Daily Archives: 09/02/2008

(Community Matters) They’ll get a lot of flack for this, though it is certainly their right.

(Community Matters) Oh, this is pretty

This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States. TPMMuckraker

In case anyone has any questions, comments by the AIP’s founder:

“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government,” Vogler said in the interview, in which he talked extensively about his desire for Alaskan secession, the key goal of the AIP.

“And I won’t be buried under their damn flag,” Vogler continued in the interview, which also touched on his disappointment with the American judicial system. “I’ll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home.” 

(Community Matters) Today’s luncheon featured state Rep. Rob Eissler (R) who chairs the House’s Public Education Committee. Some interesting facts: the state’s real dropout rate is 30% (as high as 50% in some urban areas) [this isn’t a new fact but thought I’d share anyhow], Texas spends more on a drop out every year than on each kids in school each year, the 3 R’s for dropout prevention: rigor, relationship and relevance, schools have improved as measured by TASK performance by 56% over the last 6 years, there are 4.6mm kids in Texas schools (and 30k charter school slots, i.e., you can’t give everyone a voucher), 1,043 school districts plus charter schools, we spend $40B/year on Texas public education and 44% of all monies are spent on teachers, another 44% on other personnel, leaving 12% on other.

Lots of community colleagues at today’s luncheon, including our host, Drew Scheberle as well as Janet Harman, Eric Harslem, Jackie Malta, Rick O’Donnell, Jennifer Easterline, Erica Ekwurzel, Ann Stafford, Marisol Foster, Wynn Rosser, Michelle Moak, John Fitzpatrick, Mary Ellen Pietruszynski, Caroline Newman and several others.

(Community Matters) My friend Michael Griffin, who founded Adlucent, was kind enough to meet with me earlier today and walk me through search engine mechanics and how to blog so that friends and those interested can more easily find postings. Michael’s a highly networked entrepreneur in Austin who started the runaway search engine marketing businesses on the side while pursuing his PhD in analytical chemistry. Yeah, he’s smart as well as very cute.

(Community Matters) A PeopleFund board executive committee meeting this morning. These board colleagues among my favorite in the community. Include our board chair Cloteal Davis Haynes plus Pat O’Breirne, Adrienne Neely, Jack McDonald and Gary Valdez. Others on our board include Doug Hartman, Mandy Dealey, Carmen Tawil, Bryan Jones, Debbie Ramirez and Francie Ferguson. Of course our CEO, Margo Weisz is an acknowledged rock star. She surrounds herself with an excellent team including chief lieutenants Anne Adams, Jaime Noyola and Kelly Weiss.PeopleFund operates as a bank making loans to businesses creating jobs and wealth in low & moderate income communities. We’re not a microlender since we loan $50k to $200k and require collateralized sources of repayment. However, we will take more risk than a commercial lender and couple our financial capital with intensive intellectual capital such as mentoring, accounting, legal, marketing and other programs. Additionally, we launched a community land trust, PeopleTrust, last year which is the affordable housing partner at the Robert Mueller Airport Redevelopment and we’ll be doing more affordable housing projects outside of that development. Check out the website PeopleFund.

(Community Matters) Gov Palin’s is named Pastor Kalnins at the Wasilla Assembly of God. He’s as controversial and divisive as Rev Wright, plus Gov Palin supports his convictions, even on video extolling that Iraq is a holy war. According to reports, Kalnins preaches that critics of President Bush will go to hell, that Senator John Kerry will not be accepted into Heaven, that the Iraq war is a war of faith and Americans are called on by Jesus.

(Community Matters) A friend’s note in response to my first blog posting on Palin prompted me to put in writing what I’d been thinking. My friend, a mom who’s settling her daughter into her college dorm room, wrote that she couldn’t understand how a mother would subject her 17-year old pregnant daughter to the scrutiny of the national press. The answer came up that narcissism might have won out over motherly protective instincts. This begs even more questions.

First, the acceptance and support reflected in the Palin’s press release announcing Bristol’s pregnancy is generous and compassionate. And, I agree that children of candidates should be afforded much more privacy than their parents – never mind that my stomach turns imagining the right wing pundits if the situation was reversed and Barack’s & Michelle’s 17-year old Black daughter was pregnant, nevertheless . . .

Was, in fact, Bristol given the choice whether to carry her baby to term – “we’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby ,” and, if so, why would Gov Palin deny other daughters the right to make this decision? Sex education: given these circumstances, will Gov. Palin reassess her position that abstinence only should be the only form of sex education in high schools?

Bristol’s a young woman; we should all wish her and Levi Johnston well. They certainly aren’t the first and won’t be the last to marry with a new family underway. That Levi states he doesn’t want children on his Myspace page isn’t completely encouraging. I’m going to assume all life options were discussed with him and Bristol, including placing an unwanted child for adoption and that their choices weren’t limited for political expediency.

(Community Matters) “. . . . The Palin nomination is not basically about external realities and what Democrats call “issues,” but about the symbolic mechanisms of the political mind — the worldviews, frames, metaphors, cultural narratives, and stereotypes. The Republicans can’t win on realities. Her job is to speak the language of conservatism, activate the conservative view of the world, and use the advantages that conservatives have in dominating political discourse.” here

(Community Matters) Thornton on ULTV’s here