I spoke this afternoon at the 3rd Annual Rally for Darfur, an interfaith rally at the State Capitol organized to draw attention to the atrocities being committed in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Arab militiamen backed by the Government of Sudan have killed nearly 400,000 African inhabitants of Darfur and driven millions more from their homes. Entire villages have been destroyed, and an ancient civilization is in danger of extinction. The President and Congress have labeled this campaign of terror as genocide and imposed sanctions on the Sudanese government.

Last month, President Bush signed into law the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 which authorizes and encourages the states to divest themselves of holdings in companies that are complicit in the genocide in Darfur.

I announced today my plans to introduce legislation that would implement the the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act in Georgia. My bill will make sure that public funds are not invested in companies that sell military weapons to the Government of Sudan or help finance its campaign of genocidal terror against the people of Darfur.

I approach the subject of divestment with a high degree of caution. I understand the arguments on both sides of the issue, and I am not dismissive of the concern about slippery slopes. But I am persuaded that the artrocities being committed in Darfur are of such magnitude that simply doing nothing is not an option.

I will post a link to the bill as soon as it is introduced. It has been very carefully drafted. Representative Wendell Willard, who also took part in today’s rally, has agreed to carry the bill in the House.

[UPDATE]  It is Senate Bill 370 and will be posted here shortly. 

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My wife gave me an old book on the first day of the Legislative Session. The gold lettering on its worn bound cover was faded, but it turned out to be the Legislative Manual of the Georgia General Assembly for the 1929-1930 Legislative Session.

We no longer publish a legislative manual as such. This one included a list of the officers of the Executive Department and rosters of the officers and members of the General Assembly. It also included the standing rules of the Senate and House, as well as rules for when the Senate and House met in joint session and the Senate met in “executive session” to consider confirmation of the Governor’s appointees.

For those of you who are interested, the Governor of Georgia in 1929 was Larmatine Griffin “L.G.” Hardman, a physician and businessman from Commerce who as a member of the General Assembly had led the fight for prohibition. The office of Lieutenant Governor would not be created until 1946 so Senate President W. Cecil Neil of Columbus would have become Governor had tragedy befell Dr. Hardman during his term of office.

The State Senate of 1929 had 51 members, as opposed to 56 today. Most Senate Districts were composed of three counties. A handful of Districts were made up of four. The membership of the Senate, like Georgia itself, was predominately rural. In fact, not a single resident of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb or Gwinnett County served in the State Senate. Today, residents of those four counties make up over a third of the body.

Sessions of the General Assembly began the fourth week of June, and they lasted no longer than sixty days. Today we start in January and must be done in forty days.

My Senate District, then numbered 51, was composed of Forsyth, Gwinnett and Milton Counties. It was represented by Senator Marcus Mashburn of Cumming. Senator Mashburn was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Printing and Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Hygiene and Sanitation. Today we do not have either of those committees. We also do not have a Milton County, but that may soon change.

Among the other standing Senate committees were Agriculture, Amendments to the Constitution, General Judiciary Number One, General Judiciary Number Two, Special Judiciary, Commerce and Labor, Corporations, Drainage, Forestry, Game and Fish, Highways, Internal Improvements, Military Affairs, Mines and Mining, Public Schools, Railroads, and Temperance.

Several state enterprises merited their own standing committees, including Academy for the Blind, School for the Deaf, State Sanitarium, Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Alto, University System of Georgia and Its Branches, and Western and Atlantic Railroad.

The House did not have districts as such. Instead, the eight most populous counties each elected three Representatives, the next thirty largest each elected two, and all the rest each elected one, for a total of 207 members, as opposed to 180 today.

No one thought to identify the Governor and members of the General Assembly by party. They were all Democrats. They were also all white and almost all men. By my count, five women held posts in the Executive Department, serving as Executive Secretary to the Governor, State Historian, State Librarian, Executive Secretary to the State Library Commission and Acting Superintendent of the Georgia Soldiers’ Roster Commission.

It makes me wonder what our great grand children will think 80 years from now when they look at the names, pictures, party labels and committee assignments of the 2007-2008 Legislative Session.

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In this this famous letter written in 1963 from the Birmingham city jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responds to a public statement issued by eight leading Christian and Jewish clergymen urging respect for the “principles of law and order and common sense.”  Even if you have read Dr. King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail before, it is worth reading again on this day that we pause to celebrate his life and accomplishments.

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Today marks the beginning of a New Year and the first anniversary of this legislative blog.
To all those who visited throughout the year, I appreciate your interest and wish you all the best.  May God bless this great nation of ours.

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To all, the Shafer family sends every best wish for a joyous Holiday Season and happy and prosperous New Year!

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I was surprised last night to be honored by the Gwinnett County Republican Party with its Reagan Roundtable Award.  Chairman Greg Howard presented me with a plaque at the party’s annual Holiday dinner.  He said that I had been chosen by County Executive Committee because my legislative service reflected the “spirt of Ronald Reagan.”

I am grateful for the recognition. 

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I wish you all the best on this Day of National Thanksgiving.

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Last Thursday night I attended a fundraising dinner for the Gwinnett Pregnancy Resource Center, a Southern Baptist ministry that helps women who have unexpectedly become pregnant.  My friend Kathy Schraeder serves on the board of the ministry.

The featured speaker, Gianna Jessen, was described in the program as an “abortion survivor,” and I assumed we would be hearing from a woman who had an abortion that she now regretted.  But I assumed wrongly.  Our speaker was a former unborn baby who had survived her own abortion.

Thirty years ago, her mother underwent a “saline abortion,” a procedure in which a toxic saline solution is injected into the womb, causing the baby to die over a 24 hour period and then be stillborn.  But in her case, eighteen hours into the procedure, she came roaring out of the womb, scalded by the saline, but very much alive.

In 1977, it was legal for the abortion doctor to suffocate a newborn baby who survived an abortion.  Fortunately for Gianna, he was away from the clinic, not expecting her arrival for another six hours.  The panicked nurse called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital. 

Two pounds in weight and badly burned by the saline, she was given almost no chance of surviving.  But survive she did.  She made it out of the hospital and into the loving arms of a foster family. 

At eighteen months, she was given another obstacle.  She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a result of her prenatal brain being deprived of oxygen during the abortion.  Her doctors said she would likely never be able to hold up her head, sit up, crawl or walk.

But I watched her walk, with a slight limp, to the front of a hotel ballroom Thursday night.   She sang three beautiful songs and told us a mesmerizing story of love, hope, perseverance and forgiveness. 

Her foster mother, Penny, taught her to walk at age 3.  Penny’s daughter adopted her, and Penny, her “queen,” became her grandmother.  She has traveled the world, done indoor rock climbing and “run” marathons. 

She is thankful that she has only had three surgeries for her cerebral palsy.  Most suffering from cerebral palsy have had more. 

In 2002, she met President Bush when he signed the Born-Alive Infant Protect Act, which extended legal protection to infants born alive after a failed abortion.

Her speech, obviously, was intended to make a point about abortion.  Believe me, it did.  Loud and clear.  But her speech was not about abortion.  It was about overcoming obstacles, persevering against adversity and finding the blessing in everything — good and bad — that comes our way.

I think about the setbacks, rejections and defeats that have frustrated, discouraged and at times demoralized me.  Even the most painful losses — my Dad dying twelve years ago — pale in comparison to what Gianna Jessen has been asked to bear.

Gianna was hurt badly by a poor decision.  She lives with it every day, not just the emotional hurt but the physical.  But live with it she does. There is a lesson in her story for all of us.

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Two of my daughter’s kindergarten classmates celebrated birthdays this weekend, and it was my fatherly privilege to accompany her to the parties.  At the party earlier today, she and the other party guests were able to “build” and outfit their own stuffed teddy bears.  She named hers “Good Luck” but calls him “Good” because “that is the first name.” At the party yesterday, entertainment was provided by Magnificent Mike, a magician, and Sassy, a clown and face painter. 

I do not remember the parties being that elaborate when I was in kindergarten.  When I was in the third grade, I celebrated a birthday at Goofy Golf, a putt putt golf course, but when I was in kindergarten, all I remember from my 5th birthday party was a contest in which we all competed to roll round clothes pins across the floor of the play room with our noses.

Of course, my daughter is a lot more advanced than I was at her age.  I vividly remember the pride I experienced when I first counted to 20, and it was sometime near the very end of my year in kindergarten.  Before my daughter even entered what is now called K5, she could count to 100, say the alphabet and reel off the months of the year in two different languages.  I only know the months in one language myself.

But as smart as they may be, they are still kids.

We had decided to take my daughter to Disney World for her birthday this year, but in planning the trip, I came across the astounding statistic that the number one thing six year olds remember about their Disney World visit is the “hotel swimming pool.”  The next time she brought up Disney World, I slyly asked her what about the trip she was looking forward to most.  She responded, “Jumping on the bed and ordering room service.”

We moved Disney World back a year and invited all her friends to a local party center where they could jump on oversized inflatable jumping pads.  No clothes pin races for her or her friends.

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Six minutes that will help you put everything in perspective: 

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