Gordon)

Over in HD 144, James "Bubber" Epps (R-Dry Branch) has picked up a challenger in Mary Whipple-Lue (D-Gordon)/ Both will battle it out for HD 144 in November.

Lue, who is retired hails from Wilkinson County. Democrats would like nothing more than to unseat Epps, a party switcher from his Middle Ga based seat. Epps who was bombarded with questions back in 2010 on whether he struck a deal with republicans about switching parties if elected continuously denied the allegations, but he did so that's the story.

HD 144 now consist of Bleckley County, Northern Laurens County, along with Twiggs, Wilkinson County & Jones County. Also a sliver of Bibb as well

Can Lue pull knock Epps from HD 144 seat? I don't know, but we'll know more when she makes known her priorities for voters of District 144

The Future of the New Deal & Great Society Programs after 2012 Elections

The 2012 campaign season is shaping up as a possible "transformational" election, but not the kind that Barack Obama and many Democrats had in mind.

Instead, it's a year when, if Democrats don't get their act together ASAP, they could suffer a trifecta of losses that will trigger further erosion of threatened New Deal and Great Society legacies and fulfill many conservatives' longtime dreams.
Many Democrats still seem smugly assured that, in the end, voters would never, EVER give GOPers control of all three branches of government given the rhetorical overkill of the party's talk show political culture, Congressional Republicans' political obstructionism, the continued enabling of Twilight Zone-like birtherism, plus Republicans' alienation of Latinos, many women voters, gays — and seeming disdain for moderates and America's "sensible center."
Among the many questions posed about the 2012 there are these three:

Two are a) whether the center is still "sensible" (centrists, moderates and some independents will ask) or b) whether the center was ever sensible (liberals and conservatives who consider the center mushy, unrealistic, lacking principles, and uninformed will ask). Polls vary, but most find that in terms of party identification the electorate is largely tied between Democrats and Republicans who need swing "undecided" voters to win.

A third question is whether 2008 will prove to be a fluke, merely a single Democratic Party volume wedged between two Republican Party bookends, a victory largely due to multiple-level Bush administration failures and the financial meltdown. If so, it means GOPers are destined for complete political control of the Supreme Court and that the mostly Republican dominance of Presidential elections since LBJ's exit continues.
Right now some analysts say Obama could become another Truman. Some Republicans say he's another Jimmy Carter. But Obama may generate "another Obama" that pundits and historians will use in the future. Exactly what "another Obama" means will emerge on Election Day.

So will the Democrats win despite themselves? Will some liberals really stay home because there was no public option in Obamacare? Will they forget about the Supreme Court (again)? Which party will swing voters hate the least and hold their noses and vote for? Will Republican Party unity combined with Super PAC bankrolling support make America's first African-American President just another fired one-term President?

If so, it will be another instance of life again seemingly imitating TV art, as the Democrats on election day would wake up to see the New Deal and Great Society more on the way out than ever, and find themselves epitomizing the name of another TV show: "The Biggest Loser."

Candidate Spotlight: Renita Hamilton (D-Lawrenceville)

Bluedog Democrat Renita Hamilton, a businessowner from Lawrenceville is running for the open HD 105 seat which consist of Grayson & Logavillle & other parts of South Central Gwinnett County.

Hamilton, a Turner County Native moved to Gwinnett County in 1992 & have lived there sinc. She is a graduate of Savannah State University with a major in Mass Communications. Her core issues are Fiscal Responsibilty, Education, Transportation & Jobs. Hamilton wants to bring about positive and effective change in order to improve, increase value, enhance the quality of life and encourage awareness to community based issues and concerns. Hamilton is supporter of Gun Rights, Lower Taxes & Prayer back in our Schools

Hamilton is owner of Polished Affairs, LLC a event planner/wedding planner business which she started in 2003.

Check out her website: http://www.voterenitahamilton.org/

Right Wingers & The Victim Card

Right-Wingers fancy themselves as hard-nosed realists. Unlike fluffy-headed liberal/progressives, who spend their days dreaming of a perfect world, the right wingers are suspicious of utopian schemes. They know quite well that life is hard, and they disdain few things more than whiners and complainers.

But if right wingers hate victimhood so much, why then does the Republican Party encourage its base to feel so aggrieved, especially at the hands of those snotty "elites"? Whether it's complaining about lipstick on a pig or bashing Washington insiders, the media and those oh-so-condescending Hollywood celebrities, Republicans have turned their own kind of victimhood into a political art form.

In fairness, Republicans didn't invent victim politics, nor do they have the franchise on it. But the form they engage in is particularly troublesome, not least because so many conservatives seem not to even realize they're up to their eyebrows in a game they claim to despise.

When Americans go on the attack against elites, historically we think of economic populism, the kind of class warfare pushed by the left wingers. This is about money, inequality and an agenda to redistribute wealth. Liberal/Progressive activists rail against robber barons and corporate fat cats.

Conservative populism leverages social rather than economic cleavages. The agenda is mobilizing resentful masses that get a vicarious go at thumbing their noses at anyone they feel looks down on them. The enemies list is made up of professors, public intellectuals and entertainers, not captains of industry. And without any real redress in mind, conservative populism is all about emotion and personal grievance, not righting any particular social or economic wrong. You'd think the rise of conservative media, eight years of a conservative administration (2000-2008) and a conservative-leaning Supreme Court would have undermined the GOP's victim strategy.

Right Wingers still behave like a battered minority. That's too bad, because it undermines the conservative critique of the politics of victimization, which is not a bad one. When they aren't practicing victimhood, roght wingers argue that it weakens moral accountability and therefore personal responsibility. To identify yourself as a perpetual victim, they would say, tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy that can undermine an individual's or a group's ability to improve their lot over time.

So what I'm saying is please stop playing the Victim Card! Just stop it!!

8 Georgia Democrats to Watch during Primaries/General Election

(1) Nelva Lee (D-McDonough)

The Democrats couldn't have asked for a more stellar candidate in Dr. Nelva Lee as she attempt to unseat Republican Rick Jeffares for State Senate District Seat 17.

Dr. Nelva Lee is the President and Founder of the MiTio Institute and the MiTio Foundation. The MiTio Institute is an Online Medical Interpreting and Translating Diploma Training Program & comes for a strong military family, her mother served in the U.S. Army & husband is a Gulf War Veteran.

Lee, a Conservative Democrat represent the Hispanic, military, black, Christian, and female voter having lived in places from Hawaii to Seattle, now settling just outside the Metro Atlanta Area. Her background and experience in small business, healthcare, and education are top priorities for SD 17 constituents. She is a top tier candidate for the DPG. I will definitely keep my eye on this race!

(2) Kevin Brown (D-Buena Vista)

Marion County Commisisoner Kevin Brown will take on party switcher Mike Cheokas (R-Americus) for HD 139. Brown, 43 is a Bluedog Democrat hails from the same hometown as former Negro League great Josh Gibson who was called the Black Babe Ruth. Brown is a executive director & is a father of 6. Family Values is a big deal to Mr. Brown.

(3) Thomas Coogle II (D-Montezuma)

Businessman/Grocer Thomas Coogle is also a political newcomer, running for the seat being vacated by the retirement of Lynmore James. Coogle, 34 is a Pro-Business, Pro-Growth, Chamber of Commerce Conservative Democrat who championed Christian Values, Job Creation, Right to Bear Arms, protecting our senior citizens & creating a better environment for young people Coogle hails from Macon County & if victorious in July, it could send a message that Conservative Democrats aren't dead just yet!

(4) Darrell Black (D-Milledgeville)

Businessowner Darrell Black is back, this time running for Senate District 25 against Johnny Grant who has two republicans challenging him in the republican primary. Black ran in the special election back in  2007 but lost out to Rusty Kidd (I). Black is a moderate democrat who wants to improve the jib situation of SD 25.

(5) Dar'Shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia)

Incumbent Buisnessowner Dar'Shun Kendrick is beat back two democratic challengers for her HD 93 seat. Kendrick, a one term representative is one of the youngest members of the legislature. She is a former congressional intern, served as youth coordinator for the YDG & she was selected as one of Peanut Politics Hottest Democratic Women of Georgia. She owns her own business, Kendrick Law Practice & her constituent services are top notch. Send her back to the State House to continue fighting for bluecollar families in her district.

(6) Gene Mitchell (D-Douglas)

Mitchell is running for open State Senate seat left by Greg Goggins who retired before the end of the session. In 2004, according to his FB Page, Gene enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. His tour of service took Gene to over twenty countries across Africa, Asia, and South America. Gene was honorably discharged from the military in 2011. While on reserve status, Gene began attending Mercer University where he graduated with his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. I hope the senate leadership helps Mitchell in that race. He has the right makeup & background for that district. Keep a eye on that race.

(7) JC Cunningham (D-Valdosta)

Disabled Veteran JC Cunningham will take on Floor Leader Amy Carter, another party switcher from Valdosta for HD 175. Cunningham is running because he believe that it is time that the lawmakers of Georgia begin to reflect the spirit and pride of all Georgians. For the past several months he have been speaking and meeting with educators, farmers, small business owners, unemployed construction workers, seniors, and mothers throughout Valdosta, Hahira, Quitman, Dixie, Boston and Thomasville and I heard the same thing over and over. "Who in Atlanta is representing South Georgia"? "Does anyone feel our pain"? I give Cunningham a 50/50 shot at that seat...

(8) Bikram Mohanty (D-Valdosta)

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Mohanty at the State Capitol during qualifying period. Mohanty has the tall order of unseating longtime democrat, now republican Tim Golden for SD 8. Dr Mohanty is a occupational therapist

As founder and CEO of Innovative Rehab Solutionshehave employed healthcare and rehab professionals from South Georgia and have been able to successfully maintain these positions without major government intervention or any major debt.  His main issue is creating Jobs for the South Ga Economy

Tom Coogle: From Unknown To "Yeah, You Got My Vote!

Conservative Democratic Candidate Tom Coogle (D-Montezuma) has come along way since deciding to enter the race to succeed retiring State Rep Lynmore James back in late 2011. In a district drawn to favor a African-American candidate, Coogle has managed to win over many African-Americans in communities in HD 139, from Unadilla to Montezuma who makeup 56% of the population of HD 139 (excluding the prison population from the census, that number is much lower than the 56%) (Pictured Tom Coogle with Jim Galloway of the AJC)

Coogle, who's Great Grandfather T.L. Coogle served in the Georgia Legislature from 1948-56 is the darkhorse candidate in this race. He had little or no name recognition entering this race, no political ties to any organization, In many ways the allure of the Coogle Darkhorse Candidacy  mirrors that of the American Dream: An unknown candidate, the little guy, overcomes incredible odds to pull a shocking victory from the hands of an establishment favorite(s)

It has been a very methodical grassroots Campaign for Coogle, building a network of supporters in 3 of the 4 counties consisting of HD 139 (only Peach County remains as the last obstacle)

Being the only Business Owner in the race, Coogle has stressed Jobs with his Faith, Family & Farm Platform in addition to Agriculture, Family Values & Ethics. His Conservative approach to Fiscal & Social Issues has resonated with many citizens of HD 139. Coogle has built a coalition of voters from republicans & democrats, liberals & conservatives.(Remember when  Democratic Party once enjoyed that kind of coalition back in their heyday?)

Recently there have been a wave of  stealing of Coogle Yard Signs in Macon County, while his opponents signs are still standing strong. No doubt there are forces out there working against Coogle & trying to discourage many in the African-American Community to not vote for him due to the color of his skin, so much that rumors was spreading around that Blacks should not vote for him because he is prejudiced or racist is the farthest thing from the truth

This shows how low some will go to discredit or smear Coogle's candidacy in the Black Community. But Coogle weathered that storm & is marching along toward his goal of victory on July 31.

There are two more months to go before voters head to the polls to elect a new state representative for HD 139, but a victory by Coogle would in my opinion send a message to the Democratic Party that they should not give up on Bluedog Democrats just yet if it wants to have a future in statewide politics over the next decade!