Motley Moose – Archive

I did this last year, but I think everyone is in need of some inspirational stuff, and I’m going to try to spread some good feelings around.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly had better years. But I’ve been trying to think about helping others who need it, as a way of getting out of my own space. I do the Hill Country Ride for AIDS every year, because the agencies it benefits help people out every day. They have a food bank, for people who really need it – and people with AIDS have to be very mindful about nutrition, about the timing, and what they eat…. so there are people who counsel about that. There’s legal assistance, medical subsidies, volunteers to drive people to appointments….. Just help, that their clients really need.

So I was thinking about why. Why help? What do I get out of it? I did some searching, and the results of my quest are below the squiggly thing. Of course, if you want to skip the inspirational quotes, the video & the U2 song, you could donate at my Hill Country Ride page now.

Oh – and a picture. Here’s a picture from the year I was top fundraiser (not gonna happen this year, I’m very late getting started this year), but anyway:

orange version will auto-post at 7am central

Hi. If you look at my timeline, you’ll see I do a lot of diaries about the  Hill Country Ride for AIDS. I haven’t done as many of these this year as I’d like, I’ve been a bit distracted. But I have a commitment to raise at least $2,000 for the Ride. If you want to cut to the chase, here’s my Hill Country Ride for AIDS page, but I hope you’ll come with me below the fold for a good story. And of course music.

Oh – and a picture. Here’s a picture from the year I was top fundraiser, with the amazingly wonderful David Smith, who was the director that year :

A word about David. His 50th birthday was yesterday, and his FB timeline was filled with greetings, as it should be. But they were different than the usual “happy birthday”. Almost to a person, we all posted messages about what a blessing David is, how lucky we are to have him in our lives, and how the wold is so, so much better because he is here.

My birthday is Sunday, and it is time to start training for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, which will be in April. And fundraising for it, too. So for my 50th birthday — can I get the Moose community to donate to my 16th Ride? How many $50 donations can I get? There will be music & stuff below the fold, but if you want to skip that part & just donate, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

I joined this group that’s training for the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon. I’m doing the Half – walking the Half, though I hope to maybe be able to run a bit by then. The team raises money for Austin Children’s Services, formerly known as the Austin Children’s Shelter, and each of us pledges to raise $750. Having just finished a fairly successful fundraising campaign for AIDS Walk Austin, I’m fresh out of ideas, and that’s where you come in. Help me come up with another way to raise the money? Unless you just want to donate to my Austin Children’s Shelter page

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), snuck around in the early morning hours Saturday to decree that stopping a Texas law which discriminates on racial grounds would be unfair to Republicans in Texas who have worked so hard to disenfranchise those who might vote against them.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote (another) scathing dissent which was also signed by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan.

Sadly, three votes to protect the right to vote  is as meaningful as zero votes on a court intent upon disenfranchising those who would vote against their preferred political party. It is not enough to be right, we need to win these, especially the obvious ones.

Justice Ginsburg harkens back to the mindnumbing disconnect from reality present in the majority’s Shelby v Holder ruling last year that struck preclearance from the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice Roberts declared that we are now post-racial and there is no need to consider history, blahblah, pesky facts, blahblah. But, as Justice Ginsburg notes in her dissent “racial discrimination in elections in Texas is no mere historical artifact. To the contrary, Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970.”

An estimated 600,000 citizens in Texas have not paid the 2014 version of the poll tax and will not have the required ids needed to vote this year.

THAT is how Republicans win: by denying the right to vote to those who are likely to vote against them. They can’t win on their ideas and this is the last desperate gasp of a party soon to become a minoritea. That moment will likely be delayed unless we can convince two more justices that the right to vote is a fundamental right under our constitution and that artificial barriers to voting should be stricken.

Really, how can they let this stand? Justice Ginsburg:

The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully dis­criminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitu­tional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hun­dreds of thousands of eligible voters.

Stop hurting America, SCOTUS. Give us back our democracy.

democracy [dih-mok-ruh-see]

noun

1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

AIDS Walk Austin is 9 days away, on Sunday the 19th. The Walk as a whole has raised about 32% of their $250,000 goal. Which is not close enough. Yeah, there’s still 9 days, and I’m no mathematician, but that’s a heck of a lot of money to raise per day.

This day, Friday, they have a challenge. If the Walk as a whole can raise $5,000 that will be matched. Come with me below the fold and I’ll tell you why you should donate.

http://aidsa.convio.net/site/T…

Hey, y’all 50 donations of $100 are matched today and tomorrow, so today would be a great one to make a sizable donation. AIDS Walk Austin is in less than a month – on Sunday the 19th. I’ve only raised 61% of my goal of $2,000, so I thought I’d share some music & ask for donations. If you want to skip the U2 song & my babbling, you can make a donation at my AIDS Walk Austin page. This is the 27th year for the Walk & my 27th year of walking it, and I really want step things up this year. And here’s me, talking about why I’ve walked every year of the Walk:

Wanted to post something with some happy, peaceful music — and of course to say something about the AIDS Walk. But mostly I wanted to post a meta-free place where people can take a deep breath & listen to some happy, peaceful tunes.

It is September, though, and the Walk is only 6 weeks away, so if you can, please donate, even $5, to my AIDS Walk Austin page

If you look at my diary history, you’ll see that about 90% of mine are about the Walk or the Ride. That’s because I care that there are people who need help & aren’t getting it. AIDS Walk Austin & the Hill Country Ride for AIDS both raise money for what I think is the most important thing in the world — directly assisting sick people. Food bank, subsidies for meds, case management…. these are all things that the Walk raises money for. I’m going to get all mushy & sentimental below the fold, so if you want to avoid that, you can just donate to my AIDS Walk Austin page now.

Last night, Wendy Davis spoke to a huge crowd in Austin to celebrate the anniversary of her filibuster. I met the political director of Battleground Texas at the event & promised a diary, so here it is. if you want to skip the pictures & fangirling, and just help us turn Texas blue, you can do that right here: Battleground Texas: What Will You Do?