Monthly Archives: February 2014

(Community Matters) It might be an urban myth, hard to believe wouldn’t have made the papers, and tonight I was told staff and patrons were robbed at gun point about 6 weeks ago during restaurant hours at the original Hyde Park Bar & Grill.

update: i’ve confirmed this happened in Dec.

(Community Matters) The Regents’ direct investment of $10mm bypassing the campuses and UTIMCO never did make sense and as AAS has reported, resulted in a complete loss – smells like fish, probably fishy. 

Wish state Reps. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and Dan Flynn, R-Canton, co-chairs of the House Select Committee On Transparency in State Agency Operation would add this topic to their hearings and subpoena relevant documents. Quite possibly nothing but faith in government requires confirmation from time to time.

(Community Matters) Found this AAS letter to the Editor thought provoking:

Minimum wage woes

Re: Feb. 3 article, “Gap widening under Obama’s failed policies.”

I find that Matt Mackowiak has missed a major point in his opinion piece on income inequality. He states, “When labor costs increase without productivity increasing, jobs are usually the first thing a business owner cuts.” What he fails to recognize is that when productivity increases and wages do not, as has happened in the past 30 years, the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer. If the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity over the past 30 years, it would be over $20 per hour. And the economy would be booming.

The rich do not spend their extra money on things that stimulate growth. And, the rich are not job creators. Jobs are created by demand for a product or service. And that demand is created when the 99 percent have sufficient income to live comfortably, enough to purchase more than the bare necessities to sustain life.

David A. Petersen

Austin

I didn’t fact check Mr Petersen

(Community Matters) in response to a Facebook posting by MSNBC moderator and friend, Christopher Hayes, commenting on the Texas Observer story on Wendy Davis‘ press relations, I discussed this with friends. I thought the conversation enlightening and relevant. Thought I’d share some points:

no doubt Wendy’s communications team has some kinks to work out

and, we’re talking a press corps that has dealt with a governor who has refused to debate or appear before editorial boards during the last two gubernatorial campaigns

we have to do better, and press should quit holding D’s to a different standard than they’ve held R’s (or if not all R’s, certainly Rick Perry).

worth noting that Republicans weren’t in despair about their candidates not giving access to press.

maybe we (Ds) care more about openness and transparency

Maybe all trumped as Alfred reminds, “Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel.”

(Community Matters) I’m not an expert, and I do love these lines:

“I would tell her to be much more of a risk taker and not to be so concerned about will this incremental position hurt me or this incremental position help me and just lay out there what you believe,” said former Edwards pollster Harrison Hickman. “She’s someone people will respect and people aren’t going to get overwrought if they disagree with her on one or two issues.”

“They can actually undercut an essential characteristic of presidential candidates — they want to see someone fighting for it, they want to see someone earning it the hard way,” said Benenson, the Obama pollster. “They want to see her demonstrate some of that grit that she brings to the table.”

Personally, I’m a huge fan, and my enthusiasm would increase even more if more Elizabeth Warren in her domestic agenda.

Buzz: Obama Aides Doubt Clinton Strategy

(Community Matters) If I were a Democratic operative, I’d love the Republican House to cause another shut down – how well did the last one go for them? House GOP finalizes debt-limit playbook. Jeez . . . I admit to being one of those kids who had to stick a bobby pin into an electrical outlet – but I only did it once.

(Community Matters) Lies, damned lies & more damned lies . . . I don’t agree both parties lie as easily; it seems to be de rigueur for Republican politicians today. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in her response to Pres. Obama’s State of the Union Address slumped to the standard. Paul Krugman writes about her reference to Bette in Spokane who faced a $700 a month premium hike:

Which brings me back to Bette in Spokane.

Bette’s tale had policy wonks scratching their heads; it was hard to see, given what we know about premiums and how the health law works, how anyone could face that large a rate increase. Sure enough, when a local newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, contacted Bette Grenier, it discovered that the real story was very different from the image Ms. McMorris Rodgers conveyed. First of all, she was comparing her previous policy with one of the pricier alternatives her insurance company was offering — and she refused to look for cheaper alternatives on the Washington insurance exchange, declaring, “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website.”

Even more important, all Ms. Grenier and her husband had before was a minimalist insurance plan, with a $10,000 deductible, offering very little financial protection. So yes, the new law requires that they spend more, but they would get far better coverage in return.

So was this the best story Ms. McMorris Rodgers could come up with? The answer, probably, is yes, since just about every tale of health reform horror the G.O.P. has tried to peddle has similarly fallen apart once the details were revealed. The truth is that the campaign against Obamacare relies on misleading stories at best, and often on outright deceit.

(Community Matters) Steven & I departed for NYC earlier today. Half way there, the pilot announced that EWR was snowed in, turned the plane around and brought us back to Austin.

Funny, we so enjoyed being together – seated together, resting against each other – it wasn’t such a bad day. Bummed that we missed dinner with our godson and friends, however.

Liked that one of the flight attendants asked how long we’d been together. When we told her 15 years, she expressed surprise. She told us we acted like a couple newly in love. Funny, every time we get such concentrated time together in such close, physical proximity, we are sorta newly in love.

(Community Matters) Stunning reports of rising anti-Semitism in France.

French conservatives, following the example of American Republicans, are trying to use gay marriage, and gay rights generally, as part of a larger wedge to divide Frenchmen and win future elections on the backs of the country’s gay and lesbian community.

But of course, as we’ve learned far too often, once you start fanning the flames of intolerance, it’s awfully hard to control the animus you’ve created.

Anti-gay demonstrators in Paris give the fascist salute while confronting police during an anti-gay-marriage protest in 2013.

Hat Tip: Towelroad

(Community Matters) NYT: Eclectic East Austin

A mile from downtown, East Austin has historically been a working-class neighborhood, a vibrant enclave heavily populated by African-Americans because of an earlier era of segregationist laws — and later, a home to Mexican-American residents. These days, it’s also the city’s newly fashionable arts district, with studios, galleries, cocktail bars, cafes and all manner of food trucks popping up on most every block.

(Community Matters) Loved flying from LA to Santa Barbara as we hugged the coast.

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(Community Matters) from Politico’s Playbook:

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, to David Gregory on “Meet the Press “: “Later this week, you’ll hear the president talk about Connect Ed. This is an opportunity where several private American companies are going to commit over a half billion dollars to ensure that our schools across the country have the kind of technology so that our kids can compete in this economy. … FCC says it’s going to wire 15,000 schools, get 20 million kids online in the kind of learning — not the way you and I grew up, David, which is you had a computer science lab where you went to once a day. They sit at their tables all day with laptops, with tablets. That’s the kind of education we want our kids to have.”

President Obama’s Connect Ed

• • Upgraded Connectivity: The ConnectED initiative will, within five years, connect 99 percent of America’s students to the digital age through next-generation broadband and high-speed wireless in their schools and libraries.
• • Trained Teachers: The ConnectED initiative invests in improving the skills of teachers, ensuring that every educator in America receives support and training to use technology to help improve student outcomes. The Department of Education will work with states and school districts to better use existing funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to strategically invest in this kind of professional development to help teachers keep pace with changing technological and professional demands.
• • Build on Private-Sector Innovation: These investments will allow our teachers and students to take full advantage of feature-rich educational devices that are increasingly price-competitive with basic textbooks and high-quality educational software (including applications) providing content aligned with college- and career-ready standards being adopted and implemented by States across America