Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters)  thank you, Mayor!

AUSTIN – Mayor Lee Leffingwell has today joined dozens of mayors from across America in supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry by signing on to the Mayors for Freedom to Marry Pledge. The Mayors Freedom to Marry group — an effort of the national Freedom to Marry organization — aims to expand public and political support for ending discrimination in marriage.

“I’m proud to stand with the gay and lesbian community and defend their right to equal marriage,” said Mayor Leffingwell. “The tide is changing in America and I hope that by joining this loud chorus, I can play a small role in helping set us on a path to full marriage equality in our country in my lifetime.”

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(Community Matters) Possible additional sighting in Hyde Park. The email below was sent to our neighborhood distribution list.

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(Community Matters) Eight of our favorite startups are competing in the first Austin Startup Olympics this weekend, partying at Club DeVille after.

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(Community Matters) A must read – fodder for reflections on American exceptionalism – “Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power,” by Zbigniew Brzezinski

Politico Playbook: THE BIG IDEA –  “The United States is still preeminent [among global powers] but the legitimacy, effectiveness, and durability of its leadership is increasingly questioned worldwide because of the complexity of its internal and external challenges. Nevertheless, in every significant and tangible dimension of traditional power – military, technological, economic, and financial – America is still peerless. It has by far the largest single national economy, the greatest financial influence, the most advanced technology, a military budget larger than that of all other states combined, and armed forces both capable of rapid deployment abroad and actually deployed around the world. This reality may not endure for very long but it is still the current fact of international life.

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(Community Matters)

Happy 19th Birthday, Ben

our godson is a freshman at TCU and loving it

(Community Matters) Helping kickoff Austin Gives this morning

(Community Matters) Our dear friend Suzanne Tick’s work showing (earlier posting)

(Community Matters) started out as cocktails for two neighbors and their house guest – expanded as I ran into friends or exchanged emails. Invites weren’t deliberate but coincidental – guess that just works sometimes.

Fun evening Monday night with Bob Atchison & Rob Moshein, Albert Bartridge, Graham Schmidt, Tana & Joe Christie, Kip Keller & Michael Barnes, Chris Long, Michael Mitchell, Beth Broderick, Dennis Bailey, Marc Winkelman, Amy & Kirk Rudy, Karl Scholz, Eric Copper, Milinda Mitchell, Graham Reynolds and Chase Pilat.

(Community Matters)  FIRST LOOK – GQ’s “The 50 Most Powerful People in Washington (People with the last names Obama and Biden not included,” by Reid Cherlin, Rob Fischer, Jason Horowitz and Jason Zengerle: 1) Eric Cantor 2) Mitch McConnell 3) David Plouffe 4) Leon Panetta 5) Hillary Clinton 6) Ben Bernanke 7) David Petraeus 8) Kevin McCarthy 9) Pete Rouse 10) U.S. Chamber’s Tom Donohue 11) Tim Geithner 12) John Boehner 13) Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie, Steven Law (American Crossroads) 14) Tommy Boggs, chairman, Patton Boggs 15) Dan Pfeiffer 16) Gene Sperling and Jack Lew 17) Chuck Schumer 18) Grover Norquist 19) Chuck Todd 20) Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser and speechwriter, and brother David Rhodes, president of CBS News 21) Paul Ryan 22) Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough 23) Heather and Tony Podesta 24) Chris Van Hollen 25) Paul Clement, partner, Bancroft

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(Community Matters) Dr. Cecilia Thompson passed away yesterday afternoon, from complications with pneumonia after suffering a fall last week. She was Marfa’s historian and was still terrorizing residents by driving (she was legally blind) at 92 years old 🙂

From the Forward of her book “The History of Marfa and Presidio County”:

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(Community Matters) I noted last week that Steven and I are extracting ourselves from endorsing, giving or raising for political races due to my new position as Pres/CEO of two NPR affiliates – A Year Without Politics.

Not unlike when I was no longer a banker, interesting to observe the change in behaviors from certain players. It’ll help us winnow down who’s really a friend. And, of course, this is only a sabbatical – we’ll be back

(Community Matters) Our neighborhood/home scores an 88 from Walk Score

I know the picture shows 87, but it’s 88

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