Motley Moose – Archive

I’m doing the Hill Country Ride for AIDS on Saturday. This Saturday. I’m nowhere near my fundraising goal, but I’m not moving the goalposts until after the opening dinner the night before the ride. And we’re just not gonna talk about my fitness level. (even though I’m doing the shortest route, prayers would probably be appropriate this Saturday morning) This diary is to tell you about the people helped by your donations. If you want to bypass all the heartwarming stuff, you can just donate here at my Hill Country Ride Page. But if you want to read some great stories about people getting the help they need, come below the squiggly thing. Be warned, since the Ride is only at 72% of their goal, and I’m at 20% of mine, I’m going to pull on your heartstrings all I can. my Hill Country Ride Page

this starts at 6pm Thursday — so please donate after that time – more info on the Amplify challenge .

On March 20 & 21, there’s a major charity drive in Austin — Amplify Austin. Charities have matching opportunities, and the charities that raise more money get prizes. I am, of course raising money for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. Below is a list of some of the ways specific amounts donated help. And you can donate at my Hill Country Ride page

But first, the bad/alarming news. There has been a 40% rise in new infections in youth in Travis County. Below is something AIDS Services of Austin executive director Paul Scott wrote about that:

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:

Found on the Internets …

Tea Party Might Just Fizzle In Ted Cruz’s Texas

For Texas tea partiers, Tuesday’s primary might just be a grim day. Tea party candidates running in federal elections this cycle have struggled to get a foothold in the Lone Star state as the movement turns five.

The best example of the fizzle is one-time conservative favorite Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), who’s run such an incompetent campaign against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that even other tea party groups have turned against him.

Maybe arming fetuses is not as popular as Stockman thought it would be?

Rudderless Tea Party Searches For Meaning Five Years On

WASHINGTON: Several hundred die-hard Tea Party activists Thursday found themselves sandwiched between a much larger convention of chiropractors and the annual fly-in lobbying convention of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Held at a Washington Hyatt, the fifth anniversary event for the Tea Party Patriots was a far cry from the halcyon days of 2009 when tens of thousands of conservatives descended on Washington for a Tea Party rally.

But more than sheer numbers was missing from Thursday’s event: The day lacked either a single leader or issue to rally around. While Obamacare may have birthed the movement, it no longer motivates the Tea Party, if Thursday’s lineup was any evidence.[…]

Bachmann used her off the cuff speech to hit everything from the rise of China to the budget. Bachmann, who will retire at the end of this year, even warned the movement to not “take your marbles and go home” simply because of their 2012 electoral defeat.

Rep. Steve King, one of the early adopters of the Tea Party mantle, took a more philosophical approach, arguing the movement is about securing the fundamentals of Western culture like “liberty” and “free markets.” […]

Indeed, the only thread that ran through the day was the idea that the Tea Party can still wield power in the next election. At one point a Tea Party Patriots official took the stage to announce the group had raised more than $1.1 million over the last 10 days, announcing, “Let’s show those establishment people and the permanent political class we mean business and we don’t need their money, ’cause we gots our own!”

Bachmann’s calls for the gavel of Harry Reid got polite applause, but the biggest cheers – and the fact that Republicans should be most concerned about – came when Rep. Tim Huelskamp called for the forcible end to Speaker John Boehner’s leadership.

More …

Found on the Internets …

Facing Overwhelming Opposition, Arizona Governor Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill

After a week of national backlash, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has vetoed SB 1062, which would have allowed religious beliefs to be used to justify discrimination against LGBT people and others. Explaining her veto, Brewer said, “I call them like I see them despite the cheers or boos from the crowd.” She added that the bill does not address a specific concern and that she knows of no examples of how religious liberty has been under attack.

Opposition to the bill came from individuals and companies across the country, including the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, Apple, and Mitt Romney. Many other states have introduced similar bills, some specifying that businesses could refuse services to marrying same-sex couples, but most have stalled or died, particularly those introduced this week during the backlash against Arizona.

Media Matters: Fox News Has A Nasty Anti-Gay Hangover

What explains Fox’s sudden cold feet now that several states are acting to deal with the manufactured threat to religious liberty that Fox News helped create?

To hear people like Fox’s Kelly and Tantaros explain it, laws like Arizona’s SB 1062 simply went a little too far. These laws would be acceptable if they only affected businesses directly involved in the marriage and wedding industry, but giving all business owners a license to discriminate against gay customers too closely resembles Jim Crow legislation.[…]

The distinction between marriage-related services and general services used by gay couples is convenient, but it doesn’t stand up under closer scrutiny.

For one, Fox News has aggressively promoted the idea that requiring equal treatment of gay people in non-marital contexts also infringes on businesses’ religious liberty. […]

… many of the network’s personalities are waking up to the harsh reality that their words have consequences. They’re in the uncomfortable position of to decide between disowning the right-wing talking points they helped promote or siding with measures that even they admit look a lot like pro-segregation laws.

More …

This diary is about my fundraising effort for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, but if you know me, you know that I usually use music in these diaries, so:

So, U2 is out with a new song & if you download it during the “Big Game” & 24 hours after, it is free & a donation goes to Red, which goes to fighting AIDS in Africa.

(RED) ‏@RED 32m

You’ve got until Feb 3 11:59pm EST to download #NewU2Song free & $1 goes to fight AIDS w/ @RED http://smarturl.it/Connect4Red  pic.twitter.com/9wzlLGzunB

and now on to me talking about the Ride, and enjoying some music – although if you want to skip the diary & just donate to help people with HIV & AIDS in Austin, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

So I have a milestone birthday on Saturday. 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 Mooses to donate to my 15th 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

This will be a short one, but —  my amazing, wonderful, fantastic state senator Kirk Watson is matching the next $10,000 in donations to Wendy Davis. Kirk is an old friend, a great feminist, who was part of the resistance to the anti-choice shenanigans last summer. And here he is, really stepping up to turn Texas blue next year.

here’s the donation page: https://secure.wendydavistexas…

There were a couple of stories about this on the news this morning, and it is all over my FB & Twitter feeds. Giving Tuesday, to follow Black Friday & Cyber Monday, where people (supposedly) were all being self-indulgent. I like it not only because I’m raising money for the Austin Children’s Shelter – look for me – 1st column, 10th name, but it seems to balance things out. Come into the rest of the diary & I’ll tell you why you should give to the Austin Children’s Shelter.

I searched the tags, and haven’t seen anything about this event Monday, and it is really huge. Lizz Winstead and lots of other fabulous people are going to do an online telethon supporting organizations in Texas that are trying to maintain access to reproductive freedom.