Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) I bet lots of others have already seen this. I hadn’t.

(Community Matters) Reading the blogosphere, pit in my stomach. My enthusiasm for the ticket plunges at the prospect of Sam Nunn as a running mate. Doesn’t appear any more likely now than months ago when first floated, just that the reality of a pick is more certain and the possibility remains.

My Jewish friends should imagine an anti-Semitic joining the ticket to understand my feelings. My other female friends should imagine Clayton Williams.

Shortly after 1992, I came to the realization that my baseline was a candidate who wouldn’t threaten my civil liberties – the right to pursue employment, housing, medical services, equal protections under the law – even before I could embrace their support for health care, a sound economy, national security, education and so forth.

(Community Matters) from Kirk Watson’s weekly message:

It’s extraordinary, and aggravating, that these life-saving institutions [MD Anderson and UTMB] are trying to get just to where they were a few years back. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only area in which Texas’ legislative leadership has fallen behind.

The leadership has starved education funding and forced school district after school district to raise property taxes to make up for it.

It’s refused to fund universities, but chastised those who raise tuition so the quality of education doesn’t suffer.

It’s allowed roads to deteriorate and traffic to increase, diverting money from transportation and trumpeting privatization.

And it’s turned its back on nearly a billion dollars in federal funding for children’s health insurance, leaving Texas with the terrible standing as the state with the most uninsured kids.

It’s incomprehensible to me that our generation – which has prospered so much from the investments of our parents and grandparents – has so stubbornly refused to take steps that would ensure opportunity for our children and grandchildren.

(Community Matters) The Marfa production of Wallace Shawn’s play, Our Late Night has been rescheduled. It was to premiere at the Goode-Crowley Theatre over the July 4th weekend. Tim Crowley – who was performing – is on crutches after a horse riding accident. Chinati Foundation’s associate director, Rob Weiner is directing. Steven and I still headed to Marfa, just now have an open Friday night.

(Community Matters) The Don Boyd sent me this link to a terrific article on Bishop Robinson in GQ. thanks Don!

Bishop Robinson and his partner, Mark Andrew

(Community Matters) Interesting

Obama: Total raised: $265mm, Cash on hand: $47mm; 42% from females, 58% from men
top states:

	California	$29,590,172	20%
	New York	$18,984,635	13%
	Illinois	$15,402,940	11%
	Massachusetts	$7,377,908	5%
	Other States	$73,507,260	51%

McCain: Total raised: $97mm, Cash on hand: $24mm; 28% from females, 72% from men
top states:

	California	$10,324,089	15%
	Texas	$6,376,825	9%
	New York	$6,323,471	9%
	Florida	$6,153,800	9%
	Other States	$38,924,534	57%

(Community Matters) After unsuccessful negotiations with Senator McCain’s campaign to exclude national party spending in the general election and discouragement of 527 campaigns, Senator Obama has announced his campaign will forgo over $80mm in public funds. Instead, he’s maintaining his prohibition on contributions from federal lobbyists and political action committees, relying on the 1.5 million Americans who contributed to his primary campaign.

(Community Matters) Kudos to Google’s Austin team who worked long and hard helping at Goodwill’s computer site. thanks to Alyson & Amanda of the Entrepreneurs Foundation for coordinating the efforts.

(Community Matters) ughhh, ST’s Paris to Newark flight delayed so he’ll miss the Newark to Austin flight which should have arrived at 5:30p. Should be on the 11:30. We have been separated way too much the last six weeks, much more apart than together. Ready for him to be home for the summer!

(Community Matters) Marion and I met this morning with Matthew Walton of Red Design, who’d been referred to us by Austin Venture’s Tom Ball. Wow, the guy speaks our language about user experience, totally immersive environments and agile development. Not hard to understand why he’s the Austin buzz in website development. Great ideas for the breast cancer portal/website.

Lunch with a group of community leaders, housing advocates, planners, developers and builders discussing Live-Work development at the Robert Mueller Development. They’re also exploring opportunities to create housing in the “gap zone,” i.e., $160k to $240k. Their affordable housing providing below $160k opportunities, which is administered by the land trust, PeopleTrust, we launched last year (a subsidiary of PeopleFund).

Well attended event including Jim Walker, Matt Whelan, Jim Walker, Mike Cook, Kelly Weiss, Ryan Keathley, Terry Mitchell, Ashton Cumberbath, Rebecca Campbell, Tom Hatch and Margo Weisz.

(Community Matters)

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(Community Matters) I sometimes still post on the AAS blogsite. Yesterday posted about gay marriage in California. It attracted an unprecedented level of activity and comments.

I’ll admit to not understanding the perspective of God and the Bible that subscribes to the condemnation of homosexuality. Readers cite the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, though I’ve always been taught God’s wrath is more appropriately translated as directed against the inhabitants’ cruelty and inhospitality to strangers. Leviticus is open to so many translations of the original Hebrew text. Though, the text doesn’t translate directly into the language we use today for homosexual acts. The most literal translations seem to forbid idoltry, the treatment of men like women since men were said to have been created in God’s image (though these more about sexual positioning and lying in a women’s bed). Of course, there are all the arguments about selectivity, i.e., why Fundamentalists who profess a literal translation don’t do so re: dietary restrictions, ritual offerings, the Sabbath, cleanliness, etc.

Nevertheless, obviously people feel strongly about “their interpretations,” and have offered such in the unprecedented level of comments to yesterday’s posting. Comments and postings here.

Obviously, gays and lesbians DO need government protection from such hurtful, religous perspectives which believe we should be deprived of equal treatment under our constitution.