Monthly Archives: November 2012

(Community Matters) Appears there’s increasing consensus about the need to invest in Texas’ physical & human infrastructure. Bill Hammond and the Texas Association of Business’ calls for a regressive tax increase targeted at consumers. Will Perry oversee the most regressive tax increase in the history of Texas or find a better way to pay for these investments?  One thought – individual property owners are negotiating up to 25% royalties on oil & gas leases while the State Texas is still accepting only 12.5%, and not always collecting even that.

(Community Matters) no one has to do anything for tax rates to return to Clinton-era levels  . . . let it be.

If the GOP House & Senate minority refuse a tax cut for America’s middle class, that’ll be their albatross in the 2014 elections

(Community Matters) It appears our church has a new leader, Bishop Justin Welby has been appointed the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head  of 77 million Anglicans.

Given his engagement in British corporate and financial ethics, I’ve had a flash in parallel with Pope John Paul II and Eastern Europe. The world can use divine spiritual intervention in corporate governance at this time in history.While concerned by his conservative stance on same sex marriage, I so like what else I read about his politics and spiritual compass, I’ll trust in his evolution as he prays over equality.

update: changed elected to appointed

(Community Matters) They lost the four statewide, anti-gay marriage initiatives and their top 5 candidates were defeated . . . this on top of failing to unseat the four Republican NY state house members who voted for marriage. I think I hear NOM’s founder, Maggie Gallagher, singing . . .

(Community Matters) Every year Austin entrepreneurs, investors and their friends come together to raise money for Entrepreneur Foundation (AmpilfyAustin.org) member company programs and another nonprofit. Last night 200 friends gathered at the Driskill, raising nearly $150k. Matt Briggs won the tournament and designated LifeWorks as recipient of the night’s grant.

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thanks to our co-chairs: Amy Chronis, Brett Hurt & Kevin Lalande . . . as well as to our sponsors: Deloitte, Mercedes-Benz and Square One Bank. Blue Lapis Light performed at the event.

(Community Matters) It was wrong to cut taxes during two wars and it’s wrong to extend the tax cuts. I agree w/ Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman and with a majority of Americans that we should let the GW Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire. The President should not be blackmailed by 233 House members, though I hope he’s able to find a compromise that doesn’t involve their extension.

Arguments that allowing rates to return to Clinton-era levels will decimate job creation have been debunked.

(Community Matters) Reading blogs, newspapers and Facebook postings, I’m reminded that our country is served well by at least two strong political parties. I take no comfort in the decimation of one, except admittedly to the extent one party stands united in denying me constitutional equality, or united in financing even more tax cuts for the rich at the expense of social and other services for those in need, or united in denying women the right to make their own medical & contraception decisions. Fortunately, the party that lost last night is not united about these objectives. Unfortunately for them, their primary system forced too many candidates into Faustian bargins and the American people remember. Our country is better served by debates and compromises between two parties.

To those at either political extreme, you are in the minority and will increasingly lose elections promoting extremist agendas. This country is no longer single culture dominant. We embrace the richness of our diversity, equality of opportunity, fiscal & personal responsibility, and attention to what ails our planet.

I could be wrong and maybe a Republican will again win the presidency in my life time, but I don’t think so – unless (& I hope they do) current party activists and elected leaders compromise and contribute to solutions dealing with immigration, a revenue model which reestablishes at least Clinton era tax rates & fairness between earned & investment income, and a spending plan which further eliminates waste and invests in physical and human infrastructure.

(Community Matters) We’re still waiting on the assignment of Florida’s 29 electoral votes – for now Pres Obama has won reelection 303 to 206. It appears he’ll have won by 332 to 206 and the popular vote 50% to 48%, or 58.7mm to 56.1mm.

Rs keep the House and Ds keep the Senate. Elizabeth Warren’s election is a huge win for consumers.

Equality prevailed. We’ll have our first openly gay Senator Tammy Baldwin and marriage equality won in Maine, Maryland and Minnesota – too close for a final call in Washington (state) but remain optimistic.

Voters in Travis County approved funding for our medical school. Austin voters approved 7 of 8 bond propositions and geographical representation. Housing bonds failed. This is regrettable, especially now when prices are probably as low as they will ever be and dollars to solve our increasing affordability problems can be most leveraged.

I’m hoping Ds and Rs can agree to move forward collaboratively. If House members refuse to compromise, then the President will have to become creative  in solving our fiscal issues. In the Senate, it’s time to end the 60 vote requirement to override a filibuster – maybe a 54 or 55 votes instead.

(Community Matters) First, I’m not gloating. It’s been a hard race for both sides, and I wouldn’t bet a lot of money. I believe Pres Obama has run a better campaign, is the better candidate, and will win by a larger margin than expected. I wish our country wasn’t so divided. I wish we could come together, less acrimonious and more committed to rebuilding the country we love after this election, no matter the outcome.

I also wish Texas was blue, and believe it will be by the next presidential election.

(Community Matters) Voter suppression, intimidation and systematic ways of lowering participation – we’d been warned, seen state legislatures’ attempts and now we’re seeing at the polls. Florida

(Community Matters) He was a friend of immigrants, then a scourge of immigrants, then again a friend. He was a Kissingerian foreign policy realist, then a McCain-like hawk, then a purveyor of peace. He pioneered Obamacare, he detested Obamacare, then he found elements in it to cherish. Assault weapons were bad, then good. Abortion was okay, then bad. Climate change was an urgent problem; then, not so much. Hurricane cleanup was a job for the states, until it was once again a job for the feds.

Washington Post presidential endorsement

Bloomberg on Mitt’s tax dodge

(Community Matters) Pew’s last poll before Tuesday: “Obama Gains Edge in Campaign’s Final Days.  Obama 50% – Romney 47%

Barack Obama has edged ahead of Mitt Romney in the final days of the presidential campaign. In the Pew Research Center’s election weekend survey, Obama holds a 48% to 45% lead over Romney among likely voters.

The survey finds that Obama maintains his modest lead when the probable decisions of undecided voters are taken into account. Our final estimate of the national popular vote is Obama 50% and Romney 47%, when the undecided vote is allocated between the two candidates, based on several indicators and opinions.

The race was deadlocked as recently as a week ago, before Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast. Obama’s handling of the storm’s aftermath may have contributed to his improved showing. Fully 69% of all likely voters approve of the way Obama is handling the storm’s impact. Even a plurality of Romney supporters (46%) approve of Obama’s handling of the situation; more important, so too do 63% of swing voters. In addition, Obama’s recent gains have been most notable in the Northeast, which was hit hardest by Sandy.

The survey also finds:

• Voter turnout, which may be lower than in 2008 and 2004, remains one of Romney’s strengths. Romney’s supporters continue to be more engaged in the election and interested in election news than are Obama supporters, and are more committed to vote.

• The race is as close in the nine battleground states as it is nationally: 49% of likely voters in battleground states support Obama while 47% back Romney.

• Obama has more strong support than Romney, and the candidate with a higher percentage of strong support has won the popular vote in most elections since 1960.

• Early voters make up a sizable percentage of all voters, but there is no sign that early voters are breaking decisively toward either candidate. Among the 34% of likely voters who say they have already cast their ballot, 48% say they supported Obama, 46% Romney. “